EMU 1616m

[donzo]

Hi all,

After reading the thread by Jeremy Micheal K "M-Audio Fastrack Ultra" I've become interested in the EMU 1616m.

What a great thread, I only wish I had the opportunity to aquire this kind of information prior to purchasing three different USB interfaces (Tascam US-122, M-Audio Fastrack Pro and Ultra) and one Firewire interface (Motu Traveler, which never worked, TI chipset and all) The US-122 is probably the simplest, most reliable and best sounding of the three USB interfaces, IMHO.

Anyway, aside from the fact that the mic-pre's in the 1616m are most likely better than the pre's in either of the interfaces I've been using to this point, what about the AD/DA convertors? The quality of the AD/DA convertors are really what it's all about, right?

In addition, I'm wondering what the Pro's and Con's would be in using a 1616m. Is it pretty much plug and play? Any driver issues? I think somewhere in Jeremy's thread I read that EMU's support is somewhat lacking. And most importantly, How do I find out if I have the correct PCIe slot on my mother board?

Thanks in advance for your advice,

Don

[mojobone]

I don't own one, but by reputation, the converters in the 1616m are better than they oughtta be, particularly for the price. Conventional wisdom is that you don't hear much improvement from converters 'til you get above the pro-sumer level....at about a thousand dollars per channel.

[donzo]

Thanks for the reply Mr. Mojo,

Would it be possible for you to list some examples of what you'd consider "Prosumer" audio interfaces? And, do any of the interfaces that I own fall into that category or fall short. My gut feeling is that they fall short simply because they were all relatively inexspensive and USB. (YGWYPF)

Secondly, at the risk of sounding technically challenged (Which I probably allready have) Why the H...E...Double Hockey Sticks would I be having so much dang trouble trying to get Firewire to work with my PC? I've tried both PCIe and PCI Firewire cards with the "TI Chipset" resulting in total failure with each and every attempt.

Anyway, I really value the advice that yourself and others provide on this forum!

Thanks again, Don

[jdhogg]

donzo

Something that caught me out is that some of the firewire cards do not take power from the motherboard pci slot!

Check to see if you have a molex connector on the top of the firewire card and if you do connect a spare psu molex connector to it.

A molex connector is the same type as powers old (non sata) cd/dvd hard drives and will come from the psu.

[mojobone]

The usual suspect is your FireWire controller chip; if it ain't by Texas Instruments, that'll likely cause troubles, particularly for ProTools users. It's a cheap enough fix, (usually under $50) if you're using a PCI or PCIe slot for your FireWire; the other thing is, it's sometimes better to NOT put FW hard drives and interfaces or MIDI controllers on the same FW chain, though you can usually have both if there's more than one FW socket. (I have a FireWire interface/controller; I use SATA for the drives)

I see you use Nuendo, so second on the list (motherboard incompatibility) seems less likely. Just about anything that costs less than Apogee's converters would be considered "pro-sumer"; read that as, 'perfectly acceptable, if not ideal'. Most folks would see more benefit by upgrading their monitors (and room treatments) than their converters, in any case. I believe that mic preamps also affect the overall sound quality more than converters do, but there's certainly plenty folks will argue that notion.

Layering multiple tracks using the same mic, preamp and converter can lead to a 'sameness' to the sonic signature of your music, but it's debatable whether that can be heard by the time it goes through mastering and conversion to MP3. If you have a few different flavors of mic and preamp to mix and match, I have little doubt your ears and mix decisions will trump anything a converter does.