ALESIS io26 AND io14 INTERFACES

[Anderton]

What is it about interfaces that seem to attract Pro Reviews like magnets? I don't know, but I do know there's a lot of interest in interfaces...in fact, a Pro Review of the Alesis firewire interfaces was specifically requested in Suggestion Box.

Certainly, there's a backstory: Alesis has been digital audio just about as long as anyone, and their Wavefront Semiconductor (http://www.wavefrontsemi.com) subsidiary was involved with the Dice II firewire chip. They've done Firewire and USB mixers, and I suspect the io26 and io14 are a logical outgrowth of this R&D.

Here's where to get the specs on the io26 (http://www.alesis.com/product.php?id=96) and on the io14 (http://www.alesis.com/product.php?id=95). The io14 is basically a cut-down version of the io26 with fewer inputs and features, but uses the same basic technology. Street price on the units (based on the Musician's Friend online catalog (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Alesis-iO26-Portable-26-Input-FireWire-Audio-Interface?sku=246031) are around $400 for the io26 and $300 for the io14.

And now, as is traditional with hardware Pro Reviews, let's start out with some pictures.

[Anderton]

This review will concentrate on the io26, as the io14 is a subset. However, I assume that questions will arise about differences between the two, so I have both here.

The first picture shows an overall view of the io26. One thing you don't see from the pictures is that this is a fairly heavy box, and thanks to the metal casing and rubberized ends, it has a substantial, rugged feel -- I wouldn't be afraid to take this on the road with a laptop.

And here's something else that's pretty impressive: All the jacks and potentiometers are fastened with lockwashers and nuts. With a lot of inexpensive units, there's just a hole cut in the chassis, the pot or jack solders to the board, and protrudes through the hole. This is why many knobs feel "wobbly" when you turn them, but not so with the io26 or io14. The Neutrik mic/line combo connectors (another classy touch) are also fastened to the chassis with two screws.

I don't know how many consumers will notice this, but I suspect Alesis will when units don't get returned to their service department. I do find this level of construction very cool, given the general tendency to "cheap down" products these days to hit the lowest possible price point.

The second picture shows the io14 main view.

[HKSblade1]

Is this a control surface only or is this the actual audio interface that bypasses you pC card?

[Edge100]

Is this a control surface only or is this the actual audio interface that bypasses you pC card?

I don't believe this is a control surface at all. Strictly an audio interface.

I'm hearing very good things on this one in various places on the 'net. I'm very excited about this Pro Review.

[Anderton]

Is this a control surface only or is this the actual audio interface that bypasses you pC card?

I guess that's a pretty basic question I didn't address :)

It is indeed an interface that connects to a Mac or Windows computer via FireWire, so you don't have to open up your computer and put in a card. What might be confusing you is all the knobs. We'll get to that shortly, but they're gain controls and mix/monitor controls for the interface itself, not a "control surface" in the sense of sending MIDI messages and such.

[I was The Funk]

But.....how does it sound?

[Anderton]

The io26's front panel has three basic sections: Four inputs on the left, four slightly different ones on the right, and a "control" section in the middle. The io14 has the same four "left" inputs as the io26, and the control section.

The picture shows inputs 1-4. Note that these are mic/line inputs with insert jacks, and as they should be, the insert jacks are post-preamp/pre-A/D converter. You need a TRS-to-dual-mono cable to use these, but also note they're wired so you can use just the "send" connection if you want to tap the preamp out and send it somewhere for a direct out, or just the "return" connection if you want to bypass the internal preamps with preamps that have more "character" or "color" (the io preamps aim for transparency).

Also note that there's a gain control for each input, and the first two inputs have a mic/line - guitar switch so you can use these as instruments inputs.

There are two schools of thought about having inputs on the front panel: One is that it's convenient, the other is that it's a drag to have cables dangling all over the place. But given the form factor, and all the connectors on the back panel, the inputs sort of had to go on the front unless you were willing to have a much larger box.

[Anderton]

But.....how does it sound?

Patience...I think it's important to cover what the thing does first before we start doing the listening tests, because if it doesn't have particular features people want, they're not going to care about how it sounds. Besides, I didn't take all those pictures for nothing :)

[ViLo]

I've been in limbo for the past few months because, although I know what laptop to get for my new portable rig, I can't friggin' decide on an interface. Waaaay too many options to figure out what will be right for my price-point..( $4-700)

Although, exhausted by the possibilities, I've pretty much decided on the Focusrite Pro 10. But now I hesitate again upon seeing you're going to da a review.

I WAS really looking at these units but hesitant.....that being driver support and quality in the coverter/pre dept. Also being that Alesis is owned, I believe, by one of those lower-end equipment companies, its cause for pause. There's also no other reviews on the web yet.

So yes, I also look forward to what this thing sounds like. Also, could you please look into what kind of driver support you can expect from Alesis nowadays.

Thanks

I'm using the AlesisFirewire16 Mixer to record @ church, so far no problems with drivers or anything else.....I'm getting the i/O26 next week....;)

[Anderton]

I checked out their FireWire mixer in the process of reviewing their Podcasting kit for EQ magazine, and was impressed by two main things:

1. The documentation was bulletproof -- possibly the best "how to install a Windows driver" manual I've seen.
2. It worked with no problems whatsoever, although honestly, I don't experience the same Firewire issues with my computer other people seem to experience with theirs.

Focusrite makes great stuff, but understand that there are some significant differences. If you think you'll need more mic pres, having two ADAT inputs with the io26 means you can add on units like the Presonus DigiMAX FS, MOTU 8pre, or even a digital mixer with ADAT out. The Saffire can't do that. On the other hand, it has built-in DSP with plug-ins you can insert into the mix, and while the io26 has a mixer applet for zero-latency monitoring, it doesn't have DSP to support plug-ins internally.

[Anderton]

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]

The XLR ins have phantom power available (see the picture). Although phantom power can't be enabled for each input, it can be enabled for pairs of inputs, which is an improvement over devices that enable for groups of four or eight inputs.

However, there is no indicator for phantom power, other than the relatively small pushbutton position (in means phantom power enabled, out means disabled). If you have a mic inserted that could be damaged by phantom power (admittedly rare, but possible), be very careful to check the position of the switches. Fortunately, they're positive-action switches; just brushing against them wouldn't be sufficient to change their position.

[Anderton]

Alesis just posted a driver/firmware update (http://www.alesis.com/index.php?id=58,92,0,0,1,0), so I guess that answers the question about whether they're continuing to refine the drivers. However, do note that Windows drivers are for XP only; Vista is not yet supported. The Mac drivers are for Power PC Macs and MacIntels.

Okay, back to the hardware.

[Anderton]

Here we're dealing with four knobs. The upper two control levels to two separate sets of headphones, and with the update mentioned in the previous post, they are now independent of monitor levels.

The Mix/Blend control works for zero-latency monitoring, as you can set a blend of signals coming back from your DAW with signals present at the digital and analog inputs. Panning, levels, etc. for the various levels are set using the software applet, which of course, we'll get into later on as it's a significant part of the package.

The Main Level control affects the master stereo output level. (The two gain controls toward the upper left and right of the picture are associated with a couple of the inputs, not the output section.)

[I was The Funk]

Does the mix/blend knob work as a master blend that effects all monitoring outputs (ie. both headphone sends and the monitor output) or just the monitor output? That could be exremely useful for adjusting a singers volume in rlation to the playback.

[Inazone]

I know I should probably ask this when you've posted a bit more about these units, but want to ask before I forget. Any major differences in the quality of components (build quality, preamps, etc.) compared to the Alesis MultiMix mixers? Looking at the system requirements for each line, I'm personally more inclined to go with the MultiMix FireWire so that I can move between a well-equipped desktop PC and more modest notebook without running into performance issues, plus I can think of several situations where having basic EQ controls built into the mixer would be preferable. Features like the Hardware Direct Monitoring and phono capability of the io26 don't offer me much for my limited needs, but getting the best preamps I can in a small budget mixer/interface would be very attractive.

Don't need an immediate answer, but if you could do some sort of io/MultiMix comparison later in the review, that would be helpful!

[HKSblade1]

I have the Saffire (not Le) and it works very well. I was looking to add another unit with 8 in's to do acoustic drums. I tried the Presonus and didn't like it. Seemed finicky and all sorts of PC issues. Alesis is a budget system but I've used quite a bit of Alesis gear in my days.

[Anderton]

I have the Saffire (not Le) and it works very well. I was looking to add another unit with 8 in's to do acoustic drums. I tried the Presonus and didn't like it. Seemed finicky and all sorts of PC issues. Alesis is a budget system but I've used quite a bit of Alesis gear in my days.

I need a little more data here...IIRC the Saffire doesn't have an ADAT in, were you talking about the Presonus DigiMAX FS? Wasn't finicky here with a PC...and if you're doing ASIO, you couldn't run two interfaces simultaneously unless you were using hte CEntrance utility...more data, please!

[ViLo]

I know I should probably ask this when you've posted a bit more about these units, but want to ask before I forget. Any major differences in the quality of components (build quality, preamps, etc.) compared to the Alesis MultiMix mixers? Looking at the system requirements for each line, I'm personally more inclined to go with the MultiMix FireWire so that I can move between a well-equipped desktop PC and more modest notebook without running into performance issues, plus I can think of several situations where having basic EQ controls built into the mixer would be preferable. Features like the Hardware Direct Monitoring and phono capability of the io26 don't offer me much for my limited needs, but getting the best preamps I can in a small budget mixer/interface would be very attractive.

Don't need an immediate answer, but if you could do some sort of io/MultiMix comparison later in the review, that would be helpful!

We have the Multimix 16 @ church, the faders are kind of toyish and very fragile IMHO, I don't think is designed for the road, unless you protect it very well, the fader knobs[??] can be easily pulled..It works well for what we need it for, but it's fragile.

I got to see the iO/26 in "person" :) and it's heavy and very well built the knobs feel very good.

[HKSblade1]

It was a Firepod that I tried. Maybe the Alesis will work. My concerns are most like these other guys here asking about the mic preamps.

[I was The Funk]

Yeah, mic preamp and converter quality are my biggest concerns. Featurewise it looks fantastic, but at this price you have to wonder where the corners were cut.

[MattACaster]

I bought the io26 about a month or so ago and love it. I got it for $350 out the door from GC. Apparently it's the first one they sold because the sales guy keeps calling me and asking me questions. :D

I can vouch for everything Anderton has said so far about the build quality and features.

[Mojambo]

Thanks for taking the time to do this review.

I've been waiting months for anyone, ANYONE, to give their .02 about these things.

Thread subscribed :thu:

[d. gauss]

is the phantom power a real 48volts? i.e. when hanging 7 current-hungry mics off of it (cad m179's or oktava mc012's) how much voltage reads on channel 8?

[Anderton]

Phantom power is enabled separately for channel pairs. I tested input 1 at 48.2V, then stuck an AT3035 into input 2 to see if input 1 "drooped" at all, but it remained at 48.2V.

[taylor210eman]

nice. I just bought the io14 because the io26 was out of stock and I need something ASAP. Hope it lives up to the hype you guys are putting out.

[Anderton]

Well if you find any problems with it, this is the place to post about them!

[JurpoJim]

Hi guys,
One important issue to be solved: what about the system requirements? Manufacturer claims that minimum is pentium 4 or a 2 gHz AMD and 1 Gb of memory. Has anyone experience on a system that´s just a little below that? For my laptop has a 1,6 gHz AMD + 512 Ram and I'm wondering should I try Alesis IO26.

I did a small research and found two different information on the subject. The website says 1 gig of RAM needed and the products "quick installation guide" says 256 Mb of RAM (512 recommended).. a bit confusing. I don´t know if this is relevant to any other person on this forum, but any clarification is welcome.

The installation guide can be found here (see page 2):
http://www.alesis.com/downloads/manuals/7-51-0211-A.pdf

[HKSblade1]

sys requirement minimums are just that. I go way above in Ram for anything audio. Could be lower than most since it's an interface.

[Hyperborea]

How does the io14 compare against the Konnekt 8? They are both roughly the same street price, $300, but the io14 has somewhat better input support. Are the pre-amps and converters of comparable quality? How about the drivers (particularly on the Mac)? What would make you choose one over the other?

Thanks

[Anderton]

Before we install the drivers, mixer applet, and the latest firmware, let’s check out the back panel.

Going from left to right on the first picture, there are the two headphone jacks, then 8 output jacks. These are balanced types, but you can use unbalanced lines. Again, these have lockwashers and locknuts, so I don’t think they’re going anywhere.

Moving over to the second picture, there are the two phono inputs; note the grounding post for turntables. Next up are the two ADAT optical inputs, which as mentioned previously, are useful for expanding beyond the existing eight inputs.

To the right are the coaxial SPDIF in and out; note that you can’t use the optical ADAT ports as optical SPDIF.

In picture 3, you can see the MIDI in and out jacks, the two FireWire ports, and the jack for the external AC adapter. With my Power Mac dual G5 FireWire provided enough power for the io26, but if your computer doesn’t, there’s an included AC adapter.

[Anderton]

I must say that finding the updates on the Alesis web site was simple (not always the case with some manufacturers). Also, the READ ME is a crystal-clear PDF that makes installation and updating easy. If you have older files, you’re not asked to remove them by hand or whatever; there’s a program to take care of that.

I’ve posted the READ ME as an attachment so you can see what I’m talking about. I wish all updating instructions were this straightforward. The manual itself is also clear, concise, and useful. Whoever does the documentation deserves some props (if it's the same person who did the documentation for the Podcasting kit, double props).

Anyway, after a few minutes the drivers were installed, the firmware installed, and the mixer applications ready to go. The little yellow “firewire active” light came on, so things were off to a promising start.

[Anderton]

I should mention that all my initial testing is occurring with a Mac. Why? Because FireWire on G5 Macs is problematic. In the Pro Reviews I've done of various interfaces (Mackie Onyx 400F, Mackie Satellite, PreSonus Inspire, and Konnekt 24D), many users have reported issues with Mac Firewire connections. So I figured if the io26 could beat this problem, that would be important to know.

So far, though, there's no "FireWire whine" and I don't have processor sleep turned off. Good.

[Anderton]

All right! I loaded up a file in Peak, played it back through the io26, and all was well. I was a little confused at first because I assumed the io26 clock should be set to Internal, but Peak kept defaulting to SPDIF. I went into the Mac's Audio and MIDI Setup, set the clock source to Internal, and Peak went along with that. The headphone delivered plenty of output.

So then I figured it was time to do a recording test, and set up a mic. I could drive the mic input into distortion with a good ol' SM58. The gain isn't enough for if you're whispering and want to drive it to full scale, but that's what the insert jacks are for. On playback, I got back what I put in.

[Anderton]

The HDM application shown in the picture provides a mixer for the various inputs and outputs, lets you save and load setups, and do various types of housekeeping. The picture shows it in action, recording the mic and monitoring it through the output.

But unfortunately, just as it's starting to get exciting, I have to sign off for a few days...I'll be visiting my mother who just got out of the hospital, and will be helping her out for the rest of the week. I can throw some comments in here and talk a bit more about the HDM, but as I can't take my studio with me, comparative tests with other preamps and such are going to have to wait until I get back. I apologize for the interruption, and I will be monitoring this thread if there are questions on what's happened so far.

[ViLo]

Thanks Craig, I hope your mom gets well very soon!:love:

[ViLo]

I got my iO26 an hour ago.....:thu: :phil:

[taylor210eman]

Hope all works out for the best :thu:

Quick question for y'all -
The firewire ports - are those there for connecting things to the interface or for connecting the interface out? I have a firewire device that would be nice to connect through the interface.

Also, can you use this as a sort of live sound PA board? I.E. Plug in, adjust the mixers on the screen and out to monitors? I'm assuming so, but I'd love clarification. I'll have mine by friday hopefully.

Thanks,
Eric

[ViLo]

Hope all works out for the best :thu:

Quick question for y'all -
The firewire ports - are those there for connecting things to the interface or for connecting the interface out? I have a firewire device that would be nice to connect through the interface.

Also, can you use this as a sort of live sound PA board? I.E. Plug in, adjust the mixers on the screen and out to monitors? I'm assuming so, but I'd love clarification. I'll have mine by friday hopefully.

Thanks,
Eric

One FW port connects to the computer, the other one you can use to connect an external Drive.

I don't see why not, after all is a mixer too, but you'll have to use a computer to take advantage of the efx...etc..

[jamesgitch]

i was wondering if the alesis io 26 works with pro tools because im trying to find a audio interface that has more than two mic inputs. currentlly i have a mbox 2 and im now needing to upgrade so i can track drums and such. if its not do any of you have any suggestions for a audio interface with more than 4 inputs and works with pro tools le

[Anderton]

ViLo, let us know what you think!! Do you find the documentation as helpful as I do?

[ViLo]

ViLo, let us know what you think!! Do you find the documentation as helpful as I do?
Yes! very easy to understand and a breeze install.....10:thu: I'm not going to be able to fully tested until this weekend.

[ViLo]

i was wondering if the alesis io 26 works with pro tools because im trying to find a audio interface that has more than two mic inputs. currentlly i have a mbox 2 and im now needing to upgrade so i can track drums and such. if its not do any of you have any suggestions for a audio interface with more than 4 inputs and works with pro tools le

Only ProTools interfaces work with ProTools software, that's the way is designed.
Unless something changed in the last few months,,,,?

[Edge100]

Can anyone with an io26 and a Mac discuss the problems documented in this (http://www.bigbluelounge.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35587) thread?

