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Old 02-21-2018, 11:55 PM   #1
Gelic
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Default Emu 1820m: Best Drivers in 2018 for Windows 7 64bit

In another thread Nana recommends an Emu 1820m driver combo that caused me big trouble!
https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?p=1548961
EmuPMX_PCApp_L6_2_10_00.exe +
EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA.exe
I beg to differ.

I've been using the 1820m for a decade+. The above worked at first, but began to be attended by intermittent audio failure and needless heartache. That combo pits the latest beta Emu PCDrv driver with an older PCApp PatchMix version regression. The Beta is much newer and needs a newer patchmix version. Nana's combo caused general windows audio freezes and recording in Reaper and Cubase tended to fail quickly. HOWEVER, the latest 1616m Patchmix app is MUCH newer and has been tested far more on Windows 7 architecture. Use it: it WORKS GREAT with the Emu 1820m on Windows 7 64 with the 1820m beta driver. I've posted both installs: PatchMix and Driver here: http://TheGuy.com/Emu

What you want is this combo!
EmuPMX_PCApp_US_2_20_00.exe + (Notice the 2-20!)
EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA.exe





On the page, look at the folder comparison of dates for the latest 1820m Patchmix vs the latest 1616m Patchmix. YEARS newer. I've been running the latest 1820m Beta driver (can't find it on Emu anymore) with the latest 1616m PatchMix app. I've hit Cubase, Reaper and all kinds of Firefox/Chrome Video playback and played many videos at once, even while Reaper and Cubase were open. NO PROBLEMS YET.

With Nana's setup I could do none of this very long without crashing, especially as the days progressed on an install. I was constantly reinstalling the PCDriv, which fixed things, for a while. Nana's combo was not sustainable. I spent a year of my life scratching my head at why my new windows install had buggy audio AND video and even firefox was affected, since content relies so heavily on audio these days.

I'll keep the driver zip file up for a while. It contains the combo I recommend, the one that works very well indeed: 1820m Beta Drv + latest 1616m PcApp (meaning PatchMix).

You can find the latest 1820m and 1616m stuff below. But you will NOT find the 1820m Beta Driver anymore. At least I could not find it on Emu's website.
http://www.emu.com/index.php/support...test-downloads
http://support.creative.com/Products...37&prodID=9871

Also, you can extract the driver and app files from Emu using Winrar, into folders. Keeps you from having to run the exe, which extracts first, then installs from a directory created temporarily before deleting the extracted files. Hope this helps someone and saves some pain! I can't live without the sound of this Emu 1820m card. I've tried other nice stuff, but there's a sound quality I find intoxicating from the Emu's preamps and "vintage," circuitry.

By the way, the two infamous "Bad capacitors" did fail on two of my Emu 1820m's. But I bought some Nichicon caps off Ebay, pulled the bad, soldered in the good and Voila! Like new! I posted about that journey here: https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=135850

I hope if we keep the 1820m going, they will do a REISSUE of this gem!

Happy Recording!

Last edited by Gelic; 02-22-2018 at 06:18 AM.
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Old 02-22-2018, 01:35 AM   #2
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Thank you very much for posting this!

I use a 1616m & when W10 was free I thought it must be better but I found things went quickly downhill?,,,,, I tried loads of things but realized the best option was to stick to W7 so back I rolled!

I shall try this combo see how it performs on my machine?

Again many thanks,,,,,,,, I love my E-MU

PS; Is there an order they should be installed?
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Old 02-22-2018, 03:19 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by jiff 41 View Post
PS; Is there an order they should be installed?
Driver first, app second is best.

I do have a few comments and reflections on the OP, but haven't got the time right now... Watch this space...
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Old 02-22-2018, 05:29 AM   #4
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Firstly - great work Gelic! But how uncanny! I've been on XP up until a couple of weeks ago. Aside from fear of change, one of the main reasons for staying with XP was some of the horror stories I had read about people trying to get the 1820M to work in that OS. Anyhow, I kind of HAD to change to Win7 a couple of weeks ago, and as such the 1820M in Win7 research started afresh. Two days later and with a whole essay documenting what I found, I finally, finally reached the same conclusion as you (well, nearly; see below).

So very strange that after all of that your post should appear... Parallel universe maybe?

A quick minor correction first. Although I agree that you point to the right app download, you list it in the post as EmuPMX_PCApp_L6_2_20_00.exe. I don't think that exists. The "L6" part should read "US". So it should read EmuPMX_PCApp_US_2_20_00.exe.

