Alesis io26 and io14 Interfaces

[coolrahool]

Hey Vilo you mean that you adjusted the buffer size settings right? What do you have those set to?

[Dj. Drohyd]

I have owned the i/o26 for a few days now and I'm pretty sure i'll exchanging it in another few days. I just ready a thread on this subject where a tech support guy from Alesis said that the i/o 26's drivers are not working with OSX Panther, only with Tiger. What Alesis advertised was that the i/o 26 worked with Mac's Panther 10.3 and later. I'm getting horrible drop outs and silence when playing tracks from my DAW, thru the 26, & into my monitors. I run 10.3.9 Panther and have a Mac power pc g4. I tried different buffer settings and used 2 different firewire cables and still get silence and drop outs. I haven't even gotten to recording with it yet. It hasn't even played my recorded audio back without drop outs and glitch/screech noise. So it looks like I either update to 10.4 Tiger and keep it or return it and get a Motu interface. I was misled into thinking that the i/o 26 interface was compatible with Mac OSX 10.3 and later versions, by Alesis. I want to keep a drum kit mic'd up so having more than 2 xlr inputs is what I'm looking for.

So my experience is that the Alesis i/o 26's drivers dont work with OSX Panther (Alesis still claims it does) & it's been a pain in my ass & this technical crap has stopped my creative process.

[ViLo]

 

Hey Vilo you mean that you adjusted the buffer size settings right? What do you have those set to?

 

 

Buffer size in samples:192

 

Buffer size in Milliseconds:4ms[sets automatically when the Buffer size in samples is set ]

 

I'm on a PC and using Reaper: http://reaper.fm/

[SonnyBoy]

Dj. Drohyd, I totally agree with you (see my previous posts). Alesis still haven't changed their online pdf manuals, which still claim that the io|26 works with Panther 10.3.9. Again, the only option is apparently to upgrade to Tiger, bearing in mind that this will cost you at least 130 bucks more (unless you're going to install a hacked version, which I wouldn't advise you to do;) ). So it's quite easy:

Alesis io|26 + Tiger = $530 (400+130)

Motu 8 pre = $550

Now, bear in mind that the 8pre has no separate inserts, only one headphone out, no SPDIF, and no phono input. On the plus side, it has 2 ADAT outs, as well as separate phantom power and cut pads for each channel.

I'll probably upgrade to Tiger, although I rather hate to do it, also because it is going to reduce the speed of my processor. Actually, I'm not too sure what would be best: hassle them until they come up with an update that works with Panther, or demand that they PAY US for the upgrade, since we purchased their product basing ourselves on false advertising and misinformation.

So bear in mind what Daniel (ragnarokzwei) said here:

http://www.bigbluelounge.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35587&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=75&sid=642465e0c759850d3235d9110150cf18

[weareradio]

Yes, you can record up to 8 live audio tracks and 1 midi track at time. See this for more information on multi-track recording in GarageBand. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=garageband/3.0/en/df1117.html Plus, Apple has a good discussion board for GarageBand with a lot of helpful folks there. It would be a good resource for your friend. http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=127

 

 

Great post. I was going to say the same thing! I'll just add that this is only for v3 of Garageband. I was playing with it last night with my new io | 26!

[rbomb]

How would this compare to the Presonus Firepod?

[ViLo]

Well, as its name suggests, it can have up to...erm...26 inputs.

Yes you can, if you add the ADAT and the Spdi/F inputs ;)

[Anderton]

On the plus side, it has 2 ADAT outs, as well as separate phantom power and cut pads for each channel.

 

 

It has two ADAT ins so you can expand the number of inputs using something like the PreSonus DigiMax FS. Phantom power is enabled/disabled for channel pairs, not individual channels.

[ViLo]

WELL GOOD NEWS FROM ME!!!

I adjusted the latency to 192 and the io26 is now working on my desktop and laptop, with Reaper [laptop] and Sonar HS 4, Reaper on my Desktop, I'll try SonarHS4 on my laptop later on on the week :thu: :thu:

[SonnyBoy]

 

It has two ADAT ins so you can expand the number of inputs using something like the PreSonus DigiMax FS. Phantom power is enabled/disabled for channel pairs, not individual channels.

 

I was referring to Motu's 8pre, which also has 2 ADAT outs, as well as phantom power on individual channels. However, I forgot to mention that it only has 2 main outs.

[mico]

Thank you thank you thank you for doing a review of the IO26! I've looked everywhere, but cannot find any thing that's as in-depth as this.

