Alesis multimix 16 firewire problems!!!

[tpod11]

Hello all! I have an Alesis Multimix 16 Firewire. I can get the darned drivers installed (done it a hundred times !?#@!).. When I reboot for any given reason, my system can't find or open drivers. Then, I uninstall, reboot, registry clean, try again, same thing. Works fine then notta. Tried all versions of drivers, tech support can't tell me anything else ( I guess that's why the mixer has been discontinued). Has anyone got this thing to work properly for any length of time? Cheers

[TelePaul]

try disable your on-board audio in the bios and then re-install drivers.

[klimpy-ch]

Hi

unfortunately I have to say, that I'm in the same boat. Trying to establish a stable setup, but failed so far.

Regards

Daniel

[Norris Shepherd]

I've got the Alesis firewire MultiMix 8, and after a TON of time troubleshooting by myself (I do computer stuff, so I'm no slouch) , with the vendor (Sweetwaters) and then with Alesis, Sweetwaters finally agreed to take the unit in or repair under warranty.

Sweetwater checked it, then sent it back to Alesis (Sweetwater couldn't fix it). Alesis shipped out a replacement.

I still haven't been able to make the replacement work. The computer detects it, but the sound is super peaked/distored even with all levels at minimal settings.

I've kind of given up and just use the line-outs instead of firewire.

sorry i'm not much help... but i do emphasize with you.

[spudsjr]

I had that problem, I found I have to disable my internet(ethernet Card)
or any wireless you have running. Things work great for me when I do this.
Good luck! Also make sure you instal drivers first, before plugging in firewire to computer.

[lefko]

I have a MultiMix8. I have gotten it to run successfully (somewhat). I have worked with tech support to get it going. Apparently it is firewire chip specific. They suggested I use a firewire PCI card. That did work (somewhat)I read somewhere else that the mixer works with the TI firewire chipset. So if your MB has the TI fw chip it may work.

By somewhat I mean that after a while it stops working. I am trying to record 24 hours straight. I can do this with a Makie Onyx FW board, but have problems with the Alesis. I have tried Soundforge9, Vegas, N-Track Studio, and Cubase Sx (I have tried others but they have insurmountable issues with long recordings). None of them work correctly after a while -- like after the file gets to 4meg. I have also tried Wavelab 5.1b, but I can not get it to see all the tracks on the Alesis. If this werent' more or less a hobby ( and even if it is) it would have been well worth the extra money to get the Onyx board instead of the Alesis. They also have not released FW/Drivers in over a year.

[oretez]

have and use alesis IO26 with some regularity

have never tried to have it record for 24 continuous hr.

but regularly track 16-18 individual channels for hour + at a time

& primary reason for limiting length of time is not because of loss of connection but due to file size and managability. Generally I find it easier to accomplish my ultimate goals with multiple sessions with smaller file size rather then a single 4 hour session with large individual files. Rather obviously 'large', 'small' are subjective and dependent both on system and how I process, etc.

Generally speaking over the years (twenty +) I've been doing digital recording is that if a system is robust enough to support 16+ track simultaneous record and drivers are satisfactory enough to be able to sustain that for an hour + then while drivers will obviously be a contributing factor it tends to be issues distinct from 'drivers' that would cause you to loose connection

Usual culprits start with anything resembling OS maintenance and overhead

closely followed by any and network issues. On windows systems firewire connections are extremely sensitive to network activity, not just with audio, but for rather obvious reasons any streaming data will be more sensitive to disruption than data that can be buffered and packet switched

and my experience with hardware is kind of inverse of yours. I found achieving and sustaining sync and connection to be far more problematic with Onyx firewire then with either the Alesis IO26 or ADAT HD I still have an Onyx board with firewire that is used regularly but at one point I opt to use the 800r (with ADAT optical I/O) rather then 400f (firewire out) partially because of my difficulties with Mackies firewire support. And I continue to find the Mackie firewire card to be more sensitive (then my other firewire options with include the Alesis IO26) to when firewire is engaged and far more sensitive to disruption from inevitable OS overhead then any other audio A/D I own

(which is not to praise any companies Driver development let alone MS dysfunctional approach to the concept)

[jakman]

Had the same problem at the beginning and no one could help me but, I tried something much extreme. I reinstalled the entire system starting with windows, drivers and so on. Now is working and I have no problem with mixer and/or drivers. There is one more thing: after a successful install of the mixer your onboard audio system will disable automatically and you will be not able to use it (but I believe you don't need it anymore).
So, install a fresh copy of windows, go through all drivers install process (mainboard, videocard, alesis firewire and so on).
Good luck and write back if succeed.

[daveblue222]

had the same problems before. get the new drivers from the website, that should fix most the problems. dont use the disc that came with it as these are now ancient. also the disc wont wotk with vista at all

dave