Yeah, I'm actually still learning what all those damn outs are for…LOL. Right now, I have my powered monitors (KRK 5s) plugged into the main outs…should I change this? I have not even used any outboard FX since purchasing this unit (I own VERY little), but I assumed the line outs are where those would be routed from. Also, I was discussing reamping options on another thread, and I think it was established that's where I would want to send the recorded guitar signal as well…hope I'm not hijacking a thread here, haha
Hah.
Since the OP is "Completely new" to this and asking about routing, it does no harm.
Keeping it basic, your computer looks for analog sources of audio, and also sends audio to analog destinations.
Microphone = analog source. Speakers = analog destination, for example.
The interface inputs take analog audio and pipe into into your software as digital audio.
The interface outputs take audio that's in your computer and pipe it out as analog audio.
The two aren't related in terms of numerical assignments or limitations.
The number of separate things you can record simultaneously is dictated by the number of discreet
inputs.
Connecting the monitors to main outputs is bang right. Quite often interfaces have main outs plus some additional extra outputs.
Whether the numbering starts at 3 or 1 doesn't really matter.
Sometimes they're just called 1,2,3,4..etc
Your software should, by default, send the stereo master output to main outs/1+2....Your monitors.
If you plan to reamp dry recordings I'd suggest using output 3 to prevent any confusion or mixup.
It also removes the need to unplug/replug stuff and prevents the possibility of setting up a feedback loop by mistake.
Haha…seriously though, thanks for clearing that up, I was obviously confused, but that makes perfect sense. OP, ignore my previous statement; US-1800 should be exactly what you need.