E-MU 1820 comfusion

Hello All,

I've just installed my Emu 1820 sound card, and have configured 2 groups; Pedal,with one stereo out. and Main, with 3 stereo outs, for 8 channels (4 stereo channels running to 4 amplifiers). So far so good, the audiodock accepts the descrete channels and I can control them in each audio strip. BUT, I have no descrete outputs, all the notes and ranks sound from all the speakers whether Pedal or Main (I've tried cyclic through ranks, and cyclic C/C# split). The patchmix is acting just like a regular mixer with all imputs mixed down to a common audio out. I thought the whole point was descrete audio outs. Am I missing something? Argg!

Any help or comments appreciated.

G'Day

You need to think a little differently. PatchMix is indeed only a stereo mixer; for multichannel output you need to add inserts in each strip to send the signal to the output you require.

Paul

Hello Paul,

Thanks ever so much for your reply! I inserted 'audiodock out' as needed and voila! descrete audio sends.

I do still have a query; Can I only assign the outs in stereo? This means effectively that I only have 4 channels out, and not 8 as I had thought - makes quite a difference considering HW3 capacity - not too pleased on that score, any thoughts?

I also realized that once multi channel outputs are inserted, the onboard FXs are nulled as they only route through the main output (hmm, things a novice in these matters doesn't think to ask about - fortunately, I didn't buy the Emu 1820 for FXs, so that's just a minor disappointment).

But before I grumble too much about my learning curve, I must say that the audio quality is outstanding. Wow! When I installed my Creative Audigy, the AC97 onboard sounbd was absolute crap in comparison, now with the Emu 1820 the leap in sound is all the more noticable (combined with HW3). The level of realism is quite wonderful. Makes me appreciate how incredible a system like Leo Christopherson's must sound! Ah well, small steps, small steps.

G'Day

G'Day

Can I only assign the outs in stereo? This means effectively that I only have 4 channels out, and not 8 as I had thought - makes quite a difference considering HW3 capacity - not too pleased on that score, any thoughts?

Working in stereo pairs is inherent in the design of ASIO; you have all the channels available - you just have to organise them right.

I also realized that once multi channel outputs are inserted, the onboard FXs are nulled

Not sure what you mean here. You can drop FX into the insert slots of any strip. Of course, they are stereo, so you have to repeat the exercise on all strips if that's what you want. Possibly you misinterpreted why the FX were not available; remember that the FX only work at 44.1 or 48 kHz - at 96 kHz no FX are available at all.

Paul

Not sure what you mean here. You can drop FX into the insert slots of any strip. Of course, they are stereo, so you have to repeat the exercise on all strips if that's what you want. Possibly you misinterpreted why the FX were not available; remember that the FX only work at 44.1 or 48 kHz - at 96 kHz no FX are available at all.

I have an EMU 1820 at Zion and I have found that I can only apply reverb fx to (2) stereo strips. That means I can only apply reverb to 4 out of 16 channels.

If someone knows how to do this differently, I would appreciate some schooling.

I have an EMU 1820 at Zion and I have found that I can only apply reverb fx to (2) stereo strips. That means I can only apply reverb to 4 out of 16 channels.

That, like the 96kHz restriction, is just the limitation of the processing power of the DSP; there is no way round it.

You can have up to five instances of the Lite Reverb (or one full and three Lite) - I haven't compared, but it might be worth trying more channels of less good reverb.

Another thing to try - put the two reverbs into the aux channels and send these to their own outputs - then, although you only have four channels of reverb output, you can feed all sixteen channels into one or other reverb, so that all outputs generate reverb somewhere (set the reverb to 100% wet so that the input signal isn't duplicated). You might then have to reduce the non-reverb outputs to twelve, or you could send four to the main and monitor outputs, and mix the reverbs with those (I'd have to check if that works on the 1820 - on my 1616 the main and monitor are the same).

Paul