Main

Emu 1212M PCI 24-Bit/192kHz Balanced Interface (Windows)

The E-MU 1212M PCI Digital Audio System delivers everything you need to produce audio on a PC with professional results -- 24-bit/192kHz converters, hardware-accelerated effects and mixing, and seamless compatibility with your favorite PC audio/sequencer software. Learn More...

    • New $149.95
Write a Review:

Overall User Ratings

Overall:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10

Individual User Ratings

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
This mark have a good idea . not very huge in very profesional sound convertor system....but it is AKM convertor and its good

Quality:
I have a problem to the output ....on of them have a problem and I have to adabt hlf of cable

Value:
in compare of price its Very well than ESI and M audio and more than same price mark

Desirability:
I want it becauce have a good DSP card

Sound:
with update to windows viesta is very well I use rode nT200 and mackie onyx and emu 1212m ...I thing convertor have a low level in input...and I compare with another like RME fire face 800 .... the big problem is in output Quality sound...I can't listening the good output .... then I change my sound card to lynx aurora

Ease of Use:
in windows viesta it s good...but in Xp have a some eror problem...and i was angry

Support:
the software is very well.... It is small protools ,,, with DSP card... and Gate comp and Pci dsp effect.... in viesta is good good good.... like Smal HD card

Overall:
I used from 2 years and I love it...just Out Put Problem

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * . . . . 6 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10

Feature:
very good for the price. a lot of semi-pro standards as adat/spdif/aes-ebu digital i/o, balanced analog i/o, selected industry-standard converters. what i do miss is a seperate headphone jack for monitoring. the patchmix is a great tool for routing all tha stuff, though it needed me sometime to get the concepts in detail. the dsp fx and the whole software package is out of my interest, and sometimes i thought it would have been a better idea to leave it out... for making the device more the quality product that is sound-wise.

Quality:
all in all its good for that price, despite the fx crap (though these aren´t worse than most freeware vst).

Value:
for doible that price you won´t get anything comparable.

Desirability:
something like that.

Sound:
the sound is out of competition in that league and even a few above. had an m-audio f-410 before and the difference is like heaven and hell. no need to describe, just usual quality attributes (details, clarity, dynamic range). there is no pops or glitches as other customers wanna make you believe, as long as you set it up the right way (latency etc).

Ease of Use:
installing the card is easy as can be, drivers too. but the usage of the patchmix cold have benefited from a clearer and maybe more professional, structured gui.

Support:
its good support, had 2 questions way back and they answered after a few days. what needs a bit time is getting an rma (had that since i broke the pcmcia card for my 1616m), but yeah, they´re kind and reliable.

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
I really cant complain about features, its got firewire 400 input, smpt which ill never use, adat input/output, if you want to add an 8 channel rig, and midi, for the money I really cant say its missing anything. It probably has too much, I have limited pci space, so a single pci card wouldve been nice.

Quality:
I cant complain about quality at all, it has stood up to many harsh plugs and unpluggings, midi cable twistings, accidental kicks to back of pc, plenty of pc dust, and still manages to work like new. It looks beautiful also, even though nobody ever looks behind your pc.

Value:
More features and inputs than other pci audio interfaces twice as much, 192khz d/a a/d converters, from the same systems as the PRO TOOLS HD, all for under $200.00, if there was an 11, I would rate it an 11 for value. I would gladly pay more than twice what they are going for.

Desirability:
The online descriptions and reviews convinced me to buy it. And im glad I did, no real complaints, more inputs maybe, but for $150 bucks, I cant complain, I can always buy an 8 channel ADAT and plug into the back of the 1212m and add 8 more channels. No complaints. Some people feel they have to spend 500-1200 dollars on an interface, im not rich, and if I was I still might have this sound card.

Sound:
The sound that is recorded using the analog inputs of the interface is perfect. Ive got a Dell 4600 P4 basic setup. I do highly recommend using balanced inputs, it can easily turn into a jungle on the back of your pc, and could introduce noise if using standard unbalanced 1/4 inch connectors, The sound is Perfect. I dont know how else to describe the sound, but when I play back the recorded audio, it sounds identical to the monitored input (after matching the volume/gain of course).

Ease of Use:
I consider myself pretty electronically and computer gifted, and to be honest, its not has difficult as learning a new program (sonar, Reason), but you deffinetly have to read the manual a few times when setting up with your favorite sequencer. The patchmix software has various presets, and others can be downloaded to ease this. But all those asio channels get confusing from time to time if manually routing. LET THE PRESETS TAKE CARE OF IT FOR YOU.

Support:
I have never had to call tech support or anything like that, every now and then Ill check emu/creative labs website for updates, ive always kept the hardware drivers/software up to date and never had a problem, So i cant accuratley rate support. Which may be a good thing if you never have a problem, solid hardware.

