After two months of problems, I’ve finally figured out why my Alesis IO26 would die after 10 minutes of use with Logic Pro. It turns out that the device is very fussy – no surprise there. A call to a very helpful “Andy” at customer service got me going in the right direction. Thanks, Andy. Turns out I needed to increase the I/O buffer size. He said that I could do that from the Alesis control panel located in System Preferences, but in reality, you have to do it from your DAW. The problem is that a DAW such as Logic will send the buffer size and other parameters to the IO26, and if you then have problems, it won’t help to “test” it with the included Cubase or any other DAWs that you have.  You’ll need to send the correct buffer size to the device from Logic in order to get it working again.  So here is a screenshot of the correct settings from Logic Pro 7. You can fire up Logic with the IO26 connected, set the settings, save a session, quit Logic, then start Logic again and confirm the settings.  Keep in mind that this is a last ditch effort, if everything else has failed. There will be times when other things go wrong, and Alesis support should be able to help you.  If you need to record more than 16 tracks, you can set the slider to more, but if you are doing 16 or fewer, it should remain as shown below.

Logic Pro 7 control panel with correct settings for Alesis IO26

Note: You will need to check Universal Track Mode if you want to create stereo audio tracks.

In addition, you should always do the following:

• Plug the IO26 into power. Don’t run it only off of Firewire
• Run the IO26 directly from your Firewire port, don’t use hubs
• Plug your laptop into power, don’t run off battery
• Quit other applications when recording
• Don’t use the IO26 for system sound while using Logic
• Turn Airport (wireless) off when recording

There are lots of people complaining that they get dropouts because of running multiple tasks that use the IO26.  Ultimately, the IO26 should only be used with one application at a time.  It’s not meant to act as a DAW and an audio interface for system sound at the same time.  On the other hand, if it’s used properly, it will provide pristine sound with up to 26 simultaneous inputs, for less than $400.  You won’t find another device of this quality for this price – especially not with 8 XLR ins with separate gains and meters in a portable package.  Patience can be required at times, but the payoff is worth it.