[ViLo]

Can anyone with an io26 and a Mac discuss the problems documented in this (http://www.bigbluelounge.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35587) thread?

This problems?
__________________________________________________ __________________
"So I never listen to iTunes through it or open e-mail programs or surf the web when the thing is hooked up.

That said, I went ahead and checked mine out, just to see if I could increase your sample size on this. And yes, when I'm listening to something in iTunes, then open Mail or Safari, there is a quick little "blurp" (only when I open the program, not at any point after this or when I close it). One time out of about twenty times doing this, opening Safari made the sound start cutting in and out. But I just closed iTunes and reopened it, and everything was cool again.

So, for me, this is a total nonissue. If you're constantly opening up and closing Mail and Safari while you're listening to iTunes through your nice FireWire audio interface for some reason, I can see how it might be a minor annoyance. But, IMHO, that's about it. Even if I were to use the iO/26 in a way that did make this occur for me, it wouldn't be nearly half as annoying as something as simple as remembering the proper order to opening Logic and Reason for ReWire, and making sure that you click on the Reason song, not the icon on the dock (so that you don't change your Logic song's tempo) -- and I deal with this every day, and it doesn't bother me."
__________________________________________________ _________

A recording interface is for recording, and you supposed to have a dedicated computer just for that...I don't care about glitches when I open mail, and browsers, those things don't have nothing to do with recording.

So is not an issue for me @ all, if somebody wants to play iTunes, that somebody needs to buy an mp3 player, the iO/26 is not desigened for that...But I fAlesis fixes that I guess it'll be a good thing;)

That's mi opinion only, and I'm sticking to it!:D

[NorthSider]

Bought myself an IO|26 today, will be recording with it this weekend -- I'll follow up with any issues or comments.

[bOing]

A recording interface is for recording, and you supposed to have a dedicated computer just for that...I don't care about glitches when I open mail, and browsers, those things don't have nothing to do with recording.

I agree. Save your money and use core audio and that mini jack for recreational musical purposes. If you are serious about recording, then the main concern should be whether this unit malfunctions while tracking or mixing, not while surfing for porn. :)

My interest, if anyone can address it, is whether these preamps are as good or better than those in the TC Konnekt 24D. I want to buy one of the many glitchy units available and I prefer more i/o.

Anyone?

[Edge100]

I agree. Save your money and use core audio and that mini jack for recreational musical purposes. If you are serious about recording, then the main concern should be whether this unit malfunctions while tracking or mixing, not while surfing for porn. :)

My interest, if anyone can address it, is whether these preamps are as good or better than those in the TC Konnekt 24D. I want to buy one of the many glitchy units available and I prefer more i/o.

Anyone?

Sorry, but I really don't buy this. You're making excuses for the interface. Every other established FW interface can be used in this manner, and can deal with switching between apps without any glitches. Alesis' comments, which are along the lines of "this is normal", are even more frightening.

I want to io26 to be my next interface. It has everything I need, at the right price. But I'm not going to purchase an audio interface that doesn't allow me to properly use iTunes when I want to listen to some tunes in between making music.

I'm not judging the interface yet. But, I did want to know if anyone else could replicate (and not make excuses for) this documented issue.

[rogerramjet]

I have an IO26 that I use with my Powerbook G4 and this doesn't happen. Perhaps this is a MacIntel issue? Anyways I'm sure Alesis will address this. After all it's new interface and the Mac Intel is relatively new. I'm pretty happy with my IO26 and it works great with Logic. Where else can you get up to 24 inputs similtaneous for $400 bucks?


Sorry, but I really don't buy this. You're making excuses for the interface. Every other established FW interface can be used in this manner, and can deal with switching between apps without any glitches. Alesis' comments, which are along the lines of "this is normal", are even more frightening.

I want to io26 to be my next interface. It has everything I need, at the right price. But I'm not going to purchase an audio interface that doesn't allow me to properly use iTunes when I want to listen to some tunes in between making music.

I'm not judging the interface yet. But, I did want to know if anyone else could replicate (and not make excuses for) this documented issue.

[sumpm1]

Thanks for the review Anderton, can't wait to see the rest of it. Best wishes to your mother. Just to get this straight, the io26 has 8 preamps correct? If so, that is an outstanding deal for $400, even if the preamps are mixer quality, you don't need a cheap mixer to do this job now.

[MattACaster]

I've got a question for you fellow io26 owners.

My old Delta 1010LT could reverse the phase on an input if two mics were out of phase with each other. Is there a way to do this on the io26?

[Anderton]

I've got a question for you fellow io26 owners.

My old Delta 1010LT could reverse the phase on an input if two mics were out of phase with each other. Is there a way to do this on the io26?

I have not found a phase flip function on the io26, so I suspect there isn't one. That's not a big deal to me, though, as my host software has a phase flip switch on each channel.

[MattACaster]

I have not found a phase flip function on the io26, so I suspect there isn't one. That's not a big deal to me, though, as my host software has a phase flip switch on each channel.


Really? Is that something Cubase SX has?

[SonnyBoy]

Hi to you all,

I’m rather new to this forum, and I’ve been searching all the threads available on Alesis’ new io26. I’ll post my comment here, and hope you don’t mind if you find it on other forums too, as I’m trying to find as many io26 users as possible to solve my problems.
I’ve had my io26 for 2 weeks now, and I’m still trying to get it to work properly. I have an iBook G4 with 1.25 Go RAM running on Panther. I know it’s not the most recent configuration, but it more than matches recommendations found in the Reference manual (it says at least OSX 3.9 and 526 Mo RAM).
What I really liked about the io26’s specifications, amongst MANY other things, was of course the 8 mic ins, so it can actually record a full drum kit, which I haven’t done yet and you’ll see why…
So far, I’ve tried using it with Tracktion2 first, since this is one of the most musician-friendly (as opposed to engineer-friendly) DAW that I’ve come across. Sure, it’s not PT, Logic or any of the highly-rated DAWs in the market, but it does have everything you need to record music, as well as various settings for audio, midi, plug-ins, latency, etc. (what I say here might not seem relevant to this topic, but you’ll see IT IS).
After installing the drivers, which was really fast, I tried to record a simple song, thinking, let’s have something with 8 tracks only and just some plug-in eq or reverb here and there, and see how it reacts. I mean, nothing that could be a heavy burden for my computer. So I recorded the whole thing, track by track – not 8 tracks simultaneously.
The problem is, I KEPT GETTING POPS AND DROPOUTS ALL THE TIME. I was not using any other application at the same time. No wi-fi, no Bluetooth, no internet browser, no iTunes!
So I emailed Alesis’ support, who replied really quickly. Here’s what they said:
“Is there a way in Tracktion to adjust any buffer or latency settings? Also have you tried the Cubase LE program to see if this also produced pops and clicks? Also I would disable any networks, wireless, bluetooth devices, or internet connections. Also I would recommend restoring your disk permissions and resetting the PRAM.”

Ok, I know that the io26 hasn’t been tested with Tracktion (shame, though – there’s an army of Tracktion users out there), as it’s not on the list of tested DAWs on Alesis FAQs page. But do you know any DAW that hasn’t got latency settings? I mean, c’mon!
So I did everything they advised me to do, INCLUDING restoring disk permissions and resetting the PRAM. I even downloaded a free application to optimise my disk, although so many people say this is useless on a Mac (interesting issue, but not quite relevant for this thread).
Then I tried recording on Cubase LE, track by track again. I got pops while recording, (you can actually hear them exactly at the same time in the timeline) AND pops and dropouts during playback. And I did try various buffer settings.
But the thing is, I don’t want to use Cubase, I want Tracktion because it works best for me.
I will mail Alesis again and I hope I’ll get a more specific answer, as opposed to “turn off your other applications”, “it’s Tracktion’s fault”, “optimise your disk”.
Anyway, there is enough evidence that the io26 doesn’t work properly with all Power PC Macs. The only Power PC user with an io26 I’ve found so far is Roger (rogerr or rogerramjet on various forums), who doesn’t seem to have any problem with it. I actually took his posts into account before deciding to purchase the io26, as US-based users have been able to buy it first (it’s only been available over the pond for about 3 weeks). But apparently it does have issues with Intel Macs too – and Tiger, for that matter – so I don’t think it’s because of Panther or not enough RAM…
Any opinions?
:confused:

[ViLo]

Thanks for the review Anderton, can't wait to see the rest of it. Best wishes to your mother. Just to get this straight, the io26 has 8 preamps correct? If so, that is an outstanding deal for $400, even if the preamps are mixer quality, you don't need a cheap mixer to do this job now.

Yes 8 Pre's plus ADAT!:thu:

[ViLo]

Hi to you all,

I’m rather new to this forum, and I’ve been searching all the threads available on Alesis’ new io26. I’ll post my comment here, and hope you don’t mind if you find it on other forums too, as I’m trying to find as many io26 users as possible to solve my problems.
I’ve had my io26 for 2 weeks now, and I’m still trying to get it to work properly. I have an iBook G4 with 1.25 Go RAM running on Panther. I know it’s not the most recent configuration, but it more than matches recommendations found in the Reference manual (it says at least OSX 3.9 and 526 Mo RAM).
What I really liked about the io26’s specifications, amongst MANY other things, was of course the 8 mic ins, so it can actually record a full drum kit, which I haven’t done yet and you’ll see why…
So far, I’ve tried using it with Tracktion2 first, since this is one of the most musician-friendly (as opposed to engineer-friendly) DAW that I’ve come across. Sure, it’s not PT, Logic or any of the highly-rated DAWs in the market, but it does have everything you need to record music, as well as various settings for audio, midi, plug-ins, latency, etc. (what I say here might not seem relevant to this topic, but you’ll see IT IS).
After installing the drivers, which was really fast, I tried to record a simple song, thinking, let’s have something with 8 tracks only and just some plug-in eq or reverb here and there, and see how it reacts. I mean, nothing that could be a heavy burden for my computer. So I recorded the whole thing, track by track – not 8 tracks simultaneously.
The problem is, I KEPT GETTING POPS AND DROPOUTS ALL THE TIME. I was not using any other application at the same time. No wi-fi, no Bluetooth, no internet browser, no iTunes!
So I emailed Alesis’ support, who replied really quickly. Here’s what they said:
“Is there a way in Tracktion to adjust any buffer or latency settings? Also have you tried the Cubase LE program to see if this also produced pops and clicks? Also I would disable any networks, wireless, bluetooth devices, or internet connections. Also I would recommend restoring your disk permissions and resetting the PRAM.”

Ok, I know that the io26 hasn’t been tested with Tracktion (shame, though – there’s an army of Tracktion users out there), as it’s not on the list of tested DAWs on Alesis FAQs page. But do you know any DAW that hasn’t got latency settings? I mean, c’mon!
So I did everything they advised me to do, INCLUDING restoring disk permissions and resetting the PRAM. I even downloaded a free application to optimise my disk, although so many people say this is useless on a Mac (interesting issue, but not quite relevant for this thread).
Then I tried recording on Cubase LE, track by track again. I got pops while recording, (you can actually hear them exactly at the same time in the timeline) AND pops and dropouts during playback. And I did try various buffer settings.
But the thing is, I don’t want to use Cubase, I want Tracktion because it works best for me.
I will mail Alesis again and I hope I’ll get a more specific answer, as opposed to “turn off your other applications”, “it’s Tracktion’s fault”, “optimise your disk”.
Anyway, there is enough evidence that the io26 doesn’t work properly with all Power PC Macs. The only Power PC user with an io26 I’ve found so far is Roger (rogerr or rogerramjet on various forums), who doesn’t seem to have any problem with it. I actually took his posts into account before deciding to purchase the io26, as US-based users have been able to buy it first (it’s only been available over the pond for about 3 weeks). But apparently it does have issues with Intel Macs too – and Tiger, for that matter – so I don’t think it’s because of Panther or not enough RAM…
Any opinions?
:confused:

Mac Specs from the Alesis Website::
Mac:
• Power Mac G4 Dual 867MHz or faster, all Intel Mac models
• 1 Gig RAM or more
• Mac OSX 10.4 or higher

I would suggest that you start a new thread http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=50 Craig's Forum or the Recording Forum http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=57 , I purchased mine 3 days ago I have not be able to tested it fully yet.

Start a new thread if you don't mind........And we'll go from there...\
I'm using a PC.

Thanks

[Anderton]

On the contrary, Vincent...this does belong here. Either his scenario is common, in which case Alesis needs to know about it, or it is not, in which case he needs to figure out what his problem is. However, it seems at first glance his system doesn't meet the minimum specs with respect to the processor.

Pops and dropouts can be due to so many different reasons...I've had outdated graphic card drivers cause that type of problem. IF we can chase down the problem, I'm sure Alesis would be grateful as they could then handle any other people who had the same problem.

And as an aside, in terms of doing Pro Reviews on several interfaces, Firewire Mac interfaces seem more problematic than Windows computers IF the Windows computers have the right card. I've certainly experienced some weird issues with interfaces and my dual G5; check out the PreSonus Inspire thread for details, and how I solved it.

[SonnyBoy]

Well yes... that's what it says on the io26 page. However, in the Reference manual that comes with the interface (and is also downloadable on the support page), it says:
"Minimum Macintosh Requirements:
• Any Apple computer with native Firewire support
• Mac OS X “Panther” version 10.3 or later
• 256 MB RAM (512 MB or more recommended)"
I was well aware of these discrepancies, so I e-mailed Alesis in November and here's what they replied:
"The details on the website have not been updated to reflex what is in the manual since this was a pre-release product page. The IO/14-26 is still in development though the suggested minimum requirements in the manual would [be] the one’s to follow for compatibility." (sorry for the spelling, it's cut and paste...)
Therefore, "the manual"... has it right. Or not?
I will follow your advice and start a new thread. Tomorrow, though, as it's 2 am here and I'm going to bed.

[ViLo]

Well yes... that's what it says on the io26 page. However, in the Reference manual that comes with the interface (and is also downloadable on the support page), it says:
"Minimum Macintosh Requirements:
• Any Apple computer with native Firewire support
• Mac OS X “Panther” version 10.3 or later
• 256 MB RAM (512 MB or more recommended)"
I was well aware of these discrepancies, so I e-mailed Alesis in November and here's what they replied:
"The details on the website have not been updated to reflex what is in the manual since this was a pre-release product page. The IO/14-26 is still in development though the suggested minimum requirements in the manual would [be] the one’s to follow for compatibility." (sorry for the spelling, it's cut and paste...)
Therefore, "the manual"... has it right. Or not?
I will follow your advice and start a new thread. Tomorrow, though, as it's 2 am here and I'm going to bed.

I hope that some how you can make it work...see ya tomorrow :thu:

[ViLo]

I hope that some how you can make it work...see ya tomorrow :thu:

Craig is using a MAc to test the iO/26 for this review, so keep an eye on this review too.:cool:

[Anderton]

Really? Is that something Cubase SX has?

Actually, I'm on the road with my laptop, which has a minimal complement of programs installed...Sonar has a phase switch on each channel. I checked a few programs on the net, but couldn't get a detailed enough screen shot to determine if the program did or did not have a phase switch. But I don't think Cubase LE has one.

[ViLo]

Just FYI: Cubase LE can only record 4 simultaneous tracks.;)

[Anderton]

And unfortunately, the review will get pushed out further because I've been caught in that #$&^* snowstorm that hit the east coast...I'm sitting in a hotel in Newark, New Jersey, and Delta can't get me out until Monday morning. I heard 1000 flights were canceled today, and the airport itself was closed briefly.

[ViLo]

Actually, I'm on the road with my laptop, which has a minimal complement of programs installed...Sonar has a phase switch on each channel. I checked a few programs on the net, but couldn't get a detailed enough screen shot to determine if the program did or did not have a phase switch. But I don't think Cubase LE has one.

Hi Craig!:wave: How's your Mom?

[ViLo]

And unfortunately, the review will get pushed out further because I've been caught in that #$&^* snowstorm that hit the east coast...I'm sitting in a hotel in Newark, New Jersey, and Delta can't get me out until Monday morning. I heard 1000 flights were canceled today, and the airport itself was closed briefly.

Well, enjoy your stay as much as you can....We'll be waiting :thu:

[Anderton]

One other thing I should mention is that driver updates are fairly common. Comments about what does and does not work with particular configurations are often very helpful to companies, as long as the descriptions are fairly detailed.

[Anderton]

Thanks for asking, ViLo! She's doing pretty well, given she's 87 and had major surgery. She's a real trouper and it was great to visit with her :)

[ViLo]

Thanks for asking, ViLo! She's doing pretty well, given she's 87 and had major surgery. She's a real trouper and it was great to visit with her :)

Great! I'm happy to hear that!:thu:

[sumpm1]

Check out the features of this new FocusRite Saffire 8 channel preamp/recording interface using firewire. It seems to have the exact same features as the io26. I'm willing to bet they are the same product. Although the FocusRite is $100 more than the io26, it may be a nice alternative for those that have racks, or want their inputs in back.

[neal johnson]

Hey everyone, I have the io 26 for about 2 months now and has been working great. I have used it to record a full drum set and DI a bass at the same time. Im running it on a new intel mac power book.

As far as the issue with itunes, I feel that every time I open a new program the computers processors use the ram to open that program which may account for the pop in the audio. This happens with Photoshop and itunes on my compy.

One question though has anyone added more input via adat? Any suggestions for me?

[instred]

Are you going to test the unit with Sonar 6. I couldn't get it to work. The firewire light would go off and on. My Firewire Hard drive works fine.
I got an RA number at it is back at Alesis.
I hope it is not like others that say the Drivers are bad. The unit looks and feels solid. When it did boot up, the unit would either start spitting static out and the time line would go about five times the normal speed or it would freeze Sonar 6 up completely. My Edirol UA-25 doesn't have these problems and I hope mine will be fixed. Anybody else have my problem?

