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Today's Bonus:
- Two-channel computer audio recording interface, comes complete with a copy of Steinberg Cubase LE digtal audio workstation (DAW) software.
- Record up to 24-bit, 48 kHz audio into virtually any software
- High-quality A/D and D/A converters, discrete-design preamps, 48V phantom power
- Inputs for microphones, line-level sources, and instruments including guitars
- USB bus powered - no external power supply needed
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Got this unit with some reserve....I had an M-audio Fast Track, and I was not sure why the Alesis was so affordable and with 2 IN for the instruments or mic.The quality of the case is very low; cheap plastic for the case and the knobs, same for the switches and mic connectors; the only metal parts are the 3.5 inch jack where you plug your guitars or your external equipment, and the headphone OUT
The unit itself looks cheap, but what it matters is what it does; and this pup does it right.
I've hooked it to my Mac pro via USB, and as soon as i plugged it, Snow leopard recognized it; I just had to switch my audio settings to redirect the audio in, audio out and system sounds to the io2 and everything is set up.
I am happy to hear no noise even if the volume is cranked up, while wearing headphones; this means that either the circuit board is well done, or the unit is well shielded from external interference (the fasttrack would give a disturbing hiss now and then; that would disappear if i would change position to the unit of few inches)
The mic in works great; plugged in a mic and it works just fine; setting the knobs is a cakewalk since they are pretty precise and does not make any noise while twisting them (again, means that the people that put this together did a good job shielding the unit; we will see how good is shielded from dust, since that is one of the main causes of noise while twisting the knobs)
the Line in/Guitar in works also great; plugged in my guitar and increased the gain and the sound was really good; tried it with garageband and guitar rig 4 and the latency was under 10ms; versus 18ms with the FastTrack; the Phantom +48v is also useful if you just plug the guitar without amplifier; in this way you can use a sound modeling software like guitar rig and play nice effects directly into your computer, saving the hassle to bring in interference and other noise that would come from the amplifier or pedal.
The recording was also awesome; you can tell that the quality is high when you listen at something recorded with the io2, using Bose headphones or a good audio equipment; the quality was same if not better of a 196kbps MP3, even at high volume and using software equalizer.
The chance to use 2 IN at the same time (2 guitars, guitar and mic, mic and line in and so on) opens up a lot of possibilities; tried with mic and guitar and it works fine; giving you control on each separate channel (the +48v gain works globally on both IN ) with separate knobs for the gain and 2 extra knobs to control the mix between the wet and dry sound (so you can listen the sound of the instrument before being processed by the computer, and after)and to control the main level.
In the end i give this unit a 5 star, since even if is cheaply made; feels pretty solid when you actually use it; and cost much less than any other comparable external usb unit for mac.
Buy Alesis IO2 Express 24-Bit USB Recording Interface Now
I bought the io2 express from Alesis as a temporary stand in for my Presonus Firebox which needed some maintenance after five years of heavy use. I saw the Alesis and since the price was right, went ahead and ordered one. I'm very impressed with this interface. Impressed enough to put my Presonus on the shelf for a while.I'm using this with a three year old Dell XPS laptop with a dual core processor and 2 GB RAM. The pros that I see with the io2 express are these:
It's USB bus powered so it doesn't need its own external power supply. That makes it as compact and lightweight as possible. It's small enough to fit inside the front pocket of my laptop case.
Its installation and use have been the easiest of any interface I've used. Within five minutes of opening the box I was recording a guitar track. I did end up opting to use the ASIO4All drivers that are available on the Product page of Alesis' web site. They improved the latency from that of the class compliant driver by about 5ms. Class compliant latency was about 11ms, ASIO4All was 6ms. I suspect that with newer, faster computers that the latency will be lower.
It has the ins and outs that I need for about 95 percent of the recording and mixing I do. Two XLR ins on the top, two line/instrument ins on the top, an insert on each channel(this makes me very happy. I can now run a different effect on each channel at the same time. There is a mic/line/instrument switch on each channel, a headphone jack on top with mono/stereo switch for monitoring, and a separate level control for the headphones. There is a mix control that allows you to control the mix of the tracks that are being recorded with the tracks that the computer is playing back. No software mixers! This alone made me think twice about plugging in the Firebox again. Finally there is 48V phantom power for my favorite condenser mics and a control for the main level. On the back of the box are MIDI in/out jacks and left and right main outs for your monitors, along with the USB plug.
