Hello,

I am helping a friend set up Music Creator 5.  He has an HP desktop running Windows Vista and an Alesis USB mixer for an interface.  I helped him setup all of his hardware and now the only problem is that when recording, we can not hear the input signal - it registers in the green lights that light up when a signal is inputted and will record, but we can not hear it until we stop recording, rewind, and play through the track that was recorded.  Can anyone help with this matter?  It's one small thing that stands between him and being able to record and I am very busy and do not have time to trouble shoot.  Thank you for your time.  God bless.

Sincerely,

Anthony

Welcome to the forum!

Switch on "Input echo".

if you have your speakers connected to the computer then Kalle's answer is completely correct.

an alternative would be to disconnect them from the computer and connect them to the Alesis, OR connect headphones up to the Alesis.  doing that you do not need INPUT ECHO on.

INPUT ECHO will cause a horrible delay and echo - especially on the Alesis because it uses the USB CODEC for drivers - they're very slow and this will cause latency in the system.  the higher the latency, the greater the delay and echo when using INPUT ECHO.

Monitoring directly at the Alesis eliminates that.

Thank you for your responses.  For headphones however, how would I be able to allow my friend to hear everything at once?  Is there a way to channel the output from the other (backing) tracks back into the Alesis and through its monitor out / headphone out?  I am almost tempted to tell him to sell some stuff and buy a Mac and use Garageband and a Line 6 interface to make it easy :)  Just kidding, I know I could probably incite a riot on this forum by saying that.  I respect what all of you guys are doing and what you know.  Thank you for the advice.  Hopefully there's more to come.  God Bless you.

Pick up the headphone out and send it to a small headphone amp with more outputs. I picked up a small Behringer for a few bucks to allow up to 4 headphones at a time. (about $50) 

How you monitor the live feed is really dependent on the set up you are using as has been pointed out. 

yes, in order to do that with headphones, I'd pick up a headphone monitor like Guitarhacker says and connect it to the output of the Alesis, then connect multiple headphones to the headphone amp.

and you said you're kidding - I know, but garageband is going to have the same issues.  it's all a matter of how you hook things up.

The line 6 will have the same problem if you don't have a headphone monitor for multiple headphones. On the other hand, there are some interfaces which feature more than one headphone out. That actually was one of the nice features my M-audio firewire 410 offers. That would perhaps be an alternative.

Thank you for the suggestions guys.  I'm not sure if I understand correctly, but wouldn't a mic pre-amp only be able to split the signal that I'm already getting?  I was thinking something that had two inputs to a single set of headphones like a Y connector would be perfect that way the inputs from both the mixer (what is being recorded) and from the computer (what has already been recorded and is now the backing track for the new track being recorded) can be heard together at the same time through a single pair of headphones.  Does this make sense?   Please let me know if there are any other suggestions.

As far as the Line 6 / Garageband combo, it's a useful setup because I can just plug in and record no problem without any of this stuff happening.  There are limitations to both of these components that would have to be upgraded most likely, if I were more into recording.  But I mostly use it for quiet practice, jamming with practice jam tracks, and some personal one track at a time layering, etc.  

Have a great day!  God Bless you!

Anthony

Is there a way to channel the output from the other (backing) tracks back into the Alesis and through its monitor out / headphone out?

 
Yes there is.
What outputs are you sending the backing track signal to now?
If the output is anything other than the Alesis, change the output to the Alesis.
There may be some setting in the mixer that will allow you to monitor playback without recording it onto the new track. Check the Alesis manual.
And welcome to the forum.