alesis m1 520 usb monitors

crashdiary27

New member
Is there any way to hook these up to pro tools? Ive read somewhere its not possible. I tried searching and have found nothing. Thanks for any replies.
 
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Well they don't work for anyone else wondering. I did manage to get some sound out of them by changing the hardware from asio4all to the usb codec...but I get a lot of annoying pops. There has got to be some sort of way to make this work.
 
It's like everything else.
Make sure it's compatible, make sure you've installed the right drivers, and make sure you've selected the right device in ProTools.

If you're getting any kinds of playback glitches or pops, take a look and make sure your buffer settings aren't turned down very low.
512 or 1024 is a safe bet.

Other than that, make sure you're using ProTools v9,10 or 11. Not M-powered, LE, or anything other watered down version.
 
It's like everything else.
Make sure it's compatible, make sure you've installed the right drivers, and make sure you've selected the right device in ProTools.

If you're getting any kinds of playback glitches or pops, take a look and make sure your buffer settings aren't turned down very low.
512 or 1024 is a safe bet.

Other than that, make sure you're using ProTools v9,10 or 11. Not M-powered, LE, or anything other watered down version.

Yeah im currently using 10. Pretty sure I messed with the buffer setting for a hour....still there. This is my lot in life I guess. Any other way to connect these things to a laptop without the usb?
 
Drivers up to date?
I mean, there's no reason you should have to look for workarounds unless you can find some resource saying it's not compatible with your machine or something.
 
I think the problem is they don't use asio4all...they use their own interface when plugged in usb...which doesn't seem to want to play nice with pro tools. They do however have two 1/4" inputs on the back. Perhaps I could buy some sort of cheap audio interface to run them through in order to keep asio4all in tact? I import all my tracks from a standalone machine so I don't really need one for recording quality.
 
I'm not well verse on this but I think ASIOforall is a kind of workaround for when you don't have suitable hardware/drivers.
IDK..maybe someone else will chime in but I really think you should be using Alesis drivers and choosing the device by name.

If, for some reason, it doesn't work out, you could certainly buy a simple USB interface to feed the monitors, or even just use a 3.5mm to 2x1/4" splitter from your computer's built in sound card.

For playback and mixing it wouldn't be the end of the world.
 
Thanks. Yeah I don't have the option to chose the device by name...its rather strange.
As far as the splitter goes, do I just plug that into my headphone jack on my computer?
 
Hmm. That's odd. If the device doesn't show up by name, or least as USB audio device or something, it'd make me wonder if the right drivers are installed.

Do the monitors work for system output? Can you select the in windows CP?


Yeah, if you go down the built-in sound card road you'd run the splitter from the headphone/line output.
If it's purely a headphone output you might need to pull the output volume down a bit.
Also if there's any headphone boost options or anything like that just turn it off.
 
yeah they work for everything but pro tools. Its also in the windows CP. Im also looking at splitters and can't seem to find one that splits to trs...just ts. The box says they are trs inputs so I don't know if that's a deal breaker or what.

also it plugs in and it installs itself. I can't find any driver downloads for them.
 
yeah they work for everything but pro tools. Its also in the windows CP. Im also looking at splitters and can't seem to find one that splits to trs...just ts. The box says they are trs inputs so I don't know if that's a deal breaker or what.

also it plugs in and it installs itself. I can't find any driver downloads for them.

Apologies if I'm patronising you, but you know how to select the device in PT right?
Setup>Playback Engine?

Regarding the splitters, yeah they'll be dual TS.

The laptop output uses common shield and one conductor per signal.
one of them goes to left tip - the other goes to right tip. Sleeve/ground is common.

The monitors accept TRS balanced inputs where hot and cold are the same signal but with opposite polarity so that any noise picked up in transit can be cancelled.
If you plug in TS unbalanced signals it'll work fine. It'll just be susceptible to noise from transformers etc.
 
Ha. No apologies necessary...Yes I did go to playback engine. Nothing is there...no matter how much I cuss at it. Thanks for the info on the splitter though. I appreciate you taking the time to try and help me figure this out.
 
Ha. No apologies necessary...Yes I did go to playback engine. Nothing is there...no matter how much I cuss at it. Thanks for the info on the splitter though. I appreciate you taking the time to try and help me figure this out.

Oh, that's a shame.
The last time I came across this problem it ended up being ProTools M-powered, but you say you're using straight 10?
Maybe the alesis are just not compatible. I take it your onboard sound card is available, however?

How have you been using PT up until now?

No worries. Glad to help, if I can. :)
 
Im using 10HD. Nothing can be selected except asio4all for some reason. It will play through the speakers on my laptop...yay...

For now Ill probably look for a splitter like you suggested. I emailed alesis and still have gotten no reply so Ill probably give them a call Monday. I found a few threads in different forums with similar problems with these and none of them seem to have been resolved.
 
Yeah, you need one of the qualified interfaces from this list to run HD.

With HD being the top-of-the-line elite version of PT, can I presume you didn't buy the software...?

Oh I bought it...and will be paying it off for quite a while. Did you think I had a demo version? Not sure what that has to do with anything though. thanks for the help.
 
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Oh I bought it...and will be paying it off for quite a while. Did you think I had a demo version? Not sure what that has to do with anything though. thanks for the help.

No, I thought you stole it.
It seems like a very strange thing to buy without understanding the hardware requirements.
You've basically bought something that you can't use.

Forgive me, but you just bought an Aston Martin without having a driving license.
 
Well I can get always get a refund and go to a lower version. If I can't use it for some reason then there is no point in jacking up my credit cards. Ive spent tons of money on mics, guitar amps etc (the joys of having a guitar center credit card) over the years to record on my Tascam neo. I was simply suggested that I should start using a DAW to get a better sound. It wouldn't be the first stupid purchase that ive made. The whole computer recording thing is new to me. Now I don't like being called a thief but I guess I can see why you would assume so.
 
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Apologies...My mistake.
Software piracy is pretty common. We get a lot of people though here who can't operate their £5000 waves bundle, you know?


The HD version of PT requires one of the hardware interfaces in that link.
The straight version, simply ProTools 10/11, is open for use with third party interfaces.

It might be worth taking a look at Reaper. It's a powerful suite which is free to try and cheap to buy.
It has become very popular over the last few years.
 
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