E-MU Emulator X Studio

Emulator X-Studio comprises the 1820m gear and the Emulator X software. The 1820m gear is divided into: (first) the AudioDockM external box, which holds 6 analog inputs, 8 analog outputs, 1 headphone output, 1 SPDIF optical output, two mic/line Neutrik combo connectors with a common phantom power switch, a MIDI in&out, a pair of phono plugs for turntable input (and a ground lug useful for that), mini-jack stereo outputs that mirror the main 1/4'' analog jacks, and the external connector socket where you plug the cat5-like RF protected cable that connects to the main PCI card. (Second) the main PCI card itself, which occups one PCI slot and has ADAT IN/OUT sockets, SPDIF IN/OUT over RCA plugs, and the socket for the connection cable mentioned. (Third) the sync daughter card, which occups also other PCI slot even if it is not directly plugged into the PCI bus. Is a little card that holds Word Clock IN/OUT, SMPTE IN/OUT and a mini-DIN output socket that can be used for MIDI Time Code output or as an additional MIDI port (using the adapter cable included).

Summarizing, this means you can have up to 18 simultaneous input (6 analog, 8 ADAT, 2 mic/line, and two channels SPDIF), and 20 simultaneous outputs (8 analog, 8 ADAT, 2 SPDIF coax and 2 SPDIF optical). Hence the name: 1820m, ?get it? hehe... :) However, this is only true for 44.1 and 48 kHz sampling rates. In 96 kHz mode you can have up to 8 analog inputs and 8 analog outputs total, and in 192 kHz you can have up to 4 analog inputs and 6 analog outputs. I won't enter into ADAT/SPDIF number of channels, please see the manual, since it depends on the template (mode) that you choose within PatchMixDSP. Overall it can be up to 12 in, 16 out in 96 kHz mode and 4 in, 10 out in 192 kHz mode, which is great for a device this price tag, and shows how versatile and adaptable this system is.

It's a great idea to have the audio connectors outside the noisy computer, so the need for the AudioDockM. Add to that the great news in component quality: the A/D converters used in the AudioDockM (AK 5394) are exactly the same used for Digidesign's 192 I/O interface for Pro Tools TDM systems. The D/A converters, model CS4398 from Cirrus Logic, and the operational amplifiers (JRC 2068) are also great. These electronics offer up to -120dBA of noise level (I checked this in Wavelab, for example), which is superb for professional recording in your home studio. I really couldn't believe this when I first saw the E-MU announce... but I HAD to believe when I got the gear... the sound floor is really really quiet and smooth, without any artifacts or unpleasant compromises in audio quality. Hooray for E-MU! hehe :)
A warning here (also pointed out in the README flyer you will find inside the box): installation can cause lots of trouble if you already have had a Creative product such as Audigy/Audigy 2/Live card installed. You should be very careful in this event, and the dialogs that show up for the Hardware Setup wizard can be confusing as the E-MU 1820m chip is related somehow to the old E-MU10k1 driver used for the Audigy cards. You better disable (in the Device Manager within Windows) your other Creative card/s (if any) during installation of the 1820m, and then re-enable the disabled card/s.

The registration window that jumps on you after installation is really wierd, and I can't see why Creative/E-Mu insists on that ugly detail when the first thing you want to do after reboot is not register, but start using the gear. I am being fair in critisizing the registration stuff, because curiously I tried to register my Emulator X-Studio in the www.emu.com page and there was no link for it! And then searching in the Creative website, there was not even mention of E-MU digital audio systems in the product register area! (I think in the US Creative website it is, but for european customers I couldn't find it).

PatchMixDSP is the part of the provided software that deals with routing within the I/O channel

This package, as I said in the introduction, provides you with almost everything you could need (hardware-sense) in your home or project recording studio. Tons of analog/digital ins&outs, flexibility in sampling rates, supreme quality of audio, zero latency options (and minimal, 2ms figure latency on ASIO traditional mixing) and all kind of MIDI and sync options. The PatchMixDSP on its part, provides a comprehensive control of those extensive hardware features.

Last but not least, the Emulator-X sampling software is really cool, it comprises lots of years of E-Mu's expertise in the field of hardware sampling, and is convenient, clean, and complete (difficult to say of software products these days...). The libraries (both the Proteus and other stylish producer banks, and the giga-sized "Studio Grand" sampled piano) are also really great and inspiring. You're done in every area with this product, it's quite worth the bucks (best quality/price ratio I've seen lately, indeed).

In this category all I can say is: the sounds included, as I just mentioned, are really really good and take you to the next level in sampling and synthesis if you have been comforming to Creative cards up to now. You'll notice the difference, is so striking... The sound can be altered in dozens of ways, and the filters are very precise and good-sounding. Everything does its work. If you loved the old Emulator hardware days, you will feel at home. The preset creation features are also strinkingly easy and won't let your inspiration dissipate with complicated editing as it happened with traditional hardware samplers. E-Mu is clearly rivaling products such as MOTU's Machfive or Gigastudio with this move. Along with all kinds of hardware sampler formats, the Emulator-X imports .gig format, by the way!

The AudioDockM is solid as a rock. Far better construction than older Creative out-boxes and even better than the Digidesign MBox I own (in terms of quality and robustness of built). The connection cable is the strongest, most durable fashion of cat5 (typical net cable) I've seen so far. Black, thick, and it's RF shielded in both ends. An adorable sweetie in this bargain, handful-for-a-buck age of connectionland :)

E-Mu support answered a question I had about malfunctioning of the bundled Cubase VST sequencer, in less than 24 hours by email (and I live by a jet-lag, so maybe it was quickier than that on their part). It turned out it must be some misconfiguration of my computer, since the problem happened to me also by selecting another audio driver (that of my Terratec DMX6 Fire, to be precise).

I can see the only problems E-Mu tech guys are going to suffer from users will belong to any of both of these two simple categories: the coexistance with other Creative/sound cards in general, and the PatchMixDSP features (this application seems to be a bit on the buggy-side, but E-Mu folks are being quite supportive and fast in their delivery of software updates).

I can see there's have been a lot of urge to release this line of E-Mu systems, because there wasn't already anything equal to them in the market (at least at THAT price tag!, and ESI (with their Waveterminal 192X) and another brands were and are ultimating their own, similar designs for sure!). But overall their customer service is high-quality, and I am pretty satisfied.

This is a desirable, great product. It covers professional desktop/project studio recording at flagship pristine, 192 kHz quality, for less than 500 bucks if you don't buy the Emulator-X sampling software or a couple hundred more if you do.

NOTHING equals this offer of audio quality, connectivity and programmability in the market, although we will see several contending "imitations" come along the following months from rivaling companies.

All I can say, Creative Professional market is NOT the old Creative market. They surely had to demonstrate pro quality with this to get a bit apart from the "consumer stuff" naming names tendency users have had (fairly enough) with Creative Labs products. In my opinion, they have succeeded, and this is the best deal you can get if you're low budget but WANT to have your studio needs covered for a very very long and happy time...