In this paper we investigate multiwavelet systems whose scaling functions have disjoint support. We demonstrate that, with the exception of a trivial case, this property may not be attained by two band multiwavelet systems. We show that to enjoy this property, it is indeed necessary to invoke M-band multiwavelet systems. This indicates the existence of tilings of the time-frequency plane that may be obtained with M--band multiwavelet systems but not with two band multiwavelet systems. Hence M--band multiwavelet systems are inherently more powerful than two band multiwavelet systems and deserve a thorough investigation. Finally, we derive K^{th</sup order balancing conditions for M--band multiwavelet systems. These conditions will enable M--band multiwavelet systems to be used for practical digital signal processing applications.}