Alesis io26 and io14 Interfaces

[Luke-Uk]

Question for you Alesis io 14/26 users.. Have any of you compared the sound/conversion on the Alesis io's to other converters like: Rme, the Echo Audiofire series, M-Audio Profire series..etc?? Any other firewire products in the, say, 500 to 1200 range?? Curious to know where the Alesis sound fits in across the range of available firewire cards out there.

 

 

I have an Alesis io14 and a M-Audio delta 44, I prefer the Alesis io14 by far, the quality is much better, i notice the card adds a small amount of it's own compression. The thing is if you use the M-audio products, the chances are high of actually being able to use other recording programmes. The only thing that's wrong with Alesis io14 is the drivers, but after few tries thy work fine.

[dhollmusik]

Great review thread, but I see no one (I did a search too) has mentioned the io2:

http://www.alesis.com/io2

I use it myself. It has:

- good, clean, neutral sound quality
- 2 x XLR for mics (incl. 48v)
- 2 x 1/4" inputs for guitar/line
- 2 x 1/4" inserts
- 2 x 1/4" outputs
- midi in/out
- 1/4" headphone output
- mono/stereo option
- fast, easy installation & use with the laptop

I'm very happy with it, it's sturdy and portable enough to take with you too.

[carll]

hi Anderton and all in the forum,
it's my first post here,thank you very much for the precious informations.
ps:i'm sorry by my mystakes when i write english.
my question is:
I have a macbook- 2 GHz intel core 2 duo-4 Go DDR2 sdram-logic pro 8 and I bought a second hand alesis io 26 the only troubled is the "hdm" i can't run this.
please can you tell me what i must do for repair this?
thank you so much
Carll

[DirkLind]

hi Anderton and all in the forum, it's my first post here,thank you very much for the precious informations. ps:i'm sorry by my mystakes when i write english. my question is: I have a macbook- 2 GHz intel core 2 duo-4 Go DDR2 sdram-logic pro 8 and I bought a second hand alesis io 26 the only troubled is the "hdm" i can't run this. please can you tell me what i must do for repair this? thank you so much Carll

 

 

I have a 26 sitting on one of my shelves... but I'm not sure what the problem is that you are describing. Have you installed the drivers and software? If not, you can download it here. Make sure to pick the one compatible with an intel mac.

 

You can also download the reference manual. You may need to upgrade the firmware too, depending on the age of the unit.

 

If this stuff isn't helpful, perhaps you can try to explain the problem more specifically. Google translate for some of it perhaps? Good luck. I liked mine OK, but replaced it with an Apogee Ensemble, which I really love.

[bigbeatspro]

Hello Sir,

Im hoping that you can help me with my Alesis IO 26. Just got it second hand. It powers up and i can hear sound from it but it does not allow me to use it to its full potention. The issue is that i can only hear sound from the headphones out. I have gone thru reinstalling the drivers, been on the phone with an Alesis tech who couldnt help me much. In my sound settings in control panel in my Win 7 os system, i can see it but it does not show all the outs and outs like my M-Audio firewire 410 does and i believe that is when the problem. I have seen a lot of posting on this and am hoping you can maybe help me. Thanks for taking the time to read this Sir. Hope to hear from you soon.

Okay, now that we've looked at inputs 1-4, let's look at inputs 5-8. as shown in the picture. They're pretty much the same as 1-4, with a few differences: * There's no instrument input option * You can switch inputs 7 and 8 between mic/line and phono. Yes, there's a turntable RCA phono input on the back (with grounding post, natch!) so DJs and those into sampling from vinyl are accommodated. Note that the io14 does not have the phono input; this is unique to the io26. I'm trying to think of other interfaces with a phono input; the E-Mu 1820 comes to mind.

 

[Anderton]

Hello Sir, Im hoping that you can help me with my Alesis IO 26. Just got it second hand. It powers up and i can hear sound from it but it does not allow me to use it to its full potention. The issue is that i can only hear sound from the headphones out. I have gone thru reinstalling the drivers, been on the phone with an Alesis tech who couldnt help me much. In my sound settings in control panel in my Win 7 os system, i can see it but it does not show all the outs and outs like my M-Audio firewire 410 does and i believe that is when the problem. I have seen a lot of posting on this and am hoping you can maybe help me. Thanks for taking the time to read this Sir. Hope to hear from you soon.

