ursamtl

Hi,

I just bought a new E-MU 0404 USB to use on my system in conjunction with my Audigy 2 ZS. Unfortunately, the E-MU driver is not installing properly. There's no ASIO at all, just WDM, and most of the 0404's performance advantages require the ASIO driver. I hope to resolve this by removing the Z@ and running the E-MU install, then replacing the ZS (I'm at work now and it's at home).

I'm just wondering if anyone else has successfully run kx with a CL card plus an additional USB audio interface, whether it's an E-MU 0404 (or 0202) or something by another manufacturer.

Maddogg6

Im not sure why there would be a conflict - unless the EMU wont install its ASIO driver with another one installed..?? (I have multiple ASIO drivers installed - so it is possible to have more than 1 at a time)

Maybe more details on what does happen??

Maybe just 'deactivate' the A2 for the Emu install (in the windows device manager CP applet) .. ??

But to be clear - kX wont be a working driver for any USB device - but using kX for the A2 and EMU driver for the 0404 *should* be possible.

JGSF

Me.
2 Audigy's + one 1212m + one 0404 usb in the same machine, all working great.
Are you using CL's drivers in the Audigy?

ursamtl

I tried the CL Audigy driver first. I wanted to get the 0404 working first and then experiment with kx again. Unfortunately, nothing I did got the 0404 ASIO working. I removed all PCI cards from my machine and uninstalled all audio related drivers. I tried re-installing the E-MU drivers but still the ASIO drivers didn't install and the sample rate dropdown in the E-MU control panel is blank. What's worse, when I spoke with E-MU support this morning from work, the guy told me I should get home and call once I'm at my system and they would help walk me through it all. He assured me they'd be open until 6pm central (7pm eastern). I called them at 5:30 Central and they were closed (both customer support and sales). So I guess I'll have to return the 0404 USB. It's too bad as it sounds incredible. I always thought the A2 ZS sounded good but I have really good, detailed headphones (Grado SR-80's) and when I compared the sound of the ZS playback with the 0404 USB in WDM mode, there was no comparison; the 0404's converters are definitely very good. Just a shame the software sucks so badly.

JGSF

You mean the application your using does not recognize any ASIO driver?

Because there's no ASIO panel access from the card's software, and the samplerate is set by the application.

btw, this is the drivers file list, check if you have all the files:

http://i7.tinypic.com/4gja148.jpg

ursamtl

Thanks for the file list, Johnny. I'll check it when I get home tonight. I do know that the files are being copied to the hard disk because I see them mentioned during the progress of the installation. As for ASIO, there are no E-MU ASIO drivers showing up in any of the applications I have that support ASIo or any of the apps that come with the interface. I know that sample rate is set by the application, but in the E-MU control panel, there is a dropdown list for sample rate, and it is always blank on my system.

ursamtl

Here's one for those of you who know Windows well. I have Mike Lin's excellent Startup Control Panel and StartupMonitor utilities installed on my system. I noticed that the Creative ASIO driver install for my A2 ZS at one point placed a regsrv32 /S ctasio.dll line for next startup. I decided to try registering the emasio.dll utility manually but when I tried doing so, my system didn't recognize regsvr32 at all. However, when I simply type in regsvr32 here on my PC at work, it recognizes the command and pops an error box because I didn't include a dll to register. I'm wondering if somehow my regsvr32.exe got deleted. I searched for it last night in my system32 directory, but it wasn't there. On my work system this morning, the file does exist. Therefore, if the emasio.dll is not getting registered, it could be a problem. However, that doesn't explain why other dlls are working, such as the WDM driver for the 0404.

As much as I hate the hassle, perhaps I might try a completely fresh install of Windows. I would like to get the 0404 working because it suits my needs quite well and the sound quality as heard through the headphone output is stunning (I have a good set of Grado headphones).

Maddogg6

Maybe that startup monitor is preventing the ASIO driver from completing its installation.. ?? Can you deactivate that for installation of drivers?
If regsrv32.exe is missing - you may be able to re-install that file alone with SFC /SCANNOW (system file check) if it is missing.

ursamtl

Problem solved! I copied regsvr32 from my work PC to my USB stick, brought it home and registered the emasio.dll. This instantly resolved everything. The 0404 is working beautifully now. I'm recording flawlessly at 24/192kHz and the sound is tremendous.

thomasabarnes

Oh thanks for the news! Looks like I'll have to try out that 0404.

