I don't have much to compare the sound of this mixer to, except for an older Behringer mixer that this one replaces and a second Alesis Studio 32 mixer. The preamps in this mixer sound slightly warmer than the Behringer did, and about the same as the Studio 32. Overall, the sound is very clean and well-defined without any perceptible noise at typical working levels.

The USB port in this mixer is veeeerrrryyyy cool, as it allows the mixer to function as a stereo I/O device for your computer. If you have a small studio, this may be the only I/O you need! The sound is CD quality and very clean, and you can monitor sounds on disk while recording new sounds. The only thing I wish it had is 24/96 capability, but for the price of this mixer that would be a definite luxury. There is also an SPDIF out for going straight to DAT or other SPDIF destination. Nice! The effects are pretty straight forward, but there is no way to tweak any of the settings, so if you are looking for a mixer with flexible effects this may not be the one for you. The effects are clean, though, and there are 100 of them to choose from, so chances are you will find something useful.

The pots are a little flimsy, as are all Alesis and other mixers in this price range, but I have never had problems with the pots. Pots have a nice damped feel, and the effects selection pot is a rotary-detent/push type. The faders are very smooth as well. All knobs and switches are easy to grasp, but may be a little small for someone with large hands. The top part of the chassis is metal and seems fairly well constructed, so it should withstand a few hard knocks. If I were gigging with it, I would definitely put it in a case.

For the features and price, this mixer is an incredible value. You can buy a Behringer for somewhat less that has a lot of the same features, but you won't get the USB capability or the SPDIF output. You can pay a little more for a Yamaha or a lot more for a Mackie, but you still won't have the digital I/O. For this price and these features, this mixer is hard to beat.

I have had Alesis products for over 10 years, and they have never once failed on me, so I know nothing about their warranty/repair service. That's a good thing in my opinion! Their website has always had information if I have needed anything.

It is a nice blue color - a little lighter shade than the Yamaha MG series. The color coding of the knobs is useful for keeping things straight. If you do a lot of patching and repatching, the top-mounted connection panel is a plus. I really like being able to record directly from the mixer into the computer without using a separate sound card!

Semi-active songwriter

Rock

I love it for the price you cant beat it. I have read other reviews that say that the usb port has glitches and high picthed noises produced by this mixer, during recording.I have not had any problems. CLEAN QUIET PERFECT is all I hear. This is not an allen heath studio mixer its a compact highly versital easy to use live and recording mixer.

The internal effects have some usable sounds I wish that there was control of the effects at each channel.

Easy to use takes some playing with it but in a very short time the sound is exceptionally good

Again for the price, great

Really worth the price free shipping what a deal

I havent delt directly with a person but the forum and website was really helpfull the latency problem with computer recording had me stumped but the forum bailed me out

Glad I bought it. It really helps in demo production

active musician

singer/ songwriter

I think the sound on this mixer is definitly worth the price, I have only tried the sound through the computer though so I have no clue how it sounds live or through a system.

I think this is probably the coolest musical "toy" ive owned. Its the only thing our band needed to buy in order to record a demo by ourselves(except drum mics).

Only problem I've had is the computer problem and one knob came slightly bent. It could have been a shipping error but since its no big deal I dont care.

Definitly worth the price, especially if your low on money and want to come out with a demo or just a little cd for your friends.

The Alesis website was kinda helpful. Although it did not give me the right drivers to download for my laptop. Since im too lazy to call support I'll give them an 8 for trying lol

Come on look at that sexy pimp baby blue color of course I'd want it if i didnt own it already

Guitarist

Rock, Heavy, All sorts

no latency problems, no popping. its perfect for the price.

the built in effects are great. But there is no real opertunity to use them in a recording atmosphere.

Easy for a novice, enough features for a regular user. Learning curve is super easy.

the knobs are on the cheap side, but do knobs REALLY matter to recordings? I take this on the road everyweek to my studio (back and forth).

compared to other mixers with this price tag, this one smokes them all.

I had a problem with the driver under OSX, but i called alesis, and they helped me restore the driver.

Love the light blue. Matches my rack.

Active Musician, and Recording Engineer

Pop, Power-pop, Acoustic, Death Metal, Indie, Some Hip-hop

I've heard better boards, but on the other hand, I've also heard worse ones. For the price it does a decent job. For recording through USB into your computer, it does a good job.

The manual was not terribly good (unless you are very familiar with mixer setup). If you are a beginner, you will have to play with it a bit to figure out some things. The USB is why I bought it and it does well in that regard. I also have used it for my small PA system and the lack of equalizers for the mains and monitors means I will have to hook up two old equalizers from my head-banging, guitar-playing days to get the job done. Outboard eq is probably not a terrible idea anyway, so hopefully it will get the job done until I can afford a bigger mixer. The effects are ok, and the input channels sound ok. I wish I could figure out how to control the volume of the rca inputs when I connect my CD player to it.... All in all, if you are trying to do low budget computer recording, it may be just the ticket if you don't require a million simultaneous inputs...

It apppears to be well built (but I am used to Peavey boards, so that may be a relative thing). Only time will tell, but it will get some road use in the short term, although it was not technically bought for that reason...

I think it will be worth what I paid for it...I'm afraid of Behringer mixers....LOL

Haven't used it yet, but zzounds has good support.

It looks decent as mixers go....nice blue color.

active musician, hobbyist recording engineer

Southern Gospel

Sound is fairly decent, but when you connect it to the computer and try to record anything, the computer sends back a high pitched whine. YOu can't have the computer fader turned up while recording! Also, the audio levels are a bit low via the USB

It has a lot of features for the price. The effects sound good.

This type of mixer is fairly straightforward. Hooks up like all of the rest in this arena.

Ther sliders and knobs feel cheap and flimsy. I havent had any problems breaking them off or anythng, but they feel like you should handle them lightly. After less than a year of operation, the filter capacitors on board have failed. The power supply is AC. Therefore the DC conversion is done in the mixer. I now get hum out of all of the faders when turned up. Even the ones with nothing hooked up to them.

It's okay. I really liked it at first, but wou'd have liked to get more than a year out of it.

The problem is my problem... expired warranty.

It looks good... Nice shape and comfortable to use.

15 years of commercial radio and television audio production

Have good sound, 0 latency, plastic knobs but do the work well

Why USB ? the mixer get's all the sounds comes from the mics and put on 1 track, that's not really good for recording drums but do the work Cubase LE is not a problem, you can upgrade and rock & roll ( i use Sonar 6 )

really easy to use and plug and play

kind good for the price....

better in black

Active Musician, Recording Engineer

Rock, Metal, Gothic

Here's the problem I've encountered. Very unresponsive and MIC inputs are so low that you have to really crank it to get a decent sound in MIX. Upon playback through the USB port it hums and hisses, pops and cracks.

DO NOT buy this if you want to multi-track. And the effects are terrible as well.

The manual stinks as it tells you very little and Alesis has no tech support to speak of. The sounds are okay, but as I said... you really have to crank it and it is not possible to record multiple tracks. Even if the unit doesn't hiss and pop - when you try to playback (through headphones) and record another track in Cubase - your MIC will have a 1-2 second delay.

May be a goo9d unit for a live performance, but definitely not for studio use.

You get what you pay for and with product I found out the hard way. I am selling this piece of junk after 3 days and buying a Roland VS2000.

Had to speak to Tech Support Supervisor to get anywhere. People at Alesis are very rude. I will never purchase anything from them ever again.

Looked great, but looks were obviously deceiving.

Active musician and home studio

Country, Jazz, PSA's and Radio commercials