E-MU 1616M

[cx]

hi, I'm an absolute newbie to this computer recording scene. Been thinking about getting a mobile unit to interface with my notebook, an XPS1210. Just wanted to seek all your expert opinions about getting something like E-MU 1616M? It seems to have lotsa goodies packed into a bundle and would likely have me learning how to use it for a while.
Do let me know your thoughts around this? Many thanks to you pros out there!cx

 

[cx]

guess nobody really has anything to say about this unit. Was also reading up on the Emu 0404 unit....seems like a better starter pack. Wld try to decide soon.
Any other suggestions to start off with?

 

[dude3d30]

Hello cx,

what do you want to do with your mobile unit?

what is your purpose for recording? Any software for recording in mind?

 

[cx]

dude!
was looking at the bundled stuff...so I thought I can start from there.
Wanted to record some guitars KBs and sequence it and muck about with it.
So looking for something that I use. Not sure on the pricing as yet, going to head down to creative sometime to take a poke around there. Looking for a KB controller too.
thanks for the reply!

 

[gutturalpiss]

yeah the 0404 is good, get that. U just want a starter kit, that's the one for you. However, i prefer things to be firewire as the speed is greater than USB 2. Don't know whether 0404 comes in PCI, USB and Firewire as well.

 

[cx]

GP,
I looked, and I believe the 0404 only comes with USB.....any good FW ones avail in sgp?

 

[gutturalpiss]

That would be M-Audio..but their good options are normally at the mid-end, pricing from $400 onwards. That one others can recommend you as im not so familiar..Their entry-level products are not as good as this EMU 0404. Hmm firewire and usb is not a battle until u need to change ur mind lah :lol: Just get the 0404 w/ usb..

Firewire is upto 800Mbits/s while USB 2.0 would be 480. That would translate to about 85Mbytes/s & 50Mbytes/s respectively and although it would look like more than a minute's difference, when it comes to real-time recording the latency is what matters more. So in the end, not much of a concern if u just want to record.

 

[cx]

gutturalpiss, thanks for yr inputs on this. I'm just going to get either one and start off with the learnings. Without the real hands on, I'd always be procrastinating. 8)
I had initially posted the query as I wanted to be prudent and not burn a hole in my pocket by buying something which turns out to be utterly crappy or useless.
I'd look to get the 0404 if I can get my hands on it asap!
I'd report my findings later. Perhaps on this thread?
thanks, again.

 

[soft]

hi cx

one very important consideration is, "would you want to record using a microphone?"

if you do, you might wanna consider something that has a microphone pre-amp.

also, since you are using keyboards, you will also need something with midi i/o

 

[cx]

soft, absolutely. I mean I'd be doing both.
Thats why I had looked at the EMU1616M. With phantom pwr for thw XLR mics and Midi interface built in.

But here's the update:
I took a long drive down to Creative (as its in the west end part of the island) and found that both the 0404 USB and the 1616M were BOTH OUT OF STOCK! I had left my contact behind, they were unable to tell me when the new stock would arrive. So...I'm on the hunt again

 

[Denosha]

Good luck waiting for the stocks. I had to wait very long to get my 0404 USB. Btw, it also has phantom pwr for the XLR mic inputs and midi interface built in.

And to clarify, plain vanilla firewire is only 400mbits/s, actually slower than usb2.0 at 480mbits/s. The newer version of firewire (which not all devices have), firewire800 is 800mbits/s.

Anyway, the 0404 USB works well if you have a fast enough computer. It had a lot of issues on my older rig (AMD Athlon XP 2000+), i think due to the USB2.0 implementation on the motherboard. It works flawlessly on the AMD Athlon64 3200+ rig I'm using for recording right now. It also works fine on my Dell D610 laptop (Single core Intel 1.86ghz).

The lack of inputs don't bug me cause I have it hooked up to record from a 12ch mixer. Sound quality is pretty solid considering the price. The built in headphone amp rocks too.

 

[THOA]

Ever considered the Line6 ProTone interface? Not exactly what you are looking for but it uses USB as well and might be a good alternative since you are recording guitar and vox. There's the UX 1 and 2 as well as the KB 37, the having the added midi keys.

Not sure how much and how good the KB is but I know that the UX 1 and 2 is often found being sold off second hand in this forum.

 

[headcharge]

Im using the Konnekt24D and its awesome. Firewire interface. Pricewise abt same as 1616M. It has awesome built in DSPs and most importantly, it has assimilator konnekt which learns EQ of any audio source so that you can apply it to your own. You can use the Assimilator as a learning tool if you're just starting(like me).

 

[seekz]

hi, sorry to hijack, but where did you order your 0404usb from?
I'm interested too!

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

And to clarify, plain vanilla firewire is only 400mbits/s, actually slower than usb2.0 at 480mbits/s. The newer version of firewire (which not all devices have), firewire800 is 800mbits/s.

On paper, it may seem USB2.0's 480Mbps is > than FireWire's S400's 400Mbps.

How ever, do take note that FireWire works in such a way that devices are directly connected and communicated with each other while USB requires multiple copy/buffer processes by a 3rd part host controller. Though the theoretical maximum burst speed of USB2.0's 480Mbps is high, it's sustained transfer speed is what matters more.

For proof of this, here's a
Quote from FireWire - USB Comparison
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question: Which is faster Hi-Speed USB 2.0 or FireWire?
Answer: In sustained throughput FireWire is faster than USB 2.0.

Question: If Hi-Speed USB 2.0 is a 480 Mbps interface and FireWire is a 400 Mbps interface, how can FireWire be faster?
Answer: Differences in the architecture of the two interfaces have a huge impact on the sustained throughput.

FireWire, uses a "Peer-to-Peer" architecture in which the peripherals are intelligent and can negotiate bus conflicts to determine which device can best control a data transfer

Hi-Speed USB 2.0 uses a "Master-Slave" architecture in which the computer handles all arbitration functions and dictates data flow to, from and between the attached peripherals (adding additional system overhead and resulting in slower data flow control)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It seems FireWire's latency is much lower due to the elimination of the 3rd part host controller which is what matters most, because for these kinds of audio applications, we're most probably not hitting the limits of 50MBps. If that's the case, we would have sent 3GB of info for a 1 minute track...

 

[Cheez]

Absolutely. Firewire is faster than USB2 in the real world. Thanks for the link.