KVR Audio

bxintsp · Post by **bxintsp** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 2:42 am

Hi! I've lurked for a long time. This is my first post--BTW, I've appreciated kvraudio'is forums for the overall intelligence of the posts/posters...I hope I can keep pace.

Very quickly: I've been a singer/songwriter and off/on performer (mostly off) for years. I've done some recording, but always at someone else's studio. Over the past year or so I've been researching putting together my own small, dedicated recording space.

Pursuant to this, I've been putting much thought to the audio interface. For the most part, I'll be only using/needing 2 channels. I want to connect to my computer via PCI or PCIE, primarily because I'll be using virtual instruments and effects and want to minimize latency as much as possible, within a reasonable budget.

While I'd love to go with RME's HDSPe AIO (making it necessary to purchase outboard pres--more pressure on the budget!), I've long been drawn to EMU's 1616m--even though I've read so many posts damning them. The truth is, however, the more I read the more I'm drawn. So many posts extol their virtues-- and not just in this thread!

Here's my question: Given RME's reputation for driver (and product) support (which, to me, translates into fewer headaches) and low, low latency, would it be wiser to pay a great deal more for the AIO, or should I shell out significantly less for a 1616m (with its own pres and quality converters) and hope for/do my best to set up a stable system with this (infamously inconsistent) gem as its core?

BTW--this thread has been an excellent source of information and thought for me. I wish Creative would wake up and recognize the great interface series they've inherited and put some resources towards customer support...if this were the case, purchasing a 1616m would be a no-brainer.

JLiRD808 · Post by **JLiRD808** » Fri Feb 27, 2015 10:36 am

FCK EMU...I mean Creative.

My 1212m PCI has been great in W7 x64. My new workstation is a W8 though, and I was thinking of grabbing the PCIe versions.

But lo and behold I see a million threads like this, with some folks barely even having good results on W7.

Are there other alternative interfaces with the same DAC quality and an onboard mixer? I must say I love the sound and PATCHMIX!!

Skorpius · Post by **Skorpius** » Fri Feb 27, 2015 11:16 am

JLiRD808 wrote: Are there other alternative interfaces with the same DAC quality and an onboard mixer? I must say I love the sound and PATCHMIX!!

The only PCIe alternative I know of is a combination of interface plus PCIe card by RME. Most definitely the same (if not even a better) quality, plus an easy-to-use onboard mixer (at least according to their descriptions). However, such a combination will cost you about five times as much as a 1212m.

I'm running the 1616m PCIe with no problems whatsoever on WIN 7 x64.

BTW, don't let anyone tell you that a USB or Firewire interface is as good (in terms of latency and bandwidth) as a PCIe interface! The respective values of USB or Firewire don't even come close to PCIe.

bxintsp · Post by **bxintsp** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 2:23 am

So...I'm still new to all of this...please bear with me.

Can I connect the ADAT output from a PCI-based interface to the ADAT input on a PCIe card, essentially turning the PCI-based interface into a PCIe interface? If so, wouldn't this allow me to benefit from the PCIe's ability to obtain lower latency while--at the same time--allow me to use the (now standard) PCIe slots on newer motherboards?

I'd love to avoid all of the headaches associated with using non-native PCI slots...

Thanks in advance for responding...

gubi24 · Post by **gubi24** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 5:57 pm

Hi,

I'm new to the forum, greetings to everyone, great thread on EMU cards.

My setup:
-Emu 1616m PCIe
-The card was 1616m PCI in the beginning, but I purchased the 1010 PCIe card separately
-Windows 7 Pro 64bit
-i7 System, 16GB RAM

Everything seems to be working fine, except for SLEEP MODE. When i put the PC into Sleep and wake it up, there is no sound, the LEDs on the Microdock are random, and it does not initialize. After a complete system restart everything is fine again.

Does anyone else experience this kind of problem?

Thanks

Mister Natural · Post by **Mister Natural** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 6:03 pm

sleep mode goofs several things up . . . which is why I never use it

robotmonkey · Post by **robotmonkey** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:32 pm

The problem with EMU is that they exist as name only. No support, no development. They have been pretty much dead for years. And Creative does not want to do with anything related to EMU or professional audio.

So I would be very reluctant to buy anything from EMU except if you get it very cheaply. Their current drivers for 1616M are actually beta drivers for Windows 7 from many years back.

muzieknoot · Post by **muzieknoot** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 12:29 pm

I have a 1212M and 1616M
After a while playing full sound by midi and asio. suddenly the sound goes down by 50 %.
So i connected a spare emu 1616M and have again full sound on the outputs.
What can be the cause ?

question 2 : Is it possible to connect a 1212M PCIe with a 1616 breakoutbox without the M So only 1616?

scottpatrickbass · Post by **scottpatrickbass** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 4:57 pm

Just to keep things up to date, I have tested the PCI-e 1616m on Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 x64 with the drivers from EMU's site, everything still works perfect in Sonar x3/Platinum and Protools 11/12. I bought a backup 1616m as with it working in Windows 10 I see no reason in the next 5-7 years to "have" to get away from it (ty $150 & ebay!). Maybe by then creative will have a pcie offering again that is comparable. Until then, I don't think anything you can buy for under $1500 comes close to the 1616m for features, speed, functionality. Pretty sure that's a fact, not an opinion. Get a couple Clarret's 8Prex's when they come out and run them into this over litepipe and I'm pretty sure you just gained the same performance in hardware at least, as a 15000$ avid rig for under $3k (How much are 10 high end pre's into a pci-e interface again?!).
2cents

Mutant · Post by **Mutant** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:57 pm

scottpatrickbass wrote:Just to keep things up to date, I have tested the PCI-e 1616m on Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 x64 with the drivers from EMU's site, everything still works perfect in Sonar x3/Platinum and Protools 11/12.

Thanks

Good to know.

TroyC · Post by **TroyC** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 4:34 pm

I have Win 7, EMU-1616m, Reaper, Live 8 and many NI products most of them are x64 and were all working with ASIO.

After a few months of inactivity I opened Reaper yesterday and it said no ASIO Drivers found I checked all my other appps and none of the x64 are seeing ASIO drivers any more but the ones that are x32 apps are still working fine with ASIO.

I took a lot of the steps in this post (re-installed both the drivers and pach-mix for EMU1616, turned off exclusive mode.... and still cant get the x64 apps to recognize the ASIO Drivers but all the x32 do.

Troy

Mister Natural · Post by **Mister Natural** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 4:39 pm

you also might try deleting all the inputs/outputs in PatchMix - restart - then add your channels back in . . .

best of luck

TroyC · Post by **TroyC** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 9:06 pm

Thanks, but it did not help, still only the x32 apps work with ASIO but not the x64

Debutante · Post by **Debutante** » Sat Jun 13, 2015 7:22 pm

just bought a new rig. Which drivers are you all using with win 8.1?

JLiRD808 · Post by **JLiRD808** » Sat Jun 13, 2015 7:48 pm

Debutante wrote:just bought a new rig. Which drivers are you all using with win 8.1?

The W7/8 beta driver seems to be too large to upload here on KVR. Let me know if this link to my Google Drive works--I think the drivers around 33mb.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4rzla ... sp=sharing

Last time I scanned the Emu/Creative site I couldn't find the driver....does someone have a link?

EMU 1212m/1616m on Windows 7 - The Thread to End All Other EMU Threads!