A
akutak
New member
Anyone using the Alesis io26 with Windows 7 64-bit to any success? If so, is this a good product in general?
Thanks!
Thanks!
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
T
torsionwire
New member
re: io26 and win7
Hi Akutak. I can understand the reason for your question: I was mildly apprehensive about buying an io|26 to use with my brand shiny new Dell Studio XPS 1340 laptop with Windows 7 due to some of the reports of problems with dropouts in Win 7 and also reports of problems in some places with using Dell machines for this sort of thing. But I also saw that there were problems with some of the other equivalent I/O units - such as the Presonus Firestudio Project. So I thought I'd try the io|26, and bought from a place with a no-quibble 30 day money back guarantee in case I needed to return it.
I downloaded and installed the Alesis Vista ASIO drivers (v3.4.2.6300), and to start with did have serious dropouts on recording and playback. But, after a fair bit of disabling stuff and then bringing it back in banks, I worked out that the dropouts were entirely due to my virus checker: F-Secure. As soon as I turn off ('unload') F-Secure and wait half a minute, the dropouts go. Bring it back ('reload') and the dropouts return. Since I don't need (or want!) internet access whilst recording or editing, I'm quite happy to disable my network and turn off my virus checker for this.
I did also install the ASIO4ALL drivers as well, having read some reviews which suggested that the Alesis drivers were faulty. All I can say is that the Alesis ASIO drivers seem to work fine for me. The ASIO4ALL drivers also seem to work, although only at a 44.1kHz sample rate.
The unit records 8 channels of (mono) audio at 88.2kHz and 24 bit with no problems that I can detect and plays back fine too. So far, I can't really fault it, certainly for the price. It's sweet...
...except I did have what looked like one significant problem: crackling sounds when phantom power was switched on for channels 1-2 or 3-4. the other two channels were fine, and the crackling only appeared with all gains set high.
I sent one machine back as 'faulty' with this. When the replacement came back with the same problem, I contacted Alesis tech support. Their suggestion was to leave phantom power on for all channels for 24 hours, and this worked perfectly and I've not had a recurrence since. Maybe it'll recur - who knows? But so far it seems stable.
So now the machine is working very well, happy and sweet. I have no complaints, and I've very grateful to the Alesis tech support people for a rapid and useful response.
My computer is a sweet little Dell laptop, Core 2 Duo processor @ 2.53 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Windows 7 64-bit, 500GB hard disk, Firewire on the main board (seems to be a RICOH Firewire interface).
The mic gains are a little low at maximum gain as you may have read - this means that dynamic mics such as SM-57s are not reaching above about -12dB to -15dB in normal use recording a band, although an SM-57 beta has a higher output and gets up about 5dB higher. I have tried taking the outputs from one of the inserts into another channel, and that works fine but probably raises the noise floor and does mean you can only have half the number of mic inputs like this. I can live with peaking at -12dB to -15dB given the 24 bit input. The Alesis HDM monitoring software does put -12dB in the red zone, even on their most 'agressive' setting, so maybe they don't expect you to want to peak above that.
The device has a good set of inputs and outputs - a bigger set than the competitors in my view (and it is only my view - you'll have to compare specs and reviews). The Alesis 'HDM' software which gives you the live faders to control live monitoring is perhaps a little bit basic but works well enough. The unit seems to couple just fine with Cubase LE 4, which is included, as is a version of Ableton Live (which I haven't tried yet with it).
Hope this helps. I've only just started using it in earnest, but if I can give you any more information I'd be pleased to do so.
Of course, be very wary of anyone telling like me you how good the equipment they've just bought is, as they're likely to want to defend their purchase. But I could have chosen to send this unit back and buy a different one under the 'no-quibble' guarantee, and I've decided to stick with it.
Mark
Hi Akutak. I can understand the reason for your question: I was mildly apprehensive about buying an io|26 to use with my brand shiny new Dell Studio XPS 1340 laptop with Windows 7 due to some of the reports of problems with dropouts in Win 7 and also reports of problems in some places with using Dell machines for this sort of thing. But I also saw that there were problems with some of the other equivalent I/O units - such as the Presonus Firestudio Project. So I thought I'd try the io|26, and bought from a place with a no-quibble 30 day money back guarantee in case I needed to return it.
I downloaded and installed the Alesis Vista ASIO drivers (v3.4.2.6300), and to start with did have serious dropouts on recording and playback. But, after a fair bit of disabling stuff and then bringing it back in banks, I worked out that the dropouts were entirely due to my virus checker: F-Secure. As soon as I turn off ('unload') F-Secure and wait half a minute, the dropouts go. Bring it back ('reload') and the dropouts return. Since I don't need (or want!) internet access whilst recording or editing, I'm quite happy to disable my network and turn off my virus checker for this.
