Just picked up an Emu 1212M - question

[Cosmic Bandito]

I just picked up the EMU 1212M - Prices are pretty cheap now and I wanted to see if those coverters would make a difference with my new BlueSky montors! Anyway, it does sound quite a bit better than my ESI Juli@, particulary the Lows & Highs (Much better Dynamic Range). The Juli@ is definitly more stable though, that's for sure.

My problem seems to be if I leave my DAW for a while (20 minutes or more) and come back, the sound will be all distorted and I'll have to reset the driver. Sometimes it will happen while using hungry resource plugins even though I haven't nearly maxed the CPU meter in the host. Anyone run across this problem before?

My DAW is fully optimized for audio (and the card has its own IRQ etc..), that's why I'm stumped. Is my latency just set too low? I went from setting 4 to 6 and now I'm trying 8 - I don't want to go much higher. I've got AMD 3500+ on a Asus A8V Deluxe. I'm wondering if it's time upgrade the processor or if there is some other fix.

What latency setting are you EMU users using and what are your machine specs?

Thanks,

Rick

[spaceman]

are you using the latest driver? what kind of chipset does that board use?
it's always possible that your emu just doesn't like your board.. a small-ish chance, but possible

[djsubject]

+1 for latest drivers & witch ASIO vst host are you useing?


i have mine set to 10ms witch is good enough for me,

Subz

[djsubject]

also if your having trouble with the asio drivers, then add 4 WDM strips to patchmix & install asio4all,

it should give you 4 stable ASIO outputs


Subz

[bduffy]

also if your having trouble with the asio drivers, then add 4 WDM strips to patchmix & install asio4all,

it should give you 4 stable ASIO outputs

Whoa! What is that method? Do you use ASIO4ALL instead of the EMU drivers? Does Patchmix work with ASIO4ALL?

I'm curious because the 1212m's been a litle bitchy on my system and I'd love to try something different. The only time the card worked flawlessly was when Windows mistook it for an Audigy and installed the wrong drivers; best performance I'd ever experienced in an interface! Then EMU put its own drivers back on the next install.

Sorry to semi-hijack!

[djsubject]

Hi bduffy,

i suppose its not that off topic,


I'm lucky with the latest E-MU drivers

1'st make sure you have the latest drivers installed & latest patchmix installed

www.emu.com

then in patchmix add a new strip, choose windows source & keep adding them intill you have 4,

now install asio4all, it will see your 4 windows outputs & wrap them,

i have it working very well here

but i have not needed it unless i run two asio hosts at the same time (but there no need to go there )


Subz

[bduffy]

Hi bduffy,

i suppose its not that off topic,


I'm lucky with the latest E-MU drivers

1'st make sure you have the latest drivers installed & latest patchmix installed

www.emu.com

then in patchmix add a new strip, choose windows source & keep adding them intill you have 4,

now install asio4all, it will see your 4 windows outputs & wrap them,

i have it working very well here

but i have not needed it unless i run two asio hosts at the same time (but there no need to go there )


Subz

I have the latest drivers; they haven't touched them since sept 05, so I think they're done updating these forever.

So...you don't use the ASIO4ALL method? Does it stabilize anything or did you just suggest it as a possible alternative?

[djsubject]

i have some contact with Ichi at E-MU (i did a demo track for EmulatorX2)

new drivers are coming in "Spring" all i CAN say is they will add vista comparability,

but i get the feeling there will be some extras thrown in

i used this metered when the older drivers gave me trouble, & i still use them now if i have the emu asio drivers in use with anther host,

very stable here & allways was!

i would recommend this to anyone having trouble with the current drivers

Subz

[Cosmic Bandito]

DJSubject,

That sounds like a good tip. I've got one of the newer "leadfree" 1212m cards (no firewire port either), which comes with the latest drivers on disk.

Like I said I've got a AMD 3500+/A8V Deluxe mobo/1G Corsair XS Ram. Host is Ableton Live 6. My gut tells me that I'm short on processor juice to run at "real time" latencies like I'm accustomed to. It sounds phenominal but you have to pay the piper somewhere!


