ORIGINAL: randy
As of right now Alesis, (until a driver update) said to turn the computer on and let it boot up completly. Then turn the power on to the multimix, by doing this I have access to the multimix control panel and sonar runs fine. Hope this helps. Post how things turn out.

randy

That is what they told me also, but it is still not 100% reliable. Alesis also told me yesterday when I complained the WDM drivers won't record without some amount of clicking and popping no matter how I set the latency, that I should not use the WDM drivers and use the ASIO drivers instead until they have new WDM drivers that solve the latency problems.

My problem is that when using the ASIO drivers the panel only shows inputs for the odd numbered channels, i.e. 1, 3, 5, 7 and so on. The tech asked if it shows all the inputs with Cubase, which it does, and he said then it's not Alesis problem since that shows the mixer is working fine.

To me, if the driver Alesis provides has some "issues" and only works with Cubase then it IS their problem. He did not know how long it would be before they had new WDM drivers or the firmware update, but they are working on it. I hope it is very soon.

Jim

has anyone used this on a mac yet?
I cant seem top find any reviews that state the same problems sited here,
macs usually have no driver problems, so i'm curious to know

Sorry to dig up an old post, but.....

I purchased an Alesis MultiMix 8 Firewire a couple of weeks ago and have had nothing but problems with their drivers, even on a brand new computer.

As I understand it, their drivers essentially replace the existing sound-card drivers in Windows. The MultiMix-8 "becomes" your sound card for all of Windows. After installing the Alesis drivers on a brand-new Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop, audio operation is flaky to say the least. I let the computer completely boot up. Then I turn on the MultiMix. Sometimes the drivers will load the MultiMix OK; other times I have to configure the MultiMix drivers manually via Windows Control Panel. Once in a while, everthing goes fine and the MultiMix functions correctly, playing audio smoothly through any Windows application (Windows Media Player, MM Jukebox, etc) and will even function correclty in Cubase LE.

Other times, the audio is very choppy (in Cubase or any Windows audio application), it stutters, and there is a lot of distortion in the audio signal resulting in bacially "trashed-audio". My problem appears to be completely independent of any recording software (Sonar, Cubase, etc). The issue seems to be the Alesis drivers and how they interface with the Windows XP operating system. It's a crap-shoot as to how the drivers behave. I have tried turning on the MultiMix and laptop in just about every conceivable order I can think of. I've tried 4 different Firewire cables....... Nada.

I have tried the MultiMix on my desktop PC (1.3 GHz homebuilt w/ WinXP) and it seems to work OK. However, I bought the Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop and the Alesis specifically to use together. It just hasn't worked out well at all. I have downloaded the most recent Alesis drivers from the Alesis website and it didn't help.
(1394\ALESIS&MULTIMIX_FIREWIRE\FE420F004950500; September 30, 2005) Version 1.0.48.5

However, the actual driver files are from TC Tech Inc (version 1.0.14.0 copyright 2003-2004)
Windows\System32\DiceAsio.dll
Window\System\Dice1394.sys

Once this "trashed-audio" operation begins, it seems to permanently gum-up the IEEE1394 Firewire bus. If I unplug the Alesis MultiMix, Windows doesn't acknowledge that it has been disconnected. The "green-arrow" Icon is still in the Windows system tray, indicating that Windows thinks the MultiMix is still connected to the Firewire port of the laptop. At that point, if I try to disconntect the MultiMix and connect say a camcorder to the Firewire port of the laptop, Windows doesn't recognize the camcorder. It seems like the Alesis drivers grab the Firewire bus, trash the audio, and won't let go of the bus. You have to re-boot to get the Firewire port to function normally. Again, this laptop is fresh out-of-the-box withOUT a bunch of extraneous stuff loaded on it.

I called the Alesis Tech Support today (Tuesday) at (401) 658-3921 about a dozen times or more between 11:00 AM to 12:00 noon and no one ever picked up the phone.

At this point, I'm looking at returning the MultiMix8. Between the MultiMix and the Dell, I've got $2k invested along with 2 weeks of 2 AM nights trying to get things working correctly. I've un-installed and re-installed everything many times with no luck. This product could be great. It seems to be a very well built unit and if it worked reliably as advertised, it would be well worth the $400. It's ashame the hardware engineers built such a great product, only to be thwarted by flaky software issues and/or poor drivers. I'd like to think they'll release some new drivers soon that will fix everything and save my sanity; but I'm not holding my breath.

