Some old Focusrite interfaces are not supported anymore for drivers.

[miyaru]

Yesterday after an update from Windows 10 pro, my Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 stopt working decently. It is an old firewire based interface which worked perfectly for me. Now it changes samplerate every second or does not lock at all, sometimes it does at 32 bit/96 Khz and then unlocks again.......

Some googling learned me, it is not supported anymore as are some other older interfaces. So if you have an older Focusrite interface going crazy, first check if it is still supported before you get yourself into a lot of faultfinding and checking things!

I was lucky in a way, support stopped at Win 10 -1903 and it kept working way into 1909 updates, but now it's gone.

I have now ordered a new Focusrite: a Scarlett 18i20 3rd gen USB-C interface, so I can use it for several years to come. But still it is kind of a waiste that my old interface is fine but stops working for this software reasons........

Just to let you know......

[adfielding]

That's really interesting - I switched from my Pro 40 at the start of the year to a Scarlett 4i4 partly because I was sick of having FireWire-related issues (I'd just started experiencing irregular drop-outs - super infrequent, but enough to be annoying) and figured it was time to switch to something a little more compact & USB-based. I don't intend to ever get rid of the Pro40 because it's served me so well since I first got it, but it's a real shame that it sounds like support has been dropped entirely.

Hope you enjoy the new Scarlett! I had some issues with the headphone output on mine, but Focusrite were super quick to send me a replacement and I've had zero issues since.

[miyaru]

@ Adfielding: do you have the 3rd gen Scarlett, if yes: how do you like the air option in the control software?

[Jackjackdaw]

I had to replace a perfectly good Tascam interface because the drivers went out of date. Hopefully now most stuff is class compliant it will be more immune to obsolesence.

[Loque]

Focusrite sucks. I bought a audio interface and 1 month later they released rev2 and instantly stopped supporting the driver for my "old" device. In the meantime i had troubles from time to time with rebooting and crashes. This was clearly the last time i bought something from Focusrite. I have a device which works fine, but no driver update 1 month after i bought it. I mean, wtf?

[adfielding]

@ Adfielding: do you have the 3rd gen Scarlett, if yes: how do you like the air option in the control software?

I certainly do - to be honest, I haven't really used the "air" option so I can't really comment on it. I thought it was kind of funny that you can now specify the input LED colours - not something I have any use for whatsoever, but I've decided that if I'm ever left at someone else's Scarlett unattended I'm going to switch the red and green input indicators.

Focusrite sucks. I bought a audio interface and 1 month later they released rev2 and instantly stopped supporting the driver for my "old" device. In the meantime i had troubles from time to time with rebooting and crashes. This was clearly the last time i bought something from Focusrite. I have a device which works fine, but no driver update 1 month after i bought it. I mean, wtf?

Woah, that sucks - mind if I ask what interface you were using? I got my Pro40 in early 2009 and was using it until a couple of months ago.

[Loque]

Focusrite sucks. I bought a audio interface and 1 month later they released rev2 and instantly stopped supporting the driver for my "old" device. In the meantime i had troubles from time to time with rebooting and crashes. This was clearly the last time i bought something from Focusrite. I have a device which works fine, but no driver update 1 month after i bought it. I mean, wtf?

Woah, that sucks - mind if I ask what interface you were using? I got my Pro40 in early 2009 and was using it until a couple of months ago.

Scarlett 2i2

[sublunar]

I have now ordered a new Focusrite: a Scarlett 18i20 3rd gen USB-C interface, so I can use it for several years to come.

Good luck with the 18i20. I bought two of those because the first one was used and didn't work properly. Same issue on the new one. I spent many hours troubleshooting/testing/etc. Only theory at this point was a conflict with the chipset driver on my PC. The 18i20 is a good device on paper, but absolutely sucked in my experience. I bought a lesser interface from M-Audio and have had 100% stability with zero latency and zero setup time involved. That was my first and last experience with Focusrite.

[miyaru]

Thanx for all the responses! Wow Sublunar that is quite a shitty expierience!!! I'm sorry for you.And Loque that sucks big time man.........

[miyaru]

And what I forgot to mention: I'm going to write a mail to Focusrite, that it sucks the way driverupdates are dropped. In a world where we should care about the enviroment, good working stuff should not be scrapped!!!!! We should think about our world and resources. This is not a way to help nature...........

