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There are currently no videos for this product. If you are registered with us you may log in to add additional videos related to this product. You can also register an account to add a related video.E-MU 0404 PCI Reviews
e-mu 0404
After being used to relatively good studio gear for the past 10 yrs or so i wasn\'t expecting brilliance for this price range (even though e-mu has never let me or anyone i know down).
I bought this for a new build computer and all my budget went on the essentials for a good spec pc so i thought i would buy this for the meantime but i am very pleasantly surprised, the hardware accelerated dsp effects are very handy when using a daw with lots of vst instruments (in my case cubase),the patchmix dsp software is intuitive if you are used to a mixing desk although, the drivers and software add an extra couple of mins onto my comps boot up time and i need them as im using this as my primary soundcard.
Good latency (i got mine at 8ms)and a generally good buy for an entry level card or a stop gap card, and great fast service as is usual with dolphin.
BEDROOM PRODUCER\\\'S ESSENTIAL
Summary is at the bottom if you\\\'re in a rush;
I was a little sceptical about EMU\\\'s 0404 before purchasing it a couple of weeks ago, as it has received mixed reviews in the past. However, I thought I\\\'d give it a go as it must be better for running my MIDI controllers and feeding my monitor speakers than the on board sound (which was pretty awful!)
My Setup:
For review purposes, it\\\'s worth noting that my setup is a very average one, and not full of expensive bits of kit. I\\\'m in a small bedroom, and I am currently producing a mixture of trance,electro and chilled sounds. I use FL8 XXL with a small mixture of VST plugins inserted into the program. For my main computer I\\\'m using XP, 2GHz processor and 1500+ RAM, an Edirol keyboard controller and Active NFMs (Near Field Monitor Speakers).
Installing:
The 0404 is so simple to install, anyone who knows how to install PCI cards will not struggle with this one (it\\\'s plug and play stuff). I followed the instructions from the book and was up and running within minutes.
Included Software:
The Patchmix DSP software that comes with the card is ample for any solid setup. You can control sounds and effects from here with relative ease.
I haven\\\'t used the Sonar LE or other free software that comes with the sound card, but knowing that they come from good music production software companies does tempt me to start dabbling around with them in the near future to see what I can take from them and add to my projects.
The Hardware:
The Digital outputs are basic but very solid. The same goes for the analogue outputs. I am using them in conjunction with Behringer MS40\\\'s (Great entry level active monitors available through Dolphin - check out my other review). I use the analogue connections for when I\\\'m creating samples, and I can not hear any hissing, even at higher volumes. For whole project mixing I switch to digital (optical S/PDIF is my choice here) to ensure crispest sound. There is no need to swith over software or settings as these are supported together, so it\\\'s just a case of line volume control on the speakers.
Software and MIDI interaction:
Latency is now second to none. I am running at 8ms through ASIO of course, on FL Studio. I have yet to get any major underruns and now I can finally live edit my work with instant response from my MIDI gear. I cannot comment on the MIDI connections as I am using USB.
SUMMARY:
Okay, if you want the best of the best, or you\\\'re anything more than a small time producer, then this probably isn\\\'t for you.
If, however, you\\\'re just getting into the whole production scene, and are looking at ways to make your hardware, controllers and software run together much smoother, go for the 0404, you won\\\'t be disappointed.
Review
The soundqaulity is great. I am using this soundcard with my excelling Behringer Truth B2030A. After about 10 hours of listening, i put my ear close to the speaker just to see, and noticed a crackling sound. So immediately thought it was my speakers. However after a while of fidling around i found out it was the E-MU 0404. Theres a control for the Mix level which shows the clipping on 2 bars for left and right, It was about 2/3rds up and not in the orange or red zone, so i turned it way down to about 1/5th Mix volume and this solved it. But consequently the volume decreased substantially so now on the normal volume control is nearlly at full volume for a ''A bit above normal volume'' level, but i wouldn't say loud.
It also picks up alot of interference, moving my mouse makes interference, typing causes interference, and interference when the hard drive is in heavy use.
This is not my monitors, as i have 6m of very high quality balanced cables and my speakers are about 5 meters away.
If i was just to review the soundquality i would of gave it 9, but several facotors are a big letdown. Not to mention the TERRIBLE drivers and driver UI, then again it does say Creative Professional on the box, and creative are renowned for bad drivers.
Do your self a favour, splash out and get the Audiophile 192 - i wish i did.
E-MU 0404
What can I say? I bought this soundcard nearly 2 years ago and I use it daily. I constantly use all of the I/O facilities except the SPDIF interface.
I use the soundcard mainly with Cubase and Garritan Personal Orchestra. It has never let me down or caused me any problems at all. The I/O options can take a little while to get your head around, but a careful study of the manual usually solves this. The support offered by E-MU is excellent. Any queries I have had have been answered promptly and personally.
I feel this soundcard offers most things required by the average DAW user without the high price attached to many soundcards of this kind
Emu 0404 soundcard
i used to use a variety of USB interfaces and i was reasonably happy with them but when i got Sonar 5 studio and EZ drummer to run alongside my favourite plug ins and synths i found the cpu usage was far too high to be useable. So i started looking at pci soundcards as a solution. It needed to be under £100 and i wanted the best i could get. Id considered the audiophile 2496 and the m-audio delta 44 because they were respected and established - but they are kind of old (the manuals specify installation with win 98!) - also they are 24/96, so i was sold on the emu 0404 because of its moderen architecture, the fact that its 24/192 and because of its onboard DSP chip wich i though would help with my CPU = i was not wrong!
i had heard it was hard to use and install but it was simple plug and play. I opened my case, iserted it in a spare slot i knew had its own IRQ number, turned the pc on, installed the drivers. Opened Sonar - Sonar automatically performed tests on the card, i went to the ASIO panel and set it to 10ms as a test (wich i havent changed since) and started recording immediately = fantastic!
the patch mix software sits in the system tray and you just double click to open it up and there\'s a lot of flexibility there and easy to use. The DSP effects can be added to the patchmix virtual mixer or as a vst plug in in your DAW.
The only restriction is the number of ins and outs - but even that is suprisingly cool! i am running the left and right outputs directly into my active nearfield monitors and i bought a cheap (£39) Behringer Xenyx 502 mixer to go to the left and right inputs (havent used the spdif or midi so cant comment.) the combination of an external mixer and the patchmix software yields a lot of flexibility.
in sonar the input from the card is listed as;
Left card L
Right card L
Stereo card L
and
Left card R
Right card R
Stereo card R
so each input cable is capable of recording one stereo signal or two mono signals. i can hook up the left and right outputs of my POD XT and Bass POD XT to the to seperate channels on the mixer and record two simultaneous stereo signals on two seperate tracks or squeeze 4 mono tracks out of the setup wich is not bad for a £100 rig.
the audio quality is pristine and so much better than going over USB - my recording sound cristal clear now and its really cool that it doesnt conflict with my onboard soundcard in anyway. I can have my onboard card playing back itunes to my HIFI while i jam along with the POD through the EMU card at the same time.
I can run many EMU dsp effects, a number of VST plugins a couple of synths and ez drummer in Sonar and still only be around 24 to 30% CPU - the Sonar freeze tracks function will obviously give you more headroom there.
I cant recommend this card highly enough if you want a cheap but professional sound for very little money.
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