FWIW, Dell Inspiron 9300 (1.73 GHz Pentium M w/ Centrino, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB HD.

Just venting a little frustration.

I am also still waiting for the new drivers from Alesis, even told them if I can't get their product to work properly soon I would return it before my grace period was up and was told to have patience, "it will be worth the wait".

It better be. Like a previous post I spent over $2k combined for a new laptop and 16 channel Alesis firewire mixer specifically for mobile recording and I have not been able to get any acceptable results. The Alesis manual even states that you can use a 4 pin "mini" to 6 pin firewire cable, so as more users contact them the real story emerges, and changes.

They might as well release the beta of the new drivers now because everybody that owns one of these Alesis boards is part of their beta testing whether they intended to be or not. Anything they have would be better than what they have already made available.

Jim

Hi NitroRat, so far I am using the first driver relase from Alesis. I have had no problems with the firewire port, I have seen the new driver relase but have not installed it yet.

Alesis told me to let the computer completely boot, then turn the power on to the mixer. I use the WDM driver right now, at least till a fix for the ASIO driver. It works fine for me like this.

sorry I can't be any more help than this

randy

I just bought a MultiMix 16 and set it up with Sonar 4 on an older 1 GHz Compaq Presario. I downloaded the latest drivers (two nights ago), and everything is working pretty well. When I listen to the audio coming back trough the stereo mix via the mixer's headphone output, I hear some occasional pops, but they don't appear to be on the recorded tracks.

I recorded for two hours while we practiced, and at some point (near the end), the driver must have gotten confused, as I stopped getting signals on any of the tracks, even though the mixer appeared to be operating, and I didn't get any driver, system or Sonar error messages.

Overall, I'm very happy with the solution. This is incredible technology for the price, and to be able to record 12 channels (4 vocals, 4 drum mics, 2 direct guitars, direct keys and direct bass) is awesome! I think the sound quality is very good for our purposes (live recordings and demos). If you're interested in hearing the results, here are a few tracks (we're a new rock cover band and haven't been together that long, so please don't judge the performaces!). The only post-production I did was to adjust the levels a little and added some panning. No effects have been added yet.

http://www.pozzy.com/90proof/audio/2006-01-04/Jumpin_Jack_Flash.mp3
http://www.pozzy.com/90proof/audio/2006-01-04/When_I_Come_Around.mp3
http://www.pozzy.com/90proof/audio/2006-01-04/Takin_Care_of_Business.mp3

Theo Pozzy
"90 Proof"

tpozzy,
You can disable the on board sound in the Device Manger if you can't find it in the BIOS.

Hi Jim, great to hear you have things working better. I think that I am going to install the Alesis 16 F/W on my desktop and do some mixing with it. The next time I get a chance I will use it for a live recording and see how it works out with the new drivers and a laptop.

Can you explane what this firmware update is for, what does it do for the mixer or is it for the computer?

randy

to jimarter:

I'm curious - how many simultaneous tracks you recorded in asio mode and what latency setting did you have to use to do so?

For comparison, I've been using the MOTU896HD with a slightly faster (2ghz Pentium M) laptop and can record 8 tracks simultaneously with about 2.2 latency if I set the buffers to 96K (remove unnecessary background programs!). However, the MOTU is more expensive and it isn't easy to get above the 8 tracks due to the more professoinal AES/EBU digital inputs or ADAT interface for additional inputs, whereas it looks like this Alesis can do 12 pretty easily. I still have some time left to return the MOTU, and I didn't get the Alesis partly due to reviews posted here. I'm also thinking latency isn't such a big deal for live recording, though it would be an important consideration for using the laptop as a synth brain for DX instruments.

Driver info update for Alesis MultiMix FireWire.


The latest firewire driver release dealt with problems of pops and clicks that could be heard within Sonar when using the ASIO drivers. This has been addressed and with the PDF document on the website shows how to configure Sonar for best results.

Justin Baro

Hi, a question from a prospective buyer, may be a rather basic one, but your assistance will be greatly appreciated. Say you record 8 channels of audio and assign each one to an individual track on Sonar. Then say you keep adding a few more tracks and end up having 22 different and POTENTIALLY simultaneous (at certain points) audio tracks.

