Was excited to bring home my first DAI so that the whole house doesn’t have to listen to me practice. Got a Focusrite 2i2 (4th gen). Downloaded the drivers and put a fresh battery in my bass and plugged my quarter inch cable from my bass directly into the scarlet and put my headphones on. Then played a YT clip and played along. Sounds like garbage. Tinkered with the Gain and tried to balance the volumes better. It just sounds 100% better out of my amp than though the DAI. Is there some trick to this? For example, do I have to play through Garageband or Logic and use some preset amp to get it to sound good. Totally bummed as I was looking forward to being able to use headpones. I’ll tinker with it some more.
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Have you played with ASIO buffer size? What sample rate are you using?
Often the issue is a small buffer…
EDIT: set ASIO buffer to a value that corresponds with 5-10ms latency - which depends on the sample rate…
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If I’m interpreting correctly, @JohnF , you are plugging into the DAI, but not using any software to go along with it?
You’ll want something that takes the direct signal from your bass and then does something with it. Like an amp simulation, effects, etc. Most of the time these come in the form of a VST plugin (or similar file type) that can be used inside of a DAW such as Reaper, Garageband, Logic, etc. They often are available to run as standalone software as well, so you wouldn’t need to fire up a DAW.
There are lots to choose from, some entirely free. BIAS FX2 is one to maybe try it if you’re inclined, they have a 14-day demo period:
I’m sure you’ll see quite a difference from just your direct signal!
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Just to add, you can totally use headphones. Set the Focusrite as the audio playback device and all sound will go through that. The YT video you’re playing along to and the sound from the amp sim. You probably want to turn “Direct Monitor” off for this.
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Thank you…I will look into this, but I think using the DAW’s amps worked.
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Thanks! This solved it. I wasn’t using the DAW, so the bass sounded kind of tinny. So, now I opened Garageband and picked a bass amp that I like and that makes a big difference. Thanks again!
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Awesome, glad to hear it!
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I currently have the 3rd gen… has a weird noise.
Apparently solved on the 4th gen… with some people saying that it is on par with Motus M2.
Glad you sorted the issues though… let me know if you hear any crackling or hissing sound.
Also… are you powering it through the USBC to PC… or external adapter?
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Hey Megatronpt…no cracking or hissing sound at the moment. Just recorded my first few takes of a song and the sound quality of the bass is pretty good. I am powering the DAI with a USBC to my macbook.
If you feel comfortable enough to share that audio, please do. I’m really tempted in either getting that one… or going nuts and buying Motus M6(only one powered externally)
For balance I’ve got the 3rd generation Scarlet Solo and have recorded lots of covers in GarageBand into YouTube with no noise.
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I recorded a cover of Old Man by Neil Young and uploaded it into YT to share here on “post your covers”, but it got blocked globally for copyright. Is there a way to share either my iMovie file or just the mp3 on here and not go through YT?
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You could upload to Vimeo. Same format but a little more lax on copyright strikes.
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Hey…thanks…I think that worked…
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I just put it up on “post your covers” thread…let me know what you think of the sound quality from the DAI.
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Thanks! I’ll go check!
EDIT:
Just saw it… while you still have a very low hiss, it is way better than mine. Every single day I suspect my interface more and more.
Oh well… faraday cage time! 
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I repeat myself: go Ghostbusters to test it!
Take a notebook (on battery) outside, connect the Focusrite, bass and headphones … if it sounds perfect, it’s a non-FocusRite issue, if it has hiss or hum or crackling, it is the Focusrite (or your ASIO settings).
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Same difference. Just a little lower.
Makes noise… obviously makes more noise if I am close to big PC when under load.