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

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I Appreciate your response and a friendly advice!
I am new to the game and i still have so many unanswered questions that i am trying to figure out by myself, and this is the part of the learning curve which(it feels like) probably is going to end up in the Hardware domain rather than playing with a mouse 99% of the time, coz it really stops the mind from having fun..

With that said i think you get my point now, i have defended old E-mu thing because going from Scarlett 2i2 to a 1616m made a big difference, latency on that USB thing is bad, this feels crisper and using soft Synths like Diva or Vacuum Pro is pleasant, the difference in sound is kinda hard to accept, 2 steps above 2i2. From listening to some online comparisons i know i need Apogee and RME and Neve and...you know, all of that supergear. But as a starter, i cant downgrade now to anything less than 1616m, this is all about the sound in the end and it gets exspensive up there, making music is sparking creativity to do what it can within limitations.

Anyone who goes thru "recommended" interfaces and gear i would advise moving quickly, changing gear and figuring things out, dont stuck on rewievs and dont get bombarded with marketing, make quick decisions.

I get the problematic parts too, old OS, 32bit stuff.. :/, i think i´ll use two systems if it ever gets to that point, and this E-mu will probably end up in a box, but as for now, after 500 plugs, this PowerFX feels like refresh and i am not using the same vst´s like everyone else, which is great, will see what will i make with it.

Again, appreciate your info, you got nice looking studio too and great mixes! I have some samples i could throw in your direction, they are just collecting dust on my disk. ;)
!

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Reticular wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 12:20 pm I Appreciate your response and a friendly advice!
I am new to the game and i still have so many unanswered questions that i am trying to figure out by myself, and this is the part of the learning curve which(it feels like) probably is going to end up in the Hardware domain rather than playing with a mouse 99% of the time, coz it really stops the mind from having fun..

With that said i think you get my point now, i have defended old E-mu thing because going from Scarlett 2i2 to a 1616m made a big difference, latency on that USB thing is bad, this feels crisper and using soft Synths like Diva or Vacuum Pro is pleasant, the difference in sound is kinda hard to accept, 2 steps above 2i2. From listening to some online comparisons i know i need Apogee and RME and Neve and...you know, all of that supergear. But as a starter, i cant downgrade now to anything less than 1616m, this is all about the sound in the end and it gets exspensive up there, making music is sparking creativity to do what it can within limitations.

Anyone who goes thru "recommended" interfaces and gear i would advise moving quickly, changing gear and figuring things out, dont stuck on rewievs and dont get bombarded with marketing, make quick decisions.

I get the problematic parts too, old OS, 32bit stuff.. :/, i think i´ll use two systems if it ever gets to that point, and this E-mu will probably end up in a box, but as for now, after 500 plugs, this PowerFX feels like refresh and i am not using the same vst´s like everyone else, which is great, will see what will i make with it.

Again, appreciate your info, you got nice looking studio too and great mixes! I have some samples i could throw in your direction, they are just collecting dust on my disk. ;)
Thanks for the comments -- and for listening to my stuff! All of that is through the 1820m (one way or another), or the 0404 before it -- both were PCIe. I haven't had to deal with a USB audio interface yet, but I know what you mean about hanging on to the 1616m. I won't be happy when I have to give the 1820m up. I may finally hear what the "m" in the name was referring to, and not want to settle for anything that doesn't have "mastering-grade converters". (I know some of that was just E-MU marketing, but all of the reviews I've read about it praised the sound -- and PatchMix, with its effects.)

And sure, if you have stuff you think I could use, feel free to drop me a PM here. And if I have something you can use or benefit from, I'll be happy to return the favor!

Steve
Here's some of my stuff: https://soundcloud.com/shadowsoflife. If you hear something you like, I'm looking for collaborators.

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Np, i´ve stumbled on your sc couple weeks ago too, dont know how. Anyway, i am on a silent lookout for an 1820m.
USB is a great selling point, but the drivers for 2.0 are very very old and bad, while 3.0 can be reliable on some motherboards, i´ve had Gigabyte which worked like butter, no hikups on latency stuff on 3.0. As for the "m" grade, i believe it does have its weight, i took apart 1616m for recap and i believe that it had the same converters as that older Pro tools 192 rig, went on a quick search and it ended up being the truth(https://gearspace.com/board/geekzone/54 ... isted.html). You just need to get some usb interface to get back some appreciation for these old E-mu´s :).

