No linux support, period. 
by Tomas from upstate NY, October 2008
Music Background:  student, sound artist

My biggest complaint.
There are no Linux drivers for any alesis hardware(and it looks like there is no hope in sight). I can only blame myself, I should have done more research on that front before purchasing.

Otherwise the unit is sturdy, has tons of Ins/Outs and when I could use it (a little bit of garage recording) it sounded very good.

  Alesis never displeases 
by Michael Valeri from Charlotte, NC, September 2008
Music Background:  Hobbyist, Active Musician

I personally own the Alesis io14 which has been discontinued, and I strongly recommended that my bassist get this audio interface since I have been so proud with my interface and he got it. He has been happy with an affordable interface that has several inputs. This interface has so much in it for its price. The preamps in this interface allow crystal clear recording. I recommend this to anyone looking for a high quality audio interface.

  A great choice for anyone, exspecialy Hip-Hop/Rap Producers 
by Daniel Devine from Indianapolis, IN - USA, June 2008
Music Background:  Rap/Hip-Hop Producer, Recording/ Mixing Engineer

I was coming to the io26 from an M-Audio Fast Track Pro, the first thing I noticed about the io26, was its build. It feels rock solid, all the in/out connnections are bolted or screwed on tight to the case, and the rubberized plastic on the sides feel real nice. The only thing that I didnt like about the design was the mix/blend knob and master volume knob were endless rotary controllers, not normal knobs, and they felt flimsy. They aren't real knobs because they actually control the software panel for the io26. (if it's not running on you PC, it is still running internally) The whole software controled routing was another thing that I did not like, but once you make and save your settings you really dont have to mess with it again.

For the price, this thing is definitely feature packed, 8 analog inputs and outputs, 16 digital inputs via ADAT and S/PDIF in/out. Plus a built in phono pre-amp for turntables (makes it great for the sampling hip-hop producer). The ADAT ins are great and make this thing extremely expandable.

The mic pres are definitely transparent all the transients and nuance of what your recording show through, it is amazing quality. When I'm recording an instrumental track from my MPC 1000 and Korg TR, I can play back the recorded material in Cubase and then the same material played directly from the instruments and I cant tell a difference, that is something I couldnt say about the M-Audio products (I've used a few) All the channels, including the phono-pre, have a HUGE amount of gain, as do the headphone amps, the headphone amps are almost too loud.

The latency with this unit is nearly non-existant, it has the J.E.T. jitter elimination, and DICE II firewire chips, which are found in the PreSonus Firepod (and the like), and they are worth every penny.

Overall I would recomend this interface to anyone, it sounds amazing, looks great, and works like a charm.

  Can't ask for anything better for the bones you shell out 
by Dom from Baton Rouge, LA USA, January 2008
Music Background:  Pro Musician/Recording Engineer

Two Words - Super Duper!

I find with the pre-amps that come with it, the audio I capture is crystal! I usually run a tubed preamp before the audio interface but when I switched to this I didn't, and the quality didn't drop off a bit (it obviously isn't as warm as the tube preamp, but for those on a budget these work great!) Love the sends and the software that comes with it really helps you configure it well. The one complaint I have is that Alesis has not released 64bit drivers yet, so I am stuck in 32bit XP untill then. Not too big of a deal, but I'd love to be able to utilize a full 4 gigs of ram with cubase (can't do it on 32bit systems) The only true con I see in this device is that it doesn't make me pancakes in the morning. Well worth the money!!!!!

  Io-26 for those who don't like digi 
by Nathan from seattle, November 2007
Music Background:  engineer

i got excited when i saw the spec on the io26, and then i got more excited to find out the preamps are super transparent

the excitement dwindled when i tried connecting the thing to my laptop using the recommended belkin pcmcia card (fifty bucks), it just wouldn't run stable, so i bought a 6 to 4 pin firewire so i could use the poor excuse for firewire that was built into my laptop - plugged in the included powersupply, and made hi-fi recordings with it since

the updated alesis drivers off their website made it run smoother too (despite my third party cable)

since my computer doesn't really like the io26, i have to use my old m-audio fasttrack pro for editing/playback - not the most ideal setup, but i'm able to use the IO for what it's made for

400 dollar box is tough as nails, there's all sorts of insert/sends covering the thing, phantom is switchable in pairs, and it runs up to 192k -

the only thing i feel it's lacking is a master wordclock, but since it can operate well enough on it's own, i can live without that feature

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