[Loque]

And what I forgot to mention: I'm going to write a mail to Focusrite, that it sucks the way driverupdates are dropped. In a world where we should care about the enviroment, good working stuff should not be scrapped!!!!! We should think about our world and resources. This is not a way to help nature...........

Good idea. I should have done that too.

But now i make some good google keywords: Focusrite Scarlett sucks bad driver never buy ripped off bad no support waste dont care about customers bad rating

[zoidkirb]

My Gen 1 Scarlet 2i4 is still going strong. I got updates for mine after the Gen 2 was released too, in-fact there's a newer one posted now but i'm not sure if i'll bother. The drivers in the early years weren't the greatest. Once the Gen 2 came out, people realised you could actually just use the Gen 2 drivers on the Gen 1 devices, and instantly get better latency and stability. After some time Focusrite realised this too, and re-wrote the Gen 1 drivers.

[kuhliloach]

Remember that ASIO4ALL works as a replacement for manufacturer ASIO drivers, so it's worth a try. When I use ASIO4ALL with a Line6 Toneport I have access to lower latency settings than the Line6 drivers.

[selig]

@ Adfielding: do you have the 3rd gen Scarlett, if yes: how do you like the air option in the control software?

I can comment - it's basically just a slight HF boost, sounds good but doesn't remind me of Focusrite hardware…

I've had two focusrite interfaces, one USB (which still works but I don't use it) and one thunderbolt which I'm still using today. I have had nothing but great experiences with them to date, and many users, including some here, have had them in service for many more years than mine (5 years + for the USB interface).

[miyaru]

I had my Saffire Pro 40 for a long time too. I like what they offer for the money. Before this Pro 40, I had a Lexicon IONIX 410, which was more expensive, sounded less good and broke down after 5 years. So the Pro 40 was a step up in quality for me.

I know there is way better stuff to buy, but I'm surely no pro, doing it all for fun. Sometimes you have to cut costs down to a point of reasenable quality. But hey, if money was no thing to think about, I would buy an Antelope interface or so.........

[zoidkirb]

I had my Saffire Pro 40 for a long time too. I like what they offer for the money. Before this Pro 40, I had a Lexicon IONIX 410, which was more expensive, sounded less good and broke down after 5 years. So the Pro 40 was a step up in quality for me.

I know there is way better stuff to buy, but I'm surely no pro, doing it all for fun. Sometimes you have to cut costs down to a point of reasenable quality. But hey, if money was no thing to think about, I would buy an Antelope interface or so.........

Maybe you can still get some use out of the Pro 40 purely as a bunch of pre's running into into a new interface that supports ADAT/optical in, such asthe RME Babyface. Something worth considering before it goes in the bin

[DaveyG]

@ Adfielding: do you have the 3rd gen Scarlett, if yes: how do you like the air option in the control software?

The Air thing is a bit of a gimmick imo. It smacks of the need for them to have an extra bullet point on their 3rd Gen feature list.
Having said that, I always keep it on for the vocal input. Apart from anything else I like the orange light!

And I also love Focusrite interfaces. I've got a 2nd Gen 2i2 which is superb with the iPad and a bigger 3rd Gen Scarlett on the main PC. Both are rock solid, low latency, no fuss. I've owned a lot of interface over the years (SoundBlaster ISA anyone?) and the Focusrites stand head and shoulders above the rest for me.

[miyaru]

@Zoidkirb: might be a thing to do, if I can get it going back to 44.1 or 48 Khz again........

DaveyG & Selig: I will try the Air function and see what it can do for me.

It is confirmed: my new interface comes today, and if I have some time I will install it right away.......LOL

[zoidkirb]

@Zoidkirb: might be a thing to do, if I can get it going back to 44.1 or 48 Khz again........

DaveyG & Selig: I will try the Air function and see what it can do for me.

It is confirmed: my new interface comes today, and if I have some time I will install it right away.......LOL

oh I see you have the 18i20 already! Look's like that one has ADAT inputs so you should be good to hook up the old Pro 40 and record a whole drum kit or something
Don't forget to sign up with Focusrite Plugin Collective and grab all those sweet free VST's.

[miyaru]

Thanx!!!!!!