It might seem that I'm being pedantic, but the reason the research took me so long is because getting the right info and the right drivers is a quagmire that beggars belief. What a minefield. There were a number of factors for me which contributed to all of the confusion:

- There are different EMU sites/web address locations from where to download drivers; even sometimes the same driver!
- The EMU nomenclature is not clear so you have to look closely at the filenames.
- Drivers from one device work for another where you might not expect they would. (including the PCI Express driver being recommended for PCI Standard cards).
- People in forums are not always clear about what they are recommending.

On top of that, some links that people give in forums seem to take you to a version that is different to the one they are saying they recommend. For example, whilst someone might say they recommend the 2.30 BETA, and even give you the full name of the 2.30 BETA file you should use, the link they give you then takes you to a NON BETA driver. This happens on a few occasions on forums. I think (guess) this is due to the EMU site, and that perhaps they have made some weird changes. So the forum links would have originally taken you to the proposed downloads, but no longer do. I might be wrong, but I cannot think what else would be going on. Head scratching stuff indeed.

To be continued later...
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Old 02-22-2018, 05:33 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by jiff 41 View Post
Thank you very much for posting this!

I use a 1616m & when W10 was free I thought it must be better but I found things went quickly downhill?,,,,, I tried loads of things but realized the best option was to stick to W7 so back I rolled!

I shall try this combo see how it performs on my machine?

Again many thanks,,,,,,,, I love my E-MU

PS; Is there an order they should be installed?
You complete me Jiff! :-) The Emu is PACKED with features nearly all others lack! I use the EQ and compressors when just listening to most anything on the internet, and most others do not have this ability. The driver (PcDrv.exe) must be installed first. Only then can the Patchmix (PcAPP.exe) find its way :-) By the way, I'm not sure if this applies to the 1616m, but if yours is one of the later models, then you are sitting pretty! Because the 1616m has the latest of everything since it ran in production after the 1820m was being phased out. On my page (theguy.com/Emu) I give a link to the arguably latest drivers for the 1616m. I say arguably because sometimes they hide the beta stuff or even withdraw it, as in the case of the 1820m, at least from my eyes. You should have ZERO PROBLEMS with your 1616m and Windows 7. I could never go to windows 10 voluntarily because of the telemetrics invasion. ;-) The cosmos seems to hate privacy. HAPPY RECORDING in WALES Jiff :-)

Are there lots of nice modern techy shops in Wales selling the latest and greatest Daw stuff? Wales has always seemed rich in history and aristocracy but on a turned back clock in ways?
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Old 02-22-2018, 06:13 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Max Dread View Post
Firstly - great work Gelic! But how uncanny! I've been on XP up until a couple of weeks ago. Aside from fear of change, one of the main reasons for staying with XP was some of the horror stories I had read about people trying to get the 1820M to work in that OS. Anyhow, I kind of HAD to change to Win7 a couple of weeks ago, and as such the 1820M in Win7 research started afresh. Two days later and with a whole essay documenting what I found, I finally, finally reached the same conclusion as you (well, nearly; see below).

So very strange that after all of that your post should appear... Parallel universe maybe?

A quick minor correction first. Although I agree that you point to the right app download, you list it in the post as EmuPMX_PCApp_L6_2_20_00.exe. I don't think that exists. The "L6" part should read "US". So it should read EmuPMX_PCApp_US_2_20_00.exe.

It might seem that I'm being pedantic, but the reason the research took me so long is because getting the right info and the right drivers is a quagmire that beggars belief. What a minefield. There were a number of factors for me which contributed to all of the confusion:

- There are different EMU sites/web address locations from where to download drivers; even sometimes the same driver!
- The EMU nomenclature is not clear so you have to look closely at the filenames.
- Drivers from one device work for another where you might not expect they would. (including the PCI Express driver being recommended for PCI Standard cards).
- People in forums are not always clear about what they are recommending.

On top of that, some links that people give in forums seem to take you to a version that is different to the one they are saying they recommend. For example, whilst someone might say they recommend the 2.30 BETA, and even give you the full name of the 2.30 BETA file you should use, the link they give you then takes you to a NON BETA driver. This happens on a few occasions on forums. I think (guess) this is due to the EMU site, and that perhaps they have made some weird changes. So the forum links would have originally taken you to the proposed downloads, but no longer do. I might be wrong, but I cannot think what else would be going on. Head scratching stuff indeed.

