Feedback on E-Mu 1212M? Good A/D converters?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hoodoo
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I for one always respect when manufacterers come in and answer (defend?) questions about their product.

I have one; You claim to use protools converters in the card. Now some very informed people told me you are using a chip (The AK5394?) that is also used in the protools design, but this would not yield the same results. could you comment on this?

And what about the TFpro preamps? Are they the "real deal" or just the name?

Very qurious, since the features look really nice. (ALthough the creative professional label kinda bothered me... :o )

Guhlenn
 
The pres on my 1820 are my best pres, imo, but I also don't have anything above the $500 mark to compare them to. (ONly got my Presonus MP20, DMP3...)

I really really like my E-mu, and I'm considering getting a 1212m (or when specs get finalized and it comes out, an 0404) for my second system. But the drivers are still immature and depending on your needs, there are better things out there. If you don't need ADAT, the Echo MiaMIDI is very nice, and has solid drivers. If you're looking for the cheapest entry into ADAT you can get, get the EWS 88D for 125 bucks. (http://www.jdsound.com/store/product1.asp?SID=2&Product_ID=449)

And probably the biggest knock against E-mu in my book: multi-card. If you're thinking about expanding to a multi-card solution, avoid the E-mu, because I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for their multi-card driver update. Echo, EWS, M-audio, Aardvark, ESI...pretty much everyone else has been doing multi-card for a while now.

With all that said...why do I still like the E-mu? Because I know it works on my particular systems, and in the pro sound card world, that's all that matters. Once you find something that WORKS, go with it.
 
I for one always respect when manufacterers come in and answer (defend?) questions about their product.

I have one; You claim to use protools converters in the card. Now some very informed people told me you are using a chip (The AK5394?) that is also used in the protools design, but this would not yield the same results. could you comment on this?
***All AD converters come out of the factory at a certain spec. The hardest part of implementing/engineering the AD circuit and audio products overall is to do as little to adversely affect the AD's(and other parts) performance as possible. So filtering of power, making good layout choices, making sure the Analog section performs beyond the AD, keeping jitter low etc. When you do this successfully the part(s) will keep most of it's original specification. We have kept the AK5394 to within 3db of it's ideal implementation. This is one school of engineering, there is another which is about adding color/character but this while important for an instrument, amp or other thing that you want color from is not a good choice for making a good front end for a recorder.

And what about the TFpro preamps? Are they the "real deal" or just the name?
***they were designed by Ted Fletcher.

Very qurious, since the features look really nice. (ALthough the creative professional label kinda bothered me... :o )

Best,
ICHi
E-MU Systems
 
Go, ICHi, Go! Stick it to 'em....

Hey all post readers. I gotta say I highly respect a knowledgeable rep coming in from the manufacturer to answer and respond to questions/comments. To me, it means they care about the customer and want to inform properly.

Not enough manufacturers do this, in my book. More should...
 
Hoodoo said:
Go, ICHi, Go! Stick it to 'em....

Hey all post readers. I gotta say I highly respect a knowledgeable rep coming in from the manufacturer to answer and respond to questions/comments. To me, it means they care about the customer and want to inform properly.

Not enough manufacturers do this, in my book. More should...
Click to expand...

I guess you didn't bother reading my link...
 
brzilian said:
I guess you didn't bother reading my link...
Click to expand...
No, actually I did. I just didn't get what all the whining was about. I've read NUMEROUS posts from ICHi (of E-Mu) on different forums, and he always presents a reasonable, factual approach to answering questions or complaints. These are usually in response to posts I would classify as "uninformed emotional whining" (you know, the typical "X, y, & z suck because blah blah blah").

Sure, the E-mu card has its issues just like any other product. But the direct customer interaction I've seen from e-mu is far better than what I've witnessed from many other manufacturers.

How many reps from Behringer, M-Audio, Mackie, Yamaha, Steinberg, Cakewalk, or any other major music vendor do you see here in this forum?

It's just good business sense to have 1:1 interaction with your current and potential customers on forums like this to correct inaccuracies, offer other opinions, and "be a face" to communicate with.
 
Here we go.....
Just bought a 1212m and have now spent 5 very frustrating days trying to get it to work. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the card is flawed or knocking any of it's features but if anyone is thinking of buying one, I would wait and see what happens with mine.

