EGO SYS WaMi Box

Windows XP (Which is in no way supported, I have to dual boot 98 with xp to get the piece of crap to work but that is only if I use the original drivers any new drivers posted to Egosys's website have proven useless.) My manual proved useless right out of the box.

I have had no luck with onboard FX or any of the special features. About all it has proven good for is some light 98 based recording and as a midi interface for my lap top to control my drum machine during rehersals and really there are some good usb based midi boxes out there that will do the job for A LOT less.

None that I could dig out of it.

No

They responeded to my email only to tell me I was SOL.

No, It sets on my shelf and collects dust. I bought it from MARS (When they were open) mainly to record guitar trax notebook and at the time there was not much on the market however I have since found the Line 6 PODxt and unlike the WAMI the POD rocks and is super flexible and reliable in ways the WAMI could never be, and about $100 cheaper. I would sell the WAMI on ebay but honestly I don't know who would want the piece of crap.

I use the 'original' drivers (version 1.x)

Manual is ok, if a little sketchy.

Very limited effects with this driver version. But then I didn't buy it for that.
The choice of audio inputs & outputs is good (especially digital).
Used the midi port to sync MTC with no problems.

n/a to me as I use it purely for audio.

Fairly reliable. Version 2.0 drivers don't work with Logic Audio hence my continued use of earlier drivers. I hear lots of sorry tales about subsequent driver reliability etc, so I guess it would be fair to say the unit is only good for basic audio I/O use.

Patchy at times.

Lots more choice on the market now...but nothing that will work with my trusty P2 Toshiba laptop! It has proved ideal for my small home set-up. It certainly sounds better than the internal soundcard on the laptop (although doesn't give as good performance track-count & effects wise in Logic Audio)

Windows SE. Never got this thing past illuminating the power led.

Couldn't get it this far.

Who knows?

Actually, I never could get it to work even once.

Absolutely the worse. Unanswered voice and e-mails. When I learned this product was Korean I knew the tech support would be nonexistent. Generally the Asians don't do well at any type of support and the manuals are written in a minimalist broken-English style.

If I lose it, I hope no one else finds it. They don't deserve the same aggrevation that I went through. On the other hand, if its stolen......

What software version are you using?
* Wami ASIO 2.0 latest drivers
How do the presets sound?
* I can't get the internal synth/soundfont sounds to work
How hard is editing patches?
* I can't edit soundfonts.. used to have at least some control with the complex, user-unfriendly Edison soundfont editing program a couple of years back, but since ASIO 2.0 drivers have come out, Egosys have seemed to drop the importance of the internal sounds.
How is the manual ?
* Manual was pretty bad... I was never quite sure I had it set up correctly with Cubase VST

The unit has a switchable input button on the front which toggles the various inputs. I like the optical in and out (for outputting to Mini disc)
Since Egosys released the ASIO 2.0 drivers, I have lost a lot of features. I cannot access the inbuild effects, and I have been compelty unable to use its internal synth (if anyone could help me with this please email me!)

Came with a generic GM soundfont bank. I did get into editing soundfonts for it for a little while there but it was so impractical I stopped doing it! If I use a VST instrument in Cubase VST, and use the ASIO 2.0 drivers, there is a fairly long latency... I hit the keys and hear the notes after a short delay. This could be because my laptop is fairly old now (toshiba Satelite 2610, 466mhz celron 192 meg ram)
The sound quality is fine by my ears... sounds great through a massive PA system too!

I have used it for live shows and it is fairly reliable.. but, as others have noted... its DRIVERS are the one thing that let it down. They have never got them right.. and I agree, I think Egosys have dropped this product like a hot potato - probably due to its driver related problems, and the fact that now there are much better choices on the market. It is a shame really.