I´ll PM some dl links!

Cheers
!

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Hello. New user here - thank you for having me. I have a 1616m PCMCIA that I've used very happily in the past on XP and later on Win 7. Recently I'd tended just to use the Cardbus card (for headphone output) without the microdock; I now want to use it to its full potential and especially for recording from LPs using the phono input. I've reinstalled the recommended beta driver and the 2.2 software, on Win 7 on two different laptops, Lenovo W500 and Dell Precision 6500, and I can't get it to work. All seems to install, I can route the input to host wav, and Audacity seems to accept it, but the waveform is horribly distorted and the recording barely recognisable. I don't know how to tell whether it's a hardware or software problem. Any ideas? I've tried mic input as well, just the same.
Thanks very much.

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Or - re my post above - if anyone roughly in Midlands (UK) has a working setup and would let me see whether my hardware works on your PC, that would answer the question!?
Thanks

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It could have problem with the power/output caps like many others do after 15 long years of heat inside that microdock.

Check this post about how i got mine working
https://gearspace.com/board/showpost.ph ... stcount=27

So just open it up and inspect the caps, that would be the first thing to check.
!

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Thanks very much. I don't think it's that - I've done some more experiments - using the test tone it outputs a series of clicks; if I route to S/PDIF out it's fine, but it won't give a .wav output over the interface. I will certainly look at them, but I still believe it's a driver issue - unless those symptoms say capacitor to you?

I've reinstalled the drivers several times and on one occasion it didn't recognise PCMCIA and said it couldn't find the PCI card, other times it endlessly gives a message saying that DSP has been reset and I need to reboot. There seem to be different 2.30 drivers with the same name but different sizes, and the "new" beta-replacement drivers don't seem to be available at all.

The one from the Win 10 thread appears to be right - the txt file says it works for PCMCIA and for win 7, but I'm still not convinced. Whichever file I use for the PatchMix DSP it identifies as ver 2.0 not 2.2. Is there a reliable source of the definitely-best drivers and software for PCMCIA version for Win 7?

Thanks very much.

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Interesting, mine 1616m does not work with the:
EmuPMX_PCApp_US_2_20_00.exe 9,694

But works with:
EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA 33,805
EmuPMX_PCApp_L6_2_10_00 29,986

Also, some pm app exe files are bigger coz they contain several manuals in different languages and some dont.

I need to look it up for that beta driver you are mentioning, maybe i´ll get it to work on mine after all.

Anyway, check this YT vid for the files
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn-PAUIaArc
!

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Thanks very much! I wasn't aware of that source of files. I'll not have time today but I'll try over the weekend and let you know!

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Hmm. Is it me being ignorant or is there another problem? I can't find the files attached in any way to the (blank) video... What am I doing wrong? It just plays silently and with no change in the picture for one minute, but no download link...
Sorry to be a nuisance.
Thanks,
Mark

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Ah. Sorry - found the hidden link now!

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And tried it - couldn't wait - still no joy. The driver was the same as I'd been trying, as was the PatchMix 2.3 file. The L6 was new but didn't work any better. Still very distorted series of clicks, and hit-and-miss as to whether there is any .wav output - hmm. I'll look at the caps over the weekend!
Thanks

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The best is to clean the drivers and registry files with DDU and CCleaner in safe mode prior to installing a new drivers, we are not talking about PCI 1010 card here, so i dont know what else could it be.
!

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OK thanks. I deleted everything I could find after uni stalling old ones. I did wonder whether there might be some problem registry entries... I'll try that - thanks

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So, I've done that. No change. Can't get any output now. I had an idea, and disconnected the microdock and just used the card, using the test tone and routing it to the card headphone output and to host L/R. Expected headphone output but nothing recognised by Audacity as .wav. So I have a suspicion that the card itself is faulty. So I need to look for another one to try... One thing after another!
Thanks for all your help. If anyone listening has a spare PCMCIA card and is willing to sell it....

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