E-MU 1616m, 1212m, 1820m, 0404 Audio Interface - Complete Windows 10 (1903 & Above) Installation Guide

[eq1]

In my case, if I load a project that had Emulator X3 in it as a plug-in, it usually works OK, even in "multi" mode, as you described. But if I close that project and try to open another one with X3, Cakewalk crashes, with an error pointing to the X3. Even if I...

Yeah, this is sounding familiar. Seems like I was having issues working with multiple instances of X3, opening and closing projects, etc. Wasn't having that issue yesterday though, so hopefully changing the asio dll made a difference. I had a few tabs open, one with only X3, another with another instance of X3. I was actually sort of testing, watching for, issues of that nature - like seeing what happened when I changed parameters, saved, closed one project/tab and if the other one with X3 in it still worked and had the right parameters (it did). I'll keep at it and report back if I do or don't have issues...

To me, this is a shame, because there were some great early '90s Emulator CD-ROMs with some really cool (and, admittedly, dated) samples from that era...

Oh so true. I was actually thinking of posting the thing I was looking at/working with last night, all with X3 sounds - because it seemed so cool. I have all these old MIDI files, and importing those to reaper and applying just one instance of X3, flipping through sounds, is so easy, and what's cool is a lot of it can be so random so you end up with some crazy stuff... I have a ton of E-MU sounds, I don't know what I'll ever do with them all. I had a lot of the 'production bundle' CDs that came with the E-MU audio hardware, plus the three commercial CDs.

[planetearth]

In my case, if I load a project that had Emulator X3 in it as a plug-in, it usually works OK, even in "multi" mode, as you described. But if I close that project and try to open another one with X3, Cakewalk crashes, with an error pointing to the X3. Even if I...

Yeah, this is sounding familiar. Seems like I was having issues working with multiple instances of X3, opening and closing projects, etc. Wasn't having that issue yesterday though, so hopefully changing the asio dll made a difference. I had a few tabs open, one with only X3, another with another instance of X3. I was actually sort of testing, watching for, issues of that nature - like seeing what happened when I changed parameters, saved, closed one project/tab and if the other one with X3 in it still worked and had the right parameters (it did). I'll keep at it and report back if I do or don't have issues...

To me, this is a shame, because there were some great early '90s Emulator CD-ROMs with some really cool (and, admittedly, dated) samples from that era...

Oh so true. I was actually thinking of posting the thing I was looking at/working with last night, all with X3 sounds - because it seemed so cool. I have all these old MIDI files, and importing those to reaper and applying just one instance of X3, flipping through sounds, is so easy, and what's cool is a lot of it can be so random so you end up with some crazy stuff... I have a ton of E-MU sounds, I don't know what I'll ever do with them all. I had a lot of the 'production bundle' CDs that came with the E-MU audio hardware, plus the three commercial CDs.

If you get a chance to post it, please let me know. I like to see how people used the original Ensoniq/E-Mu samplers and ROMplers, even if that's being done in Emulator or Proteus software plug-ins. I've always found it interesting how Emulator and Ensoniq's engineers (who were sometimes the same people) got such great sounds with such limited amounts of ROM and RAM in those machines.

Steve

[eq1]

If you get a chance to post it, please let me know. I like to see how people used the original Ensoniq/E-Mu samplers and ROMplers, even if that's being done in Emulator or Proteus software plug-ins. I've always found...

Sure, I'll try to get a snip of this together and post. Just keep in mind it's not exactly a 'real' song - it's mostly a cool way to hear the variety/quality of X3 sounds.

fyi, I just went into reaper with my X3 plugins and experimented. I do have a 'loading project' issue. I have 5 tabs/projects open, one just a single track with X3. If I close that tab and then try to open it again - it crashes Reaper, all tabs, poof. When I restart Reaper, which is setup to open with last configuration (i.e. with those 5 tabs), it opens the X3 project tab fine. So, it seems like there is some "bad mojo" leftover somewhere in the whole X3 utilization. I'll keep an eye on that and see if I can figure out what the problem is. I doubt I'll be able to though. Probably some obscure memory type of issue, like X3 is trying to access some memory location that longer exists - or something way wonky like that.