Ed

[ViLo]

On the contrary, Vincent...this does belong here. Either his scenario is common, in which case Alesis needs to know about it, or it is not, in which case he needs to figure out what his problem is. However, it seems at first glance his system doesn't meet the minimum specs with respect to the processor.

Pops and dropouts can be due to so many different reasons...I've had outdated graphic card drivers cause that type of problem. IF we can chase down the problem, I'm sure Alesis would be grateful as they could then handle any other people who had the same problem.

And as an aside, in terms of doing Pro Reviews on several interfaces, Firewire Mac interfaces seem more problematic than Windows computers IF the Windows computers have the right card. I've certainly experienced some weird issues with interfaces and my dual G5; check out the PreSonus Inspire thread for details, and how I solved it.

Thanks Craig!:thu:

I was under the impression that the Pro review Thread was only for the reviews.

But your are right.
I encountered some problems with my Desktop, when I play iTUNES and open Firefox, I wanted to try it since other users were having problems, and sure enough I have the same problems......I installed it on desktop with 1 gig of ram,and an Asus MoBo...

I must say that I also have @ church the Alesis MultiMix Firewire16, and it works great with my desktop, Zero Problems.

I recorded 3 guitars, lead guitar and bass, with no problems.
But with the io26, even SoundForge, stops and goes, I have more stuff going on in my desktop, so will see, so do you tihink is the drievers.....[???]
I had the EMU 1820M and it also worked great with my desktop, the reason I sold it was because of the 2 mic pre's. I needed 8.

At the moment I'm on a laptop:
Gateway MP8708, IntelCoreDuo,2 Gigs Ram,With WinXp Media Center.
I'm playing iTunes @ the same time I', writing this post, and surfing, so far Zero Problems......

Installation of the iO/26 on this laptop was a snap!

[ViLo]

I just recorded 4 tracks with the laptop and the io/26 with no problems.

[ViLo]

I just recorded 4 tracks with the laptop and the io/26 with no problems.


On my desktop I'm using the built in firewire socket [??] the Asus mother board has an intel VIA chipset. I know the a TI chipset is recommended [????] so I'm ordering a PCI Firewire Card with the TI chipset to see if that will make a difference....

I will do everything to keep this Interface, and since it works on the Church's laptop, I got hope :D..I intend to buy a laptop to make this a mobile recording rig.

;)

[rogerramjet]

Actually it records 8 mono tracks. I use Logic Pro and I've recorded up to 24 tracks with the lightpipe inputs.

Just FYI: Cubase LE can only record 4 simultaneous tracks.;)

[SonnyBoy]

Roger, if I remember well, I believe you use your io/26 with a PowerBook, don't you? And I suppose you're running Tiger? Also, how much RAM do you have?

[rogerramjet]

I have a 1ghz G4 Powerbook with the latest Mac OS 10.4.?

I have 768Mb RAM. I really should have a gigabyte of RAM, but everything works ok.

Roger, if I remember well, I believe you use your io/26 with a PowerBook, don't you? And I suppose you're running Tiger? Also, how much RAM do you have?

[chillyspoon]

Two questions!

1)
Slightly off topic - but can anyone recommend a nice travel case for the IO|26 that would fit the PSU and maybe a few other bits and bobs? - I have a significant amount of mobile recording coming up and no nice "pouch" for it yet.

2) Back on topic, has anyone else successfully used the IO|26 with WDM under XP? - I want to use it alongside my Tascam US-428 with Sonar 4 PE but have had to retreat to using it as the sole audio interface using ASIO as I couldn't get playback without pops and clicks in Sonar (the same recording would play cleanly in Cubase LE) when using WDM.

My setup is a Dell XPS M170 laptop with an external Prestigio L190T LCD screen - XP SP2 (media), 2GB RAM, 2.66 GHz Pentium M - recording to an external USB2 disk.

Using ASIO I can get perfect recordings in both the supplied Cubase LE and Sonar 4 PE - but with WDM cannot playback in Sonar without the pops and clicks (if I record some audio, export it and playback say with Sound Forge or Cubase LE it plays fine). Either way I'm getting random system hangs since installing the drivers - always happening when I'm doing something that involves media of some sort - say opening a PDF manual with Sonar open - or forgetting to close Sonar and opening WinAMP is a guaranteed killer!

I can get by just fine using my Tascam as the controller and the Alesis as the only audio interface - but it's handy having those extra audio inputs available on the Tascam and being able to flick between the audio outputs to hear differences.

Cheers,

Fergus.

[ViLo]

Actually it records 8 mono tracks. I use Logic Pro and I've recorded up to 24 tracks with the lightpipe inputs.
I was talking about Cubase Le, not the io26;)

[rogerramjet]

Same here. My version of Cubase Le does 8 mono tracks. What version do you have? The current one is 1.0.10. The guys at Alesis product support sent me the latest.


I was talking about Cubase Le, not the io26;)

[ViLo]

Same here. My version of Cubase Le does 8 mono tracks. What version do you have? The current one is 1.0.10. The guys at Alesis product support sent me the latest.

I tried the version that came with the Multimix Firewire16 Mixer, and I did not like it, so I did not installed the one that came with the ioI26 :)

So if is 8 mono racks is good, sorry for the mixed up:thu:

[blayz2002]

Patience...I think it's important to cover what the thing does first before we start doing the listening tests, because if it doesn't have particular features people want, they're not going to care about how it sounds. Besides, I didn't take all those pictures for nothing :)

So Anderton when you gonna let us know how this thing sounds then? Also I think you mentioned you've used the EMU 1820m before, can you A/B with that as these 2 interfaces have simular claims and bang for buc..although I know the 1820m is discontinued now.

[NorthSider]

I will be recording this weekend using the IO|26, will post any comments.

[Anderton]

So Anderton when you gonna let us know how this thing sounds then? Also I think you mentioned you've used the EMU 1820m before, can you A/B with that as these 2 interfaces have simular claims and bang for buc..although I know the 1820m is discontinued now.

I will indeed be comparing it with the 1820m and some others. Unfortunately, after visting my mother, I was scheduled to return home on Friday...when that big snow storm hit the east coast, and my flight was canceled. I was stranded in Newark NJ, and due to problems getting re-booked, I didn't get home until late Monday night. Yesterday I had to deal with various deadlines I missed because of not getting home, and I'll finally be able to get back to the Pro Reviews this evening. Sorry, but things don't always work out as expected! Jeez, at least I could have gotten stranded in Maui or something :)

[mikews99]

I will indeed be comparing it with the 1820m and some others.

Craig, do you think you could do like this person did (http://gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=104691) and record a short sample from a high quality source into the various interfaces you've done reviews on so we can judge for ourselves the quality of the A/D sections? I found this invaluable in helping me decide (at least with that comparison --> spoiler <-- (http://gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=1093617&postcount=21)) that I much preferred the Konnekt 24d over the Fireface 400.

I know that it's a lot of extra work, but I think it would save you quite a bit of typing in answer to the inevitable "But how does it sound?"

- Mike

[taylor210eman]

I just recieved the io14. Very easy to setup and was able to hear sound and input sound with in 5 minutes. Haven't tried recording yet, though I have installed cubase LE. When I plug in my headphones (AKG M80's) there is a bit of noise, but then the line is clean. I am also using this interface to evaluate sound while I'm editing video in Final Cut Pro Studio and Soundtrack Live. I ran into the problem where when I open Soundtrack and then try and listen to the audio in Final Cut, the audio disappears. Reopening Final Cut solved the problem, and I haven't messed with it more, but this is a potentially annoying problem. Anyone have any ideas why it happened or is this similar to the sound blip people mentioned when opening more then one program at once?

Thanks,
Eric

[blayz2002]

I will indeed be comparing it with the 1820m and some others. Unfortunately, after visting my mother, I was scheduled to return home on Friday...when that big snow storm hit the east coast, and my flight was canceled. I was stranded in Newark NJ, and due to problems getting re-booked, I didn't get home until late Monday night. Yesterday I had to deal with various deadlines I missed because of not getting home, and I'll finally be able to get back to the Pro Reviews this evening. Sorry, but things don't always work out as expected! Jeez, at least I could have gotten stranded in Maui or something :)

Ok sorry to pressure, just thought you'd forgot about this thread! good to have you back I look forward to your posts.

I'm new here by the way, but I actually started a thread over at gearslutz on the io26 as I was supprised no one was reveiwing it. So when some one from here (maybe ViLo) posted the link to this in Gearslutz and I saw your methodic approach to reviewing kit, I was impressed.

I'm not really looking to buy this (at least not at the mo) but want to hear how the quality stands up to their claims.

Cheers

[willsing]

I am really stoked to see that Craig Anderton is reviewing this potential little nugget. Hopefully the A/D D/A conversion will prove to be excellent (not just good) for this price range. I like the blurb about the jitter-free technology, but then again talk is talk and specs are specs.

Also must say that I am super glad to see that it will be compared to the EMU 1820m, since that is what I have been using for the last 4 years. Love it, but always looking at other pastures.

Thanks!
Will

[ViLo]

I'm new here by the way, but I actually started a thread over at gearslutz on the io26 as I was supprised no one was reveiwing it. So when some one from here (maybe ViLo) posted the link to this in Gearslutz and I saw your methodic approach to reviewing kit, I was impressed.



:thu:

[Jazz Ad]

I own the I|O2 model for basic home recording.
I'm pretty happy with it, also noticed how greatly is was built. Good preamps, no hiss or noise. I only have 2 complaints actually.
- ASIO drivers are bad, they bring in too much latency and several recording programs don't recognize them. I had to tweak text parameters for Cubase to accept it. I finally switched back to good old ASIO4ALL.
- MIDI input has glitches. I use it with a master keyboard to trigger soft synths. It locks up quite often. My keyboard and cables work fine with other synths.
I'd appreciate if you could test these parts on the bigger brothers.

[jimnorman]

FYI- Alesis statement

I emailed Craig about this and he suggested I pass this on you guys.

We are aware that their is a driver issue that causes a small audio glitch sound when opening certain applications on Mac Intel computers (Safari, iTunes) with the IO 14 and 26. We are currently looking into this issue and will address it with a driver update in the near future. Audio applications such as Cubase LE and other DAW programs appear to function ok when used in a normal manner with just one application opened at a time.

Thanks,

Jim Norman
Alesis Product Manager

I just recieved the io14. Very easy to setup and was able to hear sound and input sound with in 5 minutes. Haven't tried recording yet, though I have installed cubase LE. When I plug in my headphones (AKG M80's) there is a bit of noise, but then the line is clean. I am also using this interface to evaluate sound while I'm editing video in Final Cut Pro Studio and Soundtrack Live. I ran into the problem where when I open Soundtrack and then try and listen to the audio in Final Cut, the audio disappears. Reopening Final Cut solved the problem, and I haven't messed with it more, but this is a potentially annoying problem. Anyone have any ideas why it happened or is this similar to the sound blip people mentioned when opening more then one program at once?

Thanks,
Eric

[Edge100]

FYI- Alesis statement

I emailed Craig about this and he suggested I pass this on you guys.

We are aware that their is a driver issue that causes a small audio glitch sound when opening certain applications on Mac Intel computers (Safari, iTunes) with the IO 14 and 26. We are currently looking into this issue and will address it with a driver update in the near future. Audio applications such as Cubase LE and other DAW programs appear to function ok when used in a normal manner with just one application opened at a time.

Thanks,

Jim Norman
Alesis Product Manager

Always great to hear product manufacturers recognizing the issues that creep up, and only expose themselves when the product gets widely used. Seriously, this is good practice.

It's also much better than the original response that was posted on page 2 of this (http://www.bigbluelounge.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35587) thread:

"I'll take a look into this over here though it sounds like what is being
experienced is 'normal'. When starting up another program, this is taking
away system resources that are needed to process the audio and would cause dropouts until the program is closed or the audio is started again.

Best Regards,
Justin Baro"

[Anderton]

Comparison time. Comparative testing is always a bit difficult to make sure the test conditions are equal, so I stuck a Shure SM58 in front of an ADAM A7 speaker, fixed the mic in place so it wouldn’t move, then played a CD through the speakers. (I chose a DJ mix CD, Monika Kruse’s “On the Nippon Road,” because it has a good balance of deep bass and sparkling highs). I then recorded through the Mackie Onyx Satellite, E-Mu 0404 USB AudioPod, and Alesis io26, recording about a minute of Track 2. I started off with the mic input levels up all the way.

The first thing I noticed was that the 0404 mic pre had by far the most gain, the io26 the least amount, and the Satellite somewhere in between (see picture). In fact, I had to trim the 0404 gain a bit to avoid overloading the input. You can see that the Alesis peaked at about –18.5dB, the Satellite at –8.5dB, and the 0404 at –2.0dB. I should point out, though, that the mic was about a foot away from the speaker, and I wasn’t listening at a particularly high level. As noted earlier, when just singing into the io26, I was able to drive the input into the red with all but the softest vocals. So, I don’t think it’s correct to think of the Alesis as “low gain” so much as it is to think of the 0404 as high gain, and eminently suited to picking up low-level sounds.

But this does confirm my initial thoughts that the mic pres in the io26 are not super-high gain, and you’d need additional preamplification if you wanted to bring, say, room mics up to a high level.

Okay, time for listening tests…but first, I need to normalize these suckers so we’re working from an even playing field, then do some critical listening. I’ll be back shortly.

[bOing]

Comparison time. Comparative testing is always a bit difficult...

Craig, can you also make a side comment on the io26 pre's as compared to your recent experience with the Konnekt 24D pre's? Subjective is good enough for me. I'm interested in which ones you'd prefer to use if you had only the two to choose from before tracking.

Lie to me if you have to. :)

Thanks,

[Anderton]

Always great to hear product manufacturers recognizing the issues that creep up, and only expose themselves when the product gets widely used. Seriously, this is good practice.

It's also much better than the original response that was posted on page 2 of this (http://www.bigbluelounge.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35587) thread...

Well, I wouldn't be too hard on them. I presume that Alesis just isolated the problem, as Jim Norman emailed me only yesterday. People are always going to make guesses as to what the problem is until they find out for sure.

[Anderton]

I own the I|O2 model for basic home recording.
I'm pretty happy with it, also noticed how greatly is was built. Good preamps, no hiss or noise. I only have 2 complaints actually.
- ASIO drivers are bad, they bring in too much latency and several recording programs don't recognize them. I had to tweak text parameters for Cubase to accept it. I finally switched back to good old ASIO4ALL.
- MIDI input has glitches. I use it with a master keyboard to trigger soft synths. It locks up quite often. My keyboard and cables work fine with other synths.
I'd appreciate if you could test these parts on the bigger brothers.

I assume you're talking about Windows? I'm testing on the Mac for now, and will move over to Windows later.

[Anderton]

Craig, can you also make a side comment on the io26 pre's as compared to your recent experience with the Konnekt 24D pre's? Subjective is good enough for me. I'm interested in which ones you'd prefer to use if you had only the two to choose from before tracking.

Lie to me if you have to. :)

The Konnekt 24D is installed on my Windows machine (so is the Emu 1820), so see above.

[Anderton]

Craig, do you think you could do like this person did (http://gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=104691) and record a short sample from a high quality source into the various interfaces you've done reviews on so we can judge for ourselves the quality of the A/D sections?

Yes and no. The problem is that the current maximum attachment size for sound files with this forum software is 400k. That's not a very long sample, but I'll try saving some of my files at 320kbps in mono. I'm not sure if you'll be able to hear subtle differences, but we'll find out soon.

[Anderton]

I just did some MP3 excerpts at 320kbps, and while they're not as detailed as I'd like, they do get the point across. Listen for yourself; here are my impressions, based on hearing the original AIF files.

E-Mu 0404: Less apparent high end than the others by a hair. However, what you can't hear is that the 0404 preamps are exceptionally quiet, and capable of much higher gain.

Mackie Onyx Satellite: These have that crystalline Onyx high end which some people call "clear and transparent" while others think it's "brittle and harsh." Vive la difference, as they say. It also seems like the bass might be a little tighter, but not quite as prominent as the other two. I like these preamps a lot.

Alesis io26: These preamps are brighter than the E-Mu 0404, but with a somewhat different high end character compared to the Onyx. What's interesting is how well they stack up compared to both the 0404 and the Onyx given that you're getting 8 preamps in the package instead of two.

However, it's important to note that none of these preamps have the option to match the input impedance to the mic. As a result, any differences could be due to interactions with the mic and the input stage, not any inherent issues with the circuitry. We'll see what happens with a condenser mic and going in direct.

The results help support my contention that these days, there are really only four types of preamps: Crappy consumer stuff, lower middle class "hit the price point" pres, upper middle class (I would put the ones I tested in this category), and designed preamps like the ADL 600 and other tube/rack/etc. gear. Fact is, there's no excuse not to make a decent-sounding preamp these days, so your evaluations will probably be based more on subjective criteria. For example, when recording a really bright acoustic guitar, you might find the 0404 a much better match than the Onyx, which is brighter.

[Anderton]

First up, to all those who wonder “Why do you test with an SM58, anyway? Isn’t that kinda low rent?” Well, it’s a sound that has been burned into my brain, so any deviation from that norm is something I really tend to notice.

Anyway, moving on…here’s the same test, but with an Audio-Technica AT3035 condenser mic. This also gave me a chance to check out the phantom power thang.