Time to start saving for an X2 - They are pretty affordable now anyway, but they won't be making them for the 939 socket much longer!

Rick

[spaceman]

DJSubject,

That sounds like a good tip. I've got one of the newer "leadfree" 1212m cards (no firewire port either), which comes with the latest drivers on disk.

Like I said I've got a AMD 3500+/A8V Deluxe mobo/1G Corsair XS Ram. Host is Ableton Live 6. My gut tells me that I'm short on processor juice to run at "real time" latencies like I'm accustomed to. It sounds phenominal but you have to pay the piper somewhere!


Time to start saving for an X2 - They are pretty affordable now anyway, but they won't be making them for the 939 socket much longer!

Rick

disks hardly ever come with 'the latest driver' so check on their website to make sure and then check whether you can find any info on google about conflicts between your motherboard's chipset and the EMU

[Mutant]

I have the old environment polluting one and it's stable as a rock in reaper, cubase, and chainer - my guess is that it is abletons fault (or maybe you have a faulty card).

[invitia]

DJSubject,

That sounds like a good tip. I've got one of the newer "leadfree" 1212m cards (no firewire port either), which comes with the latest drivers on disk.

Like I said I've got a AMD 3500+/A8V Deluxe mobo/1G Corsair XS Ram. Host is Ableton Live 6. My gut tells me that I'm short on processor juice to run at "real time" latencies like I'm accustomed to. It sounds phenominal but you have to pay the piper somewhere!


Time to start saving for an X2 - They are pretty affordable now anyway, but they won't be making them for the 939 socket much longer!

Rick

Have you disabled Windows sounds? (Sound scheme = no sounds)

Do you have a Logitech webcam? (very often a cause of strange distorted sounds together with Creative cards)

And again, check drivers at Emu.

BTW you can use X2 without the card, but you'll need some kind of Emu latest gear.

It seems though that the external box for the 1212 is not available anymore due to the leadfree directive. And the new box doesn't work with the 1212 card. In any case getting an Emulator X plus soundcard for the current money is really like stealing candy from a kid...

[Cosmic Bandito]

The new breakout box will work with the new version of the 1212m card but not with the older "leaded" ones. It's a weird gig with these emu cards. I downloaded the latest driver of the website and it wouldn't recognize the card. I called and they told me the new version of the card I have doesn't work with it, only the disk.

[fatjack]

EDIT: <removed sbLive and installed sb16 for the opl chip >
in one of my computers i have one of these, running next to a sbLive, an hardsidQ<just for the record as has nothing to do with irq conflicts> a usb2 pci card and a dual monitor video card, steady as a rock, no problemos whatsoever <cof cof>, but ihave to say i had them before, irQ conflicts... tried a couple of windows configs found here and there, but the solution was found trying cards in differents slots till, like you, find emus on an irq that wasn't being shared, mines 11 i guess
a situation that may occur on this system though, is if connected to the internet and downloading can glitch and distort, and when downloads finish it keeps distorting, though, if i unplug the wireless adapter and reset emus patchmix, everythings back to normal without having to reboot the computer
i can't set my latency below 10ms i guess, but i'm talking on a amd around 700mhz with about 500 memory.. olschooleee ;P
its a massive gem, with all its routing capabilities and the "sweet" fxs.. love it on its all
btw, have tried asio4all on this system, i remember i got better latency thingee etc, but ended up uninstalling because lost control over features on the patchmix, i coulda be missing something though

[dachilles]

My new Emu 1212 does the same thing after 20 minutes. Sound get distorted and garbled.. Bought at Christmas this year. If I shut the app down, in my case Reaper and then re start it clears up. For about 20 minutes

If it was a vid card I would suspect overclocking and a heat problem. I wonder if Creative slipped the Emu a design change or the new lead free is subject to overheating? Not my area of expertise.