Can you assign them all to sound via the Multimix's "digital INPUT" (I understand they are sent via Firewire, routed through the Track 2 IN and merged with any external audio you could have also hooked there)? Will the unit do the audio merging accurately? If you pan them independently on SONAR, will the Multimix play them back in the same fashion? It's the one thing that I don't fully understand yet, whether the Multimix can handle multiple audio tracks back from the computer. If so, is there any limitation or potentially just bandwidth?

Thanks a bunch in advance.

ORIGINAL: ohhey

The way I understand it all the mixing of tracks already recorded is done in Sonar (pan, level, effects, etc.). So it's already a stereo mix before it goes back to the Alesis. You don't do any hardware mixing of pre-recorded tracks other then setting the stereo level.

So, it would not matter how many tracks were in Sonar, you could have 30 tracks in Sonar and they would still all get mixed down to two before they go back to the Alesis.

Thanks for the reply. I understand what you're saying but to my point again, what is actually mixing them before going back to the Multimix then? SONAR? Multimix drivers behind the scenes perhaps? Does your PC's performance somehow limit the amount of workload you can process?

Anyway. In addition to this, I forgot to ask something else in my previous note, and this is a very important aspect that I couldn't find explained on the unit's malnual: Say you record 8 tracks with SONAR on the PC, then you want to add two more for the guitar and keyboard solos. Can the Multimix playback what is recorded from SONAR while recording those two new tracks to the computer? I just read somewhere else that somebody at Alesis kind of mentioned that the Multimix is not full-duplex. IS THIS TRUE????

ORIGINAL: ohhey
As for full duplex of not it should be, check the manual you should be able to hear what comes back from Sonar even while recording.

Thanks for that response, I feel a bit better about the first issue. On the second though, I've checked the manual and it is absolutely minimalistic about anything related to its audio playback & recording capabilities. There is no clear mention to anything like this at all. The only thing it says is that you should be able to hear SONAR's monitoring function (if enabled within SONAR), but they don't recommend it and rather suggest to use the mixer's monitor OUTs for that, which I think makes a lot of sense (avoiding any kind of loop). But with regard to playing back any previously recorded track while recording, it isn't clear at all. One could assume of course that if it does get back from SONAR audio with the monitor signal it should perfectly do so with any other "non-muted" audio track you could have in the project, but I just wanted to make sure with some of you who already own the unit and has tried this yourself.

I appreciate all your help!

It should be better then the soundblaster for sure, the firewire board in the mixer will have more modern chips that are designed for high quality recording. The only question is how good the analog parts of the mixer are (preamps, etc.) before it reaches the converters.

I downloaded the manual to the mixer and on page 18 it says the 2tk switch is what you press to hear the sound from the firewire on it's way back from the computer (Sonar). If you want Sonar playback over the main mix outputs you also need to press the 2tk to mix switch (page 17). So that is your playback monitor path. All volume and pan adjustment will need to be done in Sonar for playback tracks. The manual is not that bad, I've seen worse.

Keep in mind the effects in the mixer won't get recorded in Sonar (that's a good thing). You can use them as a "stand in" to make you sound better while you are tracking but you will need to insert a plugin in the tracks effects bin in Sonar after that to have effects on playback. This way you can choose the effects you want for each track and have as many of them as you like. Plugins are also easy to use since you have the pop up dialog to adjust them with not just a bunch of numbers and knobs. So just choose a nice reverb on the mixer and blend a little with the montior signal during tracking to give you confidence, it won't get recorded in Sonar you will just hear it while you record. Then when you get ready to play and mix everything is done in Sonar. Effects plugins are great, unlike the one signle effect you have in the mixer, in Sonar you can have an almost unlimited "rack" of effects each with their own settings ! Most computers can do a silly number of tracks and effects now.

Hey sounds good....

Be interesting to hear how the preamps sound compared to a Presonus or even the Mackie 400F.... hmmm...

Cheers!

Yeah they sound like they're ok for the price point the Alesis... especially if they support 24bit.

Bit hard to compare against 16bit CDs because not a lot them are originally recorded in 16bit. You can notice/hear it when you dither at burn from 24 to 16 as opposed to 16bit all the way.

Cheers!