EM-U 1212M review

[The-Producer]

Quick reference Q/A

How long you had it? 2 days

How much you pay for it? 199.95 plus tax
What do you rate it (scale 1-10)? 10

Things you like about it? Sound quality, Pro features, expandability (everything you want in a sound card)

Things you don't like about it? Limited on some features when sampling at higher rates 96 kHz & 192 kHz (but for 199 bucks can't complain)

Other geared I own & comparisons? Turtle Beach Sound card, Creative Sound Blaster Live, M-Audio Audiophile 2496

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I own the audiophile 2496 & I just purchased the E-MU 1212M. I also own the creative labs sound blaster live, but no longer use it.

All I can say is that the E-MU blows the 2496 out the water.... just with its A/D D/A converters... Jesus, I mean, it was like when I first heard the Sound Blaster Live after being accustomed to cheap 8bit integrated soundcards. It’s like your ears just got cleared of all earwax. I’m extremely impressed with the E-MU’s sound quality. And I’m not even comparing using TRS 1/4 directly to a TRS input source. I’m just using a converter plug to RCA, then RCA to my amp. But I’ve been comparing both, through amp and headphones (for close monitoring), and I’m telling you, go with the E-MU, you will not regret it.

Hey, but that’s just the beginning… going into the meat and potatoes of things, the EM-U 1212M obviously has more quality and pro features than the Audiophile 2496. We already know that it includes 2 TRS 1/4 inputs and 2 TRS ¼ outputs, but it also includes a firewire input, ADAT input/output, SPDIF input/output, and it also includes an option for E-mu’s breakout box that comes with the 1820M model. To give you more lighting on this topic, the sound card included with the 1212M package is actually the same sound card and contains the exact same converters as the 1820M, except that the 1820M comes with an audio dock (breakout box incl. mic inputs w/ preamps, headphone out, & more in/outs) and the midi world clock in/out/ synch daughter card. Basically, if I want to upgrade it to a EM-U 1820 in the future, I can (except for the word clock sync in/out).
May I need to say more? But I will, only because this is something that annoyed the crap out of me with the audiophile 2496.

I can tell that the 1212M is a more powerful card, because I used to normally get clicks when I would surf the net listen to music at the same time(when using audiophile), specifically when I would scroll up and down with my mouse on the browser, or scroll rapidly up/down through the browser . It appears that the Audiophile takes up more resources and/or tacks higher on the CPU. Trust me, before making such a bold statement and blaming it on the card, I did extensive troubleshooting (including replacing my sys board/CPU/) and through process of elimination found that it wasn’t my chipset or configuration. In fact, I have a buddy who shared the same issue. Having that said and after experiencing pops & clicks on two hardware configurations, the first thing I did was test the EM-U 1212M on the same platform; I tried to duplicate pops & clicks by opening multiple browsers, applications while surfing, scrolling like a maniac, but no can-do… the card would just not give in. In my book, that is great!

Besides of what was already mentioned, EM-U1212M offers other appealing perks, as has its own DSP chip and comes with 32 DSP effects. It has the ability to run16 simultaneous effects under certain conditions (44 kHz sample rate, not at 96 kHz or 192 kHz).

One last thing before I forget, being that 1212M sounds so great and offers so many features, you would think a card of such caliber would cost quiet a bit. What do you think it would cost? Give me a figure… would it cost $300, or $400? Guess again! It retails for only $199.95… and for it being only $50 more then the audiophile 2496 (1212M retailing at 199.99), I would say it’s certainly well worth it. Talk about bang for your buck; I would like to see a card in its price range touch it.

One thing I haven’t gotten a chance to do is test the EM-U 1212M on latency with Cubase SX, running plugins and VSTi’s. Like I said, I just got it and have been listening to music for a few hours, since it sounds so good. Once I fondle and mess with it in Cubase, running some VSTi's, I’ll let you know how it holds up. I’m pretty sure that it will perform stellar on latency, as I have read some pretty positive reviews myself on its performance so far.


