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zenbass « Very good map, although controversial. »
Published on 12/27/12 at 08:56Hello,
technical characteristics that motivated the choice: the price / performance ratio announced, the number of inputs, built-in effects, the brand, I did not know at the time that E-MU was bought by creative labs.
external instruments connected to it are:
1 Behringer UMX 490 USB Keyboard 61 keys connected USB 2 on the PC.
1 Keyboard USB M-Audio Axiom 25 USB 2 connected to the PC.
AKAI EWI 1 EWIUSB connected USB 2 on the PC.
1 pedal midi (noon 5 pin plug) (low organ pedal) connected to the midi-in micro-dock E-MU
1 electric bass in Mic 2 micro-dock E-MU
1 Shure SM58 mic input 1 microphone-dock E-MU
And it all works together
What system: a PC mounted home today is Asrock motherboard that I highly recommend (forget ASUS, MSI, I tried everything from long Asrock is the best). USB3 SATA3, video card (ATI) integrated. 2 SSD 120 GB each. 16 GB of RAM, no swap file (pagefile). All integrated in a flight case with an old 15-inch LCD monitor integrated additional graphics card with 2 video outputs external monitor to put a + great at home when I bump sounds, and receive a 2nd output to video projector the scene, already tested with a small video projector. Otherwise I have everything plugged into the same flight case:
Micro-dock connection (RJ45 + 48 Volt 4 outlets USB2, USB3 4 outlets, 5 outlets power supply, 9 volt power ... what you want, stomp, recorder, etc. ... it avoids lug adapters or batteries
For what purpose: rehearsals and scenes. I use Ableton Live, tracks routed via ASIO PatchMix this E-MU PCI1616. For now I have about a dozen MIDI tracks in Ableton Live, Reason in rewire routed with 5 instruments mentioned above, and some tracks wav, Reason for return and also for pre-recorded sequences sonos WAV format on the PC. I think up to thirty tracks for a few months, or +. I also have a pedal that I made from a circuit recovered in a PC keyboard that I adapted to put electrical switches (to RCS) foot so connected to the PC via USB, to control Ableton sequences.
The CPU is an AMD 3.6 GHz 8 cores. We located not too expensive today.
I appreciate being able to route subsets of "slices" of Ableton Live 6 outputs to a mono) microphone-dock.
UTILIZATION
Drivers: I think this is the weak point of the whole, but I ended up finding various W7 64 and it works fine, no crashes, even after 3 hours of intensive use Again, in an overheated room.
not updated, followed quite low from E-MU (Creative Labs), I think their team DEV else to do .. and it's a shame, but I do not have a problem , it's okay.
Software: I wrote High at the top of the stack is Ableton Live, below is found rewire, Reason 5 and other software, such as the saxophone EWI. I will try other software in a short time.
How many tracks: Well, it's clear, I do not register with this configuration. To save, I have a standalone digital recorder Zoom R24 (24 tracks with 8 recordable simultaneously) which works very well and is not expensive at all (I highly recommend). Cons by reading I read about a fortnight tracks no worries, I'm sure to exceed fifty, at least for MIDI and 7 or 8 mode wav.
Latency: Topic poorly understood and controversial. There is software to test it. For me, this is the time lag between when I press a key on the keyboard (or breath in EWI) and when the sound comes from the speakers. This is what counts as a musician. And you should know that it depends not only on the sound card ... I use ASIO drivers provided by E-MU, and I have no noticeable latency (and I'm demanding on this point), even with multiple MIDI tracks / rewire playing and two keyboards simultaneously with 4 agreements notes each. The E-MU has much to do, but also PC config, especially the 3.6 GHz CPU 8 cores and 16 GB of RAM. Board, it is better a 4 cores at 3.5 GHz or 3.6 that 8 cores at 2.9 GHz (if it exists). CPU speed plays a lot of latency.
For example, I'm impressed with the bass, I get low on micro-dock driving directions from PatchMix to Ableton Live on a track wav, I added 3 vst effects (Preamp tubes, cabinet simulation HP, reverb) , reroute everything to an input of Patchmix Host Asio. And when I play a note on the bass, I do not perceive any latency. It's as if I was plugged directly into the amp.
GETTING STARTED
Installation: Nothing to say, except to find the right drivers. ==> Do not forget to disable in the BIOS the onboard sound card on the motherboard, it can disrupt serious ....
Configuration: At the beginning it is quite confusing, read the manual, and we understand little by little, it is a long experiment, I think it might be a little + intuitive. But the hardest part is to understand the music software that you will use, and make them work with the E-MU 1616. Ableton, I still find it hard to dip some aspects, but it just must READ the doc several times if necessary.
Incompatibilities: No, no, as stated above +, disable in the BIOS the internal sound card and it runs .... if you have the right drivers.
Manual: relatively clear. For cons, I struggled to find where it is written that if one uses a sampling frequency higher than 44.1/48 Mhz ..... Effects integrated into the sound card does not work any more. this is bad, it made me mad, it is nowhere stated before purchase. This is handy built-in effects, it consumes zero CPU.
OVERALL OPINION
I use it for 3 or 4 years.
I have not tried other external sound cards previously only integrated sound card for motherboards.
what I like least: The integrated effects that do not work at 88.2 MHz (sax my software runs at this frequency). It is almost prohibitive, but I did not know before purchasing.
what I love most: imperceptible latency with a good PC, the software Patchmix is very well done, the doc not so bad.
price / quality ratio: No picture, it is definitely worth the price!