 

 

Well it's always tough to do remote troubleshooting...but two things. Is your operating 32-bit or 64-bit? Also, with the Alesis mixer application, do all the inputs and outputs show up there?

[Anderton]

It just occurred to me - many interfaces advise using the Windows Legacy FireWire drivers with Windows 7. Are you aware of this issue?

[Joao]

Hi Anderton

 

It seems like you are the person to answer a question which might seem obvious but, obviously, it is not to me:

To what output do you connect the active monitors?

Is it on the "phones" output? and if so, obviously that it is impossible to have headphones and monitors functioning simultaneously... which would be quite a shame.

 

non the less, I am really interested in acquiring this product

[Anderton]

You can connect active monitors to the main stereo outs, or for that matter, and bus output. There's no need to use the headphone jack for your monitors. Routing occurs within the mixer application provided with the interface.

[Joao]

Cool - thanks for clarifying!!!!

Just ordered one now!

[Joao]

Hi Anderton,

 

I just received today the io 26 and after installing everything according to the instructions - got to alesis website download the latest win7 drivers, instal the drivers, connect the device to the computer - I am having problems with the drives...

when I open Cubase LE and set the io 26 as the sound card, everything starts to go really slow (when pressing buttons the response is very late), I am not able to record anything, and when I press play the play head jumps...

 

I normally use a Tascam US-144 and never had this problem.

 

Even when I set the io26 as the default sound card on windows, I cannot even play a song using windows media player.... no sound comes out and it takes 10 seconds for the player to indicate the song is playing the 1st second (I hope I made this clear)

 

I am using a firewire express card to connect the io26 to my laptop, but I never had problems with this express card.

 

do you have any suggestions to solve this problem?

 

Thanks you very much

[Joao]

An update on my last post:

 

I did manages to make it work by instaling the windows firewire legacy

Yet, what is happening now is that I have constant glitches when recording.

How can I solve this?

Thanks again

[dug dog]

You need to adjust the buffers in the alesis control panel. If you have the instruction manual, check pages 31-32.

[Anderton]

What he said.

[Joao]

Thanks for your response

 

It seems like I havent use the correct term: it is not glitches that I am experiencing -- it is in fact click/pops while recording.

 

I did mess around with the "buffer times" and the "safe modes" but nothing really changed: I constantly have clicks popping up and obviously it is impossible to record in such conditions...

 

any other suggestion?

thanks again

[Anderton]

First, if you set a really high buffer time, do the clicks go away or do they remain regardless of buffer times?

 

Second, with laptops it's important to disable any internal wireless card.

 

There is a free program called DPC Latency Checker that can show when particular functions are making heavy demands on your system. It's generally a good idea to go into device manager and disable anything you're not using.

 

Don't daisy-chain anything else on the FireWire bus (hard drives etc.). Make sure it's dedicated to the interface.

 

Finally, check your power management settings. I'm not running Windows 7, but with Vista, there are minimum and maximum CPU power settings. Every time my laptop switched between the two states, I'd get clicks and pops. Setting the minimum and maximum CPO power settings to 100% solved that problem.

 

Remember, consumer laptops were designed for powerpoint presentations, maximum battery life, surfing the web, etc. Pro audio is very demanding, and you need to configure your laptop to provide the most power possible.

[Joao]

Yes, the clicks remain regardless of buffer times.

 

I did downloaded the program you suggested and I did manage to avoid getting any red and yellow peaks by having disabled devices, thus I should have been able to "handle real time streaming of audio and/or video data without drop-outs" - but even though the DPC Latency Checker didn´t detected any peaks, when I press record the clicks start to appear straight away.

 

I only had the interface connected to the firewire bus.

 

I also made sure I had my computer working at maximum performance.

 

this laptop is a:

Toshiba Satallite A660-18n

4GB Ram

intel core i7 Q740 1.73GHz

 

 

I really do not want to return the io26 since it is indeed and amazing device...

Do you think that my problem might be the express card? I cannot think of anything else...

 

once again, thank you very much for your help!

[Anderton]

I really can't troubleshoot via long distance. If you could try a different card, that might be a good idea.