Alesis was smart in putting all the controls and inputs on top. Everything you need to see can be seen easily from one angle without having to reach around the back to plug things in, or open a mixing utility on your computer to change mixer settings. This is a very economically and ergonomically designed unit.
Last, but certainly not the least of the pros, the sound quality of this box is amazing. I've spent hundreds of dollars on tube preamps that don't sound as good as the preamps in the io2 express. And the converters also perform well past what I expected and honestly they make my Presonus sound almost dull by comparison. This by itself should be a strong enough selling point for most people to go ahead and order one.
I write an easy home recording for beginners blog and this will be the featured interface for any novice recording engineer/hobbyist. Its ease and sound quality make it perfect.
There are a couple of cons to mention. The case is hard plastic, which feels durable enough but it's not anywhere close to rugged. I suspect that this wasn't designed with repair in mind due to the low price, so the case also can't be easily opened to replace or repair inside parts. The knobs and switches also are on par with what I've come to expect with lower priced electronic equipment, although they are better than some other products I've used that cost a lot more(Line 6). Another con is the latency with the class compliant driver and the extra steps to download and install ASIO4All. ASIO drivers have become such a standard in the computer audio industry that I'm surprised they aren't included. That being said, I'm sure costs were contained by not having to include extra stuff in the package. The last of the cons is that since it's USB powered, the drain on the laptop battery is pretty quick. It lasted about a half hour before I had to plug in the external power supply. This is minor in my opinion since 99 percent of the time that I'm recording with my laptop it's plugged in any way.
So novice audio engineers get out your plastic and order now. This is worth the cash.
Read Best Reviews of Alesis IO2 Express 24-Bit USB Recording Interface Here
I have been using this thing for about 2 weeks now. It's fairly simple to use and the audio is great. The software that came with it (Cubase LE5) was a bit tricky. I spent several days just trying to work out the kinks with it. My computer is tempermental as it is so I was a bit discouraged at first that I could not get the recording/mixing software to work for me. I had made several trips to the store trying to remedy what I thought was a memory issue. In truth, the solution was actually rather simple. So if you happen to encounter the following...When I would record with Cubase and listen to the playback, the track would intermittently pop, skip, and crackle. It turns out that the ASIO driver that comes with the installation software is terrible. Find yourself a good ASIO driver online (I happened to download one from ASIO4ALL). Everything was fine after that.
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The MIDI part works in Linux right from the start, great news (just used aconnectgui and tied it to some USB MIDI keyboard to an old MIDI synth module). The audio record and playback is not well supported by most Linux applications due to the Alesis IO2's 24-bit audio format. You really have to stick with the professional-style audio tools (jack, LADSPA, and well written ALSA apps) to use the device on Linux. Many apps are only written to support 16-bit audio because that is the standard for consumer grade audio. If you configure ALSA using .asoundrc with the directive "format S24_3LE" you can get a bit further at having 16-bit audio applications work with the device, ALSA will convert it to/from 24-bit audio on the fly. Of course this means you are using suboptimal quality sound with your device, and I'm skeptical if it is worth the additional effort. The device also does not have a mixer like a consumer sound card, so many Linux ALSA applications have problems with it. You won't be playing video games through this device, and even movie players can be problematic depending on which one you use.It is worth picking up some "Send-return" cables to use with the "insert" jacks, they quite inexpensive. Essentially it is a 1/4" stereo to two 1/2" mono jacks. You can then use effects pedals in your setup with guitar, line-in or mic.
The device is a little difficult to get the levels set right so it is not too quiet or too loud. Especially if you're putting effect pedals on, which can quickly overdrive the inputs requiring you to turn the Gain setting way down. This is normal sound check type stuff that you have to do with traditional amps or 4-track machines, it was just surprising to do it in this digital world using some analog knobs on the device. Would be better if those knobs were also digitally controlled, so I could configure mixer settings on PC instead of manually twisting knobs each time I set up.
I suggest you look at the non-express version of this device, it is a little more expensive but gives you digital in/out which is pretty exciting in my book.
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