Focusrite Clarett 8pre X and PT 12 on Windows 10

[NuclearMedia]

Hey everybody. I've been on the DUC for a longtime. I've gone through many hardware changes and upgrades in the last couple of decades and this forum has helped me fix a bunch of major issues that had me in a corner. Some of the community members came to the rescue with minutes to spare before paid sessions. For that, I am eternally grateful. I firgured it was time for me to give back. Maybe this will help other engineers that use a similar setup get past majors configuration issues. I haven't seen too many threads about this with my particular hardware configuration.

My setup:

Pro Tools 12 Ultimate
iLok Dongle
Slate Digital Everything Bundle
Izotope RX6 Noise Reduction
Windows 10 Home 64bit
96gb Total Corsair Vengeance 8gb 2333mHz GDDR 4 RAM Card
ASUS x99 Strix Motherboard
Samsung EVO 970 NVMe m.2 512GB SS Main Drive
Radeon R9 390x 8gb Video Card
Dual Viewsonic TD2421 Touchscreen Monitors
ASUS Thunderbolt 3 PCI Card
APPLE Thunderbolt 3 cable
APPLE Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter
Focusrite Clarett 8pre X
Behringer Ultragain Digital ADA8200 ADAT Audio Interface
KRK Rokit 5
KRK 10S Sub Monitor



I rebuilt my audio server a few months ago so I could integrate the Focusrite Clarett into my studio. The "Air" feature on the mic pres really does some fantastic stuff but Windows users struggle with getting the Clarett to work properly. Here's what I did...

Before you really get started with all of the software based optimizations, make sure the thunderbolt card is installed in the third PCIe slot from the top. That supports X4 PCIe mode in BIOS. After you've done that, jump into BIOS and set these parameters.

Advanced\Onboard Devices Configuration

PCIEX4_1 Slot Bandwidth X4 Mode
PCIEX8_3 Slot Bandwidth Auto

Advanced\Intel(R) Thunderbolt

Intel Thunderbolt Technology ON
Security Level Legacy
Wake From Thunderbolt Devices ON
Thunderbolt USB Support Disabled
Thunderbolt Boot Support Disabled
AIC Support ON
AIC Location Group SB PCIE Slot
AIC Location SB PCIEX4_1

If you don't do this, Windows will not stream the thunderbolt signal stable enough for Pro Tools to send the monitor signal out. It also will wreak havoc on the audio playback engine for system sounds in Windows 10.

Next... Go through this and do everything it says.

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/t...#enable_legacy

When you get to the part about CState Transitions and Turbo Boost, go into BIOS and look up CPU Configuration in the Advanced menu. Disable CState, Turbo Boost, and Intel Speedstep. If you leave these on, you will be plagued by buffer errors and the dreaded clicks and pops.

Next... Download Focusrite Control v2.1.9 and ASIO4ALL. Be sure to update the firmware of the Clarett through Focusrite Control.

Be sure that your iLok software and Avid Link are updated at all times. Old software versions of these apps will create iLok authentication errors on a daily basis.

In my case, I have the Behringer ADAT set to Master 44.1 and the Clarett is synced to it via Lightpipe connection. The reason is that the Behringer has to be set to Master because the Word Clock BNC port is not syncing. It will not sync as slave if you use the ADAT connection. I even used a 75ohm BNC jumper and it just wouldn't sync. I'll look more into that in the next few weeks and see why it's not working correctly. It's a real drag because I have sessions that won't open because they are higher than 48kHz. Anyway... The routing is this... Behringer ADAT OUT to Clarett OPTICAL IN 1-9. In Focusrite Control, set the Clock Source to ADAT 1. If you only have the Clarett, set Clock Source to Internal.

This allows Pro Tools to use the monitor outs on the Clarett AND it enables you to use the same outs for system sounds within Windows 10. IE: YouTube, Google, iTunes, etc. For my setup, I use the Behringer for additional mic preamps when I have a bigger drumset because I like to add a couple of ribbon mics out front for an additional layer of room noise. I'll swap it out for a Focusrite OctoPre at some point because the Behringer is limited to 44.1 and 48 sessions.

That's pretty much it. Once I disabled Cstate, Boost Technology, and Speedstep, it worked flawlessly. If you have any questions, hit me up. I'm happy to help.