As I suspected, the differences are far less pronounced than with the dynamic. I would still say that the Onyx preamps sound just a bit tighter; listen carefully to the attacks of the synth bass, they’re more defined than with the other two preamps. However, any brightness differential between the Alesis and Emu 0404 USB has disappeared, so I think we may indeed by dealing with slightly different input impedances that, in the previous test, interacted differently with the SM58.

Overall, I feel the differences are very slight; listen for yourself - what do you think? Also, I’m not quite sure what to make of the more defined pick attack of the Onyx (I don’t think I’m imagining things), although I do remember Mackie being very proud of the “linear phase” design of the Onyx preamps.

Any by the way, in case you’re thinking “Well the MP3 covers up any subtle differences,” that’s true to some extent but even listening to the full-bandwidth AIF files, you’ll hear about the same differences as you’ll hear with the MP3s (if any). In my opinion, any differences among these preamps in terms of sound quality tend to be quantitative rather than qualitative, aside from the extremely low noise of the E-Mu preamps. Bottom line: It's clear to my ears that Alesis did not scrimp on preamp quality to meet the low price point of the io26.

(By the way, the Emu 0404 is NOT the PCI-based 0404, but the new USB 0404 that just came out. It is a newer design than the PCI cards, and interfaces to the computer via USB 2.0.)

[mikews99]

I just did some MP3 excerpts at 320kbps, and while they’re not as detailed as I’d like
Awesome! Thanks!

Yeah, the MP3 format is not so good. I've seen some others use Rapidshare (http://rapidshare.com/) to host bigger files. That might be helpful if you want to present the original, uncompressed files.

However, it's important to note that none of these preamps have the option to match the input impedance to the mic.
What about going direct in from the source to the pre's? Then you wouldn't have to worry about impedance matching as much and we still would get to hear the character of the pre's.

For example, when recording a really bright acoustic guitar
Ooh, ooh -- pretty please? Especially if you could find a sterling recording of just female voice and acoustic guitar and go direct. I've found that it's easiest to tell the difference in any digital audio gear with that particular type of source material.

Thanks for all the effort on your part. It really helps make the buying decision easier.

- Mike

[huffcw]

Have you tested or compared any of these with the Focusrite Saffire (LE or original)? I really like the Saffire preamps, but would be interested in hearing your take on how they compare.

Out of all the firewire audio interfaces I have tried so far, the Saffire really seems to shine through to me. And, they have addressed the issue with the bus powering from Macbook Pro, which was something I was looking for. (When I contacted Alesis support about this, they said... maybe it will work, maybe not. If it doesn't you can always use the power adapter. A very dissapointing response since I obviously was specifically interested in confirming I would be able to use it bus powered. It sounds to me like they have not addressed the issue or tested with the new Macbook pros.)

[Anderton]

Have you tested or compared any of these with the Focusrite Saffire (LE or original)? I really like the Saffire preamps, but would be interested in hearing your take on how they compare.

Sorry, I don't have any Focusrite gear here for comparison.

As to MacBook Pros, there are a lot of issues with that particular computer and Firewire...check out the Konnekt 24D thread. The io26 is a piece of gear with a lot of circuitry inside, so it wouldn't surprise me that it presents some fairly hefty requirements to the Firewire bus. But at least kudos to Focusrite for coming up with a solution for their gear.

[Anderton]

For this test, I took the outputs of the Alesis Masterlink and went directly into the line inputs of each of the three interfaces. I recorded a snippet from Angelique Kidjo’s CD “Oyaya!” because, well, I like it.

I then recorded into Peak 5.2 (as I had with all the other examples), cropped to 9 seconds, and normalized to 0 so that there perceived levels would be the same. And listened really carefully.

I couldn’t hear any significant difference. In fact I’m not sure I heard any difference at all. I then converted them all to mono 320kbps MP3 files, and couldn’t hear any difference there either.

By going into the line ins, I assume this bypasses the mic pres altogether, and therefore the only variable in play is the A/D converter. Based on that, all I can say is, if you can hear any difference among these three files…let me know! I’m not hearing anything, even with the full-res files.

[Anderton]

We're not done yet, as I need to check out the Windows side of things. But so far, I'd say that the io26 mic pres are definitely good quality. I do think the Onyx pres have a tiny bit more of lower midrange definition, but they do have a particular "sound" that some people like and some don't.

Compared to the E-Mu 0404 USB, I'd say the E-Mu has slightly higher-grade pres, at least on paper (specs etc.). Sonic differences are minor, though, except at very high-gain settings, where the E-Mu seems a bit quieter. The noise of both was small enough to make it impossible to measure, so this is a subjective call. But as to price, the 0404 USB has two pres for about $300 list, and the io26, eight pres for about $600 list (about $200 and $400 street, respectively). Now obviously, there's more to these than just preamps, but when you consider that the io26 has dual ADAT ins, phono in, and really good construction, I gotta say this one cost-effective package...you're getting a huge bang for the buck.

(In the interest of completeness, the 0404 USB has a universal adapter with snap-on plugs that literally let you use the thing anywhere in the world; it also comes with a large amount of bundled software, and the headphone out is a Class A amp that sounds excellent. Just though you oughta know about the price differential. As to the Satellite, it basically has only two ins but it has a unique design where you can lift out the "guts" as a mobile interface, while leaving it patched into your desktop studio configuration.)

[Anderton]

I'm hoping someone from Alesis can comment on the price issues with the io26. It's obvious that this box represents tremendous value; I'm not seeing where the corners are being cut. My assumption is that between the FireWire mixers and various interfaces, the company is buying a ton of mic preamp and FireWire chips, as well as connectors, and are getting huge quantity breaks.

Any comments, without of course resorting to marketing-speak or divulging trade secrets? How [do] you keep the price down on this?

[Anderton]

All right, that's it for the io26 for today, time to update some of the other Pro Reviews. I'm thinking of what kind of tests to run next...Windows and MIDI, of course. I also want to get into the direct monitoring applet a little more, I mentioned it a bit earlier but there's a lot more going on with it than I covered. See you later!

[ViLo]

All right, that's it for the io26 for today, time to update some of the other Pro Reviews. I'm thinking of what kind of tests to run next...Windows and MIDI, of course. I also want to get into the direct monitoring applet a little more, I mentioned it a bit earlier but there's a lot more going on with it than I covered. See you later!

U...... R........ Da Man!!! GRACIAS!!

[jimnorman]

Craig,

Our approach on the IO 14 and 26 was to go back to the old Alesis formula of offering more bang for the buck. Since these products were developed from our initial involvement with the DICE II chip we worked to make the design cost effective as well as offer high quality. When you start from scratch and develop new designs you can look for more affordable parts to go into the design.

It’s important to realize that we didn’t cut any corners on quality however. With years of manufacturing under our belt we have ways of saving cost and passing it on to the customers.

The nice thing to realize is that while the price of the IO's are pretty aggressive we are using real, high quality parts like Neutrik connectors and audiophile Cirrus ADC’s. We also created brand new Mic Pre’s for these products instead of borrowing from past designs. We were able to save cost as well offer the best Pre’s we have made yet.

Jim

I'm hoping someone from Alesis can comment on the price issues with the io26. It's obvious that this box represents tremendous value; I'm not seeing where the corners are being cut. My assumption is that between the FireWire mixers and various interfaces, the company is buying a ton of mic preamp and FireWire chips, as well as connectors, and are getting huge quantity breaks.

Any comments, without of course resorting to marketing-speak or divulging trade secrets? How [do] you keep the price down on this?

[ViLo]

Craig,

Our approach on the IO 14 and 26 was to go back to the old Alesis formula of offering more bang for the buck. Since these products were developed from our initial involvement with the DICE II chip we worked to make the design cost effective as well as offer high quality. When you start from scratch and develop new designs you can look for more affordable parts to go into the design.

It’s important to realize that we didn’t cut any corners on quality however. With years of manufacturing under our belt we have ways of saving cost and passing it on to the customers.

The nice thing to realize is that while the price of the IO's are pretty aggressive we are using real, high quality parts like Neutrik connectors and audiophile Cirrus ADC’s. We also created brand new Mic Pre’s for these products instead of borrowing from past designs. We were able to save cost as well offer the best Pre’s we have made yet.

Jim

Hi! Jim!! Thanks for your reply and info.'m looking forward to the driver improvement for the io26!

I like it a lot, it's working well with my laptop, but not with my desktop.

Thanks again! for being here :thu:

[ViLo]

I getting Drop outs with Sonar Home Studio 4 in my laptop now...sigh!:cry:

[huffcw]

Hello Jim,

Maybe you can provide a better answer than I received from support regarding the bus power on these. Have they been tested at all with Macbooks to see if they can be properly powered from the firewire ports on these laptops?

[ViLo]

I getting Drop outs with Sonar Home Studio 4 in my laptop now...sigh!:cry:

The io26 It's working fine with Reaper, so far............

[coolrahool]

I ve had the io 14 for about a week, sounds great, records nice clean audio, however i too have the same problem that a lot of people are reporting: audio drop outs when playing back music or recorded audio, and when opening other media type programs i get gliches too.

Like Vilo i have a PC with 1 gb RAM and a asus MB w/on-board firewire port. So i seen in some previos threads that this seems to be the case for mostly mac users we'll evidently the problem exists for PC users as well. I contacted Alesis to notify the prob and hopefully they can release a driver to fix the prob i think everyone woth this issue should do the same. I did see what Jim from Alesis had posted about workin on this for mac users i hope they recognize that it is the same for PC's too...

[ViLo]

I ve had the io 14 for about a week, sounds great, records nice clean audio, however i too have the same problem that a lot of people are reporting: audio drop outs when playing back music or recorded audio, and when opening other media type programs i get gliches too.

Like Vilo i have a PC with 1 gb RAM and a asus MB w/on-board firewire port. So i seen in some previos threads that this seems to be the case for mostly mac users we'll evidently the problem exists for PC users as well. I contacted Alesis to notify the prob and hopefully they can release a driver to fix the prob i think everyone woth this issue should do the same. I did see what Jim from Alesis had posted about workin on this for mac users i hope they recognize that it is the same for PC's too...

:thu:

[andrej33]

Has anyone used the IO/26 With cubase 4 yet. Mac or pc. I just upgraded to Cubase 4 and want to buy a new computer and sound card. I'm used to Cubase so i decided to stick with it , but am curious about the performance.
Thanks,
Andre

[budalash]

Craig,

Our approach on the IO 14 and 26 was to go back to the old Alesis formula of offering more bang for the buck. Since these products were developed from our initial involvement with the DICE II chip we worked to make the design cost effective as well as offer high quality. When you start from scratch and develop new designs you can look for more affordable parts to go into the design.

It’s important to realize that we didn’t cut any corners on quality however. With years of manufacturing under our belt we have ways of saving cost and passing it on to the customers.

The nice thing to realize is that while the price of the IO's are pretty aggressive we are using real, high quality parts like Neutrik connectors and audiophile Cirrus ADC’s. We also created brand new Mic Pre’s for these products instead of borrowing from past designs. We were able to save cost as well offer the best Pre’s we have made yet.

Jim

Hi Jim, thanks for your input
You haven just sold another unit :)
I have always been a fan of Alesis stuff. It's somehow cool, your products have a quality of their own and a certain character.
I have been waiting for this unit for some time and they still don't have it in Europe. Mind you, I have just received a brochure from my dealer in Rotterdam which lists the price, but I am afraid it's still not in stock. www.thomann.de says the delivery time is the end of April. Does this go only for Germany or for other European countries as well?

And of course, a big thanks to Craig for his efforts..

[Edge100]

Well, I wouldn't be too hard on them. I presume that Alesis just isolated the problem, as Jim Norman emailed me only yesterday. People are always going to make guesses as to what the problem is until they find out for sure.

I can totally understand that it takes time to find problems. And I really do appreciate that Alesis was up front once the issue had been (widely) reported. But their initial claim that this type of thing is "normal" leaves a lot to be desired.

Kudos to them for doing something about this issue, and for participating in this review in the first place. Your (very positive) review of the pres and conversion, along with Alesis' pledge to do something about the driver issue on Intel Macs (which I happen to have), put the io26 squarely at the top of my list.

With this type of value coming in the new breed of FW interfaces, it'll be interesting to see how the other players (who have been in the FW game longer) react...I'm speaking of companies like MOTU.

[jimnorman]

Thanks for all your questions. I have to leave for Frankfurt Messe soon so I apologize for not being available much for the next week.

To answer a few questions.

IO's should be in Europe this coming April.

If you are having Windows audio drop out issues please contact our Product Support guys, either by phone or email. I'm not sure you are necessarily having driver issues. We haven't seen that here on our Windows machines. There can be so many variables with interfacing audio products to computers. If you report the issue and the Product Support guys can't solve the problem it will go to us in Engineering and we'll investigate the issue further. Please let us know what you are seeing. Naturally we'll need all your details and going to support first is the best step for us to sort things out.

As far as testing all the MacBook Pro's for bus power. No we haven't tested them all. The ones we have checked have been fine, but I have found that Mac's vary in Firewire bus power. My little G4 Powerbook works fine, but my iMac G5 doesn't. Go figure.

Thanks,

Jim

[taylor210eman]

I'm pleased so far with the product . Its had a couple of glitches but nothing huge. Very well built, and sound quality is great. I'm planning on picking up the io26 soon as well. I should be able to hook the io14 into the 26 via the adat or spdif right?
Thanks
Eric

[I was The Funk]

Can anyone comment on preamp quality (especially in terms of stacking) of the IO26 vs the M-audio dmp3 or omnistudio pres?

I like the Omnistudio pre's alot especially because they have a ton of gain to use with ribbons and dynamics.

[ViLo]

Can anyone comment on preamp quality (especially in terms of stacking) of the IO26 vs the M-audio dmp3 or omnistudio pres?

I like the Omnistudio pre's alot especially because they have a ton of gain to use with ribbons and dynamics.

I think you answer it's on page 5 ;)

[Anderton]

I'm pleased so far with the product . Its had a couple of glitches but nothing huge. Very well built, and sound quality is great. I'm planning on picking up the io26 soon as well. I should be able to hook the io14 into the 26 via the adat or spdif right?
Thanks
Eric

The ADAT connections are inputs only. Also, getting two Firewire interfaces to perform as a team is an iffy proposition; a company called CEntrance (http://www.centrance.com) has a driver designed to support multiple interfaces, but for Alesis, only the Multimix is currently supported. You would probably be better off getting an analog line mixer and mixing down to two ins on the interface.

[Anderton]

While visiting the CEntrance site to get the info in the previous post, I stumbled on a link to a possible solution to gapping, clicks, and other audio problems. (http://www.mark-knutson.com/t3/)Check it out...

[Anderton]

QUICK QUESTION: I will be at the Frankfurt Messe next week, as will Jim Norman. I will not be bringing the interface with me, and Jim will obviously be doing his Alesis thing 24/7. Would y'all prefer that I close the thread until I get back, or leave it open so you can continue discussing the io amongst yourselves? I will be able to check in, I just won't be able to add new material or answer questions that require having the unit nearby.

[ViLo]

QUICK QUESTION: I will be at the Frankfurt Messe next week, as will Jim Norman. I will not be bringing the interface with me, and Jim will obviously be doing his Alesis thing 24/7. Would y'all prefer that I close the thread until I get back, or leave it open so you can continue discussing the io amongst yourselves? I will be able to check in, I just won't be able to add new material or answer questions that require having the unit nearby.

IMHO you should leave it open............Please...........Sr..........:)
Thanks

[ViLo]

While visiting the CEntrance site to get the info in the previous post, I stumbled on a link to a possible solution to gapping, clicks, and other audio problems. (http://www.mark-knutson.com/t3/)Check it out...

:thu: :thu: :thu: :thu: :thu:

[andrej33]

does anone know where there is one of these in stock?
Thanks,
Andre

[instred]

Have the drivers been fixed in the lastest update.
my firewire connection wouldn't light up all the time.
Mine is back at Alesis for replacement. When it did light up the unit all of a sudden would play back at lightning speed and spit out static and/or freeze my computer up running Sonar 6.0 at the time. I went back to Edirol UA-25 and have upgraded to 6.21 and don't have these issues. I would like to keep the unit buyt not if I can't get it to work with Sonar. I was hoping to set up the unit in the near future with a laptop to record at my church.

Ed

[Anderton]

When it did light up the unit all of a sudden would play back at lightning speed and spit out static and/or freeze my computer up running Sonar 6.0 at the time.

Interesting: Sonar users are also having problems with the TC Konnekt 24D doing the same thing, so maybe it's a Sonar issue of some kind. If so, have you downloaded v6.2.1? It's the latest update to Sonar 6 and fixes severa bugs.

I'll be trying the interface with Sonar later today or tomorrow, once I get it installed in my Windows computer.

[ViLo]

Interesting: Sonar users are also having problems with the TC Konnekt 24D doing the same thing, so maybe it's a Sonar issue of some kind. If so, have you downloaded v6.2.1? It's the latest update to Sonar 6 and fixes severa bugs.

I'll be trying the interface with Sonar later today or tomorrow, once I get it installed in my Windows computer.


I got drop outs with Sonar Home Studio 4...............
It's working great with Reaper.............. so far...

[instred]

the unit is back at Alesis for replacement for the firewire hook up issue.
I only had 6.0 at the time. I now have 6.2.1 with Edirol UA-25 and no problems with dropouts. My concern is Alesis Test with sonar 4-6. Really?????

Hope they come up with a fix unlike Mackie with the 400f. Beta drivers now for over 8 months.

