Scarlett 2i2 Help.

[Meelocheck]

Ok, I have heard some of the recordings from some of the guys on this forum and they sound 100x better than my crap. I am using a shit 10$ USB mic right to the PC, using Reaper as my DAW. To get some better recordings I grabbed a Scarlett 2i2 and followed the directions: dl'd drivers, wired it up, and maybe even properly, but can't get shit to happen...I got nothing coming out, nothing in the DAW, nothing. I can get a rally shitty sound out of the head phones though and I hope this isn't the best this thing can do...What in the actual crap am I doing wrong? How do I connect all this shit so I can get my first decent recording under my belt. I need to be spoken to as you would a child. I am awesome with hardware, can fix any gotdamn thing really, but this software (which is what I am assuming the problem is) kicks my tail. Very frustrated after a long shitty frustrating day and I was hoping this would go smoothly and I might enjoy my evening. Instead I have been trying to get this thing to work for about 30 minutes now and I give up. I could really use some help...Thanks.

[Noizemaker]

I think you just need to switch the audio driver your daw is using to the Scarlet's driver.

I had a disappointing experience with mine anyhow, so I may advise smashing it and buying a new interface lol

[Markdude]

It annoyed me that the preamp gain was too high in instrument mode for most guitar pickups, but other than that it was rock solid. Make sure you've got it selected in your Audio Hardware options in your DAW (and in your Windows audio devices too if you want it to be the default device for all sound).

[Meelocheck]

Reaper isn't even seeing it. As far as I can tell, the drivers installed properly and the computer recognized it and said it was ready to use once I plugged it in, so I tried using it...It doesn't show up in the control panel under any of the sound settings. ALso, what do I plug in where. I got the little pic that shows all the shit, but I have my Micro Terror headphone out plugged into the Scarlett...I think that's right, isn't it? I even tried my JCA22H and the line out was just as shit as the Micro Terror. I don't plug speaker outs from the amp to the damn thing, do I? That doesn't seem right...Or does it? Shit I am so fucking lost right now trying to get this thing to work...

[Markdude]

I've only used Reaper briefly but is there any kind of option that lets you pick between WDM/MME/ASIO drivers? You'll want to select ASIO for the right Scarlett drivers to show up.

And the line out from an amp/preamp will sound like shit without any kind of speaker simulation (like impulse responses in your DAW). I was looking into the Micro Terror a while back and the clips/consensus sound like its headphone out is just a line out too (no speaker simulation).

[Meelocheck]

I just went through all this stuff again and Reaper still will not see it...The PC will not see it either. I dunno wtf happened. Everything said it installed properly. Again, lost...And What kind of speaker simulation? I thought it would just replay the sound through my computer speakers? See...Much confusion. Sometimes I hate this shit. Ready to give up and stick to shitty 10$ USB mic clips...As shitty as they are I can at least hear the damn things. Reaper sees it too...And I don't see any options like those in my DAW but I am most likely not looking in the right place. ffs...I am so lost.

[Markdude]

If the PC is not seeing it, there's a lot of technical possibilities. You might want to contact Focusrite support and see if they can figure out what's up. I think they can even remote access your computer (with your permission and supervision of course) and try to fix it themselves. Sometimes it could just be a picky USB cable or USB port (try different ones), or the drivers need to be reinstalled, or sometimes it can be more complicated and aggravating.

A guitar speaker is very different than a full range speaker (like your computer speakers). Its frequency response is very limited and not very flat (i.e. not an accurate representation of the source signal). The signal from an amp/preamp (btw, you're correct in that you definitely don't want to plug your speaker outputs into the interface; you'll fuck up your amp and your interface) sounds very harsh and fizzy/fuzzy (at least with overdrive) before it hits a guitar speaker, then the guitar speaker smooths it out and imparts its particular frequency response characteristics on it. A full range speaker is designed to do its best to accurately represent the full signal, so it will sound terrible through one.

This is all assuming the Scarlett is actually playing sound properly though (were you hearing it through the direct monitoring? That might work even if the drivers aren't working). It could be sounding shitty in a different, non-intended way if it's just plain fucked up. Have you plugged headphones into the Micro Terror itself before and played with a lot of gain? It will likely sound scratchy and fuzzy and just plain bad. It will still sound the same through the Scarlett before you apply some kind of impulse response in your DAW (search around the web for tutorials on guitar cab impulse responses, it's kind of a lot to cover but there's tons of good info out there and there's not much of a learning curve once you wrap your head around it).

[Meelocheck]

I appreciate the help. Decided to give up for now, get drunker and call it a night. I srsly can't believe how difficult this is. In this day and age of computer wizardry I should just be able to plug this shit in and have it work...Like my shit ass 10$ USB xbox mic. Gonna do some reading and see what turns up. Someone out there has to have one set up and working properly with Reaper. Did it just work, did you have to futz with it, change certain settings etc etc? I gotta know! Thanks for the help, mang. I appreciate it. And I'm glad I didn't plug the speaker out into the damn thing because I was thinking about it...Crap...