Emu 1616m and 1820m users, can you help me?

[sj2six]

Hi Emu's user, does anyone have any idea whether if the 1616m and 1820m dock (the external break-out box) can be use as standalone? Because dock itself is an audio interface, it has got mic/line I/O, Digital I/O, etc., but it's connected to a PCI card to the computer. So I was just wondering if you don't switch the computer on, and you plug some line source that don't require 48v phantom power, does the signal still flows into the 1/4' analog line-in and out of the 1/4' analog line out as well as the digital ADAT interface??

 

[Cheez]

No. What are you trying to achieve in your setup?

 

[sj2six]

Hmmm...from what I see, 1820m might not be able to do so as it takes it's power from the PCI card. But what about 1616m that runs with external powering?? I dun own this product by the way, but I'm interested in getting it as it has got the digidesign 192 I/O AD/DA converters. But I do know that Emu's products only run on Windows and not Mac. I'm do have a PC as well as a Mac. Obviously there is no problem for running on my PC. But I oso wanna use it on my mac as well. So I was thinking of using the dock as standalone, solely as a AD/DA converters to take the advantage of it's digidesign converters.


I was thinking this:

A Mic or Line source into my JoeMeek via XLR or 1/4" analog -> then JoeMeek analog line out -> into Emu 1616m dock via the back panel 1/4" analog line-in, bypassing it's front panel preamp -> then let 1616m convert this analog source to digital signal -> then output via 1616m ADAT digital interface -> into my mac's existing audio interface via the digital input.

But I don't wanna switch on my PC everytime I wanna use this Mac setup. So I was thinking is it possible to use the dock as standalone without having to switch my PC on. Yea, one could say that I could buy good converters from brands like Apogee, etc. But I got a deal where I can get Emu's products at very very cheap price.

 

[Jerseystar]

Try it and let us know if it works yeah.

I'm curious too.

Don't you just love EMU stuff... particular the ones with the 'M'....

 

[illuminationexcursion]

I almost bought a 1616M from a fellow soft user too. I too had the same question of whether it can be used as a stand alone. The answer is NO.

For me the purpose of using it as a standalone is this: I could use it both as (1) a recording interface to the comp and (2) DI and preamp for guitar and vocals during live performances.

I think the better choice here is still the M-Audio Profire 610. It can definitely be used as a standalone. However, the only disadvatange, is that arguably a PCI interface is surely faster than firewire. Then again, if you're recording only a couple of tracks at a time, firewire would adequately meet the bandwidth requirements.

Its such a shame because the 1616M preamps are awesome.

 

[sj2six]

I almost bought a 1616M from a fellow soft user too. I too had the same question of whether it can be used as a stand alone. The answer is NO.

For me the purpose of using it as a standalone is this: I could use it both as (1) a recording interface to the comp and (2) DI and preamp for guitar and vocals during live performances.

I think the better choice here is still the M-Audio Profire 610. It can definitely be used as a standalone. However, the only disadvatange, is that arguably a PCI interface is surely faster than firewire. Then again, if you're recording only a couple of tracks at a time, firewire would adequately meet the bandwidth requirements.

Its such a shame because the 1616M preamps are awesome.

Oh..thanks everyone for the reply. It seems like the answer is really a "no". Anyway, I have not heard the preamp on 1616m, but I heard that it's only the digidesign converters in 1616m & 1820m that is worthwhile, the preamps are still not very good.