Focusrite Scarlett 18i8/18i20 or PreSonus Studio 1810 with Reaper?

AndreiR

Member
Hi all! I hope everybody's well.

I'm replacing my good old Tascam US1641 which I was very happy with, but is not supported anymore. Right now I'm using Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd gen. as a temporary setup, on my iMac OS X Catalina, running Reaper.

I narrowed down my search to these two-three: PreSonus Studio 1810, or Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 (2nd Gen), or Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 (2nd Gen). My main choice for these is that they promise "plug-and-play", no drivers to install (and upgrade).

My first choice out of all of them would be PreSonus Studio 1810 because it has enough outs for monitoring (I need at least two sets of outs: one for the monitors, and another for the PA system through the mixer) as opposed to Focusrite Scarlett 18i8, which has only one pair of outs. 18i20 also has enough outs but it's more expensive, although I may find some good deal on ebay.

My questions is how they perform with Reaper on a system similar to mine? I'm quite used to working with Reaper and don't really want to install and learn something new (which come with those interfaces). Does anybody of you have any of those mentioned above interfaces and can share your experience? Please share and help. Thank you!
 
I guess I got impatient and just went ahead and ordered PreSonus Studio 1810 from Amazon. Can't wait to get it. I hope it'll work with my setup. If anybody has to say anything VERY NEGATIVE about it, there is still time for me to cancel the order, or return it without opening the package:eek:.
I hope not ... :D
 
Today I got my new Studio 1810, hooked it up and tried to record four tracks at once: 1 - mic guitar amp, 2 - mic for voice/ trumpet, 3 - line bass amp, 5/6 - drum machine. It recorded well. But playback is glitchy. When I stop and play the part where there was a glitch, it played well, but then it plays glitchy in another spot. That way I know that recording is fine but when it plays back then there is problem.

Probably I should do dome adjustments in preferences. Can anybody help me with this problem? My system is: mac OS X Catalina, Reaper, Presonus Studio 1820, Universal Control. Recorded in 44,1khz.

Thank you!!!
 
That may be an indication of slow or interrupted reading data off the drive, or some other process hijacking the CPU.

Do you experience the glitches when playing other media (e.g. videos from youtube or whatever)?
 
That may be an indication of slow or interrupted reading data off the drive, or some other process hijacking the CPU.

Do you experience the glitches when playing other media (e.g. videos from youtube or whatever)?

YouTube playback is fine. Also this same system worked very well with tascam us1640 and Scarlett Solo.
 
Make sure you have other processes shut down - wireless internet, etc.

I never had any problem with other interfaces having internet and wifi running in the background. Actually it started playing back very well. Maybe after I updated the OS X? But now Universal Control can't "see" the device, it's greyed out. And the console is missing too. Yesterday I muted one channel playback and now I can't turn it back, can't hear it.
 
After a few tries the Universal Control found the device and the console came mack. Kind of unpredictable behavior... I guess I should play with it more and see what's and where's.
 
Some thoughts:

About six months ago I started hearing random clicks and glitchy things on playback (after glitch-free running since 2005). There was no apparent cause, and no apparent pattern. Some days were glitch-free, other days weren't. Like you, I had everything working fine with internet, wifi and assorted virus checkers in the background.

My usual fix was simply to re-boot, and that did it most of the time.

And then it stopped happening, and I have no explanation.

Also, since then I've gone to Windows 10, and that has run totally glitch-free.

I note that my interfaces vary in their behaviour.

My main one doesn't care about anything; it will connect on bootup, or after bootup. The one I use for mobile recording with my laptop will sometimes connect on bootup, and sometimes won't, so I have to unplug then replug the firewire cable for it to fire up. The StudioLive will connect on boot with the laptop, but not on my backup PC; it needs to be connected after the PC has booted.
 
Some thoughts:

About six months ago I started hearing random clicks and glitchy things on playback (after glitch-free running since 2005). There was no apparent cause, and no apparent pattern. Some days were glitch-free, other days weren't. Like you, I had everything working fine with internet, wifi and assorted virus checkers in the background.

