I have an old Focusrite Scarlett on an older PC in a vacation location. I just upgraded the motherboard, CPU and RAM and it’s a good machine again. But all the audio was distorted. Lots of emails to Focusrite Support, which has always been excellent up to now, didn’t help. We tried what I thought was everything.

Based on comments online about Focusrite, I learned that they are picky about the USB port. No USB 3, no hub (powered or not) and no USB 2 where anything else shares the port. Ok.

So I moved the USB cable to a USB 2 port on the back of the case, one directly on the motherboard. Success.

MORAL: I should have tried that first. For digital audio, the best place to plug in USB cables is on the back of the PC.

Now, about not using USB 3, this could become a problem in a few short years when motherboards don’t have USB 2 anymore. The manufacturers may think 3.1 or 3.0 is compatible, but it’s not for some digital audio devices.

BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.