alesis multymix 4 set up to audacity

I have had this mixer for two weeks and I am about to trash it the only thing wrong is it records track 1 on to track 2 then 1and2 to track 3 and so on cant separate single recordings I used m audio before had no problem I am sure its simple I just not finding a anser anywhere can anyone help please before it hits the wall

I don’t know for certain if this applies to the Alesis MultiMix 4, and the MultiMix manual seems to avoid the question, but I’ve seen this problem on some other small USB mixers:
(update: it appears that this problem does apply to the Alesis MultiMix 4: http://community.alesis.com/alesis/topics/alesis-multimix-4-usb-fx-backing-track-is-being-recorded-on-top-of-my-new-vocal-track)

Ideally, you would want to monitor through headphones, both the live input to the mixer, and playback from the computer.
Unfortunately, some small USB mixers take the headphone signal and the USB output directly from the “main out”. This means that both the live input and the computer playback are sent to main out + headphones + USB out, and this makes it impossible to record only the live input when using this configuration.

Possible solutions:

  1. If you still have the m-audio device, you could use the Alesis MultiMix 4 as an analog mixer and feed the output into your m-audio. Plug your headphones into the m-audio, and configure the m-audio as you did previously.

  2. If you are recording an acoustic source (using a microphone), then you may be able to manage without hearing the live input through your headphones (because you can hear it acoustically). In this case, set Audacity to play through your normal computer sound card for playback (using the device toolbar) and plug your headphones into the computer headphone socket.