My usual fix was simply to re-boot, and that did it most of the time.

And then it stopped happening, and I have no explanation.

Also, since then I've gone to Windows 10, and that has run totally glitch-free.

I note that my interfaces vary in their behaviour.

My main one doesn't care about anything; it will connect on bootup, or after bootup. The one I use for mobile recording with my laptop will sometimes connect on bootup, and sometimes won't, so I have to unplug then replug the firewire cable for it to fire up. The StudioLive will connect on boot with the laptop, but not on my backup PC; it needs to be connected after the PC has booted.

I'm afraid this might be one of those cases like yours. This is my first experience with Presonus, and maybe I should consider to return it and look for something else like Focusrite, Zoom or Tascam ... if any of them are more stable. It just brings back those memories of 20 years ago when spending days and nights configuring incompatible pieces of equipment. I thought those days are gone. Anyway, thank you Gecko Zzed for your help, sharing your experience! I'll give it a try.
 
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Today I recorded three channels at once. It al went without a single glitch. It's just the UC doesn't recognize the board from the first take.
 
I have used Presonus interfaces and software for years now, once you get used to their eco-system there is no turning back in my opinion. I’m not sure if you are using Reaper for specific reasons but if not, you might consider Presonus Studio One software as their HW/SW plays nicely with each other and will usually give you the benefit of using their zero latency architecture. Plus, your hardware purchase should have included a light version of their DAW software. That will help in the overall setup/calibration of your system.
 
I have used Presonus interfaces and software for years now, once you get used to their eco-system there is no turning back in my opinion. I’m not sure if you are using Reaper for specific reasons but if not, you might consider Presonus Studio One software as their HW/SW plays nicely with each other and will usually give you the benefit of using their zero latency architecture. Plus, your hardware purchase should have included a light version of their DAW software. That will help in the overall setup/calibration of your system.

I guess you're right, Waterbound, I should try Studio One since it came in a package. I heard good things about it. At the same time I can do anything I need in Reaper. Unless it doesn't perform, there is really no reason for me to switch and go through some learning curve. What I like about Reaper that it's light on the system and very intuitive, as oppose to SO, that I heard is more power hungry and also less intuitive. Am I right? But still, maybe I should try it and decide for myself...
 
Reaper that it's light on the system and very intuitive, as oppose to SO, that I heard is more power hungry and also less intuitive.

Reaper is very light on the system. There are frequent upgrades, and the download is only about 15mb for Windows. One man's intuitive is another man's poison . . . it depends on whether the programming matches your expectations of how things should work.

Am I right? But still, maybe I should try it and decide for myself...

There's no harm in trying both, specially as Studio One comes with the interface. It may be worth having both, with one used for some tasks, and the other used for some other tasks. For example, I still use Logic 5.1 (which was first released in 2002, and the last version available for PC) for doing scoring, which I think it does better than Reaper.
 
Reaper is very light on the system. There are frequent upgrades, and the download is only about 15mb for Windows. One man's intuitive is another man's poison . . . it depends on whether the programming matches your expectations of how things should work.

Yes, upgrades -- that's too. Or maybe it's intuitive because I'm just used to it.

There's no harm in trying both, specially as Studio One comes with the interface. It may be worth having both, with one used for some tasks, and the other used for some other tasks. For example, I still use Logic 5.1 (which was first released in 2002, and the last version available for PC) for doing scoring, which I think it does better than Reaper.

Yes, I must try it. And maybe I'll convert. This is the review I was watching about comparing those two: YouTube
 
I watched the video with interest.

Many have criticized Reaper's interface as being boring or outdated or drab. That's actually what I like about it. In fact I prefer the Reaper 4 theme and still use it in preference to Reaper 5 or 6. That's because the look of it doesn't get in my way of understanding what the recording processes are doing.
 
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