Alesis Mutlimix 8 USB

I think donnyxxx has that mixer Betty check with him i remember he got a few weeks ago. and it took him while get settings fixed for it too :) good luck and coool congrats

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Betty I will pm you..

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hey Betty, I too have the Alesis and with this new mixer It doesn't record the effects from the Mixer.. That sucks :(

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I have this mixer and it's a very excellent product and has never given me any trouble, no humming, no shorting out, all effects work. Are you turning them on? When you turn the knob a small dot appears, you then press down and the dial and the dot disappears, which lets you know that particular effect is turned on. Please note, I'm still very new to having this mixer but have been amazed at all it can do.

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I have this mixer (at the office) and I get effects. I have noticed a low hum, and it changed 'pitch' or sound when I changed the cable. It didn't go away, but changed, so I suspect its a ground or shielding issue with the unit.

I'm a little disappointed in the quality of the effects; I expected more. I use a pretty custom rig at home (KX Drivers for Creative sound cards) and it sounds stunning. Too bad I don't sound as stunning.

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I don't know about the effects, and the cable *might* do something. Honestly, I'm not impressed with it. The first one I got had a bad power supply too, had to exchange it.

You should just select an effect (one is already selected) and then turn the knob on the track you're on for effects up some. If it doesn't work, then, I dunno, maybe a bad mixer?

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bipolarbetty wrote:We just bought this mixer, and have had nothing but problems trying to use it. It shorts out the sound when singing into our mic, and when recording or listening to any sound. It has this low humming hiss sound, no matter what we do to trouble shoot, no matter what settings we use. AND we can't get any of the special effects to work no matter how we turn all those little dials.

Anyone have any advice or usage suggestions?

Me and Mr-blue use one betty , seems ok with the effects.
but mostly we record through heads...

Settings are a little confusing as Backing has to be very low nearly at the bottom and Record level three quarters of the way up.

Main mix three quarters of way round .. Gain what I call ten past on a clock.
Mic depending on what mic you use, mines the big three pin connecter..Using a shure.Level 5 notches round on mic setting...Make sure when you select an effect you press the marker down too....I use the phantom power with our mic too.

Tend to use just the Delay effects depending on what we are singing. 60-69

check a song out sometime....people keep commenting on how clear we sound.

We are also using Vista. (we use the usb cable too)
speakers through mixer.

Edited on October 9, 2008 at 8:45 AM Quote

Unplug everything from your computer soundcard meaning no line-in, no speakers out , and no microphone will be attached to your soundcard plugs assuming your run USB. You use your mixer instead of your soundcard features now for USB.

Plug the USB cable from the mixer into a Computer USB jack, you aren't going to use your computer sound card now as stated, USB circumvents the soundcard with USB you use the mixer for inputs and outputs instead of your soundcard in the computer.

Run your speakers from the mixer now (NOT the computer). You do this one of several ways.. The way I do it is using (on the very top right of the mixer) you have *2-track out* L & R RCA phono jack plugs... You run those into powered speakers... I run those into a surround sound setup by using a Y cable... Left and right out've mixer OUT into speaker system input jack.... I run my headphone out plug into a separate powered mixer so I can separately control speaker and headphone volume.. Remember when running it as a USB mixer you disable your soundcard meaning have no speakers or microphone or line-in hooked up for THIS type application because USB disables that-

Just run USB computer to USB mixer... and mic's into mixer as well as speakers out of any number of mixer control panel or headphone or L/R two channel outputs.. Your USB program on your computer should now come up when you do a cold boot and you set your USB software features... which disables your older audio soundcard software. The mixer has phantom power which should be on. your HPF 75 Hz buttons on the microphone input will likely be needed as well as some gain..

When running control panel out often you will hear a frequency hum like a 60 cycle hum.. Just happens when turned up on these mixers BUT it doesn't affect the actual recording, it an output feature of the preamp *I think* of the Cntl out

Edited on October 10, 2008 at 2:47 AM Quote

I have a better Idea... I'm going to show you on CAM what I've done... When I have it setup in ten minutes I will post it as some song and let you know in here.... LOL..