To be continued later...
You are RIGHT Max Dread! Although Nana uses the L6 nomenclature, I was in a hurry and neglected to realize the versions I installed were prefaced with "US" instead! I've changed the post to reflect this. On the latest i7 with Windows 7, the LAZY POWER AND SPEED!!! With 16gb of memory, XP seems a bit frowzy :-) Like you, I clung to my XP like Charleston Heston clung to his rifle! But I had to let it go. Now I'm clinging to Windows 7!

As to our endeavoring orbits having just the right timing to be useful... Indeed, I call that force the Author's Pen! It's a quill that puts gashes in planets, fission in stars and sonority in our ears. :-)

I thought someone might want to see a comparison of the files and lo and behold, what do we have here :-)







All of the above are also at http://TheGuy.com/Emu

Norwich seems saturate with HISTORY!

Last edited by Gelic; 02-22-2018 at 06:33 AM.
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Old 02-22-2018, 02:27 PM   #7
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Well done both of you. Max - glad to see its all working out for you mate.

Made me nostalgic for my "1212m with ADAT pres" days
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Old 02-23-2018, 12:48 AM   #8
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Wow, that's quite some list Gelic! Although tbh I'm not entirely sure what the list is of... There seems to be quite a few repeat entries of drivers and apps in there?

I like the author's pen

I have got a collection of links to the various drivers and apps out there for the PCI and PCIe EMU soundcards. If anyone is looking for anything, feel free to PM me. Or better still request it in this thread so that when I post others will be able to see in the future.

Anyone looking for themselves bear in mind what I say above about the quagmire, especially with regards to links people give in forums, which often take you to a driver/app which is not the one they are recommending. And also look very closely at the file names and make sure what you have is exactly what you are looking for. It's weird how a company can make something so simple so difficult!


Quote:
Originally Posted by ivansc View Post
Well done both of you. Max - glad to see its all working out for you mate.

Made me nostalgic for my "1212m with ADAT pres" days
How great to hear from you Ivan. Hope all is well. Thanks again for all the support and kindness you showed in my XP migration I'm not fully set up on Win 7 yet and there are a few teething problems, but I'm getting there.

Cheers

Max

PS - Gelic - you seem to be quite interested in geography/location. Norwich isn't bad,although I am more of a countryside person to be honest. Wales is more my cup of tea In fact, it is where I am hoping to move to. Whereabouts are you?
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Old 02-24-2018, 12:26 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Max Dread View Post
Wow, that's quite some list Gelic! Although tbh I'm not entirely sure what the list is of... There seems to be quite a few repeat entries of drivers and apps in there?

I like the author's pen
<snip>
Cheers

Max

PS - Gelic - you seem to be quite interested in geography/location. Norwich isn't bad,although I am more of a countryside person to be honest. Wales is more my cup of tea In fact, it is where I am hoping to move to. Whereabouts are you?
I'm all over :-) I look at places and think, what would it be like to clone them and be all powerful god among them. But then I think, speaking with the Author of ALL things, is better still. What is the loftiest wish you can wish Max?

Last edited by Gelic; 02-25-2018 at 01:26 AM.
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Old 02-25-2018, 02:06 PM   #10
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Interesting thread. My music computer has been rock solid with winXP and an Emu 1212 card for years. I don't want to change anything about it. I've been evaluating Reaper for a short time and I'm loving it more and more as I learn it, looks like I'll soon be one of you!

So anyway, I picked up a used Emu 1212 PCI card to have as a spare. I've thought I might install it in my internet computer which is Win7 64 bit and hook up some real speakers as well.

Max, since you offered, could you tell me the best drivers for PCI win7 64 bit? Thanks in advance.
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Old 02-25-2018, 02:30 PM   #11
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I sure would like to re-use an EMU 1616PCI on win 7
I have searched and searched but no joy.
Any help appreciated
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Old 02-25-2018, 04:38 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertP View Post
I sure would like to re-use an EMU 1616PCI on win 7
I have searched and searched but no joy.
Any help appreciated
Quote:
Originally Posted by David C View Post
Max, since you offered, could you tell me the best drivers for PCI win7 64 bit? Thanks in advance.
Firstly, Norfolk greetings to you RobertP. Always nice to hear form someone close by in such an international place

OK, so it is exactly as Gelic states in the opening post: you need:

EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA.exe
EmuPMX_PCApp_US_2_20_00.exe

Available for download from the links given I do believe.

I wasn't disagreeing with Gelic (aside from the slight L6->US tweak which has now been amended in the OP). It was more a case of solidarity in trying to make sense of the mess!

There have been people who have reported problems with EMUs on Win7 64-Bit. I've no idea whether that's because they have used the wrong drivers, or whether it is something to do with their particular set ups, or who knows what... Everything went well for me with that driver and app combo. Give it a go and let us know how you get on.