Ed

[SonnyBoy]

Hi to you all,
Here's some more recent news, which I also posted in the other io/26 thread on the bigbluelounge (http://www.bigbluelounge.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=299869#299869) forum.
First of all, be warned, one of the guys in charge of Alesis' tech support (I'm not dropping any names, he probably knows who he is, and I don't want to be responsible for anyone losing his job) doesn't seem to read your e-mails very carefully. It actually took him several e-mails from me to realise that I was running Panther 10.3.9, whereas I had made this clear in almost every e-mail I sent to him!!!! All this after telling me first that it might be Tracktion's fault, that I should reset the PRAM, restore my disk permissions, etc. In one of his latest replies, he even hinted that it might be because of a potential bugginess in Apple's firewire ports!!!! Whouaww!! Puzzling.
So after some surreal Q&A series, he finally - sort of - apologised for all the bollocks I had been told so far, including that I should refer to the manuals (which still recommend at least Panther 10.3.9) and told me that I should upgrade to Tiger, NOT TO the forthcoming Leopard - so don't rush to install Leopard, Alesis are not likely to support it any time soon. Here are a few choice excerpts (comments in [] brackets are mine) from Mr. Tech Support's literature - don't laugh:
"I noticed that you are running OS 10.3.9. Initially when the IO/26 was in development we expected compatibility with Panther. However testing has shown that a G4 running OSX 10.4 is needed. Our latest manuals and website have been updated to reflect this. [well, not exactly, hence:] Thanks for the heads-up on the online manuals not being updated yet, I’ll let the Marketing Dept. know about this. [apparently at Alesis, providing accurate specifications in a manual is a marketing job, although telling people to check those manuals for up-to-date info seems to be a tech support one...] I would highly recommend going with option number one [that's upgrading to Tiger 10.4, and spend some extra 155 bucks over here in Europe]. [...] We had expected 10.3.9 to work out when initially tested though Mac changed some things in the how their firewire ports handle information which would account for the connectivity issues and dropouts. [c'mon, the latest Apple firewire audio update was released on April 21, 2004!] [...] The IO/26 has been thoroughly tested with Mac OSX 10.4 and above. We are looking forward to supporting this product for a long time. Actually yesterday we just posted new software and firmware on the website. [true! Apparently it's a ...eerm..."correction" of the previous update from March 5th...] This has given new features to the IO/26 such as independent headphone volume and Main Level volume control. Also the HDM Control Panel has a streamlined interface."
Well, talk about corporate set language. And still no accurate drivers for Panther, unlike what was - and still is - stated in the manuals. Now, to be honest, not all the people at Alesis seem to be that hopeless. As mentioned above, Alesis' Jim Norman deemed it useful, following Craig's recommendation, to post a statement on this thread, acknowledging there was a problem with io/26 drivers. However, he only mentions issues with Mac Intels, not PowerPCs, and only as far as opening other apps such as Safari or iTunes is concerned, whereas there is clearly a problem with other computers and OSs whenever NO OTHER app is open at all, at least with Panther on PowerPCs and, possibly, some Windows PCs too.
So, to make it clear, the io/26 seems to operate quite well on SOME Intel Macs running Tiger 10.4.9 (providing no other app is being used), some Mac PowerPCs (rogerramjet's PowerBook), and some Windows PCs. And that's it.
So I'll follow my tech support friend's advice, one last time, and upgrade to Tiger (as much as I hate to do so, since I've never had a problem with Panther so far, and since this means no Leopard either, as Alesis are not planning to support Apple's new OSX in the foreseeable future...).
Sorry for posting such long messages, folks, but I feel that you deserve to be informed as accurately as possible about what is going on, especially those of you who are planning to buy this new toy.

[SonnyBoy]

does anone know where there is one of these in stock?
Thanks,
Andre

Well, it all depends where you're planning to buy it. I found this site in France, apparently they still have a few units in stock. They deliver to Switzerland and Belgium too (and maybe elsewhere, check with them).
http://www.plugsquare.com/fr/fr/world-571/p-PL0607240025/cat-619/i-o26-interface-audio-26-entrees.html

[ViLo]

I adjusted the Latency[I'm working with my desktop and Reaper] and so far no drop outs and no problems,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,;)

[andrej33]

Well, it all depends where you're planning to buy it. I found this site in France, apparently they still have a few units in stock. They deliver to Switzerland and Belgium too (and maybe elsewhere, check with them).
http://www.plugsquare.com/fr/fr/world-571/p-PL0607240025/cat-619/i-o26-interface-audio-26-entrees.html

Thanks SonnyBoy , I guess I should have been more clear. I'm in the states, and have called all over and checked on the internet and it seems everyone is waiting for a new shipment.
Thanks again,
Andre :confused:

[rowe]

does anone know where there is one of these in stock?
Thanks,
Andre

Somehow I suspect there were lots of folks like myself that were waiting for
Craig's excellent tests of the mic pres and now that they are done, everybody
went to purchase the unit at nearly the same time.

The purchasing folks at the various music equipment stores probably should take note. :idea:

Meanwhile, I am enjoying the information about the PCI latency and the rest
because I am sure it will come in handy. Thanks everyone! :thu:

jsr

[SonnyBoy]

I haven't found any io/26 so far... However, if the little sister (io/14) suits you fine too, here it is (in stock):
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/io14/
I'll do some more research for you and let you know...

[ViLo]

Thanks SonnyBoy , I guess I should have been more clear. I'm in the states, and have called all over and checked on the internet and it seems everyone is waiting for a new shipment.
Thanks again,
Andre :confused:

GC Arlington TX has them, that's where I bought mine..:thu:

[Anderton]

Hey everyone -- sorry I didn't get a chance to do some serious testing with Windows before I had to leave for Messe. I'll pick up where I left off :) I have set up an appointment with Jim Norman at Messe so if he has any additional news on the io products, I will relay it to you.

[Gutter Pup]

Hi -

FYI:

Just picked up an Alesis IO 26 for a friend at Guitar Center in Sherman Oaks, California (USA). They had a couple in stock. Advertised price: $399.

My friend (who is new to recording) is running the Garage Band program that came with his Imac. He's got the IO 26 working with Garage Band, but tells me that his multiple vocals and instruments (recorded simultaneously) are all going to only one track (i.e. not separate tracks) in Garage Band. I have a PC and am not familiar with recording with Macs, or Garage Band, or the Alesis IO 26 (other than some initial user reviews and the specs) - - so, I don't know what he is supposed to do to record each instrument and vocal to it's own track . . . (?) :eek:

Gutter Pup

[ViLo]

Hey everyone -- sorry I didn't get a chance to do some serious testing with Windows before I had to leave for Messe. I'll pick up where I left off :) I have set up an appointment with Jim Norman at Messe so if he has any additional news on the io products, I will relay it to you.

Thanks Craig!:thu:

[taylor210eman]

Hi -

FYI:

Just picked up an Alesis IO 26 for a friend at Guitar Center in Sherman Oaks, California (USA). They had a couple in stock. Advertised price: $399.

My friend (who is new to recording) is running the Garage Band program that came with his Imac. He's got the IO 26 working with Garage Band, but tells me that his multiple vocals and instruments (recorded simultaneously) are all going to only one track (i.e. not separate tracks) in Garage Band. I have a PC and am not familiar with recording with Macs, or Garage Band, or the Alesis IO 26 (other than some initial user reviews and the specs) - - so, I don't know what he is supposed to do to record each instrument and vocal to it's own track . . . (?) :eek:

Gutter Pup

I'd suggest recording the tracks with Cubase LE and then importing them into his Garage Band program. I don't use Garage band, so I'm unsure of how to give an easier answer.

[SonnyBoy]

I'd suggest recording the tracks with Cubase LE and then importing them into his Garage Band program.

As far as I know, you can only record 8 simultaneous mono tracks, or 4 stereo tracks, with Cubase LE, so it depends how many vocal- and instrument tracks he needs at a time.

[taylor210eman]

Well since the IO26 only has 8 inputs he should be fine huh?

[SonnyBoy]

Well since the IO26 only has 8 inputs he should be fine huh?

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

[KingDingeling]

Hi,
i am also interested in the IO 26. I look forward to use it with my MacBook.
I wonder if anybody besides Gutter pup tried to use it with GarageBand. Because I want to try it with this application before thinking about buying LogicExpress.
So for me it is senseless, if it doesn't work with GarageBand at the moment.

[MattACaster]

Just to let everyone know, Guitar Center will got down to $350 out-the-door to an io26. Thats what I got mine for. :D

[Hyperborea]

My friend (who is new to recording) is running the Garage Band program that came with his Imac. He's got the IO 26 working with Garage Band, but tells me that his multiple vocals and instruments (recorded simultaneously) are all going to only one track (i.e. not separate tracks) in Garage Band.

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

[ViLo]

Just to let everyone know, Guitar Center will got down to $350 out-the-door to an io26. Thats what I got mine for. :D

Well now that you are bragging...I got mine for $299.99:p :D Brand new in the box from GC Arlington TX...

[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: :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]

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

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.:thu:

[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....
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y41/ViLo/RF1HDM.jpg
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

[taylor210eman]

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.

[jimnorman]

Hi guys,

I am just back from Germany and playing catch up with your issues. If you are contacting our support guys that's really helpful for us in engineering. They pass on your information to us so that we can test and verify your issues. We want to address all your issues as soon as possible. We are waiting on a driver update that I think will help with the various Mac issues. I don't have an ETA yet, but it is a high priority with our developers.

FYI, using the Mac with OS 10.4 is essential for addressing dropouts and glitches. We don't support 10.3 with this product. The DICE driver doesn't appear to work with that version. Sorry for any inconvience that you may have had with this. What happens sometimes that the manual is written ahead of the products release so the latest information isn't always shipped with the product. We try to make sure that the web page has the latest information.

We are doing everything we can to address your issues. Thanks for your patience.

Jim Norman
Alesis

[BDMSB]

I am just back from Germany and playing catch up with your issues.

We are doing everything we can to address your issues. Thanks for your patience.

Jim Norman
Alesis

Jim-

Very good. That's all I ask. I just worry that the front line in tech support may not be passing on our common problems to engineering if their universal answer on a Mac is to reset the PRAM.

[dr_bell]

I didn't get the impression that tech support took my issues seriously. It took two to three days to get a response to each email, and my contact seemed to be ignorant of the mac problems that have been discussed here and on other discussion boards. I did not have the luxury of contacting phone support, which is only available during EST business hours, during which I happen to be busy working.

It looks like I will have to wait to see what Alesis can do, though, as the store where I purchased the io14 claimed that it was not their responsibility to refund or exchange a product that is not performing as expected. Every part of the system seems to have broken down here. I am very disappointed at the time I have lost to these problems. I purchased the io on February 28 and have not recorded a single lick with it. I apologize if it seems like I am monopolizing this thread with my complaints, but too bad. There are real people who spend real money on these products, and their lives are affected in real ways when they don't work when they're supposed to.

[ViLo]

Thanks Jim your participation and help are greatly appreciated :thu: :thu: :thu: :thu:

[taylor210eman]

I didn't get the impression that tech support took my issues seriously. It took two to three days to get a response to each email, and my contact seemed to be ignorant of the mac problems that have been discussed here and on other discussion boards. I did not have the luxury of contacting phone support, which is only available during EST business hours, during which I happen to be busy working.

It looks like I will have to wait to see what Alesis can do, though, as the store where I purchased the io14 claimed that it was not their responsibility to refund or exchange a product that is not performing as expected. Every part of the system seems to have broken down here. I am very disappointed at the time I have lost to these problems. I purchased the io on February 28 and have not recorded a single lick with it. I apologize if it seems like I am monopolizing this thread with my complaints, but too bad. There are real people who spend real money on these products, and their lives are affected in real ways when they don't work when they're supposed to.

I don't think you're monopolizing the thread. I think that's pretty shitty that the store wouldn't let you return the defective unit. Hope all works out for you.

[Anderton]

Hmmmm, I was really interested in buying this thing but considering his thread and others on other forums, this product is probably a piece of junk.

Its not your fathers Alesis. Its became a low rent company bought out by another low rent bargain basement manufacturer.

Don't ever expect software or product support like more "serious" companies.

I understand what you're saying but it doesn't seem like Windows people are experiencing the same types of problems, and for whatever reason, my dual G5 Mac running 10.4.9 with the new Alesis drivers has been working fine. This brings up perhaps a more serious point, because in previous Pro Reviews concerning interfaces, most of the problems seem to relate to Macs, and what's worse, they're not consistent: It seems there are variables among the Mac OS revision, the drivers you use, and the Mac hardware itself.

Basically what I'm saying is that Alesis isn't the only company having problems with drivers and Macs; all the other interfaces I've tested here (Mackie Onyx 400F, PreSonus Inspire, and TC Konnekt 24D) have had similar issues (as well as additional problems in some case, like the "Sonar speed up issue" with the K24D). So I wouldn't jump to any conclusions that any other product will give perfect results if the Alesis isn't. It may relate to the DICE II chip for all I know, so anything with that chip might have similar problems.

I'm sure this will all get sorted out at some point, but it's very frustrating if you've laid down a bunch of bucks for something that doesn't work. I strongly suggest that whatever interface you buy, you buy it from a company that allows returning it in case it doesn't work with your system.

Okay, on with the Windows testing...

[Anderton]

Now that I'm back from Frankfurt (albeit with a cold - ugh), it’s time to pick up where I left off and install the Windows drivers to check Windows performance. But first, a side note: At Frankfurt, I met Fred Morgenstern, the person who wrote the documentation. He was pretty pleased that I had mentioned that the documentation was really good, so…credit where credit is due.

Anyway, I went to the Alesis web site to check for updated drivers but they were the same ones that were up there before I left. I followed the instructions, and everything installed as expected. In fact, the installation process for Windows and Mac was pretty much identical except for the “Continue Anyway” dialog boxes that show up in Windows during the installation process.

I booted up Sonar, as it would let me test with WDM and ASIO. It asked me to select MIDI I/O, so I checked the boxes for Alesis 1394 MIDI In and Alesis 1394 MIDI Out. So far so good.

To check as many inputs as possible, I called up my template for the Les Paul Digital Guitar. If you’re not familiar with this baby, it’s a Les Paul with outputs for each string, as well as mixed outputs from strings 1-3 and 4-6 (although these can't be used at the same time as the six individual outs; they come from the string 1 and 2 outs when nothing is plugged into outs 3-6) and a mono mixed “classic” output, which is always available. This is ideal for testing the interface, as the io26 accommodates each individual string as well as the mixed string combinations.

Next up: Selecting the audio device in Sonar. I was a bit surprised that even though I have other interfaces connected, Sonar “knew” that I wanted the io26 and selected that automatically. I unchecked the ADAT and SPDIF drivers as I won't be using those until I test the analog ins.

The ASIO FireWire control panel (see the attached image) is pretty obvious. I started off with the buffers set to 512 samples, which is usually reliable with any interface I used. However, I normally don’t stress out the program and interface by recording 6 channels at once, so we’ll see what happen. I also disabled WDM audio as I figured I’d start with ASIO (I’ll test WDM later). This control panel is also where you set the sample rate (up to 192kHz), clock source, etc.

[simple]

Hmmmm, I was really interested in buying this thing but considering his thread and others on other forums, this product is probably a piece of junk.

Its not your fathers Alesis. Its became a low rent company bought out by another low rent bargain basement manufacturer.

Don't ever expect software or product support like more "serious" companies.

It appears that many companies are not testing thoroughly with Macs. I can kind of understand the increased focus on Windows since in general it has a greater user base. However, I believe with audio – as well as video and print – the difference in the user base is smaller (Macs are often used by professionals in these industries). With this in mind I find it kind of crazy that these audo interface companies are not doing more testing with Mac.

One company that I have found seems to recognize the significance of the Mac user base more than others is Focusrite (and it would be nice to see their products put to the test in a Pro Review).

[simpsongb]

Good news and bad news. Good news for the folks who see the io 26 as a crappy product...bad for those who really want one. It is largely unavailable in North America at this point. No reliable estimate from what I can gather on when the new shipments will arrive.....:confused:

[Anderton]

Well, well, well...

I tried 256 samples, then 192, then 128, and Sonar continued to work just fine recording six simultaneously tracks, with CPU under about 10%. Perhaps one reason why is that the io26 seems to handle multiprocessor support well (I'm using a dual core Athlon). Now, I wouldn't expect to be able to run at those latencies if I had lots of tracks, plug-ins, etc., but still...

So I tried 64 samples. At first I thought it could even handle that: CPU1 was about 22% and CPU2, 8%. I did detect some faint crackling sometimes, but it wasn't constant. I wouldn't actually use 64 samples, but I'm surprised it held up as well as it did.

Also note that with all these tests, Sonar's 64-bit double precision engine was enabled as well. To me, this is all very, very impressive. I also opened a few other programs, some non-audio (Paint Shop Pro) and some things like Windows Media Player. WMP didn't produce any ouput, but there was no glitching in Sonar when I opened and closed other programs.

One other thing worth mentioning: I always closed and re-opened Sonar after changing the latency. Programs in general seem to like that.

Time to try WDM!

[taylor210eman]

Good news and bad news. Good news for the folks who see the io 26 as a crappy product...bad for those who really want one. It is largely unavailable in North America at this point. No reliable estimate from what I can gather on when the new shipments will arrive.....:confused:

That's the reason why I'm using the Alesis IO14. My boss will probably buy the IO 26 once its available and I'll use the smaller unit with my laptop for mobile recording.

[taylor210eman]

Well, well, well...

