thanks for the update randy . are you using one yet ?

I am going to pick one up today, use it for a while and see what happens. The effects are probably not that great, but I have a few singers that might benfit from a reverb - help them open up and be comfortable. I hope that the preamps are not noisy, what did you think of them - were you able to use them enough to tell? I will not use all the ins, not very much anyway, but if it works it will be great to have them. I like the firewire as well.
Give me a few days and I will post back.

randy

newbie to this board
I just bought the Alesis 16 FW and it came with Cubase LE which is limited to 4 inputs recording at the same time. Rather than upgrade to SL or SX, I am more familiar with Cakewalk (Home Studio 2002) and would rather update that. I tried loading 2002 and it crashes the Alesis drivers so I had to remove and reinstall them (might as well try it right?)

Does anyone know if I can use Sonar Home Studio to record 16 ins or if I have to get Sonar Studio 5? The Alesis instructions mention Sonar, but not versions. I don't need much besides recording tracks and mixing I don't use all the loops and midi stuff.

any input appreciated
Jim

The computer should see 16 separate inputs plus a stereo mix. This is the answer that I got from Alesis, and that is what I see in Sonar4.

The only problem I have had so far is the drivers have to be loaded each time I turn my computer off and then back on. Use the updated drivers on their web site, or at least that is what they told me.

Going to try 12 ins today and see how things go.

randy

ORIGINAL: randy

<<The computer should see 16 separate inputs plus a stereo mix. This is the answer that I got from Alesis, and that is what I see in Sonar4.>>

Yes my computer sees the inputs (16 individual and two main mix) with the drivers loaded, Cubase LE only allows 4 channels to be "armed" for recording. I don't know if the Sonar Home Studio version will work with the drivers, I emailed tech support to try and find out. That is what I will update to if it does, I don't really need all the other tools that Sonar 5 has since I am doing recording only.

<<The only problem I have had so far is the drivers have to be loaded each time I turn my computer off and then back on. Use the updated drivers on their web site, or at least that is what they told me.>>

Sounds like the drivers don't work well with anything yet. Its fun to be on the "bleeding edge" of technology isn't it??

Do you still lose the drivers if you leave the mixer on when you power your PC down and back on?

Another question, are you able to leave your soundcard active when using the mixer? With Cubase you can't use the mixer drivers and sound card drivers at the same time.

jim

Yeah, I have the MultiMix8 Firewire and am having much of the same problems that everyone else is getting. I emailed tech support and got a reply asking for my phone number and a good time to call.

I get a lot of stuttering when I try to monitor through Sonar 4, only when I playback or record over a previously recorded track. Plus it happens when I just play rewired into Reason. I have a US 122 also, but that never gave me the problems that the mixer does. I think that is Sonar though because I play through Reason by itself and have no stuttering at all.

I have a SB Audigy card that I use for playback because sometimes I can't get items to play through the mixer even though my sound settings have it correctly set to the Alesis. I also find that if I keep the computer on, the firewire connection will just turn itself off. Not only that but now when I play games and then quit them, all of a sudden (not every time) I lose all audio interfaces...my control panel sees no audio input. Weird. This has only happened since I installed the drivers for the Alesis. I also upgraded to the newest ones with no difference.

So far, everytime I've gone to record, I have had problems and set backs. Since I don't have much time on my hands, this piece of equipment is almost useless. Unless I get some kind of resolution within the week, I'm bringing it back. I have too basically.

Specs:

Dell
Windows XP Sp2
Intel 4 3.0 Gz
1.4 Gz Ram
24 plus Gigs on both IDE hard drives
SB Audigy
ATI Radeon 9800 Gfx card.

I do lots of multimedia/3d animation and video, so I need a pretty powerful system. I think I'm pretty OK in that respect.

Its fun to be on the "bleeding edge" of technology isn't it??
Yes, it can be a "hair raising" experance.

Do you still lose the drivers if you leave the mixer on when you power your PC down and back on?
Don't know, will give it a try. Although you can't leave everyting connected and be portable.

Another question, are you able to leave your soundcard active when using the mixer? With Cubase you can't use the mixer drivers and sound card drivers at the same time.
The card on the MultiMix, or on board sound card? I did run a test, in which I ran an out from computer to MultiMix. Then back in through firewire cable and recorded in Sonar (lasted 10 -12 minutes).
Useing ASIO driver right now, as it seems to work better.

I have sent another email to their support.

randy

funny, in Sonar if I switch to Asio I get a bluescreen crash almost immediately. I have to do a hard shutdown and then when I come back up Sonar is set back to WDM.

I am able to have both the soundcard and mixer running simultaneously. I get the stuttering and sometimes I get some horrible distortion peaks. For intance, playing the piano in reason. It will be reasonable, then DISTORTION that almost blows my eardrums off.

I found that if I go from the soundcard out to either the RCA ins or to their own channels, that sound issue is lessened as well as the issue with stuttering. (It is still there though).

I'm really not interested in workarounds....I'm interested in the product I paid for doing what it states it should do. I know it may sound harsh and impatient, but hey, I think that I'm a bit justified.

If this doesn't pan out and I have to return it, I'm going back to my US 122 until I can save enough for the Mackie Onyx and firewire option (which I think is a bit much)

Oh, well...done ranting. Good night all

Info from Alesis support -

Hi Randy, Actually the manual has it backwards. The mixer would need to be powered on after the computer completely boots up. This should be fixed with a driver update soon so it will be able to work as the manual states.
Sincerely,

Justin Baro

myucka, what kind of problems are you having while recording?

Sounds Like a driver update soon.

randy

ORIGINAL: randy

Info from Alesis support -

This should be fixed with a driver update soon so it will be able to work as the manual states.

When I was waiting the past 5 months for Alesis to release this product, I volunteered to be a beta tester, and Justin Baro said they had enough testers. Looks like we all ended up as beta testers anyway.

jim