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Originally Posted by Gelic View Post
What is the loftiest wish you can wish Max?
I guess I wouldn't say no to a bit more peace on earth...
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Old 03-03-2018, 01:48 AM   #13
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Seem to remember mentioning the Belgian Monk in an old post .....

Thanks
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Old 05-30-2018, 06:08 PM   #14
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Default sorry.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gelic View Post
In another thread Nana recommends an Emu 1820m driver combo that caused me big trouble!
https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?p=1548961
EmuPMX_PCApp_L6_2_10_00.exe +
EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA.exe
I beg to differ.
[...]
What you want is this combo!
EmuPMX_PCApp_US_2_20_00.exe + (Notice the 2-20!)
EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA.exe
Hi.

I've run my driver/patchmix combo now for years on Windows 7 x64 Ultimate and it also runs perfectly on Windows 10 x64 Pro for about a year now. Even the recent update to 1803 didn't cause any problems. All under almost constant heavy load in my studio.

The issue it has (and btw. that's more a feature than a bug) is it's lack of samplerate conversion from MS-Soundmapper/DirectSound and the patchmix.
On the Windows side the samplerate needs to match the samplerate of the card. If both are not equal, there will be no sound and windwoes will throw an error, because the driver reports not being available at Win's samplerate. For multimedia use, it works fine to set Windows to 44k1 at 24 bit and the hardware samplerate to 44k1, either by internal or studio clock. Media players and Firefox can handle this with internal samplerate conversion. This includes DirectSound and MMX.

ASIO is natively completely unaffected by this.

With the patchmix 2.20 there are several issues which cause audio quality being degraded remarkably by routing all playback and recording channels through sample rate conversion, worst of all, this is done even at matching rates! Interpolation/resampling adds aliasing artifacts and can add channel phase correlation error.

Now the tradeoff:
Having nice clean professional audio at the cost of changing two sample rate settings: one in patchmix (or the studio clock), one in the Windows audio settings (Plus: any word clock/sample rate mismatches are instantly thrown up)
-- or --
having a comfortable multimedia soundcard with average quality due to constant resampling and interpolation.

And the other thing is stability. 2.20 just licks off under heavy load. Guess why.

So after all:
Both setups have their right to exist. One for studio use, one for a multimedia/gaming/internet computer.


The standard download from creative "EmuPMX_PCApp_US_2_20_00.exe" with the filesize of 9,46 MB (9.926.344 Bytes) is not complete, because needed elements from manual are missing. Where did http://theguy.com/emu/ get his files from?

Download EmuPMX_PCApp_US_2_20_00.exe here:
http://support.creative.com/download...wnloadId=11912
Download EmuPMX_PCApp_L6_2_10_00.exe here:
http://support.creative.com/download...wnloadId=10587
Download EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA.exe here:
http://support.creative.com/download...wnloadId=12479

peace? please.

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Old 05-30-2018, 07:42 PM   #15
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Default capacitors?

btw: What is that ongoing troll legend of 1820m's capacitors failing without any reason?

Seriously, the original high quality capacitors should be decades away from death by age.

If the power stabilisation caps blow or leak, this origins from a foul pc power supply constantly screaming or spiking on the power rails!
Or maybe a lightning strike or similar unusual event.
Or maybe constant overheating due to obstruction (rack mount)?

As I dig through the internet, I find always the same people spinning the same prayer wheel again and again.
How many 1820 are out there? How many have failed?

I use my 1820ms with phantom powered mics, MIDI, full connections and up the maximum workload now for many years and they are still as good as new. I just make sure they get enough air convection to stay cool and have high-quality power supplies (good old Enermax, passively cooled) with current supplies matching the systems' requirements.

Last edited by Nana; 05-30-2018 at 07:45 PM. Reason: typo
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Old 05-31-2018, 02:48 PM   #16
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+1 to the above. The ONLY reason I moved my 1212m on was bwcause I coudlnt use 2 8 way Adat pres with it.
Tremendous bang for the buck.
Ironically Im now back to one ADAT 8 IO & could have kept the 1212m!
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Old 06-01-2018, 01:09 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nana View Post
btw: What is that ongoing troll legend of 1820m's capacitors failing without any reason?

Seriously, the original high quality capacitors should be decades away from death by age.

If the power stabilisation caps blow or leak, this origins from a foul pc power supply constantly screaming or spiking on the power rails!
Or maybe a lightning strike or similar unusual event.
Or maybe constant overheating due to obstruction (rack mount)?

