Alesis multimix firewire 16

[daukterjones]

I am thinking about getting an Alesis Multimix 16 firewire interface. Has anyone used this with audacity? Are there any connection problems? I have had some problems with using audacity with other firewire interfaces (Phonix Helix 12).

[susewho]

I am trying to get Audacity to work with an Alesis Firewire Multimix 12. I can't get it to recognize more than the first 2 tracks of the mixer - whatever is plugged into the first two spots on the mixer. In Audacity 1.2.6 I can't get it to even attempt to record more than two tracks - it gives me an error opening the sound device and in Audacity 1.3 Beta I can get it to record in more than 2 tracks but anything above two is balnk recording. In the Audacity 1.3 Beta under the help menu and the Audio device Info option it shows my input device as having only 2 input channels. I have read of others that have this working correctly so I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. I recently updated the drivers and firmware for the Alesis to a version put out in Jan 2008 so I hope that did not the cause. My boy's band has recorded some tracks using just the audio out from the Alesis into a cheap sound card through Audacity by laying down a track at a time but It sure would be great to record multi track seperatly. I haven't given up yet because Audacity is my sound tool of choice! (Check out recordings at http://www.myspace.com/atlantacovenant)

[susewho]

I got the set-up to work. I had to go into the Alesis Firewire Control Panel and go under the System Sounds Configuration part and for the Input and Output options I set the multi-channel config to "Direct" and then it worked for all 12+2 tracks.

[susewho]

So the recording works now for all the 12+2 tracks but when I play it back it is a little garbled - and the tempo is off in places - it's almost seems like the computer isn't fast enough to keep up with all the tracks even though I have a 2.26GHz-P4. So I go into the Alesis firewire controller and set up the inputs/outputs to only send the two mixed tracks and then tell Audicty to only record 2 tracks and when I record and playback it sounds fine which makes me think all the more that it is just that the computer can't keep up with all those tracks. I only have 512MB of memory so I will see if I can at least double that and see if I can record all tracks seperately.

[steve]

It's probably your hard drive that isn't fast enough. Make sure that you have plenty of free space on your hard drive and try defragging. Also shut down all non essential programs and processes, particularly any anti-virus or spyware products (safest to also disconnect from the internet). Also avoid high sample rates and bit depths - keep it to 16 bit and no more than 48 kHz.

[alatham]

susewho,

I second Steve's suggestion. It's your hard drive that isn't writing data quick enough.

There is one thing you can try real quick. Go into Audacity 1.3.x and go to the edit -> preferences -> directories menu. Here, turn ON "hold recorded data in memory". Does that fix the problem? Basically this option forces Audacity to hold all the recorded data in RAM while recording and write it all to the hard drive when it's done. That will use up a lot of RAM though, so for longer recordings you might run out (this isn't a problem if this option is turned OFF since Audacity will write to the hard drive all the time).

If that doesn't help, make sure you don't have any anti-virus software running. Some anti-virus software suffers from a severe case of fascism. Disconnect yourself from the internet if you're paranoid.

[soliars]

I thought you need more information.

[jakman]

Excuse me please, but is here anyone who made alesis multimix firewire work under linux? I truly want to know that. If yes, what distro are you using and what hacks have to be made.
Thanks all of you.

[nfurgi]

I have a Alesis Multimix firewire 12. I want to know if anyone has been able to connect it to Windoes 7? I have been getting a blue screen that gives na error and retarts my computer.

[kozikowski]

<<<I only have 512MB of memory>>>

That didn't ring any bells with anybody? That's not enough internal memory for live audio production. The system will start pushing the work off to the hard drive almost immediately. The hard drive needs to be in perfect condition, no errors, defragmented, and half empty. I wouldn't be surprised to find a slow (4200) laptop hard drive wasn't fast enough no matter how full it was.

Koz