E-MU 0404 PCI vs. ESI Maya 44 PCI?

Discussion in 'Computer Hardware' started by Roject, Apr 26, 2020.

  1. Roject

    Roject Audiosexual

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    I'm loking for second hand soundcard to my old 32-bit PC. I would like to relieve cpu.
    Which one is better?
    E-MU 0404 PCI or ESI Maya 44 PCI? or maybe other soundcard?
     
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  3. GianaSister

    GianaSister Producer

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    i have both and test over jears .
    bether joice is RME HDSP 9632 PCI second hand on ebay kleinanzeigen for 75 - 120 EURO
    RME is much more bether than EMU 0404 SHITY DRIVER Beter is ESI bether latency- and drivers working fine on PC WN7 x64 and MAC OSX
     
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  4. Roject

    Roject Audiosexual

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    Yeah RME has good quality stuff but prices are too high for old PC :mad:
     
  5. taskforce

    taskforce Audiosexual

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    The Esi is slightly faster than the Emu in latency. Some newer Esis come with a Sabre32 converter but i don't think the old Esi44 does. Either way the Emu is a glorified SoundBlaster. The old RME 9632 or 9652 Pci is excellent if you can find one. The other great one is the Motu 424 Pci. Both the RME and the MOTU need some kind of external interface but they can be bought with an interface for crazy cheap money. I 've seen many in Ebay.
    Cheers
     
  6. Recoil

    Recoil Guest

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  7. Baxter

    Baxter Audiosexual

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    Actually, you can find RME firewire audio interfaces really cheap used.
     
  8. Plendix

    Plendix Platinum Record

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    Do you record stuff?
    In case you don't do that often or are willing to buy an external mic preamp
    here comes some blasphemy: Have you considered the Soundblaster Z PCIe card?
    Had to have a backup daw some days ago fast and had that card around.
    knew it had ASIO drivers...
    It's awesome! (did I mention that I'm an hardcore rme fanboy?!)
    CPU impact as low as on RME, 8 outputs, digi in digi out and line in.
    Very low latency possible (I don't believe in the 2ms the driver tells the daw, but it's low)
    Very high latency possible (good for mixing with less cpu impact)
    for like 70 bucks...
    And if you like Emu... emu was bought by creative ages ago. In fact it's an EMU card,
    theres even 'EMU' imprinted on it.
    I'm going to write a thead of it's own when I have more time, because I consider it as a bargain and
    a little gem I found there.
    And it made me curious... tested an asus xonar u7 (external usb soundcard)
    needs deeper testing, but the asio drivers seem fine.

    EDIT: It has 6 outputs, my bad, it's not 7.1
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2020
  9. Roject

    Roject Audiosexual

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    In local offers in my country second hand RME Fireface 400 price is €400
    second hand RME 9632 prices are between €200 - €260
    second hand ESI Juli@ price is €65
    second hand ESI Maya 44 prices are between €30 - €45
    second hand E-MU 0404 prices are between €15 - €35
     
  10. Roject

    Roject Audiosexual

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    I would like to record guitar and audio via jack from phone/sampler etc.
     
  11. Baxter

    Baxter Audiosexual

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    But RME is miles above those other brands in quality/latency/etc, and they still update drivers for their "old" audio interface (compared to other brands that you mention).
     
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  12. Plendix

    Plendix Platinum Record

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    Line would work, guitar would need a preamp.

    If you go for the rme 9632 as recommended, keep in mind, that you might not have pci slots on your next mainboard.
    but that's no problem, there are pci > pcie bridges for about 16 bucks.
    I use 2 9632 cards in CSL bridges and they work perfectly.
    They are good rock solid cards, but you won't get as low as with native pcie cards latency wise.
    (modern pcie cards go down to 32 samples buffer, like the rme aio, the 9632 has 64 samples).
    But I would say that's ok, we're not lang lang, are we (ok, maybe you are, I'm not :D)

    I would totally not agree with the other recommendations. esi let me down OFTEN when it came to 'I need a driver that works, NOW! PLEASE!'.
    They abandon their products fast, so I wouldnt even buy new esi stuff, and certainly not older stuff.
    (don't know how it is on mac, I'm on pc)
    Besides they lie about the reported latency to the daw. when they report 2ms it's about 6-7

    and maya and emu.. aren't they out of business for a long time?
    how to get new drivers? besides that maya never was a company to support it's product long.
     
  13. Olaf

    Olaf Platinum Record

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    E-MU 1212m (or "higher") would be better in this case, since it has more DSP resources than the 0404 (the Maya doesn't have any, afaik). But the PowerFX plug-ins are still quite basic. So don't expect something special.
    These E-MUs work fine with Windows XP to 8.1, there were compatibility issues with the first Win 10 release, but then they did work again with 1511.

    Maya is not a company, ESI is. Here are the drivers (Win 98 up to Win 10) for the Maya44: https://download.esi-audio.com/?w=esi&p=14&g=1

    But you never know. Both cards could stop working with the next Windows 10 update. Obviously, neither Creative nor ESI would build new drivers for these old cards.

