Epitaph for the EMU 1616m PCI

This morning I woke up with my brand new Win7 64bit PC with Sonar 8.5PE installed and the EMU 1616m does not work with any of it. I'm tired of banging my head over this. I'm buying a new interface, and I'm getting rid of the EMU 1616m. I will never buy another EMU/Creative product as long as I live. I've learned my lesson the hard way. I'm out $400 that could have been better spent on a more competent piece of equipment. The 1616m works great with WinXP. But who wants to record with Win XP? Live and learn. It's not Sweetwater's fault. They've always done right by me. But a lemon is a lemon no matter what you do with it.
If you want to record music and want an interface that will do what it's supposed to do, don't buy an EMU.
R.I.P.

Hi, have you gone to the E-Mu site and grabbed a driver compatible with Windows 7? I have an 1820m and a 1212m, both have worked fine for me for several years. Last week the 1820 quit working. All it took was to uninstall the old driver (if your sytem is new you shouldn't need to do this) and load the most recent version for my OS (XP in my case). 10 minutes and back in working order. Hope it works, better to save the cash for something else if you can. Good luck. Dan

Hi, have you gone to the E-Mu site and grabbed a driver compatible with Windows 7? I have an 1820m and a 1212m, both have worked fine for me for several years. Last week the 1820 quit working. All it took was to uninstall the old driver (if your sytem is new you shouldn't need to do this) and load the most recent version for my OS (XP in my case). 10 minutes and back in working order. Hope it works, better to save the cash for something else if you can. Good luck. Dan

That is what I did. I had tried the Vista driver several months ago with the exact same results. Within the last few weeks EMU posted a Windows 7 beta driver. The "Windows 7" beta driver that EMU currently has for download on their site is no better than the Vista driver. The Vista driver does not work on Windows 7, nor does the Windows 7 beta driver.
I bought the 1616 for my XP computer(which I still have) but it has insufficient RAM and processor speed to handle Sonar 8,5, which I recently purchased and have installed on my Windows 7 PC.
Regardless, I'm out of denial now, and I can accept that I wasted money on a lemon and now it's time to look for something that works.

I have a 1515M (cardbus, not PCI) and have not used it on Windows 7. However, I have both a 1820M and 1212M that are both happily running on Windows 7 Pro. They loaded up and ran with the Vista drivers before an updated driver was available.
All of the eMu products (except the 0404USB) seem to use the same set of drivers, so I'm rather surprised that there would be a problem with the 1616M on Windows 7. I have used my 1616M with a PCI to PCMCIA Card adapter on an older DAW running XP - works fine. Only odd thing with the adapter is that the machine won't power down without trying to come back up - even if the eMu card is not plugged in. The older DAW did have the 1820M on it - I did have to do a refresh install of the drivers and PatchMix software so that the proper configuration was picked up.
I think that the 1820M (no longer being made) and the 1616M PCI use the same 1010 PCI card - the circuitry is similar, so I'm wondering if there is an interrupt sharing problem or whatever. BTW - the DAW with the 1820M is 64-bit, and the workstation (which I am using at the moment) is dual boot with removable hard drives - I usually run 32-bit Windows 7 pro, but can also run 64-bit, or 32-bit Vista, or 32-bit XP - and ALL of them run audio fine with the 1212M card.

The 1616m is advertised to record at a max 192k bitrate. Certainly whether it's necessary to record at anything other than CD audio is debatable, but the full range is available in Win XP. In Win 7 with the beta driver I can only record at 44.1 or 48(it's one or the other--my memory eludes me right now). Furthermore, ALL of the patchmix effects are greyed out. So there are no effects available in Patchmix. The 1616m is barely an input device using Win 7 and the current EMU beta drivers. And that is NOT what the 1616m is advertised to do, nor what it is designed to do. Simply, what the unit does with Win XP it CANNOT do on Win 7. It can't do HALF of what it can do on Win XP on the Win 7 OS. That's unacceptable to me.
So then you're saying that you have a fully functioning interface(and accompanying software) using your EMU with Windows 7 64 bit? If so, could you kindly share how you have managed to get it to do this? I for one would love to be able to use my EMU interface with Win 7. To date all of my efforts to do exactly that have been in vain.

