The most easy solution is to unplug your monitors when you want to record. The second most easy way is to buy a monitor controller either active or passive (ie TC Level Pilot). I don't know how your Cubase session is routed and don't know Cubase well enough to help there really, but if your monitors and headphones are working off of the same fader then you will have to disconnect the monitors. In a proper console the headphone is separate from the monitor or main outputs. One thought, in many digital consoles it is possible to send the DAW return to the headphone output on out to the mains. If you have the option then turn it off to the mains. On a Mackie Onyx board it is a physical button in the headphone section.

Hi

I looked into getting the sm audio patch nano which is basically a passive volume with a mute switch. Its just there are so many options with my mixer between ins and outs that i was hoping someone had a similar situation to me and we could sort it without any new hardware. I've also sent an email to Alesis but no reply yet. I cant believe alesis would make a product with this potential problem so i must be doing something wrong.
I,m not monitoring thru cubase because of latency ( well I am but I can hear delay so hense the reason I want to mon in mixer)

I'm not familiar with that particular mixer, but since you posted about it, I have studied the block diagram in the [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.alesis.c…"]manual[/]="http://www.alesis.c…"]manual[/] for the 8-channel version (manual seems not available for the 16-channel). If the block diagram is to be believed, the output routing is completely crazy, as it shows no way for any signal to reach the headphones, control room outputs or the level meters other than from the 2-track input or through the main stereo out controlled by the main output level control.

I think it would indeed be a good idea to get or wire up an isolating switch or volume control for your monitors. You would then connect this to the main monitor outs (or the 2-track outs if your particular Mackie monitors are sensitive enough). The SM Pro Audio Nanopatch is a good choice for this job, as it has both a level control and a separate mute button. The main output mix level would be left permanently up, and you could control the headphone level with the CR level control.

I don't understand what usage Alesis had in mind when designing a mixer at this product level but with effectively no useful headphone monitoring function.

Alesis. If it isn't an HD24 I generally advise folks to avoid them. It's been 15 or 20 years since those little microverbs and Alesis lost their mojo somewhere in there. Heck, the HD24 was too good for them so they discontinued it! :-(

Boswell, post: 368233 wrote: I'm not familiar with that particular mixer, but since you posted about it, I have studied the block diagram in the [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.alesis.c…"]manual[/]="http://www.alesis.c…"]manual[/] for the 8-channel version (manual seems not available for the 16-channel). If the block diagram is to be believed, the output routing is completely crazy, as it shows no way for any signal to reach the headphones, control room outputs or the level meters other than from the 2-track input or through the main stereo out controlled by the main output level control.

I think it would indeed be a good idea to get or wire up an isolating switch or volume control for your monitors. You would then connect this to the main monitor outs (or the 2-track outs if your particular Mackie monitors are sensitive enough). The SM Pro Audio Nanopatch is a good choice for this job, as it has both a level control and a separate mute button. The main output mix level would be left permanently up, and you could control the headphone level with the CR level control.

I don't understand what usage Alesis had in mind when designing a mixer at this product level but with effectively no useful headphone monitoring function.

Hi Boswell,

thanks for that.
I've since connected my mixer mains out to a 4 channel headphone amp i had lying around and now i use that for mon. wit headphones (with main volume from mixer at max) and i can hear mixer effects and no latency from cubase. I use the hdph/ctrl rm knob to control my monitors volume ( Mons connected to ctrl rm out ) I think this is working, I will fully test it this weekend as i have a project to finish.
BTW I tried to attach block diagram from my alesis 16 multimix as pdf and it keeps giving me invalid file error! oh well....

thanks again dude and i will post back with my results...

Tom.

my above connections have worked as i tried it out in a project yesterday. Thanks for your help guys..

I had the same problem . Luckily i only use it as an interface so i use my console to adjust headphone and monitor volumes . I think weve both learned not to buy alesis products lol