    A Sound Blaster Z doesn't make sense for recording as it lacks proper inputs and the ADCs are mediocre at best. Just for mixing etc. you don't need ASIO or low latency, but you might want balanced outputs, so the Sound Blaster doesn't give you much more than a regular Realtek onboard codec. Ok, maybe some better DACs, but then again, you could get even better for less.
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2020
  14. Roject

    Roject Audiosexual

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    Thanks. I definitely will look for only RME stuff if I buy new PC.
     
  15. Jazz-N-Stuff

    Jazz-N-Stuff Platinum Record

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  16. Plendix

    Plendix Platinum Record

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    I did some research, 'cause I'm using that Soundblaster Z instead of my RME AIO
    just for the fun of it and actually I don't miss anything..
    They're not soldering just another realtek chip on a board, the dsp / DAC is the
    successor of the EMU10k1 and EMU10k2 and is a child of the EMU heritage.
    Thats cool.

    Another thing: Ok, realtek chips never got decent ASIO drivers, so they suck, fine.
    But besides RME all other companies buy their chips from c-media or some other brand.
    And even worse: They're all using the driver of the chip company with their own graphical frontend.
    Only Steinberg and RME are famous for programming their audiodevice drivers in-house and are
    therefore the only ones who know what they're doing / selling.

    so if i could choose between a company that built a chip an programmed a driver (creative, rme) and a company that takes
    some c-media chip and grabs a .dll (focusrite) I would know what I would choose.

    Don't be like "hey it's cheap, it can't be good". That's what companies want you to think.
    Audio domain is a VERY easy task for a chip today. To build a decent DAC/ADC/DSP you
    don't need that special magic like back then in the 90ies.

    I would totally recommend that card in combination with a preamp. that preamp could even only amplify and go into the soundblaster with line level. If you're paranoid, get a preamp with spdif out and use that.
    If monney is not an issue, get RME.
     
  17. taskforce

    taskforce Audiosexual

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    Err no, the Emu is a SoundBlaster, it uses the same DAC and chip, just with a "better" interface and more physical controls and i/o. I 've had my good share of E-Mu products back in the day, many many samplers have gone through my hands. And i still have a bunch of SoundBlasters in my drawers. What Creative did imho, is actually destroy the beautiful heritage of both Emu and Ensoniq, which led to both legendary companies being completely defunct within a matter of 2 years since they bought them, including service. The few products they released under the E-Mu name, some audio interfaces and some midi controllers were mediocre and never caught a real following like RME or MOTU or UAD later on managed to obtain and maintain. Even worse, the Emulator sampler which they released as software was never used by anyone not even me who is one of the geekiest E-Mu fans you can find. And mind you i know my way around E-Mu samplers as easy as ABC lol.
    You be well mate :)
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2020
  18. Jazz-N-Stuff

    Jazz-N-Stuff Platinum Record

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    in their time 2004-2010 these items were really good, READ this
    Quote:
    Running my audio tests using Rightmark's Audio Analyser v5.3, the 0404 turned in a truly superb performance for a £69.99 soundcard, with a frequency response that was +0.14/-0.13dB from 20Hz to 20kHz, and total harmonic distortion of just 0.002 percent. However, it's the dynamic range measurements that are most remarkable: at an astonishing 112dBA, this is an amazing 16dB better than M-Audio's Audiophile 2496, 12dB better than the M-Audio Firewire 410, and 4dB better than Echo's Mia. Only when you compare it with Emu's own 1212M and 1820M do its results fall behind by about 6dB.

    https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/emu-0404-pci

    YES today there are really tons of cheap Audiointerfaces, but in 2004 ? And i used the SOFTWARE added to the interfaces!
    Again, NOT today. The OP seems to lack money, so why not use a 30$ oldschool Inteface (u need to fix eventually the ELKO/CAP Problems)
     
  19. taskforce

    taskforce Audiosexual

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    Agreed. But if money is a problem then the onboard Realtek and ASIO4ALL will do the job man. Or a SoundBlaster for like 15-20 dlrs (as indicated earlier in the thread). I will never criticize negatively anyone on a tight budger for their choices since they have limited options. My post was meant to inform that Creative is pretty much a company where they dunno their left from right. They once dominated the market but failed to maintain even with buying those great companies. Where's my Emus and my Ensoniqs dammit... Aaaahhh never mind.
    Peace mate.
     
  20. hackerz4life

    hackerz4life Audiosexual

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    disagree.
    the emu line 1212m, 1616m were very successful, those cards sold like crazy for a reason. they sound very good, the AD/DA is phenomenal for the price.
    those cards have nothing in common with the cheaper audigy cards, it was a different branch and it is also evident if you look at the audigy cards and emu cards, component wise.
     
  21. taskforce

    taskforce Audiosexual

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    If they sold like crazy where is the continuity. Where is Emu as a brand now. RME from the early 2ks are still in use. The Emus were not bad cards, they just never caught on.
    Errr... they ARE Audigy cards lol. Do your research mate. I 've opened a couple of them.
    Let's agree to disagree :)
    Cheers
     
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