Yes I would do this choice, despite the problem that effects only work 44.1 MHz. For higher frequencies, we can circumvent the problem by inserting external effects hardwares, but must spend + .....
technical characteristics that motivated the choice: the price / performance ratio announced, the number of inputs, built-in effects, the brand, I did not know at the time that E-MU was bought by creative labs.
external instruments connected to it are:
1 Behringer UMX 490 USB Keyboard 61 keys connected USB 2 on the PC.
1 Keyboard USB M-Audio Axiom 25 USB 2 connected to the PC.
AKAI EWI 1 EWIUSB connected USB 2 on the PC.
1 pedal midi (noon 5 pin plug) (low organ pedal) connected to the midi-in micro-dock E-MU
1 electric bass in Mic 2 micro-dock E-MU
1 Shure SM58 mic input 1 microphone-dock E-MU
And it all works together
What system: a PC mounted home today is Asrock motherboard that I highly recommend (forget ASUS, MSI, I tried everything from long Asrock is the best). USB3 SATA3, video card (ATI) integrated. 2 SSD 120 GB each. 16 GB of RAM, no swap file (pagefile). All integrated in a flight case with an old 15-inch LCD monitor integrated additional graphics card with 2 video outputs external monitor to put a + great at home when I bump sounds, and receive a 2nd output to video projector the scene, already tested with a small video projector. Otherwise I have everything plugged into the same flight case:
Micro-dock connection (RJ45 + 48 Volt 4 outlets USB2, USB3 4 outlets, 5 outlets power supply, 9 volt power ... what you want, stomp, recorder, etc. ... it avoids lug adapters or batteries
For what purpose: rehearsals and scenes. I use Ableton Live, tracks routed via ASIO PatchMix this E-MU PCI1616. For now I have about a dozen MIDI tracks in Ableton Live, Reason in rewire routed with 5 instruments mentioned above, and some tracks wav, Reason for return and also for pre-recorded sequences sonos WAV format on the PC. I think up to thirty tracks for a few months, or +. I also have a pedal that I made from a circuit recovered in a PC keyboard that I adapted to put electrical switches (to RCS) foot so connected to the PC via USB, to control Ableton sequences.
The CPU is an AMD 3.6 GHz 8 cores. We located not too expensive today.
I appreciate being able to route subsets of "slices" of Ableton Live 6 outputs to a mono) microphone-dock.
UTILIZATION
Drivers: I think this is the weak point of the whole, but I ended up finding various W7 64 and it works fine, no crashes, even after 3 hours of intensive use Again, in an overheated room.
not updated, followed quite low from E-MU (Creative Labs), I think their team DEV else to do .. and it's a shame, but I do not have a problem , it's okay.
Software: I wrote High at the top of the stack is Ableton Live, below is found rewire, Reason 5 and other software, such as the saxophone EWI. I will try other software in a short time.
How many tracks: Well, it's clear, I do not register with this configuration. To save, I have a standalone digital recorder Zoom R24 (24 tracks with 8 recordable simultaneously) which works very well and is not expensive at all (I highly recommend). Cons by reading I read about a fortnight tracks no worries, I'm sure to exceed fifty, at least for MIDI and 7 or 8 mode wav.
Latency: Topic poorly understood and controversial. There is software to test it. For me, this is the time lag between when I press a key on the keyboard (or breath in EWI) and when the sound comes from the speakers. This is what counts as a musician. And you should know that it depends not only on the sound card ... I use ASIO drivers provided by E-MU, and I have no noticeable latency (and I'm demanding on this point), even with multiple MIDI tracks / rewire playing and two keyboards simultaneously with 4 agreements notes each. The E-MU has much to do, but also PC config, especially the 3.6 GHz CPU 8 cores and 16 GB of RAM. Board, it is better a 4 cores at 3.5 GHz or 3.6 that 8 cores at 2.9 GHz (if it exists). CPU speed plays a lot of latency.
For example, I'm impressed with the bass, I get low on micro-dock driving directions from PatchMix to Ableton Live on a track wav, I added 3 vst effects (Preamp tubes, cabinet simulation HP, reverb) , reroute everything to an input of Patchmix Host Asio. And when I play a note on the bass, I do not perceive any latency. It's as if I was plugged directly into the amp.
GETTING STARTED
Installation: Nothing to say, except to find the right drivers. ==> Do not forget to disable in the BIOS the onboard sound card on the motherboard, it can disrupt serious ....
Configuration: At the beginning it is quite confusing, read the manual, and we understand little by little, it is a long experiment, I think it might be a little + intuitive. But the hardest part is to understand the music software that you will use, and make them work with the E-MU 1616. Ableton, I still find it hard to dip some aspects, but it just must READ the doc several times if necessary.
Incompatibilities: No, no, as stated above +, disable in the BIOS the internal sound card and it runs .... if you have the right drivers.
Manual: relatively clear. For cons, I struggled to find where it is written that if one uses a sampling frequency higher than 44.1/48 Mhz ..... Effects integrated into the sound card does not work any more. this is bad, it made me mad, it is nowhere stated before purchase. This is handy built-in effects, it consumes zero CPU.
OVERALL OPINION
I use it for 3 or 4 years.
I have not tried other external sound cards previously only integrated sound card for motherboards.
what I like least: The integrated effects that do not work at 88.2 MHz (sax my software runs at this frequency). It is almost prohibitive, but I did not know before purchasing.
what I love most: imperceptible latency with a good PC, the software Patchmix is very well done, the doc not so bad.
price / quality ratio: No picture, it is definitely worth the price!
Yes I would do this choice, despite the problem that effects only work 44.1 MHz. For higher frequencies, we can circumvent the problem by inserting external effects hardwares, but must spend + .....