|
M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Vs. EM-U 0404 PCI (pg. 2)
|
View this Thread in Original format
| Yaroslav |
| quote: | Originally posted by AaroNoct
2. You're not even going out to monitors and you'll just be using headphones
What are you goals? |
I am going to use both monitors and headphones.. My goal is learn to work in Cubase using VST. |
|
|
| Quinders |
| Get something like a Presonus HP4. It's a dedicated, good quality headphone amp and you can control your monitors output from them as well. I have one and it's very good. |
|
|
| Jmanch |
if you dont have any hardware, 192 for the win.
cheap. easy. awesome quality. |
|
|
| Derivative |
| The DA convertors on it still suck. They are good for the money but yeah, on the scale of things they still suck. EMU 1212M is the best you are going to get on the budget end. Until you can afford a 1616M. Then after that it looks like an RME Fireface 400 (thanks for the recommendations in this forum, I tried one out and I'm going to buy one because the convertors are crazy good). Then after that its Apogee Rosetta 200. Then after that its one of those Prism Sound or Benchmark jobbies. But those cost about 8 grand so I wouldn't fret too much about ponying up the dough for one of those, heh. |
|
|
| DigiNut |
Don't leave out the MOTU 828. I was a bit skeptical at first but it hasn't disappointed me in any area. It's not quite as "hot-pluggable" as they like to claim but I think that's probably more of a Windows XP thing.
Of course that's a higher budget than the Emu, but it's a lower budget than the RME, and to be perfectly honest I like it better. I'm sure there's a difference in the converters, but you know what, it's not an $800 difference, and the feature set is almost identical (you get another ADAT, but about half as many analogs). If you desperately need such good conversion, get a standalone converter box and use the ADAT on it. That's better recording for a lower price.
Anyway, on the actual topic here, it's getting to the point where I think I can no longer recommend any E-MU products built after the Creative buyout. Not that I ever really recommended them per se, but the problems just keep mounting. Stay tuned for an update on that... |
|
|
| Fledz |
| What kind of problems are they having Digi? Is it to do with cheap hardware or have they ruined the software? Or even worse, both :nervous: |
|
|
| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fledz
What kind of problems are they having Digi? Is it to do with cheap hardware or have they ruined the software? Or even worse, both :nervous: |
Unfortunately it seems to be both. The hardware is "OK" - it's adequate albeit not earth-shattering, but gets flakey after a while. And the drivers... oh ho ho, the drivers, I don't even wanna go there. The software (not even the drivers, the actual software) is also messed up, and I'm still in the process of finding out how messed up.
Their software/hybrid products actually have some really cool features and I swore by them for a long time. But they have not aged well, and considering the price I paid for them, I expected better.
It's actually really sad because E-mu has a history of being a kick-ass designer and manufacturer, putting out one quality product after another. But as I said, it's in Creative's domain now, and despite the fact that they call it "Creative Professional" and insist it's a separate division, after using it for a very long time I can say confidently that they don't work in isolation. |
|
|
| Derivative |
E-MU have been unaffected by the Creative Buyout nd they have their own autonomy. Creative have always bought boards from E-MU so the buyout makes sense. The old Soundblaster 16/AWE 32 etc were based on E-MU tech. So now that Creative owns E-MU they no longer have to buy that tech.
Besides, E-MU have released some kick ass products since the Creative buyout - notably the E-MU 1616M which is probably the most badass soundcard in or around its price bracket.
As for MOTU. Hmmph. 3 Month Warranty, very noisy preamps (that get noisier in high humidity) and massive reliability and latency problems if you don't have a very specific firewire interface.
Fireface 400 is 520 quid. 828MKII is 450 quid. A bit more expensive sure but after fiddling around with an FF400 the only qualm I have with it is that there are no hands on gain controls. And the preamps sort of suck. But everything is spot on and the drivers are rock solid. |
|
|
| DigiNut |
Derivative, I own a "Creative Professional" Emu product (not the 1616 but other than the firewire interface it's essentially the same). I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about here. I'm not pulling this out of my ass, I'm speaking from close to two years of experience with the thing.
