Hello,

I've been working with a M-Audio FW410 for the past 4 years, with no problems, live and studio, using max/msp, logic pro, peak and protools m-powerd on 2 computers: an old powerbook G4/867 and a slight newer Imac G5/1.8.

The FW410 is ok, nothing to write home about, but it works in every condition, be it recording from phantom powerd mics live, or tracking 8 to 16 track music studio project or video soundtrack...

I bought one of the last (at least here, where I live, in Lisbon, Portugal) surviving 2.4 white macbooks with FIREWIRE!!!. Going from a G4 Titanium, is quite a leap, he's really fast with just 2GB of ram, that shares with the graphic board, running 10.5.6...

I'm seeking advise or experiences on the Alesis Multimix 8 FW mixer, it's a small analog mixer with a multichannel firewire interface built-in and is incredibly cheap. I keep on reading on the web, lots of problems with this mixer on the PC side, usually driver related, or the lack of 6 pin FW connections on PC's laptops... but almost none on the mac side.
Does it work ok, for multitracking? Bus powered? are the pre's clean enough? i know they are not prestine...
I know there are much better mixers/FW interfaces, Mackie, M-Audio, but they cost much more and are big to carry around on a bagpack, besides it can act as a small analog mixer for laptop work in the field where is going to work most of the time...


Please some help is needed,

Thank you for your patience,
CS

This post has been edited by kactus: Wed 17 Dec 2008, 19:29

I had a soundcard, usb, Alesis IO2.
On Thomann the specifications : ASIO, Mac !
At home?
ASIO was a fake ASIO as an input monitoring cross-over.
I was hearing the input fine, on recording, but when I have played , the guitar was veeery delayed.
I realize that it doesn't have ASIO when I use a VST instrument.
The latency was so high that I return this piece of s(orry) in 2 days.
And that was on PC.
My iMac G5 was able only to see that it has something on usb... even say it is a IO2...
but it didn't see it at audio devices.

So, you better test it before...

Hi Kaktus:

I ´ve been working with a very similar set-up for years now. I have nothing to say against M-Audio FW410 except for the driver up date every now and then, which is normal...
I am in a renovation process too and Alesis device was in my notes, since it looks so net and easy to handle, besides the price factor...Then I wrote to Alesis asking for more info but they answered that no more detail could be provide since they were in the "field testing" period so we have to wait..
Since then I have saw the Multimix in some on line stores with no more information that the one in the Alesis site, so I am going to wait.
Cheap always turn to expensive in the worst moment, so now I am interested in a more reliable and pro interface: TC Electronic. They have a not so
expensive one (Konnekt 48) that make everything I need and more. It´s not heavy and you could work at easy in your home studio...
They also have a group of smaller interfaces, with better price tags and with lots of features....
It is not easy to find an "integral solution" to the mixerless studio. Yamaha came out with a couple of boards n8 and n10, but I guess they work fine only with their new "jewel" Cubase....
If you could find some feedback about Alesis, I ´ll be more than grateful to read it...
Good luck

[Cheap always turn to expensive in the worst moment,
[/quote]
True that.

I have the io14 Firewire interface.
The first one quit reading Firewire about a week after installation. It took me almost a month to convince the folks at Alesis that I should send it back to them.
The replacement worked for a while, but now it doesn't pass audio. It sees Firewire, and the Mac and Cubase see it, but no output gets to the interface.
I can't get any straight answers out of anybody.
I can't prove the unit is defective, but I should have learned after my ADAT blew it's marginal power supply.
NEVER BUY ALESIS!

Hello all,

Thank you very much for your opinions and experiences. I gather from what you all say, avoid at all costs Alesis stuff, not reliable, weak FW implementation.
I was looking to it (alesis multimix 8 FW), because it was cheap, small and you get a analog mixer in the equation,
but had second doubts, all just got confirmed...

The other ways are: M-Audio NRV10, or Mackie Onyx systems, both analog mixer and FW interface, or even the Yamaha N's series (but I think they'll behave like the Alesis), all a lot bigger and expensive, so there's no small analog mixer (with knob and faders) with a FW interface that works nicely and fits a small bill?

Back to straight interfaces, I'll wait and see... :-)

Thank you all,
Have a nice Christmas,
K

I really liked my Onyx. I wound up selling it after I upgraded to Leopard. It wouldn't work properly after that. I DID download a patch just prior to selling the unit to make sure it worked and it does. Of course at that point I had bought an Apogee Duet and was very happy with it. I just didn't need that many inputs. 99.9% of what I do is by myself and I don't need more than 2 inputs. I would recommend the Onyx as it was rock solid up until I upgraded. It will probably work with whatever OS you have now but, you may want to go to the Mackie site and double check your compatibility. I understand that Korg is coming out with something soon as well but, I would wait until that is out for at least 6 months (maybe longer) before seriously considering buying it....you buy that kind of stuff too soon and you wind up being a guinea pig for the developers.....let somebody else work out their bugs for them.


www.myspace.com/mortal_engines

All is true....

I have heard about the M-Audio Project Mix...A friend says that it is a dream......(?!)
But I have to see it with my own eyes and hear it with my own ears.....It has a price tag of US$ 1.200....that´s still a lot of money
for a home studio so I am waiting too.....
I hope those big executives read this kind of forums and come with a real solution in 2.009, I mean, one that stays below $1.000....

Merry Christmas

Now I don´t know what to think ...I´ve been reading a lot about interfaces and the like...Now users of TC Electronic are furious about their behavior,
drivers and general functionality......So, Help us God...

Hi all,

Back on the same subject (after a few moths), hope this time is the answer to my needs: small analog mixer with FW interface...

The subject now is a Phonic Helixboard 12, Dice II FW controller, does anyone here had some experience with it?

On reviews on the net it works well, it's small (almost), smaller than the above mentioned contenders, mackies, m-audio and yamaha...

What you all think, any opinions or experiences would be apreciated...

Link for the the subject:
http://www.phonic.com/index.php?product_id...target=products