Alesis MultiMix 8 USB FX Review

Alesis MultiMix 8 USB FX

Alesis’ new USB mixing desk and audio interface offers a lot of essential features for the small project studio – at a small project studio-friendly price! The key feature of this most recent addition to the MultiMix range is the onboard digital FX buss, which makes it far more useful in the gigging arena as well as giving the studio user another sound-processing option.

As with all things modest in size, there’s not enough room in the casing for a transformer, so the supplied separate transformer is connected to the back via a three-pin connector secured by a locking ring. The only other items around the back are a switch each for the main power and phantom power, plus a USB socket.

Alesis MultiMix 8 USB FX Mixer

The housing is made of sturdy sheet metal and has solid plastic end cheeks, which can be removed if you wanted to sit the mixer in a more confined space. Despite the diminutive size, however, Alesis has managed to spread the knobs out to give you a little more room for your digits than did previous models in the series.

The four mono channels – each with XLR, 1/4-inch jack sockets and a low-cut filter set at 80Hz – occupy the left-hand half of the desk. Channel 1 boasts an insert socket for using an external device in the signal path – if, for instance, you want to run a vocal through a hardware compressor to tame it. It’s a shame that only one channel has this option, though, as this makes processing stereo signals impossible without sending them out through the aux buss on playback, which is much further down the signal path than a conventional insert point.

Channel 2 has the option of recording passive instruments directly, using a Guitar button that acts as a DI switch, but again, there’s only one of these, so no recording bass and guitar together without some kind of preamp. The first two channels do have a parametric mid as well as sweepable hi and lo EQ pots. All channels have FX post and aux pre sends, pan, volume and an LED peak indicator.
Channels 3 and 4 have three sweepable EQs with the mid set at 1kHz, while the two stereo channels – served by pairs of 1/4-inch jacks – just have hi and lo pots. Although rather limited, the EQ still retains a musical quality and does offer good value for money. It’s easy to bemoan the lack of this or that feature, but you have to bear in mind that this phantom-powered mixing desk and A-D/D-A convertor only costs around over 100£!

The mic pres are clean and capable of delivering a healthy signal; although the signal-to-noise ratio is probably quieter on more expensive desks, the MultiMix’s is still perfectly acceptable. The two outputs (Monitor and Main) are also connected via 1/4-inch jacks, as are the auxiliary buss and the headphone output. The FX, aux and headphones all have their own level control.

The FX buss has a good spread of the usual effects, which can be bypassed using the footswitch socket on the main panel. As well as flange, chorus and rotary, there are a couple of delays – one that acts as an ADT unit and another that’s probably only really useful in a dub scenario, as there’s no feedback control. The three types of reverb – room, plate and hall – each have three variations, with Room 3 sounding very transparent. All of the effects are very usable, with the shorter reverb times being easier to sit in a mix.

The beauty of this mini mixing marvel is in its plug and-play USB functionality – there’s no need to install any drivers for either Mac or PC. This makes the MultiMix 8 USB FX ideal as a first-time purchase for the budding producer, as it will provide them with a soundcard with 16-bit, 44.1/48kHz conversion and a mixer in one box. Sure, there’s no main output insert point (as well as the other omissions listed above), but the latest MultiMix still represents excellent value for money and is well worth checking out if you’re looking for a versatile, entry-level mixer with USB audio functionality.