Agree with all other posts.. bad Korean support from people who have no idea about what customer service is all about. I emailed them a couple of times, got a reply that didn't really answer my question, and I think even one they even didn't reply at all. You need good tech support to get it all working smoothly because the manual is so bad and there are so many drivers which were released for this product (each new release of driver looking NOTHING LIKE the one previous) it is confusing

I am sure most Wamibox users fixed their own problems via trial and error, and even THEN haven't got them sorted. I was dissapointed with Egosys because of their bad support. You get the feeling they don't really care.

SO MUCH PROMISED - VERY LITTLE DELIVERED

That is my feelings in a nutshell.

Music making should be fun. The gear you use to create it should be reliable and easy to configure and use, so you can get on with getting the creative juices flowing. Many hours I have spent in frustration trying to figure out how to get my Wami to work the best, or at all. The bad drivers (one driver was so bad on my computer, I couldn't use my Wami at all because it kept on breaking up all the time) and the fact that the company have given next to no support to the consumer makes me think that this was a bit of a waste of money for me. Still when I first bought it, there was no other product which came close. Now, with all those USB 2.0 devices, there is more choice. I believe the Wami is now a thing of the past.. if you are thinking of getting one, please don't! Shop around. Wami is good for those who are forced to use a PCMCIA solution for audio or midi, but even then please look around, there may be a better solution.
For any Wamibox owners out there who are reading this, please feel free to email me with comments/ questions, I would love to hear about your experiences.

nuendo 1.6 (win me), reason 2, cubase
presets sound flat
the interface makes any operation a little trickier than it should be
manual not of much help allthough the main points are covered.

nothing worth mentioning, multi out (but that does not work with any kind of reliability

basic

terrible, any reason will give up

none

anyone considering paying money for the wami box should , in my opinion, think long and hard about an alternative. use on several different laptops (all over the 1 gig mark) gave no improvement, i gave up around a year ago now.

I found, as everyone else has, the manual is weak. I connected to my dell 266 and everything came up ok. The soundfonts are limited, I haven't found any other than the ones ego sys provided. The new software helped for my application.

Since I don't use midi this was not needed. The optical ins and outs are what I use the unit for. The chorus and reverb work well along with the eq section. My setup is as follows: guitar > POD > mixer > mains out > wamibox >(optical) out > roland 1680. This config works great. Extremely clear signal just use balanced cables.

I tinkered with some of the features and fond that they were fun, but not my bag. The DSP works well for my purposes. The AD/DA converters work fine for my vocal stuff.

Still works fine. Built like a tank.

Never replied to my questions, so they suck in that department.

Like I said for me and how I use it it's great. If your a midi freak I couldn't tell you.

I have mine since 3 years , 3 drivers, the second kind of works.
Manual is ajoke, specially the first one

The good thing about it are inputs/outputs. That`s what I could use the unit, transfer the files to pc to do some editing, used with Cubase, Wavelab, Cakewalk, Cooledit. Digital in/outs ( it has also optical).It never worked to do multitrack, specially mixing audio and midi

Nothing worth writting

No

Disaster, they hardly have people who speak anything else then Korean, and those who do are in marketing.
They are all nice people if you meet them, professionally.... no more comments

Never again anything from this company, after 3 years I wish I never bought it. Then there was nothing , now there are many better, working products.

I use Cakewalk Guitar Studio 11 with a Toshiba Satellite 2675 laptop.
The presets are no great thing but that's why I change 'em to suit me.
I bought mine before the drive upgrade/Edirol addition. If you think the newer manual left something to be desired you should have seen the original. I had to experiment with it and try different things. This resulted in me learning how to use it. It took time and resulted in satisfaction. I can't compare to other equipment as this was my first software, computer, breakout box and other paraphenalia experince. It was trying but the results have been very pleasing for an old rock dinosaur such as my semi-ignorant self.

To me polyphony means many sounds. I make 'em, record 'em, mutate 'em and play them back. They sound great to me. The velocity sensitive keyboard I bought was very inexpensive and works well. But my primary interest is audio/wave rather than midi. Again, the WaMi has performed well after the monstrous effort and time involved getting it fixed and set up right.