Cheers,
Rick

[The-Producer]

News flash:
I had mentioned how you can expand the EMU 1212M system with the same audiodock that comes with the 1820M system, making almost identical except for the digital sync in/out daughter card. However, when I had posted the review, Emu had not yet put the item up for sale through their website.
Emu has informed me that the Audio Dock is indeed available directly through their sales dept. It costs 299.99
Why is this important? Well for those who want to start with a good solid quality for card for home studio.. they can start with the EMU 1212M, and later when they expand their studio and have more equipment/ hardware, and they need more input/out, they can then purchase the Audio Dock.
Of course, if you can afford the EMU 1820M, I would recommend you buy it, as it runs the 499.99.

Cheers,
Rick

[Tweak]

Thanks Rick for the great info.

More info:


http://www.zzounds.com/a--3745/item--EM ... --showroom

[AncientWong]

Nice Testimonial Dude

Basically, if I want to upgrade it to a EM-U 1820 in the future, I can (except for the word clock sync in/out).

I think nowadays, U guys can add both the Audiodock M (1820m) and the Sync Daughter card if u want....

just contact E-MU.



===============================================
Rig:
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Pentium D 805 / 340
1GB DDR / 2GB DDR
600 GB SATA II
E-MU 1820M
Grado Labs SR60, SR 80 Headphones
2.1 Monitoring Speakers

[Steven00b]

Hey, how do you connect your monitors and headphones at the same time. I really want this interfaces, but i can't seem to figure out the headphone thing with only 2 analog outs.

[Mr.Johnny]

Hey, how do you connect your monitors and headphones at the same time. I really want this interfaces, but i can't seem to figure out the headphone thing with only 2 analog outs.

You cannot... either you get some sort of external analog splitter or you can get an external device that supports spdif and has headphone out (don't forget to add a "send" strip to spdif in main out (patchmix).

[Mr.Johnny]

By the way... Here's my review:


1. Tell us how much you paid for the unit.
-150 (euros).

2. How long have you had it?
-1 year.

3. Rate it on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best.
-9

4. Things you like about it
- Sound quality above all. Dead quiet and crystal clear.
- Lots of routing possibilities.
- E-mu's support relating defective hardware.
- It's got 2 ins, 2 outs, midi in/out, spdif in/out and adat support.
- ASIO performance is good enough for tight latency.


5. Things you don't like about it.
- Patchmix can be confusing for beginners and it's much more limited than kx drivers (wich unfortunaly don't support these cards).
- DSP effects, medium...
- Midi in/out ports not standard. If you lose the adapter, you're s*****.
- Problematic drivers (sometimes). I'd rate the drivers as "sufficient". For the work I normally do (recording/playback) they work 100%, but I've had problems with other stuff.

6. Anything else you wish to add--for example, compare it to other similar gear, tell us your tips, sites with free patches, problems, list your website that has info specific to this piece, etc.

Overall, it's well worth and I am satisfied, but learning how to operate with Patchmix will definitely disencourage a lot of users.

I would buy it again...

[jsepeta]

yep, i bought the audiodock for the 1212m and saved about $100 over the 1820m. emu instructed me to disconnect the 0202 once i installed the 1212m drivers. have had some issues getting it up 100% but will report back here next week when i get my 1212m-based daw back up.

[reson8]

I am currently deployed, and have recently purchased the FW-1082, my question is about the 1212m too... I was wondering If the 1082 will hook up via the firewire connection on the 1212m, and if anyone has had anyproblems with the FW connection. I haven't had a chance to get home to set it up yet, but wanted to get any opinions about if i should just get a seperate pci FW card, and ditch the 1212m.

[nanashiwanderer]

You should get a seperate pci firewire card.

I also own this unit and replaced an audiophile at 99.95 (which is what I paid new from an authorized dealer) I love the expansion options. sound quality, its better but not that much. Its a nice unit though.

[aleeann]

Hello-

I have a 1616m for my lappy and would like to use the microdock to connect with a new desktop.

The 1010 (which is shown as an accessory to do exactly what I want) is not available anywhere, but I was thinking of buying a 1212 (which comes with the 1010) and connecting via the EDI wire .

Has anyone tried this with success>

Just want to make sure it's copacetic before spending the cash.

Thanks!

[unsaint32]

I see that in 2003 a member name, the producer, had mentioned about 1212m and clicks and pop (how he could not produce click and pop with 1212m). I However do get some clicks and pops with my 1212m. I have Windows XP on a one year old Dell computer.