I tried 256 samples, then 192, then 128, and Sonar continued to work just fine recording six simultaneously tracks, with CPU under about 10%. Perhaps one reason why is that the io26 seems to handle multiprocessor support well (I'm using a dual core Athlon). Now, I wouldn't expect to be able to run at those latencies if I had lots of tracks, plug-ins, etc., but still...

So I tried 64 samples. At first I thought it could even handle that: CPU1 was about 22% and CPU2, 8%. I did detect some faint crackling sometimes, but it wasn't constant. I wouldn't actually use 64 samples, but I'm surprised it held up as well as it did.

Also note that with all these tests, Sonar's 64-bit double precision engine was enabled as well. To me, this is all very, very impressive. I also opened a few other programs, some non-audio (Paint Shop Pro) and some things like Windows Media Player. WMP didn't produce any ouput, but there was no glitching in Sonar when I opened and closed other programs.

One other thing worth mentioning: I always closed and re-opened Sonar after changing the latency. Programs in general seem to like that.

Time to try WDM!

Hey Craig,
Could you also try recording with Cubase LE that comes with the package? I'm having some trouble with it. After a little work I got the program to recognize Alesis, and I was able to record with it, but it wouldn't export it. I'm assuming I probably screwed something up, but if you could just record something quick in Cubase to check that would be great. My settings were 24 bit 48 KHz on the Alesis, and I tried mixing down with the same settings for an AIFF file and it told me there was an error in export. Again, probably user error, but I'd just like to see if someone else had the same problem with cubase. I was able to record using Soundtrack live (program associated with Final Cut Pro), but I'd like to use Cubase.

Thanks,

Eric

[Anderton]

This didn't work as well; I couldn't go lower than 256 samples without having what sounded like a ring modulation effect added to the audio. However, the "open up other programs and see what happens" test worked fine.

[simpsongb]

Hey Taylor guy...
You could try Reaper........
Have you heard any word on io 26 availability??

[Anderton]

I've gone back to ASIO to determine the difference between "possible" and "useable." 128 samples doesn't work all the time; I've experienced various burps and freezes. Also, I may just be imagining things, but it seems ASIO performance was better if I disabled WDM audio in the Alesis control panel.

192 samples works consistently, but not if I start adding a bunch of extra stuff to the project. If I was using a program for live performance, like Guitar Rig or a soft synth, that didn't involve lots of other tracks or processors I think it would work fine.

Overall, what works 100% of the time so far is 256 samples, so I'll leave it there for the rest of any testing with Windows.

[dr_bell]

It appears that many companies are not testing thoroughly with Macs. I can kind of understand the increased focus on Windows since in general it has a greater user base. However, I believe with audio – as well as video and print – the difference in the user base is smaller (Macs are often used by professionals in these industries). With this in mind I find it kind of crazy that these audo interface companies are not doing more testing with Mac.

Agreed. No matter what the share of the marketplace is, the manufacturer's responsibility is to be sure that the thing works as they say it will. The "revised" system requirements really get my goat. According to the manual, the io14 will work under 10.3 but I have not heard a single 10.3 user verify this, only horror stories. This makes me skeptical of the rigors with which the product/drivers were tested.

[Anderton]

I think I mentioned it before, but there's no x64 or Vista driver support yet.

I never even looked at the CD because I downloaded all the drivers and stuff, but in addition to Cubase LE (which I'm installing so I can test out the export function, as requested), there are demos of Arturia, Native Instruments, and Applied Acoustics programs.

Also, I think someone said there was only one headphone jack; that's not true. Both the io26 and io14 have two headphone jacks, with individual volume controls.

[Anderton]

Agreed. No matter what the share of the marketplace is, the manufacturer's responsibility is to be sure that the thing works as they say it will. The "revised" system requirements really get my goat. According to the manual, the io14 will work under 10.3 but I have not heard a single 10.3 user verify this, only horror stories. This makes me skeptical of the rigors with which the product/drivers were tested.

I think you will see this situation start to improve as the Intel Macs take over, and companies drop their support for older Macs. A plug-in developer at NAMM told me that it's vastly more difficult to make sure a plug-in works with all the various Mac permutations and combinations compared to getting things to work with Windows XP, and it took him the better part of a year to update his product line to work across the line of various Macs. I agree that companies should be more rigorous with their testing, but it would be nice if Apple made life a little easier for developers, too.

[instred]

What IO buffer setting did you use to get the IO26 to work at 256 samples?
My is back at Alesis because of a bad firewire connection in the unit.
Hope they sort it out and I hope I don't have to wait much longer they have it now for 4 weeks.
Also Craig, what Athlon are you using?

Ed

[Anderton]

Hey Craig,
Could you also try recording with Cubase LE that comes with the package? I'm having some trouble with it.

I tried it, and it worked fine. Are you remembering to set the Left and Right locators to encompass the section you want to export?

[Anderton]

I'm always pleasantly surprised by Cubase LE, it's such a full-featured program given that it's distributed for free. But I was even more surprised when it worked fabulously at 64 samples, even when recording all six strings from the Les Paul Digital. Very impressive, especially given that Sonar's limit was pretty much 192 samples for reliable operation.

I'm going to try Cubase 4 now and see if I can get similar results. Back in a minute.

[Anderton]

What IO buffer setting did you use to get the IO26 to work at 256 samples? Also Craig, what Athlon are you using?

I just used the default i/o buffer setting in Sonar -- 64. The CPU is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor, 4400+ 2.21GHz, 2 GB of RAM.

BTW I seem to get better performance if I close all the other driver applets that load automatically on startup (e.g., E-Mu patchmix DSP, SCOPE system, etc.). Don't know if it's cause and effect, but maybe.

[Anderton]

Well, I couldn't get things to work at all with Cubase 4 -- lots of weird dropouts and stuff -- but there's a new version that I'm downloading now.

Meanwhile, I tried Cubase SX 3.1 and was again able to get reliable results down to 64 samples. So it seems like maybe the people who invented ASIO know a thing or two about how to get their programs to work well with ASIO drivers :)

[Anderton]

I installed V4.02 of Cubase 4, and here we go again -- 64 samples, clean and clear. Very impressive, and I might add, very fun for playing guitar!

Anyway, that's enough for today. There's still the question of whether it's possible to jam the MIDI ports, I'll check that out next. Anyone else have any remaining questions?

[Anderton]

I've been working more with Sonar, and have weird problems where the sound gets horrible and ugly, even with 256 samples. It will seem like everything's okay, but then something happens. If I close Sonar and open it again to the same place in the same project, then the problem goes away, again for a while only to come back -- sometimes sooner, sometimes later.

It seems to relate to the audio engine, as the metronome "speeds up" when used during record.

These problems are very similar to what I've experienced with the Konnekt 24D, which leads me to believe that either a) there's a problem with Sonar when dealing with FireWire interfaces, or b) there's a problem with something the interfaces have in common...the DICE II chip, maybe?

More to come...

[Anderton]

Well for those of you who have been following the Konnekt 24D thread, this "speed-up" thing has been a big issue with Sonar and now I'm finding the same issue with the io26. Everything will seem to be fine for a while, and then out of nowhere, the tempo speeds up and the audio sounds metallic and breaks up. This is something I don't experience with either the E-Mu or SCOPE PCI-based systems I use, so I suspect it's something that the K24D and the io26 have in common, or something they both have the reacts in the same way to Sonar.

Hmmm...I'll think I'll use Cubase for a while and see if the problem surfaces with that.

[instred]

Thats the problem I had when the firewire light lit up. the unit would just go nuts on me.
I'm more mad that Alesis said it was tested with Sonar 4 Sonar 5 and Sonar 6.
Really?????

The tech only gave very geniric advice and didn't believe me when I was telling him the problems. $400.00 down the drain?
Hey Jim from Alesi if you're listening how about sending me your active monitors back instead. At least I know they work and I work be out $400.00!

Venting customer!!!!!!

Ed



Ed

[Anderton]

Well, at this point I'm finding the Sonar/io26 combination not suitable for getting actual work done. It appears that the reason why it seemed to work well is because if I just record and play back, thing work okay. But if I start cutting, pasting, creating gaps, and moving things around, things get into trouble.

The other interesting thing is that if I close out of Sonar, it appears to close, but doesn't really: I need to go into Task Manager and close the program manually.

Are other Sonarians experiencing similar symptoms, or am I the only one?

[Anderton]

Thats the problem I had when the firewire light lit up. the unit would just go nuts on me.
I'm more mad that Alesis said it was tested with Sonar 4 Sonar 5 and Sonar 6.
Really?????

They may very well have...but not with the same chip set/motherboard/graphics card etc. setup. What kind of system are you running?

I've heard about weird problems with Matrox dual and triple head cards, maybe I should try putting it in single monitor mode and see what happens.

[Anderton]

I just got PM'ed from someone who's using the io26 with Sonar 4 at 64 samples. I'm trying to get some more information about this. He also said that operation under WDM was not very good.

I think it's worth stressing for now that the io26 has worked incredibly well with all flavors of Cubase. The only problem I have is with Sonar 6. I'll also try the io26 with Acid, Vegas, and other Sony software, as well as whatever else I have to see what works best with it.

For now, I'd say if you're a Sonar 6 user, make sure you test the io26 with your system before you commit. And if it DOES work, post what kind of system and settings you're using! Conversely, if any Cubase users are having problems, I'd like to know about that too.

[instred]

They may very well have...but not with the same chip set/motherboard/graphics card etc. setup. What kind of system are you running?

I've heard about weird problems with Matrox dual and triple head cards, maybe I should try putting it in single monitor mode and see what happens.

I have An Asus deluxe socket AM2 motherboard with TI firewire with
a 4600+ dual core 65 watt processor. My old Edirol USB UA-25 works fine. I tried a Firewire hard drive and it works fine on the firewire port, even running Sonar 6 for a test with the UA-25. The ASIO drives would do exactly as you have happen to you. I would have to go to task manager to shut down the system. It even caused my computer to shut down and re-boot:o

That is why I'm having a hard time saying they tested with Sonar.
I also had it happen in Cakewalk Project 5 which I use alot.
My hope that the mess is sorted out quickly, which I mean 2 months top from last month. Mackie still has 2.0 something beta drives from last July. If they can't get it fixed I'm entitled for a refund or interest payments for non usage.
This BS that to use you can't hold us responisble yada yada yada is BS.

I was a loyal Alesis customer. I posted before, have QS8 and QS6, Nano-compressor, Active monitor, but this is my last Alesis purchase. To market a product that does not work is not right!!!!!:confused:

[Anderton]

But...it's not on my music computer. On a hunch, I installed the io26 on my Rain laptop, which uses a 1.73GHz Pentium-M with 1GB of RAM - not in the same league as my dual core Athlon, but it works like a champ. No problems at 64 samples, record and playback, all day long.

So, what this tells me is that there is some particular combination of computer, Sonar, and interface that causes real problems regarding latency.

Now that I know that Sonar and the io26 can work superbly together, I'm going to start digging into the innards of my music computer and see what I can find. Stay tuned! If I can fix the "mystery Mac Firewire whine" with the Onyx 400F, and the "mystery mic preamp hiss" with the Presonus Inspire, maybe I can nail this one down too :) Wish me luck!

Instred, what graphics card are you using?

[SonnyBoy]

Craig, thank you very much indeed for your incredibly valuable contribution. You seem to be testing almost every single possible hardware/software configuration, so I was wondering if you'd find some time, one of these days, to test the io/26 with Tracktion2 on a PowerPC Mac. Mine is an iBook running Panther but I'm upgrading to Tiger next week, since it's now official, Alesis only support Tiger, contrary to what they stated in their manuals AND online tech support.
The problem with Tracktion, as I've already said in one of my previous posts here, is that it's not on the list of "tested" (whatever that means...) DAWS on Alesis' web page. Again, I can only hope that they will do it someday, as an increasing number of music-oriented people are using Tracktion nowadays, mostly because of its amazingly user-friendly display (and also for its price, I suppose). Of course, I'll keep you informed whether my io/26 works with Tiger on my PPC iBook, and I'll also try it with Cubase LE.

[Anderton]

Well, here's what I tried:

* Downloaded new drivers for the Matrox P650
* Added the lines to the SYSTEM.INI file recommended in the Sonar help files (I know, I should have done that first, but it talked about modifying lines that were already there, and I instead added a whole new section)
* Tried the Firewire port on my E-Mu board instead of the TI chip set board I normally use
* Turned down hardware graphics acceleration
* Turned off write combining
* Tried multiprocessor support on and off
* Tried a different option for the playback master, as recording seemed to work okay

Bottom line: it still does the speed up thing/bad audio, but the laptop still works perfectly. Go figure.

[Anderton]

One more thing: I also tried installing hotfix 904412, as recommended on the Cakewalk forums. Not sure if there's cause and effect, but 192 samples seems more stable. Still no luck with 128 or lower latencies that work with Cubase.

[Anderton]

Well, the results here are pretty much the same as Cubase: No problem with 64 samples using Acid Pro, Vegas, and Sound Forge.

This is getting rather frustrating, but it seems the signs are pointing to something related to Sonar as everything else works fine. But that of course doesn't explain why Sonar works fine at 64 samples with my laptop...

Surely there is some genius out there who has a solution! AMD Optimizer fix, maybe?

Well, that's enough for today. I picked up the flu on the way back from Frankfurt and have a fever, so I gotta go.

[coolrahool]

Just wanted to post the response i received from Alesis tech support in regards to my io 14 and the ckicks and random audio drop-outs by the way Jim i hope that alesis knows that it' is not just MAC's that are experiencing this problem but PC's too Vilo had the same issue with his PC (i use an AMD x64 w/XPsp2/Igb ram/asus MB/on-board fw port)...

Computer recording problems (hum, dropouts, etc.) can generally be diagnosed and solved in one of the following ways:


1) The power from your computer may be marginally insufficient to guarantee stable performance. Use the included AC adapter whenever issues like dropouts are being experienced.

2) If your computer has a mini Firewire jack, be suspicious of your four-to-six pin Firewire cable. Many poorly constructed cables cause problems. Try using a respected, brand-name cable. Also consider using a six-pin Firewire card that is 400 bus type (since the newer 800 is not supported) to bypass the built-in firewire connection altogether. Some good brands we have encountered are Belkin and also Adaptec.

Also I would highly recommend disabling your 1394 Net Adaptor as this can cause driver installation issues. This can be done by:

Hold the Windows key and the Pause Break key down at the same time. This will open up the System properties box. Then go to the Hardware tab and select Device Manager. Click on the + sign next to the Network Adaptor option. Then right click on the 1394 Net Adaptor option and choose disable. Then I would reinstall the latest drivers.



Also are you running the latest drivers from Microsoft? This can be verified by going to the “Start” menu, choose “Control Panel” and then “Add or Remove Programs.”



Look for the following items in the list:



Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 (or later)



Windows Installer 3.1 (or later)



If one or both of these items does not appear, you must go to www.WindowsUpdate.com for the drivers to be properly detected.





Also I would recommend installing this firewire fix from Microsoft if you have SP2:





http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=CA0F2007-18B5-4112-8BD6-8BF4BD3130B9&displaylang=en





Best Regards,

Justin Baro



Alesis Technical Support

200 Scenic View Drive

Ste.201

Cumberland, RI 02864

401-658-5760

[irchs]

Hello,

Just a post to highlight the bigbluelounge thread on the bugs with the Alesis IO14 and 26.

http://bigbluelounge.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35587&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=105

Jan

[dr_bell]

SonnyBoy:
I feel your pain re: Tracktion. It's a great little DAW--I really value the one screen interface and the creative possibilities enabled by the rack filters. I wish that it would get more attention as well. But the io14 doesn't work in anything else for me, so Tracktion is clearly not the problem.

[jimnorman]

Craig,

We definitely tested Sonar with the IO 14/26 during development. Basically we found that the WDM support with Sonar doesn't work very well compared to ASIO. We did contact Cakewalk about this and their recommendation was to advise customers to use ASIO instead of WDM for the audio driver.

Just for my own sanity check to tried both Sonar 4 and 6 Producer yesterday on my 3 year old Dell with 1 gig of RAM. Using ASIO settings allowed me to record multiple tracks with the IO 26 at 128 samples. There were no artifacts or any other problems. I switched to WDM and had a host of issues. Our recommendation still stands to use ASIO with Sonar.

Why one computer works better than another is a good question. It's near impossible to test for every computer on the market with various configurations. If someone is having problems it's helpful for us to get the documentation through our product support department and investigate the issue.

Thanks,

Jim

[taylor210eman]

I tried it, and it worked fine. Are you remembering to set the Left and Right locators to encompass the section you want to export?

I swear I did but I'm planning on trying again later this week. I've got 4 shows that I'm playing in over the next three days so I'm a little swamped. Good luck with the flu. I have to say I'm really enjoying the Pro Reviews. It's nice to see the actual designers of the product talk with customers. Very refreshing to see this in depth study of the product instead of just a glowing review without any substance. :thu:

[instred]

Hi Jim,
Glad you are here. I'm very frustrated.
Did you test the unit on sonar 6.2.1
I mean not just recording, but afterward. Starting ,Stopping playback, trying to edit audio. That is when most of are problems come to live.

If you mean test Sonar 4-6 by just recording that is not enough. Even craig was able to record at first.

Ed

[Anderton]

We definitely tested Sonar with the IO 14/26 during development.

I believe it, given that I get great performance with Sonar on a non-Athlon machine.

Basically we found that the WDM support with Sonar doesn't work very well compared to ASIO. We did contact Cakewalk about this and their recommendation was to advise customers to use ASIO instead of WDM for the audio driver.

