Sound:
The preamps are solid built. No hiss and low floor noise.
Feature:
In this price range there's nothing better. Digital inputs, ADAT inputs (add a preamp with built in adat digital outs to expand up to 24 simultaneous inputs), 2 headphones out with the second headphone out assignable to any outputs, 8 outputs, guitar level inputs, phantom power on each channel, and the list goes on. ONE THING TO BE BEWARE OF: THE HEADPHONE OUT IS NOT INDEPENDENT OF THE MONITOR OUTS. This is very annoying when you have someone in the booth and u want to change the volumes of your monitors. One way to get around this is to use the second headphones out and assign it to a separate output, then route the signal in your recording program to that you have the signal going to that output also (not very easy). I highly recommend buying a control room matrix like the one by Samson with the purchase of this product along with a headphone preamp. This solves all problems and adds a talk back mic.
Ease of Use:
VERY EASY. Download firmware upgrade and drivers, install, hook it up to your firewire and you are ready to go.
Quality:
Very solid, knobs feel solid, and preamps are clean.
Value:
All these features for this price and it's made by alesis? Need I say more?
Manufacturer Support:
never needed it
The Wow Factor:
The design is nice and looks professional in the studio. Just wish it was rack mountable.
Overall:
I'm only rating it a 9 because of the headphones issue that cost me some extra cash for the control room matrix. OVERALL I RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE THATS LOOKING FOR AN INTERFACE IN THIS PRICE RANGE!
43 of 45 people
(95.56%) found this review helpful. Did you?
Sound:
Very Clear, the preamps dont color the sound at all, which is what I want, nice clean recordings. It has hardware direct monitoring, as most interfaces do, so there really isnt a problem of latenct while you're tracking.
Feature:
I gave it a 10 because the feature really work for me, as I suspect they will for many. One of my favorite things about this piece is the phone preamp (for turntables). I produce hip-hop/rap so a turntable is a must, and the channel for preamp is switchable between phono and channels 7/8. Another great feature would have to be the two ADAT inputs. This baby can be expanded to accomedate just about anyone.
Ease of Use:
It got an 8 because some people who give up easy may not be able to ffigure out how to control the hardware direct monitoring. Another thing that hurt its score here was the fact that it uses two different drivers and you have to select which one to use. Its between WMD (only selects stereo or mono form the io26) and AISO (can select and one of the io26 inputs or stereo pairs of inputs). If you are familiar with the protocols then there will be no problem but for some it would cause confusion.
Quality:
This is built like a rock. All the ins/puts are bolted or screwed on secure to the rest of the unit. No little plastic holders on this thing, its the real deal. All the knobs and switches feel great, except for the blend and main volume knob, they are similar to endless encoder knobs, because they are digital controls.
Value:
It is definately worth the price, no questions asked. And look at the competition in this price range, there's no comparison.
Manufacturer Support:
Haven't had to deal with them as of yet, probably won't.
The Wow Factor:
The led meters on every analog channel definately add to the "sex" appeal. Its an all metal chasis, and its a nice silvery color. The end caps are rubberized plastic and feel really cool and durable. This unit definately looks attractive.
Overall:
I probably wont upgrade from this until I go to an HD/TDM setup. Seriously, I dont think it gets much better than this, unless you spend alot more money. The Alesis io26 has a ton of features for the price, and if you make hip-hop/rap and don't use Pro Tools, then this is the interface you want. Seriously.
17 of 18 people
(94.44%) found this review helpful. Did you?
Sound:
The sound from iO26 is crystal clear. I run live&PC audio through my Alesis Studio 24 mixer > Peavey rackmount amplifier > Carvin loudspeakers, so I have clean & uncolored audio output, and I can say that the iO26 is very very clean.
Zero latency monitoring for overdubbing is what I bought this for and it works perfectly for that; I can multitrack from/to my PC via firewire and run the iO26 to my mainboard.
Feature:
No accessories, but none are really needed.
In response to the comment about not being expandable, this model is Lightpipe enabled, so you can definitely expand this one to multiple i026's.
I also don't get the comment about the the headphone output level. It -IS- separate from the Main level. With dedicated knobs for headphone 1 & 2 even.
The only really annoying feature for me is the the lack of control of the firewire audio out from the PC running through the i026. The hardware and software allow leveling of channels 1-8, and ADAT through the software, however, the audio out on the PC must be handled by Cubase or Cakewalk or Soundforge or whatever I'm working with. They really could have added a volume knob for this. It's an easy work-around, but still, its a work-around Apparantly the "Mix/Blend" is supposed to do this in a roundabout way, but aargh, I'm not getting any joy from it. So now I have THREE device levels to control: the mainboard, the i026, AND the PC audio application level. Gah!
The only other gripe is the looks of the product. Kind of meh. Rackmountable would have been sooo much nicer.
As for the reviewer with the driver problems, I must assume that you have pre-existing .dll problems with your PC, or did not follow directions. I have a well maintained Dell laptop and the installation went very smoothly, with no hiccups whatsoever.