I was going to buy the emu 1820M, but I'm now considering the IO26. Can you do a comparison on the pres and converters of these two models. The 1820M is discontinued and PCI (dying technology), but if the sound is that much better I will go for it. Also, do you know what the differences in specs are between the MasterControl and IO26 are. I record mostly vocals and really like the phono input for sampling.

Thanks,
mico

[ViLo]

 

I've looked everywhere, but cannot find any thing that's as in-depth as this. I was going to buy the emu 1820M, but I'm now considering the IO26. Can you do a comparison on the pres and converters of these two models. The 1820M is discontinued and PCI (dying technology), but if the sound is that much better I will go for it. Also, do you know what the differences in specs are between the MasterControl and IO26 are. I record mostly vocals and really like the phono input for sampling. Thanks, mico

 

 

You'll find some comparisons on pages 5 and 6 of this thread.

 

I sold my EMU 1820M some time ago, and to me, I don't think a difference can be heard on a blind test, at least no from a regular ear.

[mico]

You'll find some comparisons on pages 5 and 6 of this thread. I sold my EMU 1820M some time ago, and to me, I don't think a difference can be heard on a blind test, at least no from a regular ear.

 

 

Thanks, ViLo.

[ViLo]

Thanks, ViLo.

Check this thread often, Craig is in Frankfurt, but I'm sure he will have more after he comes back, also Jim Norman from Alesis is posting here too.

[BDMSB]

Though all the mail order houses are back-ordered, your local Guitar Center may have them. I picked up an IO26 yesterday in Oxnard, California.

But I'm going to take it back. I'm having lots of problems with my G5 iMac.

1) The microphone level is too low. With my M-Audio MobilePre I can set the input level to "7" and I still have to turn down the record levels in the Amadeus recording program. With the Alesis I have to set the levels at maximum and I still don't red-line the mikes. Oddly, the level controls in Amadeus are grayed out and I can't boost (or cut) there. The mikes are SE Electronics model 1A using the phantom power.

2) The Alesis has bursts of static-like noise while recording, even if I set the Amadeus input buffer to 1024 bytes. I have posted two examples here:
http://www.bmumford.com/tmp/alesis/

3) When I set the Ableton Live output to the Alesis and listen with headphones, the output gets more and more garbled as it plays. After 10 seconds it's unrecognizable. If I stop playback and start it again, it's still all garbled. If I set the output to the Mac's internal speaker, it plays fine. If I go back to the Alesis, it plays fine until the garbling grows again.

4) The Mac seems to power the Alesis okay, but if I walk away and come back in an hour, the Mac has shut down. I suspect the Alesis is shutting down the Mac when it goes to sleep, but I haven't confirmed this yet. Any unsaved files are lost.

I used the updated drivers from the Alesis web site.

Any new piece of gear has a learning curve, but this is a lot of problems for the first day.

[BDMSB]

Additional info....

I'm running System 10.4, so you guys with dropouts in 10.3.9 might want to be cautious about spending money on 10.4.

Also, my System Preferences looks nothing like what's shown in the Alesis literature. Specifically, I don't see any way to set the buffer size. I know this is a rather critical parameter. I'm thinking the buffer gets set by Live 6 or Amadeus. But that's not what the Alesis instructions say.

You can see my System Preferences here:
http://www.bmumford.com/tmp/alesis/SystemPref.gif

[ViLo]

Additional info.... I'm running System 10.4, so you guys with dropouts in 10.3.9 might want to be cautious about spending money on 10.4. Also, my System Preferences looks nothing like what's shown in the Alesis literature. Specifically, I don't see any way to set the buffer size. I know this is a rather critical parameter. I'm thinking the buffer gets set by Live 6 or Amadeus. But that's not what the Alesis instructions say. You can see my System Preferences here: http://www.bmumford.com/tmp/alesis/SystemPref.gif

 

Mine looks like this....

I'm on a PC and also using the io26 with a laptop with no problems.....

[BDMSB]

Mine looks like this.... I'm on a PC and also using the io26 with a laptop with no problems.....

 

 

Yeah, I think that's the key. Several Macintosh users have been having trouble. I'm on a Macintosh, with the most recent System (10.4.9) and the most recent drivers.