I posted about the cntl out preamp hum.. you are going to get that on higher volumes.. It seems inherent of the preamp but doesn't affect your recording, it's a control room out higher volume 60 cycle hum I think... ground loop of sorts... Let me set this up and show you what I've done..

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Didn't work, I tried :( Sorry... The cam was so jerky, lighting too poor, and cords and cables didn't stretch that would've benefitted you :(

All you need to do is run the USB computer to USB mixer, and either plug headphones into headphone jack or run speaker out of mixer as I stated from L/R 2 track out. You will get some hum when using control room out preamp to another amp.. I think most get that

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Sorry :(

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Betty, to get your effects to work you need to increase the volume of your mic? and increase the re-verb too and increase the effects levels knob too. That' how you get them to work. Also, you by playing with the 'high - mid - low' knobs on your EQ for your mic you can 'add or take' to it too.

And yes, you DO run your mic and everything else you're using your mixer though every other sound devise should automatically become unchecked when you plug your mixer into computer.

Hope it helps.

Edit... i do get this humming thing with the mixer too, it disappears when i touch it so i reckon is problem with the mixer itself .. sigh.

Edited on October 10, 2008 at 4:02 AM Quote

Betty I have this mixer I have no effect problems...
do you want a diagram of my settings?

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Sonsi wrote:
Edit... i do get this humming thing with the mixer too, it disappears when i touch it so i reckon is problem with the mixer itself .. sigh.

That's grounding. Try switching to a different outlet.

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Steven_Kaplan wrote:

Sonsi wrote:
Edit... i do get this humming thing with the mixer too, it disappears when i touch it so i reckon is problem with the mixer itself .. sigh.

That's grounding. Try switching to a different outlet.

I'll try doing that next time i record ... thank you !

Edited on October 12, 2008 at 2:31 PM Quote

Sounds like you might have a ground loop. The technical term is improper or incompatible potential, resulting in additional voltage being added to a component. The proper way to solve it is to either connect all the chassis together and make a single point ground, or get an isolation transformer for the offending piece of equipment. The poor man's solution is what's called a ground lift, which is an adapter that allows you to plug a three prong plug in without the ground, eliminating one of the ground potentials. Most people have these in their house for plugging a three prong plug into a two prong outlet. The problem with this is that it removes the ground for your equipment in the event of a power surge.

As a note, different outlets tend to have different ground potential, which is what causes the hum. Try having them all on one quality powerstrip to see if that helps. If you're using a laptop, try running it on the batteries.

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The stereo/mixer works great with my USB mic but I purchased a Shure C606 that plugs into my microphone jack and the timing starts out ok but as the recording plays the timing gets way off. If I use the adjuster it is then off at the beginning but gets better at the end of recording. This is a song that I saved so that maybe Tec Support could help. I have already tried closing out all programs except SS. Look over my voice. Still dealing with bronchitis. http://www.singsnap.com/snap/r/b59b2a81

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w_benjamin wrote:Sounds like you might have a ground loop. The technical term is improper or incompatible potential, resulting in additional voltage being added to a component. The proper way to solve it is to either connect all the chassis together and make a single point ground, or get an isolation transformer for the offending piece of equipment. The poor man's solution is what's called a ground lift, which is an adapter that allows you to plug a three prong plug in without the ground, eliminating one of the ground potentials. Most people have these in their house for plugging a three prong plug into a two prong outlet. The problem with this is that it removes the ground for your equipment in the event of a power surge.

As a note, different outlets tend to have different ground potential, which is what causes the hum. Try having them all on one quality powerstrip to see if that helps. If you're using a laptop, try running it on the batteries.

Oh dear ! ... i'll get my husband to read this post !! LOL is it an extra plug i need ? .. i'll get hubby to read this .. * blush *

Thank you !

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