E-mu Soundcard Problem

[Cosmic Bandito]

And how did you know I was talking about you?

I didnt; I just noticed the thread, started to read your post, and had only got that far...

And that's as long as it takes for me to say something wrong.

So the EMU is totally rock-solid now. I was starting to look at other interfaces, but I really think it was an under-powered computer all along. I'll bet this is an area a lot of audio guys overlook. It's also much easier to change a PSU than I though, took about 1/2 hour! Totally worth it.

BDuffy - You finally solved your problems with 1212m...

You really have to have youe system running in tip-top shape for these cards to run glitch-free, but the performance you get makes it so worth it! I just upgraded yesterday to a dual-core AMD4400. Most of my 1212m problems seemed to have worked themselves out as well after I disabled some "power management" options in XP and I'm down to 4-6ms latency for most projects.

You worry me though - My PSU is only 350W (Antec Phantom Fanless) . I'll just pretend I never read your post.

[bduffy]

Yes, please move on; nothing to see here... Actually, your PSU is a little sexier than mine, maybe that counts for something. But if you're getting good performance, then who cares?

Yes, finally, I got it working. I got so used to working at high latencies and working through the glitches, I almost didn't notice anymore. Funny what you can put up with! But it is a fantastic-sounding card, so much better than my last one, I had to make it work. Now if they'd just start selling the Audiodock again...

[The Chase]

I have a nice 300W power supply but I'm not running much and it isn't showing any other signs of being insufficient? Surely I would be running mroe power when producing than when I'm playing DVD's. The card works perfectly when doing audio and doesnt show any problems with super high CPU loads. Personally I dont get why the new drivers wont load.

[bduffy]

Yeah, I'm not sure, that does sound weird, but I would get glitches only with foobar, nothing else. It's bizzare.

Are you still getting that "can't load device" msg or whatever?

[vonRed]

If you are seriously considering that upgrading your power supply could fix this particular problem, I'd suggest you start worshipping Loki a little more.

It might have more to do with IRQ routing, other hardware on the PCI bus, and various drivers which are running.

[bduffy]

If you are seriously considering that upgrading your power supply could fix this particular problem, I'd suggest you start worshipping Loki a little more.

It might have more to do with IRQ routing, other hardware on the PCI bus, and various drivers which are running.

Hey, Loki treats me well, I just have to sacrifice the odd lamb here and there.

vonRed, I'm just relating my experience and what others have told me. After this round of upgrades, my performance problems disappeared; that's a fact. So it's either the PSU or the video card; I did not change the EMU's PCI slot or anything. You know, it could be the video card...that ATI sucked.

[vonRed]

You know, it could be the video card...that ATI sucked.

Exactly. That at least seems quite plausible is all I'm saying.

[bduffy]

It's not plausible that a too-weak PSU would affect audio performance?

[vonRed]

It's not plausible that a too-weak PSU would affect audio performance?

No, it's pretty much impossible for a weak power supply to exclusively affect audio performance. I'd go so far as to say that if you were having problems with the power supply, audio was one of the very last things you'd notice problems with.

[bduffy]

It's not plausible that a too-weak PSU would affect audio performance?

No, it's pretty much impossible for a weak power supply to exclusively affect audio performance. I'd go so far as to say that if you were having problems with the power supply, audio was one of the very last things you'd notice problems with.

OK, I apologize if I was veering into disinformation-land, but I thought weak power supplies can make a system unstable, and unstable = (especially) EMU death. I know another EMU owner was talking about it...well, hell. I wonder what it was, then. I guess the graphics card; I know my shutdowns are ten-times faster since I uninstalled the ATI software.

[The Chase]

My ATi video card might be the problem. It would kind-of make sense since the only problem I have now is with DVD's. But I doubt it...I really need to get these drivers to somehow recognise that yes I freaking DO have the supported products

[bduffy]

ATI sucks. Sorry about the PSU business.

[Gregor Samsa]

How do you change a psu, and what is it?

[bduffy]

Power Supply Unit. You know where you plug the power into the back of your computer? That's actually connected to a seperate box which houses all those rainbow cords that go to your hard drives, CD/DVD, etc. You simply unplug all those cords, unscrew the PSU and then reverse the process.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Install_a_blazi ... 29380.html

[vonRed]

OK, I apologize if I was veering into disinformation-land, but I thought weak power supplies can make a system unstable, and unstable = (especially) EMU death.

That's true, but unstable can mean a lot of things. If the power supply is too weak, you might see the OS or application crashing randomly or messing up when doing some heavy lifting (for instance, you're playing a game and when the action heats up the game crashes).

The E-MU PCI soundcards seem to have problems with badly behaved drivers or hardware on the PCI bus, perhaps more so than some other soundcards do. Disabling other devices on the PCI bus can certainly improve the latencies for E-MU soundcards.

Lastly, I'm not saying that installing a good power supply isn't a good idea, because it certainly is. But it won't improve the latencies for audio.