Yo guys, getting a new machine and studio toys and wondering what interface to get? I've liked the look of this bad boy for a while now but just after some info from anyone who's got/had one.
Cheers!
Alesis io26 - FTW or sucks balls
Re: Alesis io26 - FTW or sucks balls
I have the iO/14, but they are basically the same function wise. If I wanted more ins I would have no problem getting the 26, although I would also be considering Presonus for the price range.
It has worked well with both my pc and mac. From what I have read it has good converters for its price range. A great feature for me is the double headphone outs. Its built strong. The direct monitoring software is simple but has 1 little niggle for me, when opening it channel 1 defaults panned left, chan 2 right,3 left, 4 right etc. There is no way I can see to change these defaults to center. It works fine with both Live and GarageBand which are the two progs I use.
Cheers. G,
It has worked well with both my pc and mac. From what I have read it has good converters for its price range. A great feature for me is the double headphone outs. Its built strong. The direct monitoring software is simple but has 1 little niggle for me, when opening it channel 1 defaults panned left, chan 2 right,3 left, 4 right etc. There is no way I can see to change these defaults to center. It works fine with both Live and GarageBand which are the two progs I use.
Cheers. G,
iMac - 10.10.3 - Live 9 Suite - APC40 - Axiom 61 - TX81z - Firestudio Mobile - Focal Alpha 80's - Godin Session - Home made foot controller
Re: Alesis io26 - FTW or sucks balls
Thanks for the advice,
Price isn't my overriding concern, but it does seem pretty good value. Wouldn't mind hearing from any people have got Presonus or anything else for that matter.
But I really like the look of the Alesis, you know when you see something and it just seems like it fits?
Price isn't my overriding concern, but it does seem pretty good value. Wouldn't mind hearing from any people have got Presonus or anything else for that matter.
But I really like the look of the Alesis, you know when you see something and it just seems like it fits?
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Silverfish
- Posts: 753
- Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:53 pm
- Location: Calgary, AB
Re: Alesis io26 - FTW or sucks balls
Just wanted to chime in here and share with you my love/hate relationship with this piece of gear.
On paper, this is everything I could ever ask for from an external firewire sound card. In reality, there are two small but important things that drive me bonkers.
1) The device drivers (both Mac and PC). My unit decides to reset itself at random every other day or so. When this happens, I have about three seconds to turn off my speakers before the unit resets to default, volume 100%. That means very, very, very loud. Not pleasant. Totally random. (to be fair, I haven't upgraded to snow leopard yet, so maybe it'll be better with that).
2) Surround support. The main volume knob only controls volume on Output 1 and 2. When I run a surround configuration, the volume for channels 3-8 is inaccessable from the frontpanel of the unit. I've tried using the included software, contacting Alesis for more info, but nothing works. The only solution is to control the volume from within whatever app or program you are using. PITA.
Otherwise, the unit is fantastic. Lots of input and output options, and the unit certainly sounds good. I also use it as a pseudo mixer- the computer doesn't have to be on to use the monitoring function, which is kind of cool. Saves me from booting up just to play some synths.
I hope this has been helpful.
On paper, this is everything I could ever ask for from an external firewire sound card. In reality, there are two small but important things that drive me bonkers.
1) The device drivers (both Mac and PC). My unit decides to reset itself at random every other day or so. When this happens, I have about three seconds to turn off my speakers before the unit resets to default, volume 100%. That means very, very, very loud. Not pleasant. Totally random. (to be fair, I haven't upgraded to snow leopard yet, so maybe it'll be better with that).
2) Surround support. The main volume knob only controls volume on Output 1 and 2. When I run a surround configuration, the volume for channels 3-8 is inaccessable from the frontpanel of the unit. I've tried using the included software, contacting Alesis for more info, but nothing works. The only solution is to control the volume from within whatever app or program you are using. PITA.
Otherwise, the unit is fantastic. Lots of input and output options, and the unit certainly sounds good. I also use it as a pseudo mixer- the computer doesn't have to be on to use the monitoring function, which is kind of cool. Saves me from booting up just to play some synths.
I hope this has been helpful.
Re: Alesis io26 - FTW or sucks balls
Be good to hear from anyone else, to see if this is just a random issue with your unit or a known fault. That would seriously piss me off, make it practically useless out on the road and definitely put me off from buying one.1) The device drivers (both Mac and PC). My unit decides to reset itself at random every other day or so. When this happens, I have about three seconds to turn off my speakers before the unit resets to default, volume 100%. That means very, very, very loud. Not pleasant. Totally random. (to be fair, I haven't upgraded to snow leopard yet, so maybe it'll be better with that).
Don't really do surround stuff, but still good to know if I decide to in the future.
The mixer functionality is one of the main attractions of the unit to me.
Cheers matey.
Re: Alesis io26 - FTW or sucks balls
It's been discontinued, some dealers (and Alesis direct) have refurbs for $400(US). There is no replacement model coming.
For that price I would be looking at the Focusrite Saffire Pro 40. I got a demo for $360...new they are in the $450-500 range. Much, much better preamps than Alesis, can be used as a standalone mixer and the drivers work properly. The mixer functionality is excellent, you get two phone mixes plus control room mix. Onboard power supply, 5-segment LED metering, rackable, 2-zone phantom power, SPDIF and ADAT for extra input channels.
