Here's how it works. I get up in the morning (or afternoon, unfortunately) and check the recording forum here at RecordingReview.com. There are usually a handful of new members who are asking for specific advice about a specific product. Typically, the audio interface is the least understood link in the chain so I take extra time to help with the audio interfaces.

Today on the forum a dude asked how many simultaneous inputs the Alesis Multimix 16 Firewire mixer / audio interface could send to the computer at once. In other words, how many tracks can he record simultaneously?

I head over to Musicians Friend and read the description. Of course, it's all useless marketing hype with no clear indication of the features. (This is normal, UNFORTUNATELY!).

So, I head over to the Alesis website.

Compact? Really? WOW! (highest form of sarcasm possible). Thanks!

Affordable? Really? WOW! (like I can't see the damn price is $500 at Musiciansfriend) Thank!

16-channel analog mixer? Okay, that's useful. That means it probably has X amount of mic preamps and X amount of line level inputs, but that tells me something.

Here is the part that pissed me off so badly, that I actively refuse to EVER recommend another Alesis product again for the rest of my life. You have not only lost me as a customer for life, you have completely lost all of my recommendations.

“Multi-channel Firewire”

Let me say that again.

“Multi-channel Firewire”

On their own website they leave out the single most important piece ...

I'm often asked why it is necessary to purchase a real deal audio interface / sound card designed specifically for home recording. In fact, there is nothing wrong with your computers soundcard for playing back mp3s and other “consumer grade” activities. However, when you begin to record music on your computer, you have left the “consumer grade” world far behind. Your stock soundcard will limit your ability to work. That Soundblaster soundcard (which I'm sure came with an amazing graphic on the box) won't cut it for home recording either.

Latency
Latency is the time it takes for your computer to process stuff. In our case, this is usually associated with the amount of delay it takes for sound to go in and out of your computer's soundcard.

Let's assume we are going to play a MIDI Controller / MIDI keyboard by running MIDI into the computer. This MIDI will trigger a synth or sample. In this example, let's say we fire up some piano samples. When we strike a key, there should be no noticeable lag in time. In other words, we should hear the note immediately just like we are playing it through a standard keyboard. Your stock soundcard is probably ...

I had the opportunity to use the MR816 for the entire Musician's Friend grace period as my main interface in a period where I was in the studio 8 days a week. Let's see what I thought of it.



Super Fast Latency
The first thing I noticed about the Steinberg MR816 was it's ability to handle to turbo low latencies. For a majority of the tracking, I kept the MR816 fixed at 64 samples. Only under extreme loads of sample usage and/or plugin-intense mixing did I find the need to switch to higher latencies. I really liked how quickly I was able to change latencies. There was none of this 15 seconds of goofing around that I'm used to on the Firestudio.

Low CPU Usage
Compared to other interfaces I've used, the MR816 gave me the ability to use more plugins and more VST instruments. How much more? It's hard to say, but on some complex movie score work with tons and tons of orchestral samples going, I had a hard time switching back to my Presonus Firestudio. ...

Many of you have been following my escapades in audio interface land. For several years I've been using a Presonus Firestudio, which I still consider to be a very good interface, but mine was constantly losing sync. (You can read all about the good, bad, and ugly here.)

It was time for something different.

I made the decision that it was worth quite a bit of coin for me to have an interface that worked day in and day out. I did the numbers on the amount of cash I was losing by fighting with an interface that was constantly giving me trouble. It ended being a whole lot more coins than I imagined!

For a guy like me who never has enough time in the day (or coins in my pocket!), this is simply unacceptable.

Is Firewire The Problem?
So, I did a little research. Okay, I did A LOT of research. A part of me wondered if the whole firewire thing ...

I've used my M-Audio Delta 1010s for the recording of more songs than I can count. I lost track at 700 songs. Now it's time to part ways with the Delta 1010s. Last night I pronounced one of my Delta 1010 PCI cards dead. This brings my rig down from 20 inputs to 10 inputs. That won't cut it for recording live bands. So now I'm making a mad dash to figure out what can get me 20 inputs and be in my Monday for my next live band session.

I can go a ...

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