[eq1]

If you get a chance to post...

Here you go: https://drive.proton.me/urls/ECK5G2BR20#s531LEK6HfwH

[planetearth]

If you get a chance to post it, please let me know. I like to see how people used the original Ensoniq/E-Mu samplers and ROMplers, even if that's being done in Emulator or Proteus software plug-ins. I've always found...

Sure, I'll try to get a snip of this together and post. Just keep in mind it's not exactly a 'real' song - it's mostly a cool way to hear the variety/quality of X3 sounds.

fyi, I just went into reaper with my X3 plugins and experimented. I do have a 'loading project' issue. I have 5 tabs/projects open, one just a single track with X3. If I close that tab and then try to open it again - it crashes Reaper, all tabs, poof. When I restart Reaper, which is setup to open with last configuration (i.e. with those 5 tabs), it opens the X3 project tab fine. So, it seems like there is some "bad mojo" leftover somewhere in the whole X3 utilization. I'll keep an eye on that and see if I can figure out what the problem is. I doubt I'll be able to though. Probably some obscure memory type of issue, like X3 is trying to access some memory location that longer exists - or something way wonky like that.

I think the issue is closer to X3 not wanting to load again, possibly due to activation and memory location issues. I haven't tested this, but any project with Emulator X3 in it loads the activation service. I think if that's already running when you try to open a project with X3 in it, it tries to start the activation service again. And while it should just perform a check to see if the service is running, it tries to load it again in the same memory space, kind of like you suggested.

I'll try to test that this evening, by making sure the activation service is shut down before loading another project with X3 in it.

Steve

[planetearth]

If you get a chance to post...

Here you go: https://drive.proton.me/urls/ECK5G2BR20#s531LEK6HfwH

Cool, thanks! I'll check this out this evening, too!

Steve

[eq1]

I think the issue is closer to X3 not wanting to load again, possibly due to activation and memory location issues...

Hey, I actually fixed it on my end. Here's a thread I made at the Reaper forum about it: https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php ... ost2859921

I think it was a memory thing. In a nut shell, Reaper has a setting that enables completely unloading plugins from memory, instead of leaving, say, DLLs in memory. I enabled that and no loading problems. Maybe Cubase has something similar.

[planetearth]

I think the issue is closer to X3 not wanting to load again, possibly due to activation and memory location issues...

Hey, I actually fixed it on my end. Here's a thread I made at the Reaper forum about it: https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php ... ost2859921

I think it was a memory thing. In a nut shell, Reaper has a setting that enables completely unloading plugins from memory, instead of leaving, say, DLLs in memory. I enabled that and no loading problems. Maybe Cubase has something similar.

Nice work! I'm on Cakewalk, and I was fairly certain it unloaded any plug-ins when you removed them from a project—and definitely if you closed the project. Cakewalk doesn't have the same type of preference for removing plug-ins from memory; it was simply supposed to do that by default.

But I have noticed lately that it doesn't free up almost any of the RAM the project required when you closed it. I don't remember this being an issue in the past, however, and I've had problems with Emulator X3 for a couple of years now. I've had it installed and I've used it for over a decade, so this issue is relatively recent. I'll test it to see if exiting Cakewalk is sufficient to remove any trace of plug-ins from Windows' RAM usage.

And I agree with what you said in the Reaper forum: I prefer to have the plug-ins all in one window. I'll see if Cakewalk, X3, and I can come to some sort of...understanding on this issue.

Steve

[eq1]

^ Well, it's not totally fixed. It definitely fixed the best case scenario - one plugin in one project, open and close the project (load and unload) with Reaper still open. I did this a bunch of times with and without the 'unload plugin completely' option checked, and Reaper wasn't crashing with it checked, crashing unchecked. But alas, I'm working with X3 now, and I just tried to load a second instance and - crash. I may just have to do the bridged thing/separate or dedicated process... Frankly, it's a miracle the thing works at all - it's such a deep program, really complex, many layers - a lot of stuff going on.

