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

[eq1]

^ My guess is it's not strictly a PCI vs. PCIe issue. Pretty sure many people with PCI have had it working fine, and you did too on your old hardware. Seems like it must be something on your new-to-you PC, something missing, some setting, some conflict. It's not Reaper, and it's not the E-MU itself - since we know it works on W10 and in Reaper... And it's likely not the install - you've done it twice, you did it before on old computer and it worked, I've done it and it works, etc etc.

How regular are the intervals of the noise? I recently read about someone's noise problem, in Reaper, happening at regular intervals, and it turned out to be some power saving setting or something like that - that happened at regular intervals. It was interrupting realtime audio, hence noise, drop outs (actually, I think it was drop outs, not noise per se). But point is, there could be something like that happening in the background - some device that's not properly configured and spazzing-out at regular intervals, interrupting realtime processing.

I don't know, just spit-balling, as they say.

[eq1]

The one from Feb 2010 that specifically states it's for PCI is from GitHub I just got. The other one from March 2011 is the installer on Pg1 of this thread?

No, the installer from page 1 uses the BETA too. Most people have used the BETA. It explicitly says it works for PCI so I'd stick with that. The Creative webpage for the other package says it's only for the PCIe - so I'd have to defer to that info - and not use it with PCI (unless one wants to experiment).

[Aero312]

So both installers are the same thing.

In safe mode I tried to take the Creative Professional folder in Programs (x86) from my old drive on the PC it was working with ASIO and copied it, removed the same folder from new PC drive at same location, then pasted the Creative Professional folder. Rebooted and everything works the same exact way, including the noise only when using the ASIO driver.

The noise I get is about every 3 seconds. It lasts very briefly but is consistent.

[Aero312]

I don't know, just spit-balling, as they say.

LOL! I truly appreciate your help. Thanks. There must be a way to fix this.

I have a file that is called EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00.exe, and unlike the file on Pg1 installer it does not say BETA. That looks like the one I used to install on the old PC. I will try to install that one.

[eq1]

I have a file that is called EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00.exe, and unlike the file on Pg1 installer it does not say BETA. That looks like the one I used to install on the old PC. I will try to install that one.

Most likely same as what's referenced as being the "March 2011" installer. The Creative webpage says it's not for the PCI, but, frankly, it's hard to put much stock in what Creative says about this stuff, because they were abandoning the E-MU division at the time. There's lots of inconsistencies in their documentations, like stuff was falling through the cracks. So, who knows. I think they actually say the BETA version isn't for PCI at the webpage, or at least say it's for PCIe. But in the readme they say it's for both. Version numbers don't make sense, etc etc. Go for it, you gotta do something different... I was actually momentarily thinking about trying my PCI card. But, I don't want to mess up what I got going now, which I'm still trying to shake-down. Maybe later.

[Aero312]

The EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00.exe installer can install but after you install Patchmix you get an error on restart saying that you don't have enough resources to run, and it requires running the EMU_Driver_Fix.ps1 script.

The GitHub installer I linked to above is the smoothest most consistent installer.

I keep getting basically the same result with the EMU ASIO driver no matter what I try.

[eq1]

The EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00.exe installer can install but after you install Patchmix you get an error on restart saying that you don't have enough resources to run, and it requires running the EMU_Driver_Fix.ps1 script.

I never had that problem. You are turning on the dock before launching Patchmix, right? If you don't do that, you DO get that error message. Or, actually, you might not get it if the session loaded in Patchmix doesn't require the dock.

[Aero312]

Yes. I've got Patchmix powered on when the system boots. It sort of clicks and goes to the blue light once Windows loads.

I reinstalled the E-MU software with the GitHub download given it installs the easiest and with no errors afterwards. I'll try more troubleshooting from there.

The big question is this: Why would the E-MU hardware work perfect in Windows 10 using the WDM driver outside of a DAW like REAPER for a media player like VLC to play a simple .wav file, and I can do the same inside REAPER by importing a .wav file and play it through the E-MU hardware (and I can see it on Patchmix on the Wave out 1/2 mixer channel), but when I switch to ASIO, and the only thing I can select is the E-MU ASIO driver, there's a glitch of some kind in which every 3 seconds of so over the audio I hear a static-like noise?

I think I've ruled out a hardware issue. Why would WaveOut work in REAPER but ASIO does not if there's a hardware issue? Something is preventing the ASIO drivers from either installing or running properly within REAPER. I can see the drivers get installed (both CTASIO.dll and CTASIO64.dll) in the System32 and SysWOW64 folders.

I think I ruled out it's not a setting in REAPER. I ran a portable install of REAPER with default settings (not my profile). I also tried changing ASIO latency buffer and requested block sizes and had no effect on the noise issue.