You're not alone in this. All the interfaces I've tested with WDM "work," as does the io26, but ASIO always gives better performance.

Why one computer works better than another is a good question. It's near impossible to test for every computer on the market with various configurations. If someone is having problems it's helpful for us to get the documentation through our product support department and investigate the issue.

I'll contact support and give them the results of my research. So far, it seems the main (maybe only?) issues related to Windows involve Sonar and/or AMD machines.

Also Jim thanks for your contribution here! It's very helpful. By and large people understand that drivers for just about everything have "teething problems," and the fact that the io26 is working so well with so many programs is a good sign. Hopefully the stragglers can be made to work as well.

[Anderton]

Hi Jim,
Glad you are here. I'm very frustrated.
Did you test the unit on sonar 6.2.1
I mean not just recording, but afterward. Starting ,Stopping playback, trying to edit audio. That is when most of are problems come to live.

If you mean test Sonar 4-6 by just recording that is not enough. Even craig was able to record at first.

Yes, recording works fine even with the "problem" computer. It's as you say - once you start playback and editing is when things fall apart. But you have an AMD-based computer as well, right? I'm beginning to think that's the common denominator.

[dr_bell]

Alesis support would now like me to spend more of my valuable free time testing a pre-release version of their drivers. Should I send them a bill or what?

[instred]

Yes I have an Athlon 64 4600 X2 machine.
But Athlon 2.0 and above on Alesis Site.
Are they going to change this like the mac, Opps 10.3 not supported it was a typo? Sorry nope Athlons not supported.
I'm actually surprised they agreed to a pro reiew test with you Crag.
My brother-in-law is in programing and when he say what was happening he just shook his head in disbelief. "What quality control does that company have" is what he said.
Oh well live and learn.

Ed

[instred]

Funny thing is my system is a clean system no anti virus, only 23 processes on start-up. So I didn't like the tech support answer either that it might on my end.

[Anderton]

Yes I have an Athlon 64 4600 X2 machine.
But Athlon 2.0 and above on Alesis Site.
Are they going to change this like the mac, Opps 10.3 not supported it was a typo? Sorry nope Athlons not supported.
I'm actually surprised they agreed to a pro reiew test with you Crag.
My brother-in-law is in programing and when he say what was happening he just shook his head in disbelief. "What quality control does that company have" is what he said.
Oh well live and learn.
Ed

With a Pro Review, no one knows how it's going to turn out: The reviewer, the forumites, or the manufacturer. Alesis is not afraid of finding out if there are problems because it's better to know about them and fix them than not to know they exist. In the TC Konnekt 24D Pro Review, there have been a lot of really savage posts. I expected TC to be very upset but from their viewpoint, it's two years of testing on every possible system around the world compressed into six months :) And in large part because of all the points brought up in the Pro Review, they truly believe the next drivers will do the job. Or the Sonar 5 review: I found a bug while doing the review, Cakewalk was able to replicate it, and they had a fix in place before the Pro Review was done. Who knows how long it would have taken to find that bug without the Pro Review?

I believe that most companies want nothing more than to take care of customers. Alesis is the kind of company that is willing to expose itself to its customers in something like a Pro Review, and take the complaints as well as the compliments (and if you look through this thread, there have been many compliments). After all, you learn much more from the complaints than the compliments! Alesis has a winning product here, and it makes sense they would want to continue to tweak it.

If I hadn't tried Sonar on my X2 machine, I would have thought this interface was perfect: It's priced right, sounds good, has tons of connectivity, and is extremely stable at 64 samples with just about everything I've thrown at it -- except Sonar on X2. Now, if that's all you have and you just spent $400 on an interface, yeah, it's very upsetting, to say the least.

At this point, it comes down to a) whether one thinks an update is possible that fixes this problem, and b) whether you have faith that Alesis will fix it.

Regarding a), it probably is possible. TC's Konnekt 24D has a similar problem and is also DICE II-based, and they say a new driver is finished and will be released as soon as the installer is complete (apparently, the installer itself was responsible for some of the problems too). But fixing it required a huge amount of work -- essentially a complete re-write of the drivers for both Windows and Mac.

Regarding b), all we can do is look at history and if you look at what happened with the Alesis Fusion, it's very encouraging. Fusion was released prematurely and had problems, but in fairly short order not only were the bugs addressed, but Alesis made additional presets and sounds available for free. The same thing happened with the Alesis Ion -- some initial problems, but fixes and "goodies" appeared shortly thereafter. And to be fair, the io26 works fabulously with lots of programs on lots of platforms, so it's obvious they know how to write drivers; they just don't know how to write perfect drivers that work with all systems upon the initial release...like any other software company, as far as I can tell.

I will contact support and advise them that people are having problems with Athlon X2 systems. Hopefully they'll be able to test it and come up with a fix. I wouldn't expect it immediately, though, so if you really can't wait you should probably consider returning your unit...but bear in mind that lots of other interfaces have issues that may or may not impact you. Try before you buy!

Stay tuned...

[dr_bell]

This is really grading on a curve, here. All of us who are having problems are getting screwed by a company that's perfectly willing to accept that a certain number of people are going to sit around and waste hours and hours fiddling with this stupid crap while they put lower and lower numbers in their spreadsheets for R&D.

[instred]

Actually, my unit is back at Alesis because the Firewire light would go off and on. So I thought that was the only problem with it. They have it for a month now. So I can't even try it on another computer. Yes it is frustrating because I didn't get any use out of it and now I'm waiting for it back to use it as a door-stop. I'm more upset at the tech support guy that was really you're having problems with the unit?
Geez how about some honesty like Billy Joel said.

[instred]

As a side note I not into forums much so posting is new to me.
I wish I could of tested the unit right away but illness in the family had everything go to the sidelines. If I could of at least Sweetwater would of had to take it back.

[Anderton]

This is really grading on a curve, here. All of us who are having problems are getting screwed by a company that's perfectly willing to accept that a certain number of people are going to sit around and waste hours and hours fiddling with this stupid crap while they put lower and lower numbers in their spreadsheets for R&D.

I have yet to use any software that worked without bugs upon its initial release. If 95% of the people using the software have problems, that's one thing; if 95% don't, that's another.

Like I said...if I hadn't tried the io26 on Sonar 6 with an Athlon X2, I would have thought it was perfect. And the io26 worked fine on the dual G5 Mac, too. I don't have an Intel Mac to test it with, although as Alesis stated earlier, they're aware of the "open a program and a dropout happens" problem and are working on it.

It doesn't just happen with software...my 2000 VW bug just got recalled for a brake light problem. That's seven effing years after the fact!

As to R&D...I'll speculate that the drivers were written by a 3rd party; most drivers are.

[SonnyBoy]

Craig, I can totally see your point and I can only agree with you. Quite frankly, I don't expect any company, in particular the ones that are selling IT-related products, to provide 100% reliable stuff. We are old enough to have become used with the notion of "updating".
What I did not like here was the way some customers have been treated like utter idiots by Alesis' tech support. I mean, it's ok not to have reliable drivers for all hardware configurations, but, then again, they should not tell us that they are! And it's ok if they don't support every single OS, but, then again, they shouldn't tell us that they do. This is where I feel mistreated, and feeling mistreated is not good for your health. ;)
Also, when people tell you that they are experiencing issues, they probably expect you to take into account their own system configuration, rather than being answered some general, all-purpose blah blah.
Again, no problem with bugs upon first releases. But I can't stand it when they do not acknowledge the issues, or only seem to acknowledge the minor ones. There's one thing, though, that I'm ready to grant them: I suppose it's a lot easier to be honest when no one knows your name, as it's the case on an online forum.

[SonnyBoy]

I suppose it's a lot easier to be honest when no one knows your name, as it's the case on an online forum.

I've just thought about it :idea:: What if someone from Alesis joined this forum anonymously and tell us what's really going on? Not likely, but I like the idea.

[Anderton]

Craig, I can totally see your point and I can only agree with you. Quite frankly, I don't expect any company, in particular the ones that are selling IT-related products, to provide 100% reliable stuff. We are old enough to have become used with the notion of "updating".
What I did not like here was the way some customers have been treated like utter idiots by Alesis' tech support. I mean, it's ok not to have reliable drivers for all hardware configurations, but, then again, they should not tell us that they are! And it's ok if they don't support every single OS, but, then again, they shouldn't tell us that they do. This is where I feel mistreated, and feeling mistreated is not good for your health. ;)
Also, when people tell you that they are experiencing issues, they probably expect you to take into account their own system configuration, rather than being answered some general, all-purpose blah blah.
Again, no problem with bugs upon first releases. But I can't stand it when they do not acknowledge the issues, or only seem to acknowledge the minor ones. There's one thing, though, that I'm ready to grant them: I suppose it's a lot easier to be honest when no one knows your name, as it's the case on an online forum.

I also understand where you're coming from, but there are a few realities to consider.

First of all, it's unfortunate that the vast majority of tech support calls fall under the "oh, you mean I'm supposed to plug it in?" category. You might be shocked at how basic a level the world works on. This is what tech support people get bombarded with every day, and in most cases, the appropriate answer -- "Yes, plug it in" -- takes care of the "problem." So, all the tech support people I've dealt with always start low because most of the time, that's all that's needed.

Second, I know for a fact that Alesis did testing with AMD computers. Whether they used an X2 or not I don't know, but since this issue popped up, they've gone back and beat up Sonar with their AMD machines and haven't encountered any problems. The fact that Sonar works at 64 samples -- flawlessly -- on my Pentium-M machine speaks volumes right there. This is a new unit on the market, and it will be a while before all possible permutations/combinations of gear will be tested "in the real world," so it will take a while for a tech support person to be able to say "Oh yes, the X2 with XYZ motherboard running Sonar 6.2.1 with an Adaptec Firewire card problem -- okay, here's the solution."

I know that Alesis is taking this one "X2 meets Sonar" problem seriously and trying to find a solution. But first, they have to replicate the problem and so far, they haven't been able to. I have offered to help them, giving details of my system configuration etc., and they may need to take me up on it if they can't get their AMD machines and Sonar to misbehave.

[Anderton]

I've just thought about it :idea:: What if someone from Alesis joined this forum anonymously and tell us what's really going on? Not likely, but I like the idea.

Personally, I think it's much cooler than an Alesis representative is telling us what's going on. After all, he told us that Alesis had been able to replicate the Intel Mac issue and was developing a fix. To think that something is being "hidden" is really kind of silly. They haven't been able to replicate the problem I've described, but once they can, I'm pretty sure they'll be able to figure out a workaround or fix.

I do feel that some of the comments here are out of line. So far there have been some issues with Intel Macs (like which company doesn't have issues with them? Look around other forums), and with Sonar on at least two X2 machines. Meanwhile, the thing is performing flawlessly at 64 samples with a variety of programs that I've tested on both the Mac Dual G5 and two Windows machines. Even the machine that's giving me problems with Sonar performs perfectly with everything else, so for all we know, it's a Sonar problem at not an Alesis problem. Or maybe it's an AMD problem; apparently there's some kind of "AMD Optimizer" application that fixes problems with dual core AMDs. So any talk of Alesis "putting out a doorstop," "lowering the numbers of their spreadsheets for R&D," and other such comments seem clueless at best, and mean-spirited at worst.

You've heard the audio examples; the io26 sounds just fine. It's cost-effective to say the least, and the 64 sample performance with just about everything means I can actually play guitar through things like Guitar Rig without feeling like I'm playing through a delay line. Alesis has already introduced updates for the unit since it was introduced, offered new firmware for increased functionality, and is here paying attention to what you're saying and trying to get things to break so they can fix them. If there's one thing a Pro Review should be, it should be fair. Sure, I'll point out when I have a problem in order to help a company speed up the evolution of a product; but I also put that into the perspective of the overall picture, which based on all the work I've done with the io26, is extremely favorable.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to playing guitar through Live 6.0's plug-ins with 64 samples of latency on my AMD X2 machine...courtesy of the io26...

[SonnyBoy]

they may need to take me up on it if they can't get their AMD machines and Sonar to misbehave.
Oh well, I suppose I'm a bit too far away to volunteer with my iBook G4 PowerPC running Panther. :wave: Then again, I'm sure that not everyone in California has sold his/her iBook, therefore I'm pretty confident that they can find someone who's willing to lend it for a couple of days... :lol:
More seriously, I'm sure there's someone "up there" who really cares if their soundcard is not working accordingly. It's just that I had expected tech support to actually... support me, instead of only realizing, after several e-mails, that I was running Panther, and telling me that ... erm... well ... that might be the problem, or maybe not. I mean, they could see my full system configuration as much as everyone on this forum can, and it still took them a couple of months until the penny eventually dropped, or perhaps until they admitted it.

[jimnorman]

Just to follow-up on what Craig's saying. Our product support guys don't mean to upset you. They are doing their due diligence in asking some basic questions. I know the more knowledgable computer owners get frustrated, but I've been in situations that you have to go through the numbers to try everything. It can be frustrating for both the customer and product specialist.

We are not trying to hide anything here about our product. Sometimes it's the smallest thing that can be the problem. I can remember the hell I went through back in the 90's when I would get stumped on why somebody's soundcard wouldn't work. There are a lot of variables with computers. Especially when you are dealing with a new driver and chip. We are dependent on TC to deliver a new DICE driver that will answer these issues. Believe me we are on their back about it all the time.

We have done a great deal of beta testing before release of the IO's. Sometimes there is a case of something we didn't find during testing that gets caught after release. I'm sorry for anyone that is waiting for fixes, but we intend to do our best to address all the issues that we get presented with. Even with a new driver we have to correctly beta test it to make sure that nothing else gets broken in the process. It's never as fast as we'd like.

If anyone wants to PM me with their system information and problem I will gladly take your information and make sure we give the best information that we can. We don't mean to make our customers be beta testers. It's just the growing pains of a new product in the world of computers.

Thanks,

Jim

[Anderton]

It's just that I had expected tech support to actually... support me, instead of only realizing, after several e-mails, that I was running Panther, and telling me that ... erm... well ... that might be the problem, or maybe not. I mean, they could see my full system configuration as much as everyone on this forum can, and it still took them a couple of months until the penny eventually dropped, or perhaps until they admitted it.

Well that's a fair comment, I'm sure a lot of companies wish their tech support efforts were more consistent. I've often cold-called companies for tech support to get background for reviews as to whether tech support was responsive or not. But I stopped including that material in reviews after needing to make several calls to the same company, getting a different person each time, and having results that ranged from useless to solving a long-standing computer problem no one had ever been able to solve before. So I figured I couldn't generalize in print based on one or two calls...

BTW one OT tech support hint for dealing with big companies (like phone companies, AOL, that sort thing): Time your calls so it's after-hours in the US but during office hours in India. I've found the Indian tech support centers are harder to understand, but they know their stuff better. :)

[Anderton]

If anyone wants to PM me with their system information and problem I will gladly take your information and make sure we give the best information that we can. We don't mean to make our customers be beta testers. It's just the growing pains of a new product in the world of computers.

Very very cool to make that offer, Jim. I submitted a pretty full report about the Sonar/X2 thing to Alesis tech support, and Cakewalk is on the case as well just in case it's a Sonar issue.

I find it interesting that you're waiting on TC for a driver, as apparently that's what holding up the update for the K24D. Possibly the io26 and K24D problems are related; I keep getting deja vu -- the "speedup" problem in Sonar/X2 with the io26 is identical to the "speedup" problem with the K24D. From what I understand they've been able to identify the problem, so maybe the next driver iteration for the DICE II will indeed solve the Sonar/X2 problem I'm experiencing with both interfaces.

[Anderton]

We don't mean to make our customers be beta testers.

I always thought it interesting that the two most stable host programs I use, Ableton Live and Propellerheads Reason, do public betas. Too bad you can't do that with hardware!

[SonnyBoy]

any talk of Alesis "putting out a doorstop," "lowering the numbers of their spreadsheets for R&D," and other such comments seem clueless at best, and mean-spirited at worst.

Craig and Jim, don't get me wrong, I agree with most of your explanations. Most of what you say here is common sense, and this is something we quite miss these days.
However, I won't be upset if you count me in with the clueless. Indeed I don't get to hang out with people like you - it's not my job anyway, nor my goal - I can only "enjoy" the plebs treatment. So just to give you an idea about this type of treatment, here is the full message that I had sent to tech support in November, that is, 3 months before I actually purchased my io/26:
Dear Sir,

I am planning to purchase the new IO 26 interface. I am a Mac user (G 4, 1 Gig RAM, OSX Panther 3.9) and I was wondering whether my configuration is compatible with the IO 26. I downloaded the quick start manual from your site, where it says (page 4):

Minimum Macintosh Requirements:
• Any Apple computer with native Firewire support
• Mac OS X “Panther” version 10.3 or later
• 256 MB RAM (512 MB or more recommended)

So no problem here, apparently. But then I checked the specifications on the product web page.
And, surprise, here's what it says:

Mac:
• Power Mac G4 Dual 867MHz or faster, all Intel Mac models
• 1 Gig RAM or more
Required Operating Systems
• Windows XP Home or Professional Service Pack 2 or higher (Windows XP Media Center Edition is untested)
• Mac OSX 10.4 or higher

Obviously, my question is: will I have to buy another computer to use the IO 26 or is my G4 OSX 3.9 still ok?
Thank you in advance.
Best regards,

And here's the answer (misspelling included):

The details on the website have not been updated to reflex what is in the manual since this was a pre-release product page. The IO/14-26 is still in development though the suggested minimum requirements in the manual would the one’s to follow for compatibility.