[sheldrakes]

I am clearing out my old stuff and came across my old 1616m which I haven't used since I bought a laptop with no cardbus. I was amazed to find this thread and folk still using the 1616m, I had given it up as lost. I am too old to start again but before I dump a perfectly good system maybe someone could use it for spares. Is there somewhere I could offer it for coverage of the postage. It's a cardbus version, and last time I used it it worked like a charm.
I hope I'm not breaking any forum rules here.
Cheers
Chris

[eq1]

^ Sounds like it's a 'PCMCIA' card + a 'MicroDock'? I've seen the docks sell on ebay over the years - you could probably easily get rid of it there, on ebay. The cardbus itself I'm pretty sure is...not very sought after - laptops aren't great for music in the first place, and then with the cardbus you're stuck using an old laptop that comes with a cardbus slot.

If you have a PCIe card I'd personally want that. But, I already have two docks, 2 carbusses, a PCI card and a PCIe card. I use the PCIe, but it'd be nice to have an extra.

[sheldrakes]

Yeah, it's the PCMCIA card version, which is why I haven't used it. I don't think they are fitted to laptops anymore.

[planetearth]

Yeah, it's the PCMCIA card version, which is why I haven't used it. I don't think they are fitted to laptops anymore.

PCMCIA cards haven't been used in laptops in a long time. But a PCMCIA-to-PCIe adapter can host the card and be plugged into a desktop PC. Someone in this forum (or the other forum on KVR about E-MU interfaces) did it. I didn't think it would work, but apparently, it did.

Steve

[Aero312]

Tried the install for Windows 10 Pro. Device Manager is seeing "E-MU E-DSP Audio Processor (WDM)," and the driver is Creative Labs, with no error codes. Audio file played though VLC media player works fine.

It's in my DAW (REAPER) that I can't get this to work right. I can't seem to get ASIO drivers working properly. In REAPER, WDM works perfect, but for audio recording I need the EMU ASIO driver to work properly. Playback with ASIO works but every 2 seconds or so I get bad static and noise, and although recording is working it's also filled with noise and artifacts.

1. I ran the EMU_Driver_Fix.ps1 file in safe mode and it installed.

2. As instructed on Pg 1, I changed registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, right-click AsioThk32Reg and choose Modify. Change CTASIO.DLL to CTASIO64.DLL.

3. Patchmix DSP appears to be working fine.

When I opened FilesToReplace.csv contained in the zip folder for install, I don't see any ASIO driver. If EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA driver installs the ASIO driver it should be there , right? Why might I be having a problem with this?

[eq1]

^ When you say you can't get ASIO to work in Reaper, is it 'just' the noise that's the problem, or are you not able to set it as the audio device and configure, or? If it's just the noise, then it could be a lot of issues, possibly not related to your install of e-mu.

On the ASIO driver and the 'standard' installation documented in first post of this thread (what you did) - I don't know how that works exactly. The "ctasio64.dll" file is in the package of Xfi stuff in that archive*. Is it supposed to get installed automatically, with this thread topic's fix/install? I don't know, seems like it should. But regardless, I don't think you need it to get basic, error free ASIO playback in Reaper. I didn't install ctasio64 until the other day, and up to then I had no major problems, nothing like you're describing. Installing the ctasio64 driver for me was about fixing a more edge case issue.

Anyway, I don't use that "standard," automatic installation stuff. I described what I did and do a few days ago in this thread, some posts up. There's not much to it, you (I) just needed to swap-out the CTOSS2k.sys file that the e-mu driver package installs for the one from the Xfi Titanium package. And then later, I had to do the CTASIO64 change for the more obscure issue (that's also described some posts up). Also, I don't use the beta package, I use the other one. As far as I can tell, the other one is actually newer. It's the one Creative itself last recommended for Windows 7; it wasn't always like that, they made the beta one available and said it should work for 7, but later they changed what was available and the description - and said this one (the non-beta) was the one to use for Windows 7... It's pretty confusing, some of it depends, like if you're using PCI or PCIe, etc. I personally got BSODs with the beta on W7, but didn't using the other one. Now I'm on W11 23H2 and using the non-beta and it works...

*E-MU_Windows_10_Install.zip\E-MU_Windows_10_Install\XFTI_PCDRV_L11_2_40_0018\Drivers\wdm\common\amd64