Emu 1212M Review

Emu 1212M

manufacturer: Emu
Model: Emu 1212M

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User Rating and Reviews

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Number of Reviews: 3

Stability

6.3/10

Ease of Use

5.7/10

Sound & Character

8.7/10

Value for Money

7/10

Overall

6.3/10

On 08/18/2004, elvis from Norway wrote:

NKR new

Stability: 10

Usabilty: 10

Sound: 10

Value: 10

Overall: 10

This card is the best in this price range. It delivers AD/DA converters better than many "pro" systems. The built in DSP effects work great, but you cantLuse to many of them at the same time. And when working in 24/96; you can`t use them at all. That`s the only negative thing I can come up with. Otherwise this card delivers the goods; low latency, easy to use, great DSP effects, midi-connections, clear and well defined sound...
If you`re looking for a high-quality card and don`t need more than 2 audio in/out-puts - get the 1212m.

On 10/08/2004, Corey from Cowtown, Canada wrote:

CAN new

Stability: 8

Usabilty: 6

Sound: 8

Value: 10

Overall: 8

This is a great card in context of the price. Weak point is the software manager, people who are not highly software literate will have a very difficult time managing this card. With flexibility comes complexity after all. I guess what I'm saying is that this is not a consumer card, you will need some audio software experience to use it properly. Connectivity is minimal but adequate. For the price decent enough.

The good points are the sonic fidelity, (in and out) the DSP effects, (good but not great) and the stability. It's handy for home studio use because you can run your Bass into one input, your guitar into the other, and your keyboard into the MIDI port, thereby allowing you to hit your creative stride without any patching. for me that is big, I hate patching whenever I switch instruments.

The listening fidelity is remarkably superior to Audigy2 ZS Platinum. No question about it. Since they cost the same, I assume this means the E-MU has superior components inside. This is definitely solid entry level pro sound as opposed to high end consumer level. I am very impressed with the listening quality.

The input quality is very good but you need to manage it a bit because of the way the bussing is setup, it's easy to run an input too hot or not hot enough but once you get the hang of it, it's very manageable. All in all good quality input although you will definitely want to have a good preamp on hand to use this card well in a home studio environment.

Once you sort out how to use the software it's pretty good. You can save/recall "sessions" (complete mixer setups) as well as FX strips (single channel setup) and you can set things up fairly easy in a drag 'n drop type way. All in all the software is the big weak point, it's got some major flaws and it's not very appealing visually (tiny type and icons) but it's usable. Bottom line here, I'd rather have a great card with so-so software than the reverse, and once you get the hang of it it's relatively smooth sailing. They seem to be releasing upgrade patches from time to time so that's a positive sign.

All in all this is a good card. I would reccomend it to people on a budget who don't mind a little learning curve in order to achieve better-than-average results. People who prefer plug-and-play hardware which requires no management should avoid this card because it's software mixer replaces your Windows mixer essentially and can't really be avoided.

Also bear in mind that this card has zero provision for headphone monitoring so you will need some sort of headphone out on your output device or a headphone amp inline between your card and monitors. not a huge problem but a bit of a pain since small studios obviously don't want anything other than a short cable between the card and powered monitors if possible. Essentially in my studio this means I have to patch when I'm tracking and then patch back for mixing and mastering.

On 01/26/2005, Thuy from Anaheim wrote:

199.00 new

Stability: 1

Usabilty: 1

Sound: 8

Value: 1

Overall: 1

Don't bother to use this card. Go get the M-Audio.
You can't even do a simple stereo recording with Soundforgy or alike. What kind of a sound card is it? Even when to do a simple stereo recording in ASIO in Cubase, you have to go to a zillion steps to set it up. Waste time and money. I'm even thinking about sueing Emu because of the design flaw and mislead consumer.

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