 

I do recall on the TC Konnekt thread some time ago the Toshiba Satellite was an especially troublesome laptop for audio. The design has probably changed since then, but still, IIRC there was something about it that was a problem with audio. Try a different interface, try a different expresscard, and see what happens.

[Joao]

Thanks

I just ordered a new card - will see if this solves the issue

Thanks again Anderton

[heavensdaw]

Hi guys.. first time post here..

I have a question or two regarding the Alesis iO26..

Can I use this interface in a dj set-up.. I run Traktor and use a Vestex VCi 100 controller. I need 1 sterio pair out to FOH, 1 sterio or 2 mono out/s to on stage monitors, and separate headphone outs for cueing/tune selection. All mixing is done ITB w/ Traktor/controller.

Basically, can it do away with the need to have to have a mixer?

If so...

How is stability on Mac 10.5.8?

Anyone running this with Ableton Live and care to share some experiences?

Thanks in advance, and sorry if my questions have already been gone over...

Cheers

Hd

[borders_del]

My br-600 card now says that it is unformatted after plugging it into computer. Is there any where I can go to download the format for the card and, I guess re-format it to its original specs. My effects and everything works, I just can't import or export now, and a few other functions. PLEASE HELP. Send email to borders_del@yahoo.com if you can help me. THANK YOU.

[carlosbeans]

I'm on my second io26 and it's been running beautifully for a year. I love these things. BUT, one thing I HATE about it is, if for some reason the unit resets itself or upon a system restart, the main level jumps to 100%. I've tried searching this behemoth of a forum for this issue, so I hope I didn't miss it. In the HDM you can save settings, which is great... except it doesn't save main level settings. Since it's a digital pot, its value is not locked to its physical position like the preamp/headphone gain pots. So why can't it save a main level setting so I don't have to accidentally blow out my ears/monitors whenever the thing decides to reboot? In short, is there a way to tell this thing to be quiet upon startup? thanks!

 

 

 

Hi, I'm new to this forum and saw your post.

 

I've had my io26 for almost 2 years now, and it's a great interface! I've experienced the SAME exact issue you describe though. Once in a blue moon, I'll have something like iTunes running or some other audio source running, and my Alesis will turn off for a few seconds, then turn back on at 100%. It's cost me a pair of nice Tapco studio monitors because it happened one day when I was away from home and left the monitors on. Big mistake.

 

ANYWAYS, did you happen to find a solution to this issue per chance?

[Explosion Sauce]

I've got a quick question regarding the io 26. I've had mine for a couple years now and it mainly sat and collected dust. I'm going to be honest I'm completely new to recording. The most I ever did was recording guitar tracks for the bands I was in so the other members could listen to what I wrote. The question I have is I'm looking to get a decent DAW here in the next couple weeks (I'm tired of garage band) and I'm wondering if the io 26 will work with Cubase artist 6? I assume it will because it worked with the lower versions of Cubase but I could not find a definite answer anywhere. Also, am I correct in saying that it will not work with Pro Tools as you need a digidesign or m-audio interface? Thanks for the help.

[Anderton]

I've got a quick question regarding the io 26. I've had mine for a couple years now and it mainly sat and collected dust. I'm going to be honest I'm completely new to recording. The most I ever did was recording guitar tracks for the bands I was in so the other members could listen to what I wrote. The question I have is I'm looking to get a decent DAW here in the next couple weeks (I'm tired of garage band) and I'm wondering if the io 26 will work with Cubase artist 6? I assume it will because it worked with the lower versions of Cubase but I could not find a definite answer anywhere.

 

 

Although I haven't tested it, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't - I did test it with whichever version of Cubase was current at the time.

 

 

Also, am I correct in saying that it will not work with Pro Tools as you need a digidesign or m-audio interface? Thanks for the help.

 

 

That is no longer true with Pro Tools 9. I have tested several common ASIO interfaces with PT9 and they work fine, BUT you have to set the sample buffer to a multiple of 64 samples (e.g., 128, 192, 256, etc. samples) or PT won't recognize it.

 

Do make sure you have the latest Alesis drivers!!

[Explosion Sauce]

Thanks Anderton. I recently had a friend tell me about Pro Tools 9 not requiring proprietary interfaces. I would rather have PT so this is great news for me not having to buy another interface as well. Thanks again for your help.