[Aero312]

When you go to the Creative webpage that still has drivers up for the E-MU 1616m:
https://support.creative.com/downloads/ ... -1#type_-1
--you see in each case the downloads say requirement includes a PCIe card:





So that's not clear this driver installer can be used with the PCI version and it will work as expected, yes?

I do have older drivers with the names:

EmuPMX_PCDrv_L6_2_10_00
EmuPMX_PCApp_L6_2_10_00

But I don't know if these can be substituted in the installer package on Pg. 1 and patched in the same way.

Plus, why with PCI hardware would the drivers still available at Creative and that bear the same name in the installer package here on Pg. 1 work with WDM and WaveOut but not with ASIO (my current experience)?

And why would the newer drivers work on a different Windows 10 PC that has a PCI card? Again, all indicators are that I was using the installer package on Pg. 1 for my older PC.

[eq1]

^ Yeah yeah, don't pay too much attention to what's written there, you can't rely on it. You have to read between the lines and basically depend on what others have done. I posted the readme that comes with the beta installer - it says it's good for both PCI and PCIe. That's probably the most trustworthy info. Otherwise, why would someone put that in there - in a description of a beta version that's specifically meant to fix problems? There's also a lot of other very very specific info in that readme, it's not likely that whomever wrote that got the PCI and PCIe thing wrong, such a relatively gross, high level thing - while they detail specific issues the driver's meant to address. Plus, the actual language is very deliberate, it's not just some corporate cover-your-ass webpage speak.

I think you're wishing and hoping too hard that your problems are gonna be solved by someone else who packaged the solution, or like Creative gives a shit about their drivers, etc. Not the situation. We're talking about a 15+ year old audio interface and drivers, there's lots of issues that can crop up that are specific to individual computers/builds. It's likely not hardware, as you say, but it is likely drivers, software, configurations - and not necessarily Creative drivers or Reaper software. It could be obscure interactions, it could be your graphics card/driver (make sure your graphics card driver is updated), it could be you're missing something in your W10 build. It's not likely your install methods - too many people have had success with these, including yourself. On the other hand, these packaged fix installs like page 1 include a lot of other drivers that don't seem to be necessary. I personally wouldn't use these, I'd just manually update/replace ctoss2k and ctasio/ctasio64... Doesn't seem like any of the other stuff is needed. Others have found this out as well.

Pretty sure these packaged fix installs won't work with that older PCI-based driver installation. You can try a normal install with it - I wouldn't, not at this point. It'd be like a total hail mary last resort option...

Anyway, your previous post (I was writing this when you posted the second):

Yes. I've got Patchmix powered on when the system boots. It sort of clicks and goes to the blue light once Windows loads.

hmm, I always disable the automatic starting of PatchMix (in stock form, PatchMix loads automatically at boot/startup). You say you have PatchMix powered on when the system boots (OS starts), but I was saying the opposite - that in general 'things' work better if PatchMix is not running, you turn the dock on, then you start PatchMix. Otherwise you do get that error message, about not having the resources. I've never been able to get the dock to 'boot' if I have PatchMix already running. Haven't tried that in a long while, but pretty sure it's still the same.

You should at least try disabling automatic loading of PatchMix, then reboot the computer - with dock turned OFF. Once OS is up and running, turn dock ON, and then start PatchMix. That sequence is what I do all the time, it's just always been a given for me.

Not sure if you can use msconfig in W10 to disable the startup app that loads PatchMix, that's the way it was done in W7 and the easiest. In W11 you have to go to taskmanager startup apps. I guess that's easy enough, disable "CTHELPER.exe." Probably same in W10, or use msconfig.

When you turn the dock ON, watch the front panel LEDs. If everything is normal/good, both rows of LEDs on the mic preamp input meters will light, plus like the clip and 48V phantom power LEDs. If things aren't normal, you'll get variations - the 'worst case' seems to be only the red clip indicators and maybe the red phantom power, it seems to mean stuff wasn't shut down properly, or dock is starting from some wonky state, etc. And there's stuff in between that must mean something but I've never found a source that explains it. I often see the lowest LED light on right not lighting, but it's never a problem. And I've seen various other patterns...

[eq1]

Yeah, definitely try disabling auto startup of PatchMix and do that sequence I described. Sitting here thinking about it some more, I'm gonna bet there's a conflict at startup that doesn't load/start ASIO properly, or that interferes with the dock 'downloading' the proper firmware/instructions stuff (which happens over a COM interface) - pretty sure that will happen, or try to happen, if you start the computer with the dock ON - and there's just a lot going on at that time, a lot of coordination that has to happen. Better to let the OS load, everything settle-in, then turn on Dock, then open PatchMix. That registry tweak you do involving ASIO - that is a startup sequence. regserver seems to 'load' ASIO functionality at startup, so if there's something during that sequence that gets bungled - ASIO probably won't work right.

