I recently picked up a Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 for my studio and ended up putting my mixer in storage. Aside from the obvious multitracking benefit, it freed a ton of space on my desk. I’m thinking I’d like to use the same set up for live gigs. The 18i8 has it’s own power supply, so no computer/USB needed. I’ve configured the channels already, so it seems ready to go out of the studio. Aside from not being able to adjust any of the levels, are there any drawbacks I’m missing? Anybody go this route?
I´ll ask you the same question that I asked myself (and that made any plans like this fall apart OH so quickly…):
“What will you do when it craps out on you on stage / does some weird shit / makes you re-configure the channels?”
-> probably your answer is somewhere along the lines of “hold my head in my hands and sob softly”.
Unless you DO always lug around your laptop even though your interface is supposed to be “stand alone”.
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Hi. I use a Metric Halo ULN-2 with an Audient 880 plumbed in to it through ADAT for the same purpose.
I’m not sure how it works on the Scarlett, but basically I set all the mixer channels through the computer, then save them as snapshots into the interfaces memory. It works great, and solid as a rock (at least with the MH)
I have different setups for DJ’ing, ambient gig, band jam etc.
All I take is the rack and my instruments.
The fact you cannot change the main settings (unless you fire up your laptop) is a good thing, as you get a consistent sound across your instruments.
Hope that helps
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I do this for quite a while and had less issues than before when I used analog mixers. I use either the MOTU ultralite mk3 or the UAD Apollo on a Mac, both running with firewire. The only issue can be the cable connection to the macbook, sometimes the adapter or cable gets shaken by subwoofers or something but if you keep that in mind it is a better way to mix everything together.
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thanks for this answer! I do have a contingency plan: Digitakt -> Digitone audio ins. The only other piece in my current live setup is a Bastl softpop that I use for parallel processing from the DT headphone out. Not a set breaker if it gets left out 
That does help thank you!
Just remember to label the input channels, so you know what should go where !
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yes… key!!
Will be moving house in a few months so started minimizing the setup.
I’ve just boxed my mixer and doing the same for now with scarlett 18i20+ADA82000 in a portable 4U 19inch rack. (Leaving space for patch bay(s) and/or midi interface.)
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Are you going to use this for gigs too, or just studio?
I’ve also used a MOTU ultralite mk3 for countless gigs with no problems (except when my RYTM crapped out mid-set 
).
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Just studio, but will go minimal and into the living room with this, we are sorting and cleaning out all our stuff this summer.
Also a good experiment for me for what could be done live with this as a base. I’ll spin it for a test drive at the family new years eve party in or new home.
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