Overall:
Ive had the 1212m for over 2 years now, never had a problem, only "user error", I dont know if other bad reviewers didnt install it properly, I record at 5ms latency most of the time, when I start adding REwire or Several effects, I bump it up to 10ms to be safe (without crackle), and the singers can still hear accurate reverb without too much delay while recording. But overall , if I still search for a new PCI interface, I still find myself narrowing it down to the 1212m, unless youve got $800.00 to spend on a recording sound card, that you probably wont get better quality results, sounds like those unhappy with the sound may need to work on the quality of their own sound/singing/playing.

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Support:
* * * . . . . . . . 3 out of 10

Feature:
ADAT conversion is the reason Im upgrading Like I said I love the sound and Quality . I record and can still get that live rip your face off quality of analog ( IT"S NOT WHAT YOU USE -- IT"S HOW YOU USE IT )Think about it dumb arses . What do ya think we did before computers became a comodity? Least usefull feature? Patchmix!! I have no use for it and try to use only the drivers that I have to To operate the hardware buthen again Im not listening to MP3's or playing video games with it either.

Quality:
No the product is made good. I havent used it yet ( The 1212 ) but I beleive I will like the Optical aspect. My 0404 verry durable I like the Idea of not haveing the cable hanging on the back. Verry sloppy IE the 0404 ) Oh Yeah wanted to ask that other guy If you wanted more analog ins & outs why did you buy a mostly digital card?

Value:
Yes verry much so Like I said (It's how you use what you have ) Not saying that it's not good just that for lower priced gear it does an exceptional job

Desirability:
Oh yeah baby I love the way you solder feels when iI rub it cross my face you so sexy HAH HAHA HAHH Very nice looking clean simple but rugged and practical.

Sound:
Well to be honest I have one on the way -- I have the 0404 whitch is a great card if your just using analog didnt try the S/PDIF went with the optical thuogh and sadly to say it would not work with my converter since the 0404 does support optical It does not support ADAT conversion or ASIO 2.0 so I thought I would try the 1212M fro the ADAT having expeiriance with the 0404 I hope not to be dissapointed

Ease of Use:
I didnt have to refere to the manual until I ran into the ADAT conversion problem I just instaled it set it up in my editing software and went with it..I have used my card with Sonar 4 , Adobe Audition 2.0 Reaper , Acid studio 6 , Wavelab , Cubase , Goldwave, N Track, and have no problems and great results.

Support:
Not satified with the support at least for the 0404 I hope if I need it for the 1212 it is better website was verry limited, EMail did not get response right away and thhey still never solved the problem the company I bought my AD/DA converter did reserch into it and verified what I concluded

Overall:
Well if I could tell the futur I would be a verry welthy man. I hope to be able to use it for quite a while or at least till it pisses me off

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* . . . . . . . . . 1 out of 10
Value:
* * * . . . . . . . 3 out of 10
I Want It:
* . . . . . . . . . 1 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10

Feature:
good features

Quality:
well, it's very cheap, and many users soon find out why. Mine never worked properly, I have it for 4 days and it's analog output level is very very low. It's about the same as my old SBLive at 50%. Turning it up of course produces more hiss and noise, and thus defies the purpose of having a quality card in the first place. I have found many other users reporting the same issue. Some had the card working fine for few weeks or months before one or both analog outputs lost volume. Some just completely failed.

Value:
well, it's cheap, would be good, if it actually worked. Obviously some do work, if you are lucky you might not have problems. You can use the warranty to replace it once it fails.

Sound:
well, it would sound good if it wasn't broken

Ease of Use:
easy enough

Support:
Currently waiting for response from EMU support.

Overall:
I've got it, wish I got something else.

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10

Feature:
PatchMix rocks..can be complicated, but so is audio routing in real life. Quite easy to drop in the E-wire VST plugin anywhere in a channel strip of your favorite audio program and then configure the patchmix to route that sound through an internal effect or (even beter) an external analogue effects bay. Works like a charm. Even better is the PowerFX vst plugin. Just drop one in your channel strip and access the DSP effects directly. This is exactly what I want from an audio card.

Quality:
Built quality is good. Converter quality is excellent for this price and they threw on a couple of DSP's. The 0202 card can be a little flimsy, so use a mixer instead of pluggin and unpluggin cables on a minute by minute basis.

Value:
Excellent value. You get balanced inputs/outputs, firewire, spdif,adat, DSP effects and one of the industry standard AD/DA converters. The basis of the 1212 is the 1010 board coupled with the 0202 breakout card. You can expand a 1010 to the 1820M by buying the external box as an option, this will give you something like 20 in/out. Best feature yet: You can stack the 1010's and interconnect them with a little cable. So you can build your own little DSP/Audio farm.

Desirability:
Bought it in about 5 minutes, while I was broke.

