All user reviews of 1/5 for the E-MU 1212M

I bought it because I only read great reviews especially on the quality of his (sic). I thought this card was also low latency.

My goal was to use it with Sonar or Cubase VST style with four Kontakt, Reason and rewire but also for listening to music (see below HIFI equipment)

Also I was looking to replace my old 5.1 that was Soundlaster live primarily as faults, drivers with a latency of 46 ms with KX driver (which is not bad) and incompatibility with Win Seven and also with a few hiccups on XP divx blue ray. Other than that, it's a HUGE (I'm as surprised as you because I have 10 years and it cost me only 30 euros ).

Config: AMD 5600 +
3 GB of Ram
Win XP
a master keyboard controlled UMA25S U Berhinger

The computer is connected to an amp Cambridge Audio Azur 540 A with a pair of speakers QAcoustic 1020i (short of very good stuff HI FI)

UTILIZATION

I tried this card for two days before returning to the old. I have nothing to say about the drivers. I had no problems with instabillité.

The software I use most is 5 cubase 4 with Kontakt as VSTi

How many tracks I can read without cracking? With a latency of 50 ms, a packet (at least 5).
With a latency of 20ms, no (no possibility to adjust the latency between 20 ms and 50 ms, I do not know why because it is possible above and below)). As soon as I put the reverb (concert Hall A) on a violin, a few cracks appear. If I try two violins with reverb, it's horror.

GETTING STARTED

Installation is no problem. No inconsistency. Relatively intuitive

OVERALL OPINION

So I used before, the soundblaster live. I had a great sound both in bass, midrange or treble. The sound was pure, clear and very precise.

With EMU 1212M, mids and highs are simply atrocious. If you turn up the sound, headache assuré.Et all other equalizers and compressors that are available to us will not help. An equalizer can not make up the treble and midrange screaming. It can remove the edge but beware the imbalance that follows.

What I liked but it's the very least, these are the drivers that are compatible with my hardware. Latency, however, is catastrophic for the stuff that price. The only real positive is the PatchMix which is not bad at all.

I wonder about the reasons for all these very positive feedback about the quality of sound. Either the owners of this card does not go through the good stuff that HIFI, it must be admitted do not accept mediocre food sources identified defects, as the qualities of a recording, or they have not really what reference-quality sound. I do not really want to offend anyone but it is clear that when you start from very low quality (like motherboard chipset), it is possible that appear next to 1212m exceptional especially because of all its effects

Now I understand that you can find very strange that I find the sound of a basic soundblaster, not turned especially to the audiophile, better than the EMU 1212 m. Imagine that you too, but I guarantee you that between the two there is no photo (I speak only of the sound quality). I am currently speaking with technical support for EMU. Besides offer me to install the latest drivers (which has nothing changed), no solution. If they find me a card and began to develop his extraordinary, I would of course my criticism. However, I am extremely skeptical of it ...

Oh, I forgot: Emu is good enough to slip us a ton of software that is a valid part of the demos a month but in addition they are super lightweight compared to full versions. Frankly, I do not see the point, except for the purpose of marketing is to us an eyeful. Personally, I preferred to put me than moved to the ears ....