I was doing a metal session for an upcoming Recording Review / Toontrack contest. The bass player for the band brought in one of those SX basses from Rondo Music. Yes, I'm talking about the basses that cost $150 AFTER shipping. I had no idea what to expect. I've had excellent experience with the Agile guitars from Rondo, but no one I knew ever felt ballsy enough to swing for one of the ultra-budget low end generators.

Who Is This Review For?
This review is NOT for robo serious bass players who ...

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'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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