First - I don't have the 1616M on any of the Windows 7 boxes, it is a cardbus device on my notebook that is running XP. However, the computer I am using is dual boot, 32 & 64 bit (run in 32 most of the time), with an eMu 1212M card. I just brought up the PatchMix controls, and the effects, signal generator, etc. DO function.
My primary DAW is 64-bit Windows 7 only, it has the eMu 1820M (no longer being produced, has two PCI cards, and a similar cable to the 1616M going to a break-out box). The only problem I've had on that computer is that the internal Windows Media Player will not play - claims the audio device is in use. Sonar LE, Finale 2008, and Cantabile 64-bit all work with it. PatchMix looks just like it did on the older DAW that runs XP -- seems to function the same way.
I had no problems installing the Vista drivers on these three different systems. My opinion, although I cannot prove it, is that there is some other device on your system that is not on mine (or is in a different software location) that is causing the driver and PatchMix software not to install properly. The first time I built the system, as I was adding and changing things, the eMu stopped working completely. After a bit of trouble-shooting, I wiped the system and re-installed - did not run into problems again.
Some suggestions from the process that I had: install the eMu and remove the motherboard sound card EARLY in the process, if possible. I didn't remove the motherboard sound the first time - that may have been part of the problem. Second install - I installed Windows itself, then immediately removed the internal sound, rebooted cold, and installed the eMu. All other software including OS patches were installed afterward. Based on other installs on XP with some of Creative's earlier drivers - there were a lot of things that could go wrong - especially in the internal routing of audio. The more recent drivers have installed easier. Also - don't install any additional hardware, especially plug-in devices before the eMu software (have nothing but mouse, keyboard, and video monitor connected at the first - then add other devices one at a time. Be sure to do a System Restore Point on Windows before installing each additional item, that way you can back rev if needed if a particular device additon or software addition messes things up.
I've spent a couple of decades working with, teaching, and servicing computer gear. Some of the above is just good practice. Besides - if you throw out the eMu and buy something else - you don't know if it will work either, just because it has drivers. Should things be this way - NO, but they are.
BTW - the Control Panel - Sound applet in Vista and 7 are a lot different from XP. However, on the Recording tab, when I go into it and try to set there, 192 K does appear. I didn't test it to see if it worked or not.

Thanks for your input. I just bought a new interface which works flawlessly with Windows 7. Right out of the box. And it's been around as long as the EMU 1616m has, so that says something about the differences between companies. For the sake of credibility, I won't mention the name and manufacturer of my new interface. My EMU 1616m really doesn't work with my computer. I have a few questions about your experience.
Are you saying that Patchmix effects are loaded and useable in a 64bit environment? If so, I'm curious as to your Windows configuration. I might add that I was able to record, albeit at only a 44.1 bitrate alone. The higher bitrates that the 1616m is advertised to record were not available. Were you able to get your EMU to record at a bitrate higher than 44.1 or 48?
Also, tell me more about your experience with the DSP effects--were they all available? Were any of them greyed out? I had no patchmix effects whatsoever with the Win7 beta driver.
I appreciate the time you have taken to reply to my circumstance, but the issue is that the 1616m is barely functional in my PC. If you are running the 1616m on a 64bit Win7 system and have access to all of the bitrates that the 1616m is advertised to record at and have all the Patchmix effects available, perhaps you could kindly describe with a bit more detail exactly how you managed to get it to do that.