[Aero312]

The file ctoss2k.sys is installed in C:\Windows\System32\drivers.

Does it need to be in any additional folder? Does it need to be moved or replaced?

I vaguely recall that some people had a problem with this or some other file. The fix was to either move, replace, or delete the file. I tried a couple things but none of these fixed the noise issue with ASIO driver:

1. I took this file from my old PC that works properly and swapped it with the new install in the new PC (same location).
2. I tried deleting this file (Patchmix did not start afterward so put it back).
3. Switched to file eq1 provides at REAPER forum (link above). This appears to be same file originally in place after install.

On Pg.12 of this thread, AudioManiak has a link to another ctoss2k.sys file he's saying to use:
https://yadi.sk/d/jew5QPQmIO4abQ And he has a different procedure for install described.

One of the other things I tried today is see if my MOTU M2 works with its ASIO drivers on the new PC. Works as expected with the MOTU ASIO driver. Not a single glitch or noise like with the 1616m. But this connects with USB, not PCI. Point is there aren't any Windows or REAPER settings interfering.

I didn't see above, eq1 you wrote: "these packaged fix installs like page 1 include a lot of other drivers that don't seem to be necessary. I personally wouldn't use these, I'd just manually update/replace ctoss2k and ctasio/ctasio64... Doesn't seem like any of the other stuff is needed. Others have found this out as well." -- I haven't tried this yet.

[planetearth]

The big question is this: Why would the E-MU hardware work perfect in Windows 10 using the WDM driver outside of a DAW like REAPER for a media player like VLC to play a simple .wav file, and I can do the same inside REAPER by importing a .wav file and play it through the E-MU hardware (and I can see it on Patchmix on the Wave out 1/2 mixer channel), but when I switch to ASIO, and the only thing I can select is the E-MU ASIO driver, there's a glitch of some kind in which every 3 seconds of so over the audio I hear a static-like noise?

I think I've ruled out a hardware issue. Why would WaveOut work in REAPER but ASIO does not if there's a hardware issue? Something is preventing the ASIO drivers from either installing or running properly within REAPER. I can see the drivers get installed (both CTASIO.dll and CTASIO64.dll) in the System32 and SysWOW64 folders.

I think I ruled out it's not a setting in REAPER. I ran a portable install of REAPER with default settings (not my profile). I also tried changing ASIO latency buffer and requested block sizes and had no effect on the noise issue.

Is the noise like "static", where it's seemingly random in volume and frequency, or is it like white (or pink) noise? Of all the times I had problems getting my E-MU 0404 and then 1820m working, I don't recall any regularly timed noises.

This is a bit of a stretch, but what you're describing sounds like it could be a plug-in being used in Reaper (maybe on the master output), where the plug-in isn't registered (or doesn't think it is). I know you've said you've ruled out Reaper by using the default settings, but I don't know enough about Reaper to know that it isn't using one of its own plug-ins that somehow thinks it's not registered. Cakewalk comes with its own plug-ins, and some templates use them on the master outputs. They don't have a problem where they output white noise if they're not registered, but again, I admit this is a bit of a stretch.

As far as disabling startup apps, the free Revo Uninstaller has a great tool for that. The free Glary Utilities has an even better tool. Oddly enough, each of them shows apps and/or Windows services that the other one doesn't show. Between both, you can simply check/un-check the apps or services you don't want to run. If you find that causes a problem, simply run Revo or Glary again, and re-enable (or disable) the app or service and reboot. Saves a LOT of time digging through the Windows Services list manually. And these show much more than MSCONFIG.EXE would ever show.

Steve

[planetearth]

Duplicate post.

[Aero312]

Thanks for a reply, planetearth.

For testing in REAPER, I'm simply launching, checking the ASIO driver is selected in device preferences, then importing a .wav file, and playing it on a track. No plug-ins are involved. I should post a sound clip of what I'm hearing.

And just to be clear, I only have an issue with noise when using the E-MU ASIO driver. I can select "WaveOut" inside REAPER and it plays fine. I can also play a .wav file through Patchmix outside the DAW with a media player like VLC and it works fine.

In order to see if i can get the E-MU ASIO driver to work, next thing I wanted to try is clearing whatever I installed, then do what eq1 suggests above, which is to use the E-MU installer for drivers and Patchmix and then just place ctasio.dll, ctasio64.dll, and ctoss2k.sys in the appropriate folders.