I am not sure if I am getting the clicks and pops when I move the mouse or use CPU while recording or playing. But I know I get them for sure when I route my sequencer output through a patchmix DSP strip and back to a new sequencer track. (For example, I finish all of my tracks in my Audtion 2.0, and I set the tracks output to the master track. And the master track's output is set to a strip in the DSP. I then create a new Audition track and assign the track's input to be the DSP's output strip.) I do that in order to add the DSP effects (which doesn't take toll on CPU) to the sequencer tracks. When I do that the recorded track has some clicks and pops recorded. I used to my ASIO latency to be 3ms. After I change to 100ms, there seem to be less clicks and pops, yet there are some clicks and pops.

I have followed a long list of "optimizing the computer for ASIO," that I got from a website.

Does anyone know how to detect the cause of clicks and pops?


thanks

[nanashiwanderer]

raise your bufffer, your experiencing jitter, try using a different PCI slot. If your not recording to a dedicated hard drive (i.e an drive just for recording audio on to, seperate physical drive not a partition, your applications and OS should be a different drive) you should be. and that drive should be internal or VIA Firewire, internal is preferrable.

You should also run these www.musicxp.com tweaks. and the dell should be off the internet.

[5aq1b]

Should I be able to connect my Midi keyboard and my Behringer UB502 to this withouth the need of any extra purchases?

[weetabix]

What do you think about the PatchMix control panel/routing software? ~~SHUDDER~~

That's what keeps me from buying it. It sounds like flying a 747 or running a nuclear reactor, from the descriptions I've read.

[Warhawk]

Ah, well, PatchMix gets moaned about a fair bit here (and I'm one of the biggest moaners!) but it's actually not that bad. A few moments with the manual and skipping through the useful presets it comes with will see you right. Read this too, even I understood stuff after this:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov05/articles/emupatchmix.htm

When you get it all set up and working, save that session in a 'useful folder' somewhere, and make a copy or two. That way if it goes super nuts in future you can always get back to working. The 1212m has been the hub of my own studio now for about 2 years, and I've made countless sessions, added a Digimax FS via ADAT (still grateful for that pointer nanashi!) and thoroughly love it. If it breaks I'm getting another one straight away! Solid drivers, great support... Darn why don't I just marry it huh?

You get a SHED of software with it - so much more than you need to get started. Balanced ins and outs. Not a single pop or crackle in all these years. Onboard effects aren't bad (oh yes it does that too!) but I never use them.

I say for the price there just isn't anything else to touch it in terms of sound and features.

[aliengtr]

I have this card and the daughter board as part of the emu emulator x, I was using a creative lab and this card is just a different level, "pro" sound ,ok semi pro haha,but the sound quality is great, the software that comes with it is cool (patchmic app), allows to put inserts and sends and hardware dsp f/x are cool and dont tax cpu . also it has adat for 8in/8out, sweet and spdif nd midi i/o. nice. I dont have the breakout box but might be worth it to get another 8in/out adat...routing stuff is easy and it uses asio,recmmend this card

[dang donkey]

Great Card, I managed to pick 1 up for 149.99 NIB!
Was using SBlive Platinum prior.
I do miss the synths and sound fonts from the SBlive card but the 1212m is just a much better card.

DD

[Bobb_Diggs]

Hi All!

I have a serious problem with my soundcard! When Iam recording audio from my hardware (Akai MPC 2000xl) to the analog inputs, it has a square type ticks randomly => http://rapidshare.com/files/167586420/zavarjel.JPG.html
The mpc's outputs are unbalanced but my inputs on the card are balanced. Could it be the cause?
When I using higher sample rates the ticks (or clicks) starts increasing.
When I reduce the volume to 0 the clicks disappering, but when I put back a bit the clicks returns.
I use unbalaced cables, I tried it with balanced professional cabels, but the results was the same.

Please help me!!

Thanxxx

[klockwerk]

You can now buy a 1010 PCIe card direct from Creative for $150.00. Creative says that the drivers work fine under Win7, but I wouldn't trust them on this.

Me, I have two 1212m cards, on two XP PCs, and don't feel the need to upgrade to RME or anyone else. Love my 1212ms.