I don't know what you're talking about with MOTU preamps, they most certainly are not noisy, and you've got the reliability problems backwards, they only occur with very specific hardware and these same problems exist for virtually all Firewire devices. Latency - I get less latency on the 828 than I did on my Emu PCI card.
As for the pricing, you're right, I was comparing to the Fireface 800. The Fireface 400 has practically nothing on the MOTU in terms of features. 10 total analog channels (in and out combined), ONE midi port (not even in/out), no ADAT sync and no control room, for something like $200 more than the 828? No thanks!
I don't think that the Fireface sucks, or that anybody even needs all those features, but purely in terms of value proposition, the FF 400 just seems way overpriced. |
|
|
| thesuperfunk |
| quote: | Originally posted by No Left Turn
of those 2, i would take the emu since it has 1/4" outputs for active monitors. |
the 2946 features 1/4" jack outputs too! |
|
|
| Derivative |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
Derivative, I own a "Creative Professional" Emu product (not the 1616 but other than the firewire interface it's essentially the same). I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about here. I'm not pulling this out of my ass, I'm speaking from close to two years of experience with the thing.
I don't know what you're talking about with MOTU preamps, they most certainly are not noisy, and you've got the reliability problems backwards, they only occur with very specific hardware and these same problems exist for virtually all Firewire devices. Latency - I get less latency on the 828 than I did on my Emu PCI card.
As for the pricing, you're right, I was comparing to the Fireface 800. The Fireface 400 has practically nothing on the MOTU in terms of features. 10 total analog channels (in and out combined), ONE midi port (not even in/out), no ADAT sync and no control room, for something like $200 more than the 828? No thanks!
I don't think that the Fireface sucks, or that anybody even needs all those features, but purely in terms of value proposition, the FF 400 just seems way overpriced. |
Yeah I should probably state that I have known people through SA that swear by their 828MKII and I have mucho respect for them. But I've also heard people have horror stories.
Its one of those situations I guess where if you have a bad experience with an 828 its likely to turn into a nightmare fast as its only guaranteed for 3 months from the date of purchase.
If you have a great experience and everything works then you'll love it. I've just spoken to too many people that have the same problems:
1) Didn't have correct firewire interface card or chipset making the 828 practically unusable (solution is cheap - buy a new firewire card. If you don't have a spare PCI slot or you are a laptop/SFF user, then you are out of luck I'm afraid).
2) noisy pres. They aren't noisy all the time. But there are times when they just spas out and I could swear thats its got something to do with temperature. I noticed other people who have used 828s complain of the same thing but none of us can really explain why it does this. (solution is inconvenient but not massively expensive. I think Black Lion can mod MOTU cards to clean up the signal path to and from the AD convertor and the clock circuits and I think they also clea nup the pres too. Never known anyone who has had the work done so I can't comment on how effective it is.)
3) This one is old but many years ago, loads of people used to complain about super hot, super noisy 828MKII power supplies. But I think that problem is over now and it was just a batch issue.
4) That 3 month warranty. Who the hell guarantees a product for only 3 months? , if they guaranteed it for only slightly less than that they would technically have to market the 828MKII as 'disposible.' |
|
|
| DigiNut |
Yes, you're right, the 3 month warranty doesn't thrill me. The store I bought it from is pretty good with returns and exchanges, which was a mitigating factor in that. Also, it's been my experience that if something is defective, the defect will usually show up within the first few weeks; the only exceptions to this rule that I've ever seen are my Emu card and hard drives.
Re: temperature, mine's at room temperature and it's on 24/7. Now, I'm not maximizing its capabilities by any means, so maybe it's just not drawing that much power. It's not even on a rack (I know, uber n00blar) and still stays cool. As for noise, I can't hear any, but I admit that this room isn't the most quiet, so it could be masked.
They warned me about the firewire issue at the store, but MOTU claims it works "best" with Texas Instruments firewire and I definitely don't have one of those. Also, the only problems I've personally heard about with the 828's firewire were on TIs. I honestly think it was one of those incidents where they had a string of random problems in the field and people got superstitious (including MOTU themselves - believe me, this happens all the time in the electronics and software industry).
Maybe the preamps have problems. I guess I can't say for sure. I am fairly certain that they're better than the garbage some of my buddies record on. ;) |
|
|
|
|