I did also install the ASIO4ALL drivers as well, having read some reviews which suggested that the Alesis drivers were faulty. All I can say is that the Alesis ASIO drivers seem to work fine for me. The ASIO4ALL drivers also seem to work, although only at a 44.1kHz sample rate.
The unit records 8 channels of (mono) audio at 88.2kHz and 24 bit with no problems that I can detect and plays back fine too. So far, I can't really fault it, certainly for the price. It's sweet...
...except I did have what looked like one significant problem: crackling sounds when phantom power was switched on for channels 1-2 or 3-4. the other two channels were fine, and the crackling only appeared with all gains set high.
I sent one machine back as 'faulty' with this. When the replacement came back with the same problem, I contacted Alesis tech support. Their suggestion was to leave phantom power on for all channels for 24 hours, and this worked perfectly and I've not had a recurrence since. Maybe it'll recur - who knows? But so far it seems stable.
So now the machine is working very well, happy and sweet. I have no complaints, and I've very grateful to the Alesis tech support people for a rapid and useful response.
My computer is a sweet little Dell laptop, Core 2 Duo processor @ 2.53 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Windows 7 64-bit, 500GB hard disk, Firewire on the main board (seems to be a RICOH Firewire interface).
The mic gains are a little low at maximum gain as you may have read - this means that dynamic mics such as SM-57s are not reaching above about -12dB to -15dB in normal use recording a band, although an SM-57 beta has a higher output and gets up about 5dB higher. I have tried taking the outputs from one of the inserts into another channel, and that works fine but probably raises the noise floor and does mean you can only have half the number of mic inputs like this. I can live with peaking at -12dB to -15dB given the 24 bit input. The Alesis HDM monitoring software does put -12dB in the red zone, even on their most 'agressive' setting, so maybe they don't expect you to want to peak above that.
The device has a good set of inputs and outputs - a bigger set than the competitors in my view (and it is only my view - you'll have to compare specs and reviews). The Alesis 'HDM' software which gives you the live faders to control live monitoring is perhaps a little bit basic but works well enough. The unit seems to couple just fine with Cubase LE 4, which is included, as is a version of Ableton Live (which I haven't tried yet with it).
Hope this helps. I've only just started using it in earnest, but if I can give you any more information I'd be pleased to do so.
Of course, be very wary of anyone telling like me you how good the equipment they've just bought is, as they're likely to want to defend their purchase. But I could have chosen to send this unit back and buy a different one under the 'no-quibble' guarantee, and I've decided to stick with it.
Mark
Last edited:
A
akutak
New member
Wow. Thank you so much for such a detailed reply! It's actually EXTREMELY helpful because I have almost the exact same laptop. It's also nice to hear it's working fine with a Ricoh chipset... as I've read in other threads that Ricoh is the devil. I have an Alesis QS7 keyboard that works like the day I bought it, so I believe in their products... and for the price, there really isn't another product with that many features. So, thank you for getting back to me.
I guess my only other question is where did you buy it from that had a 30-day guarantee? And for how much? (If that's allowed to be posted.)
Thanks again for the awesome response!
I guess my only other question is where did you buy it from that had a 30-day guarantee? And for how much? (If that's allowed to be posted.)
Thanks again for the awesome response!
T
torsionwire
New member
I'm in the UK and I bought it from Thomann (www.thomann.de); they offer a 30 day money back guarantee, with the proviso that if the item is returned less than new (scratches, etc) then they reserve the right to deduct something for loss of value. So I was very careful with opening packets etc. I returned the unit as faulty due to the crackling phantom power, as this did seem like a fault; it was only after getting the same fault on the secon one that I contacted Alesis tech support and got their fix for it, and they had a UPS label and collection process so that returning it was very simple, but if you return it as not wanted then you have to manage getting it back to them yourself. You can check the price online, but it seemed competitive.
Good luck, and I'd be interested to hear your experiences if you do get one as I'm only just starting to use my 'for real'.
Of course, other people may have had different experiences, so I'd keep checking the forums.
Good luck, and I'd be interested to hear your experiences if you do get one as I'm only just starting to use my 'for real'.
Of course, other people may have had different experiences, so I'd keep checking the forums.
A
akutak
New member
Beautiful... thanks! I'll let you know how it goes!
B
Buzz001
New member
...except I did have what looked like one significant problem: crackling sounds when phantom power was switched on for channels 1-2 or 3-4. the other two channels were fine, and the crackling only appeared with all gains set high.
Interesting you mention that, I had the exact same problem when I initially got the iO26 and I was running it on 32-bit vista. I think channels 1 - 4 were the culprits too and 5 - 8 were fine. Mine had just gone back to normal by the time I used it the following day.