Unquote. I'm still wondering who was clueless here, not to mention mean-spirited. ;) Ok, I'll stop bitching for now, as I've got some work to do as well, ie. backing up my whole system on the new external drive that I had to buy ($160), before I install Tiger ($150) tomorrow night. Then I'll do some testing and let you know.

[Anderton]

Craig and Jim, don't get me wrong, I agree with most of your explanations. Most of what you say here is common sense, and this is something we quite miss these days.
However, I won't be upset if you count me in with the clueless.

I definitely don't count you in with the clueless (or mean-spirited), but I don't think you made any comments about doorstops and spreadsheets, either :) I think your posts have been to the point. And frankly, it would have been a lot better if the tech support person had just said "I don't know, I'll get back to you in a bit after we nail down the specs, sorry."

Unfortunately this is a common occurrence, like vaporware. Specs are drawn up by companies and engineers believe in good faith they can meet those specs. Then they find out they can't. I could list you numerous examples. Some instances are more troublesome than others, e.g., Steinberg announcing that Cubase 4 would not accommodate DX plug-ins just before it was released. On the other hand Bias dropped support for Premiere plug-ins a while ago and no one even noticed :)

I think your experience points to the fact that companies need to be more careful about considering specs to be "fact" rather than "fiction." Having written several manuals for software over the years, I can tell you that it's much worse "on the inside." Entire features are dropped at the last minute, and new ones added, based either on market research or "ooops, we forgot to..."

Now please don't me wrong either, I'm not justifying this. Like vaporware, I wish optimistic expectations would go away (wasn't the Iraqi war supposed to "pay for itself?" But I digress). I guess it's part of human nature.

FWIW, you'll like 10.4 better than 10.3, and I've noticed that more and more products use 10.4 as a cutoff so making the change will probably be beneficial to you in the future. I have heard, however, that 10.5 makes a huge number of changes to Firewire operation, so here we go again... :rolleyes:

One more thing: Cakewalk is looking into the Sonar/X2 issue as well because obviously, they want their software to work with as many products as possible. They're keeping me updated, and I'll let you know if they find out anything definitive.

So you're in Switzerland, eh? Say hi to the Alps for me, and Lac Leman. I lived in Geneva as a child...what a beautiful country. And Switzerland was always a fun way to torment my civics class teachers: "A country must have a common language." "Uh...what about Switzerland?"

[dr_bell]

I do feel that some of the comments here are out of line.

If you had the experience I am having you would be singing a different tune. After first contacting support more than two weeks ago, the best result I have had is today when they sent the pre-release driver which can actually PLAY BACK audio for a few minutes at a time (this is a first for the unit) and record for about 20 sec with 13 ms latency before there are dropouts and digital noise in the recorded file. That's not what I paid for. I can't get anyone to take the damn thing back. I've got $300 sunk in this thing and hours of annoying troubleshooting and writing to tech support. Why should I care if some people are having great results?

[taylor210eman]

If you had the experience I am having you would be singing a different tune. After first contacting support more than two weeks ago, the best result I have had is today when they sent the pre-release driver which can actually PLAY BACK audio for a few minutes at a time (this is a first for the unit) and record for about 20 sec with 13 ms latency before there are dropouts and digital noise in the recorded file. That's not what I paid for. I can't get anyone to take the damn thing back. I've got $300 sunk in this thing and hours of annoying troubleshooting and writing to tech support. Why should I care if some people are having great results?

How long have you had the product? Don't most companies have a warranty period? Have you seen if Alesis won't exchange the unit and see if maybe yours is defective? I understand that place you bought it from won't take it back but maybe Alesis will.

[Anderton]

DrBell. I sympathize. Personally I don't get the 'sympathy' towards corporations.

My sympathy depends on the corporation. If it's North American Van Lines, Wells Fargo, Exxon, etc., I have none. But Alesis does have a good track record of fixing bugs that show up in new products, and Jim has asked people to send him PMs with details on specific issues so he can pass them along to support. Dr. Bell, all I know of your problems IIRC is that you have a G5 1.8MHz Mac. I had no problems at all with a dual G5 running the io26, so I can't offer the kind of assistance I could if the thing didn't work. Are you sure the unit itself isn't actually defective? Just walking across a rug with low ambient humidity and touching the business end of a Firewire cable can alter the input.

Want a REAL horror story? Many years ago, a copy protection device (!) fried the motherboard on my Mac IIci. When I asked the company about this, they said it was "unlikely but possible." Well, I know it indeed was possible. I was out $200+ bucks for a new motherboard just because I had the misfortune of being assigned that particular product to review :(

I also get annoyed at the lazy acceptance by the consumer for this BS. Trained seal comes to mind. They encourage these practices.

But you have to take into account that the io26 is working flawlessly on many programs for many people. It's not a situation where the thing just plain doesn't work; and as long as a product works on one, say, G5 and not on another, that makes it harder to locate the problem. If a unit didn't work on ANY G5, then finding the problem would be simple.

Anyway....DrBell, this is a new product/ Why can't you return it to the dealer?
99.99% of them have liberal return policies. You don't like it or it doesn't perform as expected....return it.

Do they have a G5 at the store? Have them try it. It's hard to believe a store would be willing to sell you something that you bought in good faith and not let you return it when you had problems...or at least swap out with a different unit so you can verify whether or not the device is defective. Could whoever is demoing it there help you out?

And the bottom line, which no one likes to hear and I don't like to relay, is that Macs have Firewire issues. EVERY single interface on which I've done a Pro Review has brought forth Mac Firewire horror stories (which seems strange, given that Apple has more experience with Firewire than other companies). In fact, I switched over to starting Pro Reviews on the Mac, specifically so I could experience the problems others were talking about (sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't). It looked really lame when I'd be cheerfully reporting about how great everything worked on my Windows machine, and then a bunch of Mac users would come in and complain about problems they were having...which were often inconsistent, where something would or would not work on supposedly identical machines.

The irony, of course, is that one spends extra bucks on a computer that supposedly is "plug and play" and where everything "just works." But the reality is that it doesn't (although to be fair, I've been told 10.5 fixes a slew of Firewire problems). I realize that sucks; I suggest you try some other Firewire interfaces and see if you can get them to work. If not, E-Mu has a very nice USB two input interface (granted, much less connectivity than the io26), the 0404 USB, that runs with USB 2 and which I've tested on a Mac...it works just fine. Then again, so does the io26 on my Mac...

I feel your pain and understand your frustration, you have no idea how many times when reviewing products I've had to spend hours tracking down some weird little computer quirk just to get things to work (with Live, the graphics would corrupt until I moved hardware acceleration down one notch). I accept that as part of the deal of living on the bleeding edge. In return, when things DO work, it's a blast -- I really can't tell you how great it is to be playing guitar through a variety of cool plug-ins and the io26 running at 64 samples. But if you really want to avoid hassles in the future, buy mature products that have been on the market for a while, and hope that the company's users have reported enough bugs that the company has been able to fix the most common problems.

Given the huge number of permutations and combinations of CPU, RAM, video cards, even component changes during production runs of the same computer ("We reserve the right to improve our products at any time"), not only can companies not test for every single possibility, the odds of the situation improving in the future are remote. I shudder to think of what's going to happen when I switch over to Vista, or from my dual G5 to an Intel Mac...because XP and the Mac are working just fine for me right now. Although it took me some work to get there...

[SonnyBoy]

Craig, thanks again for all the tremendous work you're providing us with. FYI, I don't use Sonar, but Tracktion2. Nice little DAW, user-friendly interface. They've announced Tracktion3 recently, but I'll stick with v2 as long as it suits me fine.
Off topic:
Le Léman and the Alps are sending you a nice, beaming smile too! I can see them both from my balcony, and I do feel blessed with such a wonderful scenery. Today is a beautiful day (10 am here) and I just wish I didn't have to work on Good Friday...

Happy Easter to you all! |..|

[ViLo]

Craig, thanks again for all the tremendous work you're providing us with. FYI, I don't use Sonar, but Tracktion2. Nice little DAW, user-friendly interface. They've announced Tracktion3 recently, but I'll stick with v2 as long as it suits me fine.
Off topic:
Le Léman and the Alps are sending you a nice, beaming smile too! I can see them both from my balcony, and I do feel blessed with such a wonderful scenery. Today is a beautiful day (10 am here) and I just wish I didn't have to work on Good Friday...

Happy Eastern to you all! |..|

:thu: :thu: :thu: :thu: :thu:

[dr_bell]

Dr. Bell, all I know of your problems IIRC is that you have a G5 1.8MHz Mac. I had no problems at all with a dual G5 running the io26, so I can't offer the kind of assistance I could if the thing didn't work. Are you sure the unit itself isn't actually defective? Just walking across a rug with low ambient humidity and touching the business end of a Firewire cable can alter the input.

I'm sure it's not defective because I tested it with an intel mac, and it works, with the dropouts that others have mentioned and a whole bunch of weird rf interference. Yesterday tech support sent me the 1.5d0 drivers, under which the unit works to some degree. It will play back audio OK in my DAW, as long as I've got the latency set to 512 samples or greater, which is not so thrilling as 64, you'll understand. When recording there are periodic dropouts and clicks. If another application is opened, the thing just bonks and all audio has a low bitrate or ring mod kind of sound to it. Previous to this, under 1.5d2, audio playback was similar to what I just described when playing audio from itunes; from a multitrack source audio was completely jumbled, skipping, and unstable. It's difficult to describe but suffice it to say you would not recognize what was being played back if it were your favorite song in the world. Forget about recording.

In response to the returns question, when I finally got fed up with trying to fix the problem, it was one or two days beyond 30 days from the purchase date (it took me a while to even open the box). I called the store where I bought it, 8th street music here in philadelphia, because I knew that even though their return policy wasn't printed on the receipt, that 30 days was customary. When I finally got a hold of someone who could talk about this (it took a day or so) they said they'd need to see it. They wanted a 20% restocking fee for a return or $40 to exchange for an open-box TC Konnekt 8. Either one of these had me losing money, which I wasn't going to accept. Policy is policy for them, but I had been trying to resolve the problem for about two weeks at that point, I even upgraded my OS to 10.4 (and then 10.4.9) and RAM to 1 gig to accommodate the revised system requirements. And, of course, I didn't want to go down to the two preamps on the tc, nor do I want to go down to a USB box. I want the Alesis to work. There's just a question of what I'm willing to put up with and how long I'm willing to wait.

So that's the whole story.

[Anderton]

As I said before. Shouldn't these manufacturers test and approve systems that are more or less guaranteed to work with their product? Doesn't ProTools do this, for example?

Excellent point, and one that's worthy of an extended discussion.

Digidesign has gotten a lot of flak over the years for "overly restrictive" requirements but you know, they guarantee they will work, and their tech support people HAVE to help you if you're using an approved system. Fact is a lot of "unapproved" systems work with Pro Tools, but Digi doesn't want to deal with that. I've always felt that while indeed restrictive, this is a good approach for those who want a "safe" system.

Of course, this would cut sales which is the very reason they just put there hands over there eyes, put the product out on the market and cross their fingers hoping it won't be bloodbath of disgruntled users.

Well this gets back to the "sympathy for the manufacturer" thing. The music industry is very small; all of Alesis could probably fit in IBM's petty cash drawer. The market for music software products is small as well. Everyone needs food, transportation, clothes, plumbing, etc.; not many people NEED 96 channels of audio recording down Firewire. Furthermore, all these companies live in the shadow of Apple and Microsoft. When Apple went to Intel Macs, it basically cut development of new plug-ins to a trickle, while companies scurried to make their existing plug-ins compatible with the new hardware. And Vista going to full 64 bit operation isn't trivial! Although Cakewalk has a 64-bit compatible line, many products don't have Vista drivers, and functions like ReWire currently don't work under a true 64-bit environment. I'm sure it will at some point, but if you want to use, say, 64-bit Sonar with something rewired into it, AFAIK you can't at the moment.

So these small music companies have to keep up with the zig-zags of huge corporations like Apple and Microsoft, all while satisfying those customers who want to be on the cutting edge as well as those with "legacy" equipment. It's a tough position to be in, which is why I tend to give these smaller music industry companies some slack.

As to having companies other than Digi recommend approved systems, the problem there is that something like this already exists where on web sites, you'll see Company A recommend that you use Firewire card B and avoid Firewire card C...but then Company B will recommend Firewire card C but say you should avoid Firewire card B. So trying to put together a "universal" system that fits the recommendations of all manufacturers seems like a hopeless cause.

Getting back to that Live graphics glitch I mentioned...did Ableton test Live with an AMD X2 machine running a Matrox P650 that had been retrofitted (using a Matrox approved upgrade) to essentially P750 status using the drivers from November of 2006? Probably not! Take a look at the Matrox site sometime, there's an almost overwhelming number of product and driver combinations. Multiply that by ATI, Radeon, various no-name graphics cards, etc. -- and that's just the graphics card. Then there's the motherboard, the particular BIOS for the motherboard...you get the point.

At the end of the day, Alesis has put out an extremely cost-effective product that sounds great, is built well, and has boatloads of connectivity. That's the good news, and believe me, when everything is working as it should -- which it's doing here, with the one exception I've noted -- it's fantastic. The bad news is that it's been put out into a world that conspires against having things work in a consistent fashion. As I don't think Microsoft and Apple are going to drop everything and do an OS update just to make sure that everything works with the io26, Alesis now faces the unenviable task of tracking bug reports, trying to find common denominators, and creating updates that fix issues for as many people as possible. I just don't see how it would be possible to catch all those issues before the release of the product, without having it come out sometime in 2009.

Remember, it's to the company's advantage to have a completely working product hit the shelves. It cuts into profits and new product development to have to go back and fix problems in existing gear. I know that these companies test and test and test. I've been on a few beta lists for software products and they would blow your mind -- dozens of posts every day documenting strange behavior with particular revs of particular programs on particular computers, and then the programmers work on fixing them. Eventually, they squash the bugs but even with a beta team of, say, 100 people, that's not even close to covering the various permutations and combinations of available gear...so the product gets released, and more bugs are bound to surface.

It's not a pretty picture and as I said, it's not going to get any better. It's easy to point fingers at, say, Alesis and say "this product doesn't work so Alesis sucks," but the issues are far more complex than that and involve multiple companies -- the people who make computers, provide components, write drivers, tweak operating systems, etc. Realistically, all Alesis (or any company -- this is an industry-wide issue) can do is react as fast as they can, and ironically, threads like this that expose any weaknesses have the result of Alesis being able to fix those weaknesses faster than they would have otherwise. It's unfortunate that Alesis has to take the lumps for situations not necessarily of their own making, but they'be been at this for a while and know the risks of working on the cutting edge of technology.

And I know the risks too, which is why I've stuck with my comparatively old dual G5 and Windows XP systems :)

[Anderton]

BTW -- One thing I really like about Pro Reviews is that the process itself, and the manufacturer participation, give some real insights into how this whole crazy industry works. I've never been a part of a manufacturing company, but have done work or designed things for several companies, and had a chance to see how things work "on the inside." So my opinions are perhaps not as authoritative as someone who works at a company on these things every day, but on the other hand, my experience is not limited to one company and what I've been describing pretty much applies to the industry. I'm sure that if I'm getting anything wrong, Jim will correct me.

[naughtymonkey]

Hi there I'm new and would just like to say thanks for doing these reviews Craig, they are excellent.

I've read and re-read the review and can't find if anyone tried the iO14 or 26 using XP or Vista media centres as the platform. If so any success?
ALso regarding the Alesis difficulty with AMD dual Athlon processors - is it just with Sonar? Or would it affect cubase SX as well.

Cheers folks & have a top weekend

[instred]

Alesis does not support XP media edition. If it has problems, you are on your own. No vista drives out yet. Craig said no problem with Cubase SX with his Athlon computer.

Just make sure where you buy it you can return it if it doesn't work with your computer and try it out right away.

[Anderton]

Hi there I'm new and would just like to say thanks for doing these reviews Craig, they are excellent.

I've read and re-read the review and can't find if anyone tried the iO14 or 26 using XP or Vista media centres as the platform. If so any success?

To add to what Instred says, I would not recommend Windows Media Center as an OS for doing music. Several threads have cropped up in my Sound, Studio, and Stage forum about problems with WMC. Although quite a few people have done enough tweaks to get it to work properly with music programs, I'd say you're much better off with Windows XP Home or Professional edition.

As Instred says, no Vista drivers yet. Personally, I would recommend holding off on Vista for a little bit as not a lot of gear has Vista drivers yet. When I migrate to Vista, I'm going to bite the bullet and get a new computer, then install programs one at a time until I have a working system...but in the meantime, use my XP system to get work done. I can't afford any down time.

ALso regarding the Alesis difficulty with AMD dual Athlon processors - is it just with Sonar? Or would it affect cubase SX as well.

Again Instred beat me to it, but let me add a few things. First of all, the cause has not yet been determined for sure, but it seems to involve how the driver reacts with Sonar on the X2 processors. Sonar 6 on my Pentium-M laptop with the Alesis io26 works perfectly at 64 samples, so go figure. On the X2, I've tested Cubase SX 3, Cubase 4, Cubase LE, Vegas, Sound Forge, and Acid Pro; they all work at 64 samples without breaking a sweat.

[taylor210eman]

Hey Anderton I got Cubase to record and it sounds great. I was having some audio dropouts at first, but after I clicked the 'release drivers to background' button in the device setup it was all good. I was selecting the in and outs wrong. And even better my plugins from another program work with Cubase even better then they did with the first program. Sweet.