There are two major gripes that I'm currently trying to sort out with EMU/Creative support. The first is with the WDM driver which will manage about a minute at most of clear playback before dropping out for about 20sec then coming back. There is also a lot of random blips. Although the card was bought primarily for production, it would be nice to think it is capable of playing the odd mp3 from time to time. I know this only really affects players without ASIO support and I have been told I can get a plugin for Winamp to enable this, but thats not the point.
The second fault occurs even when only one channel is present on the mixer (ASIO) and happens regardless of the program using it (Reason, Acid, Wavelab). Even increasing the buffer number to 20 (798ms latency) will not completely prevent random blips during playback. I have been told that this can be related to PC spec but can't see why it should be this bad on a P4 1.8, 512M with a fresh install of XP (card was first thing installed after sp1).

Admittedly, I'm pretty new to the audio side of things but have checked the obvious stuff (conflicts, connections, CPU abnormality during problems) and have installed the latest update from the EMU site. After none of this made any difference and even after strippig down the PC of any non-essential devices and software, I'm still no further. I have contacted EMU email support who advised a few checks (disable onboard sound etc.), and am currently awaiting a second response after updating them on further progress. I will post any further details but in the meantime any suggested fixes are greatly appreciated.
 
I'm curious-- what exactly are your PC specs? (motherboard, RAM, etc)

It seems there are numerous issues out there with on-board sound (on the Mobo).
 
Somehow i expected this. please keep us updated. Your config seems fine. You disabled on board sound right(i mean in the hardware profile)?
 
Yeah, I've had the WDM problem a few times with the earlier drivers, but I haven't noticed it lately while using media player to record to my minidisc. No excuse for the ASIO problems, though...

What kind of motherboard do you have? Are you disabling on board sound in windows or in the motherboard bios?

Maybe the guys on the emu forum can help: http://www.productionforums.com/emu/
 
I've got the 1820M and it works well for my needs (track at a time home recording) and suits me better than the Tascam US-428 did.

I can only say that I've noticed ICHi to be a patient person and I am impressed at the willingness of E-MU to have a representative be so forth-coming.

As this site is "HOMERECORDING".com, I'd say these new E-MU cards would be great for us homerecordists.
 
I've just had reply from support suggesting checking for signs of old drivers in safe mode. Think I'll do another fresh install just to make sure.

In response to some of the other questions, it's a Dell motherboard with Intel chipset, 512M 133 SDRAM, and no onboard sound. I tried installing the audio drivers hotfix which didn't make any difference but if there is a more recent driver version than 5.12.1.488, please let me know.

I know the card/company has had a bit of a slating in here but it's nice to see people going out of their way to actually help with problems. It's also a valuable alternative to the usual support channels (I can't really pass judgement on the call charges or email response time as I work in tech support myself). Again, any comments/suggestions appreciated.
 
Dell mobos are hot beds of stability. Really. Heck, I use a Dell for my current DAW as well...I'd be surprised if the problem was on that level, unless...

Have you tried switching around the PCI slots? It's possible that you put the Emu in a non-bus mastering PCI slot, which was one of the bigger annoyances from a while back that I remember.
 
Yeah, I recall seeing on another forum you should insert the EMU card in the top PCI slot with the daughter card below it... try that.
 
freshpies said:
In response to some of the other questions, it's a Dell motherboard with Intel chipset, 512M 133 SDRAM, and no onboard sound. I tried installing the audio drivers hotfix which didn't make any difference but if there is a more recent driver version than 5.12.1.488, please let me know.
Click to expand...

Someone has posted some info regarding dell systems & emu cards on this post - - http://www.productionforums.com/emu/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=580&SearchTerms=dell
 
I think a fairly hefty thank you is in order....

After spending another couple of hours re-installing windows and still getting no further, I was about to pack the card back in the box ready to take back. I figured I'd have one last look in here before trying to find the receipt and I'm glad I did.
As a last resort, I downloaded the latest BIOS update and put the master board in the top PCI slot, expansion board below it. Bingo - both WDM and ASIO working a treat. No gaps, blips, crashes or distortion.
It just goes to show that a bit of patience and some good advice can go a long way.

Thanks again for all of the help!!!
 
Don't thank us. Just post some music so we can hear if this was all worth it...! :rolleyes:
 
I just scored the 1212m from Ebay. After reading these posts, I'm going to be nervous about trying to install and configure this card!

I currently use the Audiophile 2496. Installation and configuration are no-brainers. I can see the E-mu's going to be a different story. Worth it if it sounds as good as everyone says.

I'm assuming I can just do basic 24/44 recording and listen to CD's and MP3s without any trouble once it's installed?
 
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