For that price I would be looking at the Focusrite Saffire Pro 40. I got a demo for $360...new they are in the $450-500 range. Much, much better preamps than Alesis, can be used as a standalone mixer and the drivers work properly. The mixer functionality is excellent, you get two phone mixes plus control room mix. Onboard power supply, 5-segment LED metering, rackable, 2-zone phantom power, SPDIF and ADAT for extra input channels.
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leedsquietman
- Posts: 6659
- Joined: Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:56 am
- Location: greater toronto area
Re: Alesis io26 - FTW or sucks balls
The I/O 14 has been discontinued a while ago (which I own, a scaled down IO26 with 4 XLRs and 2 outputs only no RCA jack) but when I asked several dealers and Alesis if they discontinued the I/O 26 they all denied it. This was a few weeks ago and many music sites say it's not available, so I would think it has been discontinued in spite of Alesis telling me otherwise.
The drivers are a mixed bag - this unit ran great for me on my older Dell laptop which had a Texas Instruments chipset, but under the new Dell which has a ricoh chipset and Vista Ultimate 32, took a lot of messing around optimizing it and the latest driver from Alesis BSODs the computer and requires a system restore, so I have to use the older driver, Alesis says it has issues with Dell's bios but hasn't corrected this and this issue is months old. I also find it a bit buggy, like sometimes audio drops out completely and I have to go back into the Alesis control panel and switch the 'allow system sounds' box on and off again to correct this. It works better under the ASIO4ALL driver for me and allows lower latency times, although it's low latency performance is not bad it doesn't go as low as RME, so if that's important you need to try and test before buy (although it has near zero latency direct monitoring which is useful).
The preamps and converters are very good for their price range - at least as good as Presonus, although not quite at RME or Apogee levels. I have made many recordings with it, but have needed more workarounds on the new computer although it's not entirely the audio interface's fault, there are known issues with firewire chipsets which are not TI or VIA.
My recommendation would be to not buy the unit at this time, because there is uncertainty at it's continued development, although it has win 7 64 bit and snow leopard drivers, so has some future proofing, unless you can get it at a clearance blow out price - however, the interface itself is a nice unit and punches above it's weight quality wise even at full price.
BTW - The Alesis also has ADAT, SP/DIF and more XLRS than the Focusrite. Focusrite have more a tad more preamp gain and their preamps are nice, I wouldn't say they are much better than the ALesis ones but they are a tad better (the conversion/jitter is no better than the Alesis), and many people with the Saffire Pro have not been able to get low latency performance as low as they would like, something highlighted in several reviews, including Sound On Sound (although asio4all can improve on this). You could also consider something like an Echo Audiofire in this price range or Presonus.
The drivers are a mixed bag - this unit ran great for me on my older Dell laptop which had a Texas Instruments chipset, but under the new Dell which has a ricoh chipset and Vista Ultimate 32, took a lot of messing around optimizing it and the latest driver from Alesis BSODs the computer and requires a system restore, so I have to use the older driver, Alesis says it has issues with Dell's bios but hasn't corrected this and this issue is months old. I also find it a bit buggy, like sometimes audio drops out completely and I have to go back into the Alesis control panel and switch the 'allow system sounds' box on and off again to correct this. It works better under the ASIO4ALL driver for me and allows lower latency times, although it's low latency performance is not bad it doesn't go as low as RME, so if that's important you need to try and test before buy (although it has near zero latency direct monitoring which is useful).
The preamps and converters are very good for their price range - at least as good as Presonus, although not quite at RME or Apogee levels. I have made many recordings with it, but have needed more workarounds on the new computer although it's not entirely the audio interface's fault, there are known issues with firewire chipsets which are not TI or VIA.
My recommendation would be to not buy the unit at this time, because there is uncertainty at it's continued development, although it has win 7 64 bit and snow leopard drivers, so has some future proofing, unless you can get it at a clearance blow out price - however, the interface itself is a nice unit and punches above it's weight quality wise even at full price.
BTW - The Alesis also has ADAT, SP/DIF and more XLRS than the Focusrite. Focusrite have more a tad more preamp gain and their preamps are nice, I wouldn't say they are much better than the ALesis ones but they are a tad better (the conversion/jitter is no better than the Alesis), and many people with the Saffire Pro have not been able to get low latency performance as low as they would like, something highlighted in several reviews, including Sound On Sound (although asio4all can improve on this). You could also consider something like an Echo Audiofire in this price range or Presonus.
http://soundcloud.com/umbriel-rising http://www.myspace.com/leedsquietmandemos Live 7.0.18 SUITE, Cubase 5.5.2], Soundforge 9, Dell XPS M1530, 2.2 Ghz C2D, 4GB, Vista Ult SP2, legit plugins a plenty, Alesis IO14.
Re: Alesis io26 - FTW or sucks balls
Cheers for the heads up guys, I had no idea it was (or maybe) being discontinued.
I'm in no rush and I'm pretty much going to be investing in a whole new setup so I'm happy to wait till I find the right gear.
I'm in no rush and I'm pretty much going to be investing in a whole new setup so I'm happy to wait till I find the right gear.