Alesis Multimix 4 USB excessive noise

splinters

New member
I recently reduced my PC stuff to a HP DV-6 laptop (AMD dual core, 4gb ram, IDT HD sound, Windows 7 64 bit) which is great for CAD and gaming but only has a mic in and I want to record from an Alesis Fusion Digital Workstation.
So, i bought an Alesis Multimix 4 USB yesterday. Seemed perfect as it would let me record via USB and double up as a way to mix two keyboards down to two channels on stage. £70, job done.

Except, when I am recording there is an incredibly loud hiss on the recording and the input in general.
When I Arm a track to record you can hear it there. I disabled the webcam mic array and it is not that and if I disable external mic I can no longer get any input but the noise goes (as there is no input). I have the external USB mic codec selected as the default input for recording (there are no Alesis drivers as such).
I am having a frustrating morning with this and if this is the quality I can expect then I am taking it back. The noise is there on the playback itself but it doesn't seem quite as bad as when listening to it recording...will need to experiment further.
Am I doing something wrong here, even with the Fusion and any speakers etc. turned off I am getting the noise; it seems to be from the Alesis mixer which is powered by an external adaptor.
I thought the USB recording would be nice and clean but this is horrible.

Anyone?
 
Ok, I found some cause of the problem. In Windows Control Panel my mic level was set at 100 which was causing a lot of the noise. To get the noise below an acceptable level I have had to reduce the level to 10 but when I record (even though I am occasionally clipping the levels in Audition) it lacks the range and punch of other audio tracks on the PC.
I have the volume on the Fusion around 3/4 of full and the same on the mixer with no gain applied to the channels.
The hiss (although much better now) is also on the recording. The noise disappears when you disconnect the USB cable but I guess that is expected as it is the default recording source.
Any suggestions?
I had none of these problems using the line in on the desktop PC but that is not an option anymore....
 
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