Sound:
Excellent quality audio at 44.1,48,96 Khz ..bit noisy at 192Khz.. but if you work with 192Khz on a regular basis, you wouldn't have bought this card in the first place. Excellent converters from Digidesign (that's what the M stands for), balanced in/ouputs really help keep the noise levels down. Just make sure you use balanced jacks, that wil give you another 6dB gain and almost no noise.

Ease of Use:
Documentation is limited but precises. Working with the PatchMix and DSP effect does require some experience in studio mixing. But if you're ok with computers and you know how to route audio for mixing and mastering in real life.. you'll enjoy the patch and dsp capabilities of this card.

Support:
Good support on the website and forums. Lots of users, so lots of community support. Haven't had to call 'm yet.

Overall:
This is an excellent card for the price. Maybe even the best. And it give you the option to grow. Need more inputs? Buy the 1820M or upgrade later with desktop box. Need more DSP and audio power? Buy more 1010's and wire them together. Only thing that will limit the upgradeability of this system is the number of free PCI slots in your computer.

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
loaded with features, so many configurations it boggles the mind

Quality:
nice construction and its blue! looks good in the case against red mother board

Value:
unbeatable, the next step up in this level of card is about another 300 bucks

Desirability:
ya its nice, shiny and blue. Great to look at in my clear computer case, looks cooler with a blue 4 inch cold cathode running down the side of it.

Sound:
sounds good, i wish it had surround outputs though

Ease of Use:
this is a proffesional product, not for idiots or folks who think a good recording can be made on a sound blaster. There are many ways to configure it. Takes a little getting used too, but once your in your good to go. If your understanding of inputs and outputs is weak your in for a fight

Support:
instant support, even called me back the next day to make sure i was good when i was'nt sure about some settings

Overall:
this is a good card. Not for morons or lazy computer users. It takes some skill and thats why the box says "proffesional" My setup is a Dual Core Athlon, EMU 1212 and its interfaced to an M-Audio Octane 8. All brought together under Sonar 4. This setup gets results.

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
perfect amount of inputs outputs for me (and for a small studio). not the best for professional hi end use. overall very good and complete features. Easy to install and a breeze to setup.

Quality:
I Bought it used and it worked fine. Made like a standard pci card, no problems with it.

Value:
I got it used for cheap, but even new, still worth every penny.

Desirability:
Personally love it. The few sound interfaces that actually goes into your computer without all those I/O wires hanging all over the place.

Sound:
I've never had any other expierences with soundcards but i have no problems with sound quality.

Ease of Use:
The hardware is sorta confusing and so is the asio drivers and routing.

Support:
Not yet have to use them yet.

Overall:
Love it, recomened it to any home studio or amateur musician.

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Quality:
Pretty much what you would expect for a PCI card.

Value:
This is a good soundcard for the money, despite the drivers which could be better IMO, as it comes with some pretty good quality components and sound output. You could do worse the same money.

Desirability:
Great for beginners and intermediates like myself. Experienced musicians shouuld get the 1820M edition or 1616M if they are mobile.

Sound:
Good quality ADC/DAC convertors for the money.

Support:
So far I haven't used support.

Overall:
I will probably use this soundcard for a while, until I get the best out of it. Probably around 2 years or so.

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
A headphone connector would be useful. The software bundle is useful.

Quality:
Excellent sound, strong construct.

Value:
Concerning its sound quality and features, I think it would worth twice as much or so!

Sound:
It has a very clear, detailed sound with a very powerful dynamic range. You can hear the place of every single instrument, and you can really feel the dynamics put into the mix. Its detailed sound helps you to find errors immediately.

Overall:
I'm doing composing, mixing and mastering with this card, and it absolutely fits all my needs; accurate sound, low latency, stable operation. The MIDI adaptor cable is a bit problematic - it doesn't fit completely to my MIDI cables, but it works actually. I would recommend this card to anyone who wants do do some serious audio work on a PC and doesn't want to pay too much.

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
This card has a whole lot of features..especially when it comes to routing....I mean WOW....hook up an ADAT with 8 ins and outs and you can have some sick routing to and from your outboard gear!!! And eventhough the onboard fx are not the best, there are many useful tools in there.....

Quality:
Not the highest quality...but not the lowest!!!

Value:
Can't be beat

Desirability:
Not the sexiest of cards.....

Sound:
Sound quality is excellent for a card in this price range..nice converters ans signal to noise ratio is 120db!!! I like the fact I can record with only monotiring the fx and then add them later as a plugin or I can record the fx directly to Sonar..The reverbs don't sound so hot..but there is some really nice vocal enhancers that work quite nice...

Support:
I was having trouble using the emu fx plugin in Ableton...and the support team was very good...quick response and they spent alot of time on the phone with me....

Overall:
I wxpect to have this card for at least another few years until I am ready to upgrade to something of a higher calibur like the RME line..which costs around 5x as much....

Do You Agree? Was This Review Helpful to You?

yes

no

Overall:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Value:
* * * * *