 

I posted a sample of the corrupted audio that comes out of the IO-26 when iTunes plays to it. It plays fine for a while, then has dropouts, and sometimes goes into this corruption. Live 6 does the same thing. Hear it here:

http://www.bmumford.com/tmp/alesis/Output.mp3

[Vibroluxman]

I'm using the io14 with a couple of miniscule problems on a new Intel Mac, OS X 10. something. Playback sometimes glitches (though not lately) with opening other programs - no bumps in the sound, but for some reason if you are playing sound in one program, stop and go back to the other program, it won't play sound for that program. This is happening for me using Soundtrack Pro and Final Cut Studio. The other problem is that if you hit the volume level on the mac by accident, the sound disappears and you have to mes with the system for a moment before it comes back. None of this is a deal breaker for me, as they haven't happened often.

Eric

[SonnyBoy]

Yeah, I think that's the key. Several Macintosh users have been having trouble. I'm on a Macintosh, with the most recent System (10.4.9) and the most recent drivers.

 

 

In fact, it seems that not all Macs are facing these issues. MacBooks (and MacBook Pros) seem to be doing ok, whereas iMacs G5 are having a lot more trouble... So, quite obviously, it's not just a matter of running Tiger 10.4 and not Panther 10.3.9. It looks like you'd better have the "right" computer with the "right" OS. This is why Alesis shouldn't just tell you to upgrade to 10.4, because it's clearly not going to solve the problem.

[BDMSB]

My problems with a new io|26 may be solved. In order to make a more convincing presentation to Alesis tech support, I put up a web page with sample files:
http://www.bmumford.com/tmp/alesis/

Tonight I installed the drivers that came in the box (1.5d0) instead of the updated drivers from the Alesis web site (1.5d2). It corrected my input and output problems. I still get a little dropout if I fiddle with programs outside the DAW, but that doesn't bother me.

People with Macs who are getting bad output or noise in the input might try going back to the earlier driver.

[SonnyBoy]

It looks like there are hardware- AND OS-specific issues with the Alesis drivers. Some of them work on some computers, but only partially, depending on which OS you're running. Or, in your case, it should be fine with your OS (Tiger), but it's not because of your hardware configuration. Let's hope Alesis will really acknowledge the issues (plural!) this time and come up with new drivers. Actually, I wouldn't mind if they said: "Well, we just can't release a driver that works with all hardware and software configurations, BUT here are a few drivers that work, respectively, with 10.3 on Mac G4, with 10.4 on Mac G4, with 10.4 on Mac G5, with 10.4 on MacIntel, etc." Of course, having just one reliable driver would be easier for everyone, but since it's not the case, that could be another possible solution. So I suppose you'd better download every single update since November 2006 (without necessarily installing it), and see which one works best for you, as Alesis only offer the latest update on their web page.

[dr_bell]

It sounds like my problems with my Alesis io14 are worse than BDMSB's. I have an intel mac on which the Alesis performs OK, despite a ton of RF interference on playback which I can't explain. On my g5 1.8 GHz desktop with 1 gig ram running 10.4.9, however, the thing is unusable. It gets choked up rather quickly even just playing back a single stereo audio file. When it comes to playing back multitrack audio, I get nothing but digital muck, all chopped up and staticky. I've been back and forth with tech support and they have given me the most generic advice, most of it having to do with system maintenance like disk permissions and resetting PRAM and such. This produced no results. I certainly hope that Alesis can get hold of these problems. I had given up today but the music store won't take it back or exchange for an equivalent. I would sell the thing if I thought that it would work for whoever bought it but I'm not confident about that. So, yeah, any Power PC users, don't buy one of these unless you like to gamble.

Oh, and for a laugh, the manual for mine indicates that it will work on any native firewire mac running 10.3 or greater. Anyone who has tried one of these with Panther knows that that is a joke and that Alesis has "revised" its system requirements.

[BDMSB]

Dr. Bell-

What version of the driver are you using? If it's not 1.5d0, you should try it.

Alesis tech support also told me to correct disk permissions and reset PRAM. Maybe this works in some few cases, but it generally seems like "take two aspirin and call me in the morning". It's not going to fix flaws in the Alesis firewire driver, and that's surely what they have. I'm sure it's very complicated to support everyone, and I can be tolerant of their difficulty if I'm confident they're trying. But resetting PRAM is just passing the buck. Tech support should say "we have a problem and we're working on it".

And if you want to return a unit that doesn't work as advertised, they should make that possible through their dealer channel. Anything less is not a good recommendation for the rest of us.

[dr_bell]

I am using 1.5d2 at the moment. Under this version the problem is most severe. The io was still unusable, though under 1.5d0.

Honestly I would hold onto this unit if I got a better response from tech support. Instead I am on my way to cause a scene at the music store. I hope that I can find a suitable alternative.