Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 Thin sound

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kbass30
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2018 1:24 am

Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 Thin sound

Post by kbass30 »

Good day everyone! I'm having an interesting issue with my Scarlett output being too thin sounding.
If I run the card under Windows both headphone outputs and monitor outputs sound full and rich. But under Linux (KXstudio built over Ubuntu 16.04.3) the highs are harsh and there is almost no lowend under 100 hz.

The only thing I can think of is that in the Ubuntu Sound settings, it shows the Scarlett as a 7.1 surround card. Is the speaker output being pushed through a virtual crossover since there is a "supposed" subwoofer?

I'm about done with dealing with this card under linux with having to unmute the output everytime I reboot. Not to mention restart Pulseaudio Damon every reboot!

Also please let me know what info you need from me.
Thanks in advanced!
wolftune
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Re: Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 Thin sound

Post by wolftune »

Confirmed! Same issue for me. In KXStudio, the pulse bridge treats the 18i8 as surround sound and splits out the low frequencies to some port in thinks is the sub! It also splits out (duplicates?) other surround sound stuff including the center and back etc.

I tested the same sound skipping pulse and going right to Jack, and everything then sounds fine. It's only when things go through Pulse that they sound thin.

We need to figure out how to turn off Pulse's assumption of surround sound.
Aaron Wolf
Music teacher, scholar
http://wolftune.com
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