This would be a all around great product if it didn't do an obscene amount of buzzing while I'm recording music. It doesn't translate to the mix, but it's distracting in the headphones of the artist or in the monitor room.

Features are great, the effects are decent and the phantom power is very useful when using a condensor mic.

Plug and play, no hassle (just make sure you know your input locations on your DAW software).

It's very sturdy, even though mines stays put in the pre studio, it would probably travel well.

Good if I didn't have this humming noise.

Very shaky, when I inquired about the humming noise, I have still yet to get a answer on the fix yet.

Very nice appeal for a small home studio, great effects if your DAW is lacking or you want something in the initial recording chain first.

Recording Engineer, Producer, Artist

Gospel

For the money, this Mixer puts out the sound I want. I have a home studio, this is a work horse of a mixer. Quite and simple, if this one goes kaput, I'll get another, very satisfied.

The USB adapter came with the Mixer so I didn't have to buy anything extra.

I plug all sorts of audio thru the mixer trying lay down differnt tacks and sounds.

Seems to be made very well, be useing a year now..No Problems.

Have no reason to contact copany

Simple and ready to go.

Home Studio

Commercials

I only give it a 9 because there is a slight hum in the audio when recording. It is not in the actual recording after the track is laid down. I used it at a family recital. While wearing headphone, when the doors would close or people would talk, you would have to look around to see if it was real. Even using average mics the quality was excellent.

Everything worked that came with it, including the CuBase software. I use Multitrack Studio for most of my recording. The mixer integrated seemlessly with all the computer tools I use.

I took me a couple of trial and error settings to get the USB configured correctly. After that, it is an easy setup each time I connect it to my PC. Just follow the instructions. They work.

This mixer gets toted around with my laptop. It is rugged and withstands the normal and not-so normal use very well. I do prefer slide faders over knobs though.

You will not find another mixer with the capabilities this one has for the money. As one of the other reviews said, "It makes an excellent sound card also".

I initially had a problem with tech replying. After I resent my request, they were very helpful in resolving my problems I had a problem getting the prerecorded mix and the current session going to the headphones. They gave me instructions on how to make that work.

My "I Want It" had nothing to do with how it looked. I went on the specs and compared it to others for what I needed. This one out performed all others for the money based on the specs sheets. I am not disappointed.

Active Musician, Music Director

Country, Gospel

Only tested the capability to record and it records, quality hasn't been inspected but I will be using recording for Voice only

This is a flexable unit, the USB alows for mobile recording with my sound recording impared laptop, I am using it for live performance, and as a phantom power/eq/preamp/effect prior to my main Daw interface for studio recording I do not use the USB

Total plug and play with Sonar4 on my laptop I did not install any of the LE software that came wit hit

I am replaceing a non USB enabled 6 chanel alesis mixer I am confident this one will perform with the same high quality

I got this thing for $145 at guitar center on sale. a pcmcia sound card for my laptop would have cost more than that

The best support is support that you don't need because the product is easy to set up and the manuals are easy to use.

the price was prety sexy

active recording musician

singer songwriter

This is a small studio dream. I've used it this little gem for commercial radio spot voice over and for movie production. I've added external eq and found a "sweet spot" and this thing sounds as good (if not better) than my broadcast quality boards at work. The only complaint is too much clipping in the red zone, but there is a reason it's the red zone!

The USB interface is why I bought this and it worked right out of box. Will soon be looking to buy a multi-track capable board and will look at Alesis first. This is a great product!

30 year broadcast engineer

The sound of this mixer is very good, the sound depends on the mic you feed into it. I'm useing a mxl v6 Sounds very good and 3 shureSM48 very good also also I used a few low end mic's and there you get what you paid for as far as recording very good mixer, live can be demanding but the mixer can carry its weight though a gig. The nobs on the unit are a little weak in quality but I understand that we need to sacrifice that for board quality.

This unit is very good for a quick setup, it has more than enough features for the size. The FX is great 100 to choose from great!. Wish it had a better way to power it, had to replace the power supply twice in a year and a half. I have about a 1000 hours on the unit itself. power supplies need to be a little beefier.

Its right there, at your finger tips. EQ fantastic, FX right there GREAT, as far as ease of use it couldn't be simpler. if your a newbie read the Manuel. Like with everything plug everything in before you POWER ON!!!! I'v used this product on a windows based machine XP (sucked) Vista (sucked) usb problems CRASHES almost every time The problem is WINDOWS not the Alesis. The unit runs without a flaw on a mac.

With care the the Alesis multimix will last a long time like i said my unit is a 1 1/2 years old and still gig'in nobs could be better, but for the price you can't beat it.

Very well priced for the features that it has. I compared it to other models like berringer with same features the Alesis price is the best going.

