ESI ESP1010e

8 in 8 outs for a card rack, it is still not bad ... This is what motivated me first. In addition to the preamp inputs are for connecting microphones and guitar directly without pretreatment of the signal.

UTILIZATION

I use it to record vocals and guitar, mainly Ableton Live.
With my 2600K overclocked to 4.2 GHz and 8GB of RAM good, I set the latency to 128 samples and 48000Hz, and I get 2.67 ms input and output, with compensation, to live, it makes me less than 12ms. But I can go down to 64 samples but with a few clicks in multitrack recording.

GETTING STARTED

I had some problems at the beginning (BSOD, freezes, PC who do not want to go out ...) and I tore his hair, I cursed ESI drivers make rotten. And one day I had the idea to change PCIe port, and since no worries. I am under 7 64bit.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 2 years now, and I'm happy.
Before, I had an Alesis IO2, now I can let my two guitars and two mics connected permanently. It is still more convenient.
For a musician who broke n can help to play for a little more than 100 bullets, it's still damn good.

Moticé choice after the next PCI Express + number of inputs and outputs, and then a little bit by the opinions presented on Audiofanzine, and finally by the price offered in ThoTho being discontinued.

Used on a PC with Windows Vista, with 4GB of DDR2

Use mainly for recording guitars

UTILIZATION

Installation carefree, CPU consumption ridiculous, perfect stability.

Never tried to record several tracks at once. I just have a dedicated input for each use.

Latency August-December ms. Very correct.



Warning: no updates since its sorites, and no driver for Windows 7 ... which requires me to stay with Vista. It is in my opinion the big negative of the beast. This is not because it is no longer produced it must let users plan, the deuce!

GETTING STARTED

No conflicts so far despite the combined use of a Hercules RMX on the occasion.

Manual very clear.

OVERALL OPINION

the + the number of inputs / outputs
stability

the -: no updates of drivers, and then sentenced to vista

What characteristics have motivated your choice?

-8 In / out analog
Card Rack
-The headphone jacks and MIDI
Amp 48V + -2
-Format the card in PCIX - low latency
Unfortunately -Entrée/sorties asymmetric ...
-The chipset is suitable MIDI (qqes problems with my prophet 08 only)

For what purpose?

Home-studio
Plug-all my synths at the same time
Catch-acoustic
Catch-electric guitar highZ
Taken + MIDI-control vst real time

What is your config (Motherboard / CPU / Ram / Hard ,...)?

Ht-P4 (yes ...)
4GB of ram-
Asus P5BV-
SATA-

With which instruments or systems to use you? ...

Windows XP and Seven-
-To my great regret, no Linux drivers ...
-For instrumentals, see page

UTILIZATION

The drivers are stable?

-Very stable
-No crash to mourn
Operates under Win-7
-No Linux drivers ...

They are often updated?

No, but exist in Win 7! (Not like EMU ...)

What software do you use most often?

-Cubase

What you get lag?

-5ms (limited by my processor)

How many tracks you get to record / playback simultaneously? ...

-8 + XXX record read

GETTING STARTED

The installation is done it without problems?

- Carefully read the instructions ... not to like me ...

Have you experienced any incompatibilities?

- Generally Not
- Just a little trouble with my Prophet 08 ... MIDI communication was borked ... I added an EMU Xmidi 2X2 and all is well

The general configuration is easy?

- Yes

The manual is clear and sufficient? ...

- Yes

OVERALL OPINION

How long have you use it?

- 6 months

What is so special that you like most and least?

Most:

- Unbeatable value for money
- 8 in / out analog
- Latency
- The 19 "
- The headphone jacks
- Basic MIDI
- Functional and stable drivers

the -:

- I / O asymmetric
- No linux drivers


Have you tried many other models before buying it?

- EMU 1212m
- M Audio FW Solo and 410
- 1010LT


How would you rate the quality / price?

- Unbeatable ...

With experience, you do again this choice? ...

- Square ...

- I bought this card for its reputation on the level of latency, the number of inputs and outputs both preamps

- My goal was just to have a sound card booster that can dial into my room and teach me how to make sounds

- My config: Intel I7 920@4.1ghz, 6GB DDR3 1666mhz, Win7 x64, motherboard Asus P6T

- I work mainly in REAPER, a little Live8

UTILIZATION

- The drivers are stable at 90% I would say it works very well in the workplace, just as a VST to a bug it may be that it blocks the card and it is sometimes necessary to reboot the machine I'm working on an RME and I never rebooted with it (c we are told that the value for their money with this kind of cards)
- The drivers are almost never updated, so once a year something happens, but one must be super happy now, it's a large black dots in this map, for example in my case my pc can not die, I am forced to momentarily press the button to do so, all because of drivers not optimized to be compatible everywhere, I'm lucky because it does not bother me at all but others have more serious problems with their motherboards.
- Latency is excellent, the map rotates in 64 samples without any problem

GETTING STARTED

- Easy installation, just think back to the drivers on the ESI website
- The configuration of the card is fairly standard for a panel such as one finds in general
- A paper manual is provided in the bundle


OVERALL OPINION

- I use the card for a month
- I like its latency
- I do not like the support of ESI drivers
- Value for money seems very good in the sense that it is simply impossible to have a card with as many inputs and outputs, such low latency and two preamps for 155 €
- If I were to compare it to other models of sound cards I would say it did not have the sound quality and support that one expects from a pro.  cons for someone who is doing a little computing and who seeks to build a studio at the lowest effective prices is an excellent choice.
The card could be better, in this price sector is the TC Electronic Desktop Konnekt 6, not as input-output but for a semi-pro quality.