As I dig through the internet, I find always the same people spinning the same prayer wheel again and again.
How many 1820 are out there? How many have failed?

I use my 1820ms with phantom powered mics, MIDI, full connections and up the maximum workload now for many years and they are still as good as new. I just make sure they get enough air convection to stay cool and have high-quality power supplies (good old Enermax, passively cooled) with current supplies matching the systems' requirements.
Mine failed. It was the caps. Same thing with my delta 1010.
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Old 06-01-2018, 12:08 PM   #18
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And now think on. Two different soundcards fail.

How old is the other hardware you use?
Usually soundcards are taken from system to system over many years, because they don't age as fast as CPU, GPU and motherboard do.
And then there's the power supply. They also get many systems to run in, before they get old.
Who knows, if the power supply is really as good as it seems to be. Frying the soundcards over years.

And yeah, there may be other causes frying the capacitors. Lightning, transients, as an example....

Please, don't spin the prayer wheel. E-MU soundcards are not of bad quality.
Go on, buy and fry something else!
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Old 06-02-2018, 01:57 AM   #19
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All high quality systems. Good quality PSU's, and no other components failed.

Building DAW systems is part of what I do for a living.

All electrolytic caps wear out eventually. I'm not saying EMU doesn't make good stuff, but the other stuff in the same system didn't die, and it did. The delta card wasn't in the same system. For what it's worth, I have a SBLive card that I got when they first came out, and it refuses to die.
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Old 09-22-2018, 08:32 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nana View Post

Please, don't spin the prayer wheel. E-MU soundcards are not of bad quality.
Go on, buy and fry something else!
Congratulations on not having a problem with the capacitors! If you ever have this problem, isn't nice to know someone has already sorted it for you? I have two 1820m units ... both have had the capacitor issue. No one is saying the unit is of "bad" quality ... why would we hang onto them so long if they were?
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Old 09-23-2018, 09:33 AM   #21
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Had same audio card ages ago, 12+ years. I used only these drivers:


https://www.kxproject.com/
E-mu E-DSP based PCI devices are supported (0404, 1212, 1820, 1820m, ...).

Absolute gem! THey will move to github soon, on Novemeber 2018, so be quick!

Quote:
kxproject:
3553 build without Microsoft signature, won't load on Win10 x64!
This build is signed by generic OEM certificate, but has not been signed by Microsoft. It will run on most OSes, but Windows 10 x64 with Secure Boot enabled will not run the kx.sys.
Earlier Windows releases (Windows XP, Vista) won't recognise SHA256 signature.
Windows 7 requires latest service pack to support SHA256 signature.
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Old 11-04-2018, 05:23 AM   #22
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Default kX-Audio-driver for EMU 1820m

Quote:
Originally Posted by adXok View Post
Had same audio card ages ago, 12+ years. I used only these drivers:


https://www.kxproject.com/
E-mu E-DSP based PCI devices are supported (0404, 1212, 1820, 1820m, ...).

Absolute gem! THey will move to github soon, on Novemeber 2018, so be quick!
Hi,
I have EMU 1820M and currently use the latest Creative driver and app as discused above on my Windows 10 64 PC. All appears OK and stable. After reading your post I have downloaded and installed latest drivers - kxdrv3553-full-unsigned.exe. I have started to read documents on the GitHub pages and tried to configure the app for my 1820m.

I have a few questions:
1) What are the key benefits of kX-Audio-drive over the Creative solution (for the 1820m)?
2) Is there any EMU 1820 specific documentation and routing configs avaialble?
3) Why did you stop using your EMU card - I am tring to work outwhat the "real" benefits of getting a new audio interface would be?

Thanks
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Old 11-04-2018, 10:48 AM   #23
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After years of BSOD bs, I've finally got a stable system!

I am indeed using this driver/software combo from the OP, but the crucial factor was disabling the onboard sound device. I did this in the BIOS and disabled all other devices showing up in Windows Sound Devices. As long as this driver has full control of audio, system-wide, it's smooth sailing. Gee, hard to believe this card is still going strong after more than 10 years!!
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Old 03-28-2019, 03:52 AM   #24
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Hello all,

I have noise/clicks problem with 1212m PCI (without firewire)
The records are unaffected but the monitoring. I have tried many ways but no luck
There's no IRQ conflict. I removed all the other cards and disabled the onboard stuffs.
It can happen to any of the left/right/both channels.