My experience with Alesis was very good, my only problem was with the power supplies the first one stopped working after 300 hours of service and cost me $32.00 to replace though Alesis the second one after 150 hours and Alesis replaced it free. Support was very good!

Sex Appeal ?? Don't know about that, but it a good design slick looking, low profile. Like the look of it. as long as the unit works there worth there weight in gold.

Active Musician

Alternative

The sound recorded by the unit and sent to the computer is decent, there is a high pitched hum when I connect the board to the Audio recording software. I tried a Windows Xp machine and an iBook, different USB cables and different aaudio recording softwrae. I sent the unit in under warratny and they replaced the whole board and it still had the hum.

If you want to see if you can accomplish recording then this unit will do on a tight budget. But if you have the money to spend buy a seperate mixer and a audio capture device.

Active Musician and amatuer recording

I am using this for live solo work for acoustic/tric guitar and vocal. I use the onboard effects for vocal and I run a nanoverb through the aux loop for separate effects for the guitar. I run ART tube preamps to warm up the tone and I run 2 old style JBLowered Eons with it. This is the best sound I've gotten out of the Eons. This is a very clean board with great effects.I am very pleased with the sound. Very few small boards have a mid eq. The preamps could get by without the tube pres, but with them, it's really ideal. I couldn't ask for better live sound from a small rig. I haven't tried the usb hookup yet because i just got the board this week. I recommend it highy for duos or solos.

The effects are outstanding. Improvements I'd like to see would be a mid sweep and the ability to send a signal to the control room/phones, while muting the main mix.

The unit came with a scratch by one of the inputs. It was to much hassle to send it back for a scratch I'll probably put on it myself before the summer is over.

It's a friggin mixer! How "sexy" can that be? I love it, but I don't lust after it. TRS inserts are ony 1/4" anyway!

Active solo performer, professional music therapist, pro bassist, teacher

Jazz, country, classic rock, whatever pays!

I sold mine but while I had it I liked it. It sounded great for the price. It didn't produce the best sound but for home studio I think it was perfect. I used 2 different mics on it and really it comes down to the mic. the audio technica at2020 wasn't a good mic I sold it. I wasn't happy with the sound so I upgraded to the behringer b-1 series and in my opinion I think it really showed how good of a sound it can produce. I got good compliments on my voice from other artists and I recommend it. the bad reviews are inaccurate because you don't know what microphones they have and it really comes down to the microphones on the humming sound.

The effects pleased me but I rated it the way I did because I don't think theres enough choices to choose from. There needs to be more effects but the effects on it was good after i figured out how i wanted the voices to sound. Its usb and it was kind of slow so i upgraded the firewire version of this product. much faster.

It's very simple to use once you figure out what knobs are used for what and which buttons are for what. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out what each knob is used for by recording and listening to the recording.

The only thing i worried about was the heating. I wasn't real sure because it was my first mixer, but the firewire version is the same and I never used anything else but alesis brand. i think its built very good though. I couldn't answer if components wear out after awhile because I only had it for about 8 months. On some electronics you can track where the are being used if you sell the product or its stolen and with this brand of mixer you can't. I dont know about other kinds of mixers like i said i only had this brand.

for the price and for home studios especially for beginners I would recomend it to anybody and stand behind the product to the fullest. If it was priced about 300 I wouldn't of bought it only because it's usb and I'm not sure how much longer computers with with usb ports are going to be made, and plus it's a little slow sendin to the computer. Thats why I upgraded

I had a problem with it. I thought it wasn't sending a connection to my computer so I called them and was on hold for about 10 minutes and they couldn't help me. It turned out to be my usb port on my 10 year old computer wore out. Thats when i upgraded to the firewire hookups and the firewire version.

I think its slick. Its small and can fit perfect on your computer desk and youll still have room to do things. It looks like a professional mixer just alot smaller. its about 5 pounds.

producer/active musician

hip-hop

Unreal how much back ground noise comes out of this thing as soon as you hook up the USB to your PC...... Im taking it back tomorrow..... It is unreal how many people are having issues with this unit.... Ive been emailing the tec at the company and he was no help at all.... After doing a little google search online I came to find out that 80% of the people that bought this unit are having issues with it....

It has good features but its all for nothing because of all the recording noise this thing puts out

Its easy to use but to bad it dont work

It makes a loud Hissssssssss everytime you record something into your DAW

Why would you pay for something if it dont work

They email you right back until they find what issue you are having then they stop emailing you back....

It looks good in the box, then you take it home and it gose Hisssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Active Musician

Electro House and Hip Hop

Needs more routing controls for USB input signal.

The USB aspect is cool.

