I ordered a Presonus Audiobox 44 VSL today for $274. I'll let you know how it goes.

Beepster - fun to read through your sojourn here. I have two of the Focusrite Scarlett 18i6s. So pleased with the first one (which I've loaded up with cables) that I bought a second one for when I roam around and just want to have a quick connect. It's worked like a charm for me. I appreciate the ADAT input, which has allowed me to send in 8 additional inputs from a ProFire 2626. The sound is really crystal clean. I didn't have a single issue or bit of confusion in the install process. I did decide to pick up from a hardware store a remote power switch for the plug. The one annoyance I have is that there's no on off switch for the unit. So for the unit I have that has all the inputs loaded and doesn't move I've attached this remote switch plug to it so I can turn it on and off easily without reaching behind a bunch of wires to unhook the power. With that in place I've been a happy camper with the unit and relish the sound.

From the other thread: Hi, lawajawa. I see from your specs you have an M-Audio device hooked up to the 18i6 to take advantage of the extra channels via the optical connection. I'm curious as to how difficult it was to get that set up and what kind of results you are getting. I have the 18i6 and thought I might be stuck purchasing their OctoPre interface if I wanted to expand without a mixer so if there are other options I'd love to explore them. Thanks.

Beepster - I don't see how the daisy chaining idea would work. The Scarlett MixControl is all set up to handle the one unit, as well as the ADAT inputs but it doesn't have a UI design to accommodate daisy chaining a like unit. I get great results from the ADAT input. It's just like having 8 more inputs in the back (all through this one tiny ADAT plug), and the MixControl UI is fantastic for quickly mixing to suit your ears for monitoring. Sonar X1 is all ready to handle the additional 8 inputs, so you've got 18 inputs to choose from to route to your audio track input. This has made it very convenient for me to have multiple external midi sound devices. I can call up sounds from all over the place (not to mention the internal soft synth stuff) and it flows in as needed. My one other comment is that I've been using the Line 6 KB37 for recording guitar tracks. I prefer how the KB37 has virtually no latency while I play live and put down tracks even loaded with all the sounds from either Pod Farm or Guitar Rig 5. Compared to the Focusrite Scarlett, I've found that the guitar input experience is much sharper through the KB37. But in contrast to that, I've found that all of the other audio inputs I want - external midi audio inputs, and microphones etc. have superior clarity through the Focusrite Scarlett 18i6. Sonar X1 is great, it enables me to easily toggle between the two audio devices as needed.

Ok Beepster, I've got my Presonus Audiobox 44 VSL running at 24bit 48 khz 64 buffers. Roundtrip latency is 4.7 ms! I'm thrilled.

BTW in regards to the optical input stuff Matt from Focusrite said this in another thread in case ya'll missed it...


"Glad to hear you are all enjoying using your Scarletts and Saffires with X1.
Beepster: In regards to your question about using the optical input with the 18i6, you should be able to use it with any device that has an ADAT optical output. The only thing you have to do is plugin the lightpipe cable to both devices and set your Sync source in MixControl to ADAT. You will want to set the device sending the optical output to internal clocking. It really is that easy.
Matt Pliskin // Focusrite Technical Support"

Hooray!

That would be pretty cool if it works out that way. Let us know when you get back to it.

Actually I forgot that I opened MixControl and switched 1 and 2 to Inst (instead of Line) and that is what made the LEDs turn on. When I switch either one back to line the corresponding LED turns off.

Okay... so that was a little bit understated. I needed to put away my gear and get some dinner going. When I say it sounded good I mean it sounded GOOOOOOOD. Like I was playing through an old Ampeg fridge dialed into to it's cleanest, most present sound. I was really worried about how I would deal with my bass tracks and thought I would have to buy an amp or screw around with sims forever but from my ears it was spot, freaking, on. And all I did was plug straight into the Scarlett. Granted I did just put new strings on the bass so that probably helped but I used to try a direct in on my Layla through the multi pres with the exact same bass (when the pickup wasn't mangled too) and it was flat and cruddy sounding. I recorded an album and ran my bass through my Line 6 head to get a cleaner tone which worked well enough but that was GARBAGE compared to this. Even after tons of post EQing and adding effects and whatever it was GARBAGE compared to this. So yes indeed a basic Instr. input through the multi pres smokes some considerable butt at least in regards to recording bass. Can't wait to see what it will do for my guitar sound... and, if I ever get up to it again, some vocals. Cheers.

Does the scarlett come with any amp simulation software like my line 6 ux-1 did? Something like pod farm perhaps?

Well, I ordered the 18i6...  and it's all your fault, Beepster.  
 

I should have it towards the end of next week.   
 

BTW this signal is SUPER strong. I've got my trim knob on the unit turned almost completely off and had to pull my track fader in X1 WAY down and was still getting a super powerful signal. Sounds great. I can't wait to try out some of the included effects.

Glad you've found it helpful, synkrotron. That's what I was hoping for with all this. When I first started looking at all the new modern interfaces it was very intimidating and confusing so I figured if I just put it all out there others like myself might find some meaning beyond all the technobabble. Cheers.

It sounds like the minimum latency values do go fairly low if you're getting down to 1ms input.   But whether those values hold up under heavier CPU loads remains to be seen.   Hopefully I will know myself sometime soon since I should be receiving my shipment in the next few days.