Focusrite 8i6 breaks midi instruments - but only pianos

[mrseiter]

Hi, I'm new here. But I've run into a problem that really has me stumped.

I just upgraded to a Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 from a 2i2. The upgrade had not gone smoothly. The 2i2 practically fell out of the box, plugged itself in and configured itself for my DAW (Ardour). The 8i6 has fought me every step of the way. I had USB signal issues that made me move my tower to under my piano. I even had to break out my emergency win10 laptop to use the horrid Focusrite proprietary software (which promptly disabled the headphone jack I was using) to enable the midi ports.

So about midi....

When I finally got everything configured, I added a general synth track to Ardour, connected a2j, and began playing prelude 1 in C....on a harpsichord. Ok, instrument must have somehow changed: nope -C1 stereo grand. Maybe it's playing on a different channel for some reason: no - changed them all to stereo grand - still harpsichord.

Different synth? This is where it gets interesting. I changed to the calf fluid synth and began cycling through some fonts and instruments. Marrimbas, brass, drums, sine waves, sitars, electric pianos, organs and of course harpsichords played just fine. But any instrument emulating an analog piano was a harpsichord in any sounds font.

Perplexed....

I tried playing songs through Musescore and it got even weirder. When the 8i6 isn't running, it plays through piano parts fine. When it is the piano parts are normal, but joined by a clap on each note. If I change the output to pulse, it plays normally. Again so non-piano instruments are unaffected.

I've been searching around forums for hours and doing everything I can think of. I'm out of ideas. Hoping someone can help.

Thanks

System:
Ubuntu studio 20.04/kde plasma
Fxstudio stuff: cadence, Catia, I don't usually use Claudia or ladish.
Ardour 5.12.0 (may build 6 before the end of this, but I doubt that's the problem)