Hobbyist

All

No matter what this thing will generate hisses and hums. I have never gotten one clean recording off of THIS mixer. One good thing is i have become a noise reduction guru in sonar.

.................. if you turn up the the aux to hear your effects "EFFECTIVELY" it will clip out of control.

Plug and play for me, horrible sound though. Silly me, tried to use used a usb mixer for... computer mixing.

Clips ALOT, HISSES and HUMS... trash.

Personally this thing is worth as much as a gun range target.

Called in for help, and they basically told me to not use the usb. I will never call alesis again.

I want to break it, and i will when my M-audio mobile pre gets here.

Music Producer

Rap, Techno, Pop.

The chorus and flanging effects DO work on the unit I have. So, I have no idea what the previous reviewer is talking about. The sound from this unit is great no matter what you connect to it.

Very versatile little mixer. The USB connection is absolutely flawless, this thing just literally plugs and plays.

This mixer integrates smoothly with any studio program you have, be it Audacity or Magix... It works great over skype or any other VoIP system. Great for blog talkers.

Only gripe here is, I wish all the connections were in the back instead of on top.

Can't beat the bang for the buck with this one.

Never needed any support for this product.

When everything is hooked up to it, it looks like a 30s telephone operators switchboard with all the wires sticking out of the top.

HISS and POPS everywhere on your recording! If you are using only a DYNAMIC MIC like Shure SM58 and turn the volume (not the gain), you simply hear noises. I've try to unplug the mic to see whether the environment noise is great or not. However, when I turn on the Gain to 12 o'clock position (about half of the gain), it is very clear to hear NOISE!! Do you think you can record clear sound with this mixer? Surely not!! I can't see any good features in its sound quality. Maybe the best word to describe its sound - BAD!! Noise, Hiss are your sound recorded. No matter how great your vocals' voice are, no matter how stunning your instruments skill are, you only get a poor voice/sound. It would be a waste to record beautiful sound with this unpleasant mixer. Beside the bad mic pres, the output from computer (means the 2TK) are also worst with noise. What a pity! I use SONY MDR-7506 for monitoring, noise covers my mix. How can I do accurate monitoring? After hearing my comment on this mixer, will you like it? For me, I don't!

It is very good to have some onboard effects like reverb, delay, echo, pitch shift, etc. But thank for the awful mic pres,it becomes useless. If the quality of its mic pres is going to be improved, it would be the best mixer in this price range. You will benefit on the effects, but surely not the sound quality. It is really a pity to hear your recording.

Simply turn on the power, turn on the phantom power, plug the USB cable to your computer, connect the mic to the mixer, switch on the 2TK to Ctrl Rm, increase the volume of the channel, ctrl rm and also the mix, plug your headphone to the mixer, you will hear what you recorded, and the output from the computer. It is really easy to use. No driver is needed. But ASIO incompatible with 46.xxx ms latency. You still need to choose ASIO Full duplex VIRTUAL ASIO driver to do your monitoring work. If you are a keyboardist to play the instruments and use it for real-time monitor, I don't know how can you play your instruments correctly, with correct timing. Surely not. Great Latency, isn't it?

I choose 1 - THE WORST. You know, the mic pres are noisy. 1st BAD point. You have great latency in monitoring. 2nd BAD point. These two points are enough to say the mixer are bad. Try to think that you can plug the mixer to the computer via USB, but providing us high latency with monitoring. How can we record? How can we mix? Good idea to add a USB host to the mixer but bad idea to have ASIO incompatible. 10 ms is too much for instrument players. Then how about 46 ms? What a pity!

If you buy the mixer, you are simply like the man who throw your money to the sea. You can't get anything from the mixer. Somebody may think that I expect too much from the mixer. But I need to tell you the truth. In this year when I bought it from ITConcept in Hong Kong, my recordings are worse than those I record via my Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi platinum. The Creative's is aim at CONSUMER market but the Alesis' is aim at BEGINNER/AMATEUR studio level. Same price, different targets, and also different quality. The Creative's is far more better than Alesis' who is named as "STUDIO PRODUCTS". That's really horrible

I bought it in Hong Kong. The support is awful. The staff "IS" useless and the dealer only has the duty to sell the mixer, but NOT responsible to provide any support to me. I've asked them to have the driver which is compatible to ASIO. They asked me why you need it, and told me that I can still use it to do recording and real-time monitoring in such a great latency. Finally, he said he feel sorry as I have no experience. Second, they don't know how to use Cubase LE to do separate recording (record the vocal with the playback of my MMO). The reason is they only know how to use Audacity. I've no experience on Cubase LE. But the staff said that he is the professional arranger, composer, vocal teacher and vocalist. How come a man only know how to use Audacity and Band-in-a-box can become a pro arranger? Do you think he is really a teacher, or he just simply tells lie? I need to blacklist the shop in Hong Kong. I hope the new dealer could change the reseller shop manager. It's really HORRIBLE to say these things. I solve every questions by myself. I would like to ask, what is the usage of the reseller? No, it is only garbage, a rubbish!! How come he can still work in there without firing? Why there is no zero rating, I should give the rate worse than the worst!