Here's a sample of the noise I get every few seconds:
Attached Files
File Type: zip sample_noise.zip (221.3 KB, 323 views)

Last edited by RiP; 03-28-2019 at 03:58 AM.
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Old 03-28-2019, 11:16 AM   #25
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Hi, I've got the same card with the same software versions, but I notice that my 1010 firmware is at 3.4, while yours is only 1.6. I don't recall updating mine, but there must be a way. You might look into that.

You might also try balanced cables on the output.
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Old 03-28-2019, 12:12 PM   #26
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Hmm... intersting enough.

What about the SR status? Does it always show "LOCKED"?
Sometimes this gets problematic when feeding "non-pro" S/PDIF signals.

What about CPU speed settings? I know the driver gets problematic if the CPU clock is switched too many times.

This will result in the need to set longer ASIO timings.

I think the firmware gets updated during installation of the drivers or patchmix.

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Old 04-02-2019, 01:15 PM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by foxAsteria View Post
Hi, I've got the same card with the same software versions, but I notice that my 1010 firmware is at 3.4, while yours is only 1.6. I don't recall updating mine, but there must be a way. You might look into that.

You might also try balanced cables on the output.
Anyway to update it?
http://maxonlimited.com/uploads/ipo_.../firmware/emu/


Quote:
Originally Posted by Nana View Post
Hmm... intersting enough.

What about the SR status? Does it always show "LOCKED"?
Sometimes this gets problematic when feeding "non-pro" S/PDIF signals.

What about CPU speed settings? I know the driver gets problematic if the CPU clock is switched too many times.

This will result in the need to set longer ASIO timings.

I think the firmware gets updated during installation of the drivers or patchmix.

peace
Nana
It's locked at 44.1KHz and I have removed all of the unused inputs/hosts.
CPU is at max (high performance) and I got no firmware update during the installation.

I had no problem with any other PCI/Firewire sound cards except 1212m till now.
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Old 04-02-2019, 06:31 PM   #28
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You linked to "firmware" files used by ALSA on Linux. They present some kind of hardware specific abstraction layer to the system.
This is not the same as firmware flashed to ROM/NVM.

But I still keep saying, the firmware gets updated with drivers and Patchmix. Far in the past there has been a step-up in these numbers, if I remember correctly, and I've never done such thing like flashing firmware files.

Anyway, if your card is not 1820m it may get different firmware installed, revealing different revision numbers.

https://support.creative.com/Product...+Professional#

What about a "drivolution"?
It is just a shot into dark, but here is how I'd do this: After saving a system restore point and then uninstalling all of the recent drivers, try to install the 2.1 drivers and software from this site. They will probably not work correctly, but they may contain "official" firmware.
For the installers it may be necessary to run them in compatibility mode.

Now make it working correctly again:
After this, install the BETA drivers (EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA.exe
) and then Patchmix that are labeled for E-MU 1616M PCIe on Windows 7. The BETA driver should work for all E-MU PCI and PCIe cards on Windows 7 and newer.

See if that works as desired.
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Old 04-02-2019, 06:50 PM   #29
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The SR shouldn't be locked unless you're feeding it something through the s/pdif or optical in. Can you open the settings in PatchMix and switch it to internal sync?

I was not aware of there being a 1212m model without firewire. That could be why the firmware is different; mine has a fw port built in.
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Old 04-02-2019, 07:21 PM   #30
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NO!

SR should always be "locked" to produce crackle-free and correctly tuned audio.
If it is not locked when clock source is set to "internal", there is a damage in the internal clock source!

With an external studio clock / word clock it is easy to demonstrate what happens if the clock is skewed or distuned: The lock turns off and the card quickly speeds up or slows down until SR gets locked again. This takes longer the further away the word clock rate is from the set clock range and even ends with the audio stopping completely, if it is too far off. If the clock line is not properly terminated, there will be jitter and reflections on the line and the "locked" my never turn on. In such cases, the SR clock may be freewheeling on the upper band center of the selected clock range (48k, 96k,192k), but the audio will not be exactly in tune and sync.


When feeding digital signal (S/PDIF)is not synced to a central word clock and the E-MU card is not a master clock source for the feeding device, the clock source should ne set to that input to ensure every single word is correctly captured. If the digital source is not stable and not sync with the card, crackles or distortion will result. After capturing the recording, it makes sense to then set the clock source to internal.
If all devices are synced via word clock or if the E-MU card is the master, then it is not necessary to switch clock source, just keep it on the central word clock(or the internal master clock, if this is output as master to the external devices). In every scenario, the SR should be "locked".

