SoundBlaster(BAD) E-Mu(GOOD)?? Is this true?

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NewbMediaGuy

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I've read plenty of posts claiming the Sound Blaster cards are not good for professional recording, even for beginners. Now I also see posts that make the E-Mu cards sound like a really great buy. Now I know that Creative Labs owns both companies, so I would assume many of the problems found in the SoundBlaster cards would be persistent in the E-mu cards, right?

So are the E-mu cards okay? Please, if your using one and have something good/bad to say please post your opinions!

I've been planning on buying the M-Audio 1010LT, but I'm becoming interested in the attractive E-Mu 1212, combined with the E-Mu 1820M to give me ultimate connectivity, style, and professional quality. This setup would cost me about $600, so it would be a hefty step up from the $280 M-Audio solution I was previously considering.

Any thoughts or opinions?
 
Those EMU cards are new, and I don't think many here are going to have experience with them. I would imagine they would compete quality wise with other cards in their price range, not with soundblasters.
 
NewbMediaGuy said:
I've read plenty of posts claiming the Sound Blaster cards are not good for professional recording, even for beginners. Now I also see posts that make the E-Mu cards sound like a really great buy. Now I know that Creative Labs owns both companies, so I would assume many of the problems found in the SoundBlaster cards would be persistent in the E-mu cards, right?

So are the E-mu cards okay? Please, if your using one and have something good/bad to say please post your opinions!

I've been planning on buying the M-Audio 1010LT, but I'm becoming interested in the attractive E-Mu 1212, combined with the E-Mu 1820M to give me ultimate connectivity, style, and professional quality. This setup would cost me about $600, so it would be a hefty step up from the $280 M-Audio solution I was previously considering.

Any thoughts or opinions?
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E-Mu WAS an awesome company before Creative bought them out. Some people are having really good luck with these new cards, bu I personally would hold off for a year to get a better picture of how these cards really perform in real world applications.
 
I personally love my 1820, and I would certainly recommend them to anyone looking for the best bang for the buck.

However, it's very true that they haven't established themselves yet. It would be wise to sit and wait for a while and/or get on board with more established companies like RME.

OTOH, I sold my established cards (aardvark, M-audio) in favor of this, and I haven't regretted my decision.

I personally think there's no better sound card out there for less than 500 dollars...but that's just me.
 
Hmm, maybe I'll stick to the plan of the Delta 1010LT and save some money, besides, as long as their aren't major problems with the card I should be just fine while learning. Thanks for all the feedback though!

hey Sklathill, what RME card would you recommend as a good buy? I'm looking at some, and they look nice, but might be a bit pricey for me right now. I hate to say I'm looking for a beginners card, because I don't want to get something I'll just end up wanting to replace in a few months, but at the same time I don't think I should get something too professional for me right now.

I will admit though, having one of those RME dual setup cards would look really sweet through the window on my computer case (even though I'm the only one looking through it) ;)
 
Well, last time I touched an RME it was a Multiface with a Presonus Digimax LT, and that was to record a student recital here on campus. I've never actually put it through its paces myself, but a lot of guys use a Multiface when demonstrating their wares, especially sample libraries, at AES.

BTW< remember that you're using the hardware in tandem with your software. I know that because of the driver implementation, RME doesn't particularly like Sonar (my sequencer of choice), but has no problem with other software packages. Make sure you know what you're getting into and what you want to do...
 
Isn't that like saying "because the Ford Festiva was a piece of crap, that the new Ford GTs must be a piece of crap too?"

Soundblaster cards were primarily made for general sound needs....playing a CD, playing video games...net chat...crap like that. They do that very well. They were NOT designed for semi-professional audio work...The new EMU cards are a MUCH higher quality card. So dont try to run road-races with a Festiva...or my earlier analogy in another post...a Yugo!!!
 
lion_tone said:
Isn't that like saying "because the Ford Festiva was a piece of crap, that the new Ford GTs must be a piece of crap too?"

Soundblaster cards were primarily made for general sound needs....playing a CD, playing video games...net chat...crap like that. They do that very well. They were NOT designed for semi-professional audio work...The new EMU cards are a MUCH higher quality card. So dont try to run road-races with a Festiva...or my earlier analogy in another post...a Yugo!!!
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Yep!
 
lion_tone said:
Soundblaster cards were primarily made for general sound needs....playing a CD, playing video games...net chat...crap like that. They do that very well. They were NOT designed for semi-professional audio work
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Well, to be specific I wasn't talking about just any of the SB cards, but the SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro card, with the additional external box with multiple plug-ins.

What gamer needs midi ports? In fact this card comes with Cubase and Frooty Loops, so it's obvious who this card is intended to be used by. And I do believe because Creative Labs owns both SB and EMU that this would DEFINITELY be something to worry about with the EMU cards. To go along with your example; if every Ford I had ever been in was a piece of crap, and all I've heard were bad things about it from others, you can bet that I'd be cautious about the new car they are coming out with next year, that's just common sense! So I don't really think my concerns about EMU is a bad idea, keep in mind I don't know much about professional cards in the first place, so if I have concerns over a card I'm interested in, of course I'm going to want some feedback from other users of the card to make sure I'm not making a bad decision.

But I think I've already made my mind up and will stick with something a little cheaper like the M-Audio Delta 1010lt, I've heard good stuff on those so I'm sure that'll be just fine for me.
 
I'm in downtown LA (specifically USC). If you want to stop by for an hour or something and see what I do with my E-mu setup, you're welcome to.
 
LA is close, but still a bit of a drive. Could you explain your setup? What E-MU cards do you have? Have you run into any problems with these cards working with specific programs? And most importantly, would you recommend these for a newb?
 
Has anybody here stopped to think about what PCI-Express means in terms of your current system and upgrade plans?

Motherboards with the new PCI-X slots will be hitting the market pretty soon. I'm thinking its time to hold off on upgrades. especially if you are building a high end system and wait for some PCI-X soundcards to hit the market.

Anything you buy today pretty much has its days counted.
 
I dunno. The video card manufacturers have already announced their PCIX cards for the coming year, but we haven't heard much from anyone else. I'd give it at least a year, and probably much more, to ramp up.

How many guys here have a motherboard that doesn't support regular parallel ATA, for example? And how many motherboards out there totally omit Serial ATA, even though it's certain to become the new standard and it's started showing up on boards since early last year?

On the Emu thing, I replaced my MAudio Delta 66 and Audiophile with an 1820. The MAudios I always associated with...finnickyness. From playing around with what PCI slot it will work in to switching between driver versions. The Aardvark was definitely better, but I needed money and had to sell that off. The Emu is a pretty big feature jump over the Q10 and it's cheaper and it worked from day 1 with no hassles. Not much else I can ask for.

On my current setup, I record two MIDI synths (an XV-3080 and a PK-6), use a significant amount of vsampler instances, and I do group VO recording.
 
ViLo said:
Like cassette tapes?? :)
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No, more like those ISA Sound Blasters that I haven't been able to use in the last 2 PC's I owned because they didn't have ISA slots. :rolleyes:
 
brzilian said:
Has anybody here stopped to think about what PCI-Express means in terms of your current system and upgrade plans?
Click to expand...
I don't plan on doing any major upgrading until PCI Express, DDR2, and any other major new technologies are firmly in place with the bugs worked out, and the benefits being very clear to users.

I'm guessing that'll be at least a year and a half, so I'll probably get a new mobo, sound card, and graphics card in about 2 years.

For now this computer should work for me just fine, but it is something everyone should think about!
 
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