My main DAW is 64-bit Windows 7 Professional. However (as I have mentioned), I have the eMu 1820M on it, not the 1616M. My 1616M is CardBus, and is used with a ThinkPad that is running XP.
I have not tested to see if recording actually happens at faster bit rates, but they are NOT greyed out. I only checked a few of the DSP functions, they were not greyed out, and couple I checked did work. I don't normally use them, most of my work is done live with a Kurzweil PC3X, I do have Sonar LE on the DAW (haven't needed any thing better), and it works fine.
I am not running the Win 7 beta drivers - I have downloaded them, but what I have is working already. I installed Windows 7 Pro on the brand new computer - without the eMu PCI card installed. I then went into BIOS, and turned off the internal motherboard sound device. I then turned off Windows User Account Control (the part that causes a popup for anything requiring Administrator access) and shut down - this is necessary for UAC to be shut off.
I then installed the eMu PCI cards along with the extension box, brought Windows back up. When it attempted to detect hardware, I cancelled the auto-detect.
I then loaded the eMu latest Vista drivers, which ran without complaing. After it loaded, I rebooted, and loaded the eMu PatchMix Vista drivers, which also ran without complaint. Finally, I turned Windows UAC back on, and rebooted so that it would be back on. End of process, except installation of all other software.
Comments: During all the above, I had NO other devices already connected to the computer except the video monitor, mouse, and keybard. All other devices were added and recognised AFTER install of the eMu. Not sure if this is critical or not - but it has been my experience that audio stuff breaks sometimes due to multiple devices attempting to use the same software interrupt.
I THINK that the 1616M PCI is very, very similar to the 1820M, or the 1212M - which is the sound card on the Windows 7 computer I am using to send this message. That machine is not a dedicated DAW, but does have a lot of audio software on it. It is configured as dual boot, 32-bit being the default, and 64-bit being the alternate on the particular hard drive, which is mounted in a SATA trayless drive adapter. I have two other hard drives configured for this machine, one with Vista Business, the other with XP SP3. ALL four configurations recognise and use the eMu 1212M. The drivers from eMu have exactly the same name and size for all these cards, and auto-detect whether 64 bit is needed.
I did not perform any special wizardry in this install - just things I've learned to do over a couple of decades of earning my livlihood with computer networking - such as installing the aggravating stuff FIRST before adding anything else that is not really necessary at the time. Sorry for the delay responding, I don't check this forum every day, usually about once a week.
Hope this is helpful.

I made sure that in my control panel I opened up Hardware and Sound then under Sound I selected Manage audio devices. The Sound Folder displays and in it are the following Tabs: Playback,Recording Sounds, Communication
Each tab will show devices For instance under Playback you might have Speakers
Headphones
Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
Speakers (again if you have two sets)
I highlight each choice and click the Properties button
On the following Properties pages you get various tabs once again
usually General is included With headphones I got
GENERAL LEVELS ENHANCEMENTS ADVANCED I clicked on the Advanced tab and there I had the ability to choose the DEFAULT FORMAT I choose the following
2 channel, 24 bit, 48000Hz (Studio Quality) and then there is a Test button
Once that is accomplished (And check all devices that might let you choose a default Format)and everything is set to 24 bit 48000Hz You should be all set Now load an appropiate session template into PatchMix DSP and you should be recognized and can produce audio. The Key seems to be making sure evrything is set to 24 bit 48000Hz or 48KHz That seems to allow windows to see and recognize your Emu devices. I use the 1212M myself and had problems till I took the above approach with both VISTA 64 and WIN 7 64
The same holds for the 32bit versions.

Once I set everything to 24/48 in my control panel W7 had no problem recognizing my 1212m so I could install the drivers and DSP software. Until I did that I would get a message saying no compatible hardware detected. Once at 24/48 w/ software installed I simply went back into the control panel and set everything for 24/96; mainly the speakers using my 1212m. Now anything W7 related plays through WAVE (1212m) and my recording SW (Live, Sonar) through ASIO
PS The Patchmix effects only operate up to 48K also above 48K the ASIO host goes from 32 down to 16 PEACE!

I have just had the same issue as Skywalker, and after countless hours with EMU tech support via email and even Sweetwater I discovered the oh so simple solution.
If you will go into Audio and then click on the drivers tab you will notice both the "input" and the "output" windows. You will also most likely notice that that every input and output is checked. The EMU 1616m defaults to the 15/16 ASIO driver, however Sonar defaults to output 1/2 of the EMU driver.
My simple fix was to uncheck all the of the drivers listed except for 15. I clicked ok and got out of the Audio section. Restarted Sonar just to be sure of a fresh start and wahlah...it all worked.
Not even EMU or Sweetwater suggested this.
I think the confusing part for initially was seeing Sonar defaulting to output 1/2...and that was the output I was using on the breakout box...but that was different than the ASIO driver.
Hope this helps someone else that has an EMU 1616m.
Thanks,
Richard

I'm confused about the quote below by vonGaudio on 08/01/2010:

The Patchmix effects only operate up to 48K also above 48K the ASIO host goes from 32 down to 16 PEACE!

What is it that goes down from 32 to 16? Is the ASIO driver responsible for the drop?