Interface input routing (Focusrite Scarlett 18i6)

[bassguy]

Hey guys
So I need a new interface. I can't get anything firewire until I upgrade to a new computer, so for now I just wanna get a decent USB one. Saw Focusrite's Scarlett 18i6, which looks good and is pretty cheap. I'm thinking that this is the one I wanna go with, because I'll be able to expand it to 16 audio channels and record drums with it.

The interface has 2 inputs on the front which are those ones that are both xlr and line input (can't think of the name) and on the back it has another 6 line inputs, and an ADAT input. So obviously I could get something like an Octopre and connect its ADAT output to the Scarlett's ADAT input, and that will add an extra 8 channels.

But what I was wondering was this: If I get a second octopre, could I then just take all 8 of the octopre's line outputs and connect those to the 8 line inputs on the Scarlett? Then I would be using all 16 inputs and could record a whole drumkit without much compromise.

It's probably a very nooby question, but I'm just asking in case there's something I've missed.


Here's links to the images of the interface and octopre so you can see all the inputs/outputs

http://www.focusrite.com/products/audio_interfaces/scarlett_18i6/images/

http://www.focusrite.com/products/mic_pres/octopre_mkii/images/

thanks guys

 

[caneris]

Yea dude that will work. Or you could save money and get the saffire pro 40 instead of the scarlett. The pro 40 has 8 preamps already then with the extra octopre you would have 16 mic pres for drums. Plus the pro 40 has dual adat ins allowing you to expand to 24 inputs in the future. Hope that helps man

 

[bassguy]

Cheers,
Just to update the first post after thinking about it a little more, I'm just worried there might be some kind of clocking issue seeing as the second octopre wouldn't be connected to the interface's clock, and I didn't see any word clock output on the interface - EDIT: herp derp, does clocking even matter the way I want to connect this? Sorry guys, I'm not used to setting this sort of stuff up

And I'd love to just do it the simple way and get a pro 40, but I'm currently using a laptop that doesn't have any firewire ports, so the interface needs to be usb. The computer is still plenty powerful enough for recording/mixing, so as yet I don't really need to upgrade to a new computer, but I do really need a new interface (sick of my crappy 2 channel Line 6 UX2). The scarlett is cheap enough ($350) that it won't bother me to just use it as a short term solution, I can always upgrade to a better interface when I have a proper setup. Not to mention I figure that whatever external preamps I get (octopre or otherwise) I'll still have a lot of use for them to expand future setups, so those will be a good investment that will (hopefully) last a while.

 

[caneris]

Ah of ofcourse USB. Too easy man.

In regards to the clock, no you wouldn't need to clock the 2 octopres when using the analogue i/o

 

[bassguy]

Thanks a lot for the info, knew I'd be overthinking it