Last edited by Nana; 04-02-2019 at 07:48 PM.
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Old 04-02-2019, 08:43 PM   #31
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Relax. I don't have the card anymore so I must've forgotten, I just thought it only said locked when synced to an external source.
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Old 08-28-2019, 12:56 AM   #32
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nana View Post
btw: What is that ongoing troll legend of 1820m's capacitors failing without any reason?

Seriously, the original high quality capacitors should be decades away from death by age.

If the power stabilisation caps blow or leak, this origins from a foul pc power supply constantly screaming or spiking on the power rails!
Or maybe a lightning strike or similar unusual event.
Or maybe constant overheating due to obstruction (rack mount)?

As I dig through the internet, I find always the same people spinning the same prayer wheel again and again.
How many 1820 are out there? How many have failed?

I use my 1820ms with phantom powered mics, MIDI, full connections and up the maximum workload now for many years and they are still as good as new. I just make sure they get enough air convection to stay cool and have high-quality power supplies (good old Enermax, passively cooled) with current supplies matching the systems' requirements.
Hi Nana! I REALLY appreciate your knowledge and your posts on the 1820M. Just wanted to say I have two 1820 docks, one is not the M series. And BOTH had the failing capacitors. I used the online guides, heated the 2 suspects on each board up, pulled them out and replaced with the best I could find. Working great again! It's no myth or legend :-) At least not for me, but I've had them for 20 something or close to it years. Take care Nana!
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Old 08-29-2019, 03:14 AM   #33
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Default Best 1820M Drivers 2019 - Update!!

††† Nana may just be EXACTLY right. I tested quite a bit last night. I published my experimentation in pictures to show exactly how to use the Emu 1820M in 2019 with Windows 10 Pro. http://TheGuy.com/Emu

The article below does not include the newest info on a BRAND NEW CREATIVE DRIVER developed by Creative and Microsoft and able to be merged with your old Emu Drivers!!! This hybrid driver fixes quite a few flaws in the 1820M and others in this series. There is even a script to merge the Creative and Emu Drivers for you! All that's at this link:

http://theguy.com/Emu/articles/KVR-A...soft-2019.html

But to get your 1820M and Reaper to work great on the last old release from Emu read on. I used Reaper and Windows 10 Pro running Intel's i7 6700k, 32gb ram, Asus z170-a, an M.2 Samsung SSD and my 15+ years and running hard Emu 1820M!!! (I did replace the infamous bad capacitors, incidentally, to great success! http://TheGuy.com/Emu/Caps).

Nana helpfully describes two driver combinations and both work for me. She describes the all Beta Emu driver/Patchmix combo as providing reduced sound quality because of resampling though this combo is fine for general PC browsing and youtube.

She says the latest Beta driver used with the slightly older Vista PatchMix resamples less or not at all and should be used for studio work and recording:

Older PatchMix Combo
EmuPMX_PCApp_L6_2_10_00-Vista-64bit.exe
EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA-for-Windows7-64bit.exe



I trust her! But I'd like to know how Nana knows this so intimately? Does she know the developers or compared wav samples perhaps?

But the logic goes: the reason one might prefer the latest Beta/Patchmix is this combo seems to switch sample rates more easily when changing sources while the latest Beta with the slightly older Patchmix seems to experience troubles fluidly switching sample rates as music sources change between 44100 and 48000, et al. The very latest combo that more readily switches between sample rates is this:

Newer PatchMix Combo
EmuPMX_PCApp_US_2_20_00-from-1616m.exe
EmuPMX_PCDrv_2_30-Beta-Win7-64-from-1820m.exe



Frankly, I'm always switching the sample rate when music stops playing and 9/10 times it fixes things!

I tried the Beta with the Older PatchMix Combo last night as Nana suggests and I got great recordings!! from a Mogami Gold MXL mic. I tested on Win10 first - just fine. But on Win 7 ultimate, SUPER PERFECT SMOOTH with not even a hint of sound artifacts.

I think in the past I did not know I needed to SWITCH SAMPLE RATES MANUALLY on both Reaper Project Settings AND in Patchmix! So I got crackling and pops. When I MADE SURE the sample rates matched in both Patchmix and Reaper and left the "request sample rate of 441000" unchecked in Reaper/Preferences/Device, I had no failures at all!!! Win 7 can interpolate between rates but Win 10 just can't seem to do it with the Emu 1820M.

I had so many issues not knowing that on Windows 10 the sample rates do not always auto switch as they used to for me in Windows 7.