What instruments? My guitars sound great, the cakewalk sounds are great. It works for my rock/blues/space stuff/wrist slashing psuedo country, whatever I do. It reacts well to my playing and has even gotten amorous on occasion. It reacts well to the velocity suggestions.

I can now. Second questions is not applicable.

Initially I got no respect. They failed to reply and when they did it was much later. Their english comprehension sucked (Korea). The unit began to fail after @ 6 months (it was me that did the damage). Egosys did squat until I posted a bad revue on an internet music equipment store site. They responded immediately and vehemently. Said some really nasty things. Then they paid shipping, repaired it and upgraded it with the new drivers, sound editor etc. Now it works great. But it was was horrible dealing with them. Then they got an english speaking american tech guy.

I might try something else and then buy it. Some of the newer units sound promising. I don't know if it's worth it but it works to my satifaction so yes. I've been playing 32 years. I did extensive research with the help of my tech head friends this layout was the most feasible for my desires. The only further expansion I'm considering is an external hard drive. I allows me to record great music. The product is good but I question their quality control. The tech support problems were echoed by a chap who bought one after I praised it's post repair function. His has not worked right. But the learning curve for me was long as it was my first recording equipment and alomost my first equipment exposure. 3 years ago I was computer illiterate.

ASIO 2.0 driver

This thing is a joke. I have used it because there wasn't much else for me at the time. The old drivers never worked properly (bizarre sync problems, driver crashes frequently). The new driver sacrificed most of the features of the box, came with a very spartan control panel, and did not work at all on my Dell Inspiron 8000. The mic input is set way too hot, forcing me to buy a variable pad to avoid overloading the input. The effects suck and I haven't been able to record with them anyway. The midi timing of the built-in sampler is shocking, external midi only fair. The documentation is poor. Egosys tech help is terrible It took me several attempts to get them to understand the difference between overloading the mic-pre and setting record level to Cubase. In the end they tested the mic input, agreed it was set way too hot, offered no solution!
I get the impression Egosys has abandoned this product. I will get the RME Hammerfall Multiface and hope some fool wants to buy this toy from me.

The WaMi Box Midi section has 16MB for loading SoundFonts. I don't like the Ed!son program interface, as it is too busy for my taste. It is much the same as for the EWS-64 sound card. One problem was that loading a given soundfont did not always result in a functional sound due to some intermittancy that I never figured out.

The GM presets are the usual bland generics, and mostly uninspiring. The value here lies in the ability to use soundfonts from the Internet, or home brewed. There is a bit more noise floor than I would like. The hiss cuts out suddenly after a note has trailed off to silence.

The manuals are OK, a bit short on details. They could have used an editor for grammar. The software included V2 drivers for Direct Sound. That seems to work OK with Cakewalk.

The polyphony is dependent on the particular soundfont used. I didn't see anything like the advertised 64 note polyphony. More like 6 or 8.

The effects section is not up to professional standards- very dissappointing. It sound like an old automotive spring type unit- boyoiyoiyoing. The chorus was OK, didn't get to the other parts as that takes away from CPU cycles.

The Midi interface works with no fuss.

see above.

unknown

Emails to EgoSys have gone unanswered, so it looks like they don't have customer support that lives up to the name.

The main problem with the unit is that I could not get the Midi function to operate at the same time as the record function. Doing so caused glitches in the audio track. Several tests made me believe that it is not capable of this, but without tech support from EgoSys, I'll never know. Since everything is processed by the DSP, asking it to handle too many tasks at once causes trouble.

The record function does work well. If one used that and only external midi modules, then there would be problem. My need was for a portable recording setup in conjunction with my laptop, and this looked too good on paper. It certainly is small, and needs no power supply.But given the Midi record problem, the noise floor, the poor reverb unit, and the limited polyphony, I have to return this box back to the vendor. It is more of a toy than a musical instrument.