If you read my comment carefully, you should know what the answer is. Surely not. I've got a nightmare in this stuff. Finally, I sold it at a reasonable price to another amateur. He accepts the quality from it. However, not me. I hope he could write another review on it. After I bought the Alesis Multimix 8USB, I really lost the confident to the manufacturer. Sorry to say that. I think Alesis should pay more effort on improving the quality of mic pre, also the main out. If you keep on doing this - to release such a low quality of products, then I simply avoid to buy your products, even you said you have greatly improve it. I am looking forward to see any improvement in Alesis' Product. I hope so.

Hobbyist

Rock, Metal, Hip Hop, R&B, Canto-pop

With a $150.00 microphones connected, this unit generated humming echo and noise when the gain set too high.

All features are very nicely design.

Very easy to use and set up.

They all easily break down for no reasons. I had 3 units exchanged in the past, all 3 broke with different problems. Big quality issue here.

With a quality like this, it is over priced.

What to say? You called, they gave you a RA number, you sent the unit back to fix... Standard support.

Hobbyist

Although It originally worked fine I have had it now 7 months and it crackles and pops when it warms up. If you're using Cubase LE or Sequel( both great apps by Steinburg) the mixer must be turned off and rebooted to hear playback through the on board soundcard, a real pain and time consuming.

great features if the worked- on longevity.

was great when new, with Garage band- Cubase is more difficult anyway so it might be hard to tell.

Like I said, it quit giving good performance about 6 months in.

Cheap but you get what you pay for.

so far so good.

Very appealing marketing, but not good in practice

semi-pro singer songwriter

Rock, singer songwriter

I spent over 20 hours and three long-distance calls to Alesis tech support and 3 long-distance calls to Cubase tech support trying to get the USB to output a stereo signal. Tech support was useless and I eventually returned the unit. I installed the bundeled software Cubase LE on two computers, Dell Inspiron 8500 laptop and a custom made high-powered desk top both running up to date Windows XP. Both computers crashed and started producing multiple error messages on restart. When Cubase LE would make it through its startup regimen it invariably lost contact with the Alesis USB module and then crashed. Neither Alesis or Cubase tech support had a solution. It only gets worse. After removing the software my laptop still is plagued with multiple error messages on startup. They even persist after I performed a system restore to a date prior to the black day that I purchased the Alesis Multimix 8USB. I believe the drivers that Alesis relies upon to operate the unit are inadequate. Cubase tech support agrees. Even Alesis tech support will point you to third-party drivers when all else is exhausted. Those drivers don't work either. My opinion is that this unit is not ready for prime-time and not worth your trouble...at any price.

USB doesn't work

Probably unleashed on the market without adequate testing.

Not worth it at any price

Tech support is useless for both Alesis and Cubase

active musician

jazz & blues

No need to improve. The sound quality is outstanding!

They all work perfect. even though im not using cubase. I give advice to people who are getting this. you get what you par for.

take it out of the box. plug the power supply and hook usb. simple

its made perfect. should be used for professionals.

best in the buisness

well i trust Zzounds. they always provide you great instruments. mine lasted 2 years, and just ordered another. thanks Zzounds.

i wanted it along time ago. I got it and its just what i wanted.

''Active Musician''

Rap

The pre-amps on this are really bad..somethin that isnt evan entry level with some mic's, works OK with some tho...but isnt professional, my advice...save up...

Has the features...but hasnt got the strength to use them...

easy to use...but I think that effort goes to waste at times....

solid...not easy to break...but then again, id rather break than buy another!! lol

u do get wat u pay for..i mean its a "ALL IN ONE" mixer usb, they cant spend at least 50 on one pre-amp, they spent less than that for EVERYTHING in ONE..

never needed it.

Not anymore I dont...

band director

all

Sound Quality is amazing at this price.

I gave this a 5 because the Chorus and Flanging effects don't work! I spoke with their tech support and they even acknowledged those effects are not operational. No plan for a fix either.

Perfect!

Definitely above what you would expect for this price.

If you only need to record a single stereo channel at a time, this is the way to go. It works perfectly with my recording software and Pod XT Live.

Well, I was happy that they acknowledged the missing effects, but dissapointed that they offered no fix. I would think a FLASH upgrade could fix this.

The only time my music/computer system has noise problems is when I use my Alesis USB8 Multimix with the Cubase LE software that it came with. It's been a real bummer.