==How to Match Sample Rates in ALL THREE PLACES==

In Reaper open Project settings and SET THE SAMPLE RATE to 48 or 44: your choice. BUT YOU MUST MATCH THIS in TWO OTHER PLACES. One is the Options/Preferences/Device section: DO NOT REQUEST 44 hz if you are running 48hz.

As long as your Project settings match the device settings, this is 2/3rds of the solution. The other part is in PATCHMIX. Open it and click the 0 upper right which opens session settings.

Here you MUST CHOOSE 44 OR 48 to match your Reaper or other Daw's Project/Device/request sample rate. Fail in this, beg for problems.

In Reaper Options/Preferences/Device you'll see an ASIO CONFIGURATION button. Hit it and see the ASIO BUFFER LATENCY? Start with the max! For me that was 100ms. This will eliminate problems from not having enough buffer. But after I made sure I was matching the sample rate, I recorded in stereo using an Asio latency buffer setting of only 2ms. But Reapers "Audio Device Information" display (it has to be enabled) in the farmost upper right hand corner never changed from ~6.8/5.7ms ASIO.

But in WINDOWS 7 this display did go down to 2ms!!!!! Just not in Windows 10.

==Lower your bitrates when testing basic functionality==

I also tried lower bitrates in Project settings starting with 112k. Then I went straight to 360k and got a robot voice. Odd. So I slowly brought up the bitrate to 192, 256, then 320k again and this second time worked just perfect. The robot recording anomaly was odd, like it was really struggling to record at all. But that was the only glitch in all this testing once I manually matched sample rates as described.

==One Odd Unsolved Issue==

In older Reaper versions any window movement of Reaper or other windows produced sound spikes in Reaper, but not in the Emu Patchmix window, but I could hear them over the Reaper Monitor, but not on Patchmix. The lateste version of Reaper does not have this bug.

So, the EMU1820M LIVES!! in all its raging glory even in 2019. If I do step up, I'm thinking Antelope Audio's latest Discrete 4 SYNERGY release of 2019. But will it sound better than the visionary, no expense spared, Emu preamps dusted with magic inside?

Love,
Gelic

Last edited by Gelic; 08-30-2019 at 01:12 AM. Reason: Picture of Drivers
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Old 07-19-2020, 10:28 AM   #34
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Default EMU 1820 m and windows

Finally retired and got my recording computer back to running...mostly. Have an EMU 1820m. Used the suggested beta drivers and Patchmix combo in Windows 8.1 prom 64. Works fine. Will get a pre-1903 version of Windows 10 next week.

My question is, under Windows 7 and 8.1, recording resolution goes only to 48k. In XP 64 I could see it all (new midi software etc. forced me to upgrade to a higher version of windows). Has anyone else been able to get 96k under newer windows? Don't know that I will go that high, but I'd like to know. Thank you!
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Old 11-11-2020, 08:43 PM   #35
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Originally Posted by organgrinder View Post
Finally retired and got my recording computer back to running...mostly. Have an EMU 1820m. Used the suggested beta drivers and Patchmix combo in Windows 8.1 prom 64. Works fine. Will get a pre-1903 version of Windows 10 next week.

My question is, under Windows 7 and 8.1, recording resolution goes only to 48k. In XP 64 I could see it all (new midi software etc. forced me to upgrade to a higher version of windows). Has anyone else been able to get 96k under newer windows? Don't know that I will go that high, but I'd like to know. Thank you!
UPDATE: After fiddling around and loading the "fix", it still didn't work properly until I tried a third CAT6 cable. VIOLA! All resolutions and no issues. Who knew?
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Old 12-24-2020, 06:12 PM   #36
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Windows 10 1909 and 20H2 makes really bad sound with Windows Audio /WDM /WASAPI, because the routing even got worse.

With the fixes on https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=529349
it makes a double-double-resampling with everything else than WASAPI Exclusive or ASIO. They use the 2.20 Patchmix.

I tested it and thought my monitors or my ears were broken, because all my masters sounded boxy and lifeless on Winamp or other players, while Reaper using ASIO still sounded like normal.

Then I tried Maiko WASAPI for Winamp in bitcopy mode. Sound was crystal clear like in Reaper.

Now who of the common people has ASIO or WASAPI Exclusive Mode while using a consumer Windows system to listen to music, be it on streams or wherever?

With the common over-compressed loudness swamp of modern music this will not show up so much, but with music?

I think Windows has come to an end with music.

The problem is on all computers I've tested. All had the phenomenon, regardless of the soundcard installed.

It gets cured atleast on the 1820m with the 2.10 Patchmix of my list, but then one has to select sample rates on all parts of the audio chain manually.
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