IMPORTANT NOTE: As with ANY firewire or USB device, it is CRITICAL that you determine the proper installation order: Plug device into computer first and then install drivers -OR- install drivers first and then wait for installation prompt to connect the device!!!
If you do this sequence incorrectly, you are essentially guaranteed a tragic and possibly irreversible registry problem with the hardware device. So, my highest suspicion is that the previous reviewer must have plugged in the device and then installed the iO26 driver, and therefore the product will not work, and will be very difficult to fix. This is NOT the fault of Alesis, it is a problem with Microsoft, and has to do with the way Windows handles hardware abstracting.
Ease of Use:
Very easy to use for me, but then again, I have been doing sound & mixers for many years. Oh, and I'm a professional computer network engineer, so computer & technical stuff is like, well, sesame street to me haha. At any rate, the hardware is very simple, as you can see. The iO26 monitor application is critical though, if you are using more than the 1&2 outputs. It doesn't launch automatically, and if you tried to multi-channel out and didn't notice this, I can see where you would get frustrated right away.
Quality:
High quality all the way. I've always been happy with Alesis quality. My only gripe is their products are too small. ie., Studio 24 is only 16 channel, i026 is only 8 channel.
Rated 9 instead of 10 because the Mix/Blend knob and the Main level knobs are INFINITY knobs... aaarrggghh! WTF Alesis? Did you think MAYBE I would like to know that the knob is turned all the way up or all the way down or maybe eyeball the indicator on the knob to see if it was at 0 or 5 or 10? I dunno, maybe because its a MIXER... or did you just get a great deal on a bunch of knobs that turn around forever with no indication whatsoever of where it is at in the scale? No. Instead I have to turn the knobs indiscriminately to the right or the left or whatever and never really know what the position actually is. stupid stupid stupid choice on these knobs ESPECIALLY for main mix.
Value:
Not a super value. IMHO, the price is kind of high for an 8 channel interface. That is probably due to the fact that everyone else charges an arm and a leg for this stuff too though.
Manufacturer Support:
Never needed any support with Alesis. Sounds like from the other users that they leave a bit to be desired.
The Wow Factor:
Definitely gets the job done. Does exactly what I want, excellent quality, great sound, reasonably flexible, ADAT & advance features could be easier to use.
If it was rack mountable I would have given a 10 for sexiness.
Overall:
Not likely to upgrade this for a really long time.
11 of 14 people
(78.57%) found this review helpful. Did you?
Sound:
I am 55 play drums and run a working studio, and have played and recorded in many top recording studios throughout the years using all the top analogue and digital desk preamps you can think of. I have seen and heard engineers turn cheap preamps into lush fantastic sounds at the end of the process, and expensive preamps into absoloute rubbish. I like the AlesisI O26 preamps because they give me back what I put into them without colouring the sound. It allows me to choose what to do with the clean accurate sound I get back.
Feature:
The inserts, 16 Adat channels and most importantly no latency ease of use software allowing 3 completly separate headphone mixes.
Ease of Use:
Anyone who cant get an acceptable sound onto disk with this interface, I suspect would have trouble with Neve preamps.
Quality:
For me it is built like a truck. True value for money.
Manufacturer Support:
I bought 2 monitor amps , one that I`ve had no trouble with, the other amp, one side of the amp went down had to be repaired out of warranty.
The Wow Factor:
I love it because I dont have to go to the back to plug things in or out. I can everything at all times.It looks fantastic to my eyes.
Overall:
The only drawback I can see is that you cant use 2 or more together (as far as I know). I compared products for 2 months before buying the IO26 and now everyday I think of myself a budget genius. No doubt a 12 or 16 channel is next, probably for PCI express, but until then I`m sure Ill be happy.
8 of 17 people
(47.06%) found this review helpful. Did you?
Sound:
What can I say? if it crackes pops freezes and just stops playing your sound what to do? I would say that a device such as this cannot get the sound your looking for unless that sound is "horrible mechanized mayhem" developed by satan.
Feature:
I thought that the construction was very sturdy. I would say from looking at the device that if it was not for the crappy drivers I would approve of the device entirely.
Ease of Use:
Cant use it for anything...unless you want to buy an electronic game of puzzles. If your idea of making music is how many crash per minute beats you can get this thing to cauff up before reinstalling the drivers then by all means get this device and go negative platinum.
Quality:
the device is a sturdy safe well manufactured piece of hardware that would have been so easy to use.....If only the 50 times I had to reinstall the drivers had of worked I would have kept it.
Value:
not worth the money.........buy a sound blaster and just make horrible music for a much cheaper price then this expensive-deck nightmare before beat making- wallet cruncher.
Manufacturer Support:
yep....I called and withion 5 minutes talked to a very helpful tech who gave me some good advice.....that did not help my problem at all.
The Wow Factor:
no sex appeal it doesnt work and its shaped like an iron pillow.
not comfy at all.
Overall:
I expect that i was satisfied with my poduct until I got home and opened the box.....after that I was unhappy for the entire "4 days it doesnt work yet" ride.
10 of 52 people
(19.23%) found this review helpful. Did you?
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