Still, in my mind, the install of the EMU drivers shouldn't be with problems. It seems like youre saying that that regsvr32.dll is related to the Audigy 2 ZS, so I'm wondering how the heck does that create a problem with installing the EMU drivers (ASIO or WDM).

__________________

May a song always touch you in a positive way.
SONAR X1D Expanded, Windows 7 Pro 64Bit, MOTU UltraLite MK3, 150 GB HDD, 250 GB HDD, 1 TB x2 HDD 7200 rpm

My Music Production: Top 40, Contemporary Christian, Pop/Rock, Decent Rap, Inspirationals, and Children Songs

Russ

Regsvr32.exe is a Windows file used to register certain DLL's. It has nothing to do with the A2ZS.

ursamtl

Exactly. It doesn't have anything to do directly. However, the A2 ZS driver install does put the line regsvr32 /S ctasio.dll in the system startup registry entries. In the case of my 0404, the E-MU install must have called this to register the emasio.dll and when it couldn't find the regsvr32.exe, it simply skipped it and didn't warn me. A better design for the install would be to warn the user if a required file is missing.

ursamtl

I wouldn't jump at it yet. After doing a bit of experimentation last night, I found that, although the sound is tremendous (noticeably better on details and dynamics than my A2 ZS), there's something wrong with playback if I try to even open a basic web page while listening to music. The sound suddenly starts distorting and then fades before dropping out. If I minimize my browser (Firefox), the sound comes back. If recording while this is happening, the distortion doesn't get recorded by an occasional drop-out happens. I know for criticial recordings, it's not a good idea to do anything else with the PC, but I was able to record at 24/96 with the ZS and it was rock solid with no dropouts or problems of any kind. I think this may be a conflict because my motherboard's USB controller is on the same IRQ as my LAN controller (and cannot be changed) but I'm not sure yet. If so, I could perhaps add a separate PCI USB controller card. Or, I have until Monday to return the 0404 USB and exchange it for something else, perhaps a card such as the 0404 PCI oran M-Audio Audiophile 192.

thomasabarnes

OK, thanks for the info Russ, and ursamtl.

All the bad news I heard about Creative (including EMU) seems to be ringing in my ears.

Screw it. I'll just go with a Delta 4/4 and get an Audigy 4 Pro and hope it works with kX. If that doesn't work, I'll get a Audigy 2 ZS Platinum (I read they seem to work without problems). I just refuse to be without a working kX soundcard!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so in want of kX, and the routing capability has me stuck.

The two most outstanding features of kX that I see are the sound quality and routing capability of the software!!! I can't seem to do without 'em!!!

Cya all around.

__________________

May a song always touch you in a positive way.
SONAR X1D Expanded, Windows 7 Pro 64Bit, MOTU UltraLite MK3, 150 GB HDD, 250 GB HDD, 1 TB x2 HDD 7200 rpm

My Music Production: Top 40, Contemporary Christian, Pop/Rock, Decent Rap, Inspirationals, and Children Songs

Maddogg6

Just to testify to that - my SB0350 (A2ZS Plat) works better than expected for 16/48 ASIO. All the platinum I/O works as expected.
But, the P16V is pretty much useless for anything other than HQ audio playback with anything other than MP3's (dvd's or oog etc..) but IMO MP3's can be 'good enough' for the HDD space they take - thus, using Wave HQ isnt really much of a difference anyway - just limits me to what I can use for outputs (only uses logical front unless its AC3 encoded or WDM surround mixing in sonar).
I surround mix in asio anyway for the low latency and ease.

thomasabarnes

@Maddogg

Thanks for the info.

__________________

May a song always touch you in a positive way.
SONAR X1D Expanded, Windows 7 Pro 64Bit, MOTU UltraLite MK3, 150 GB HDD, 250 GB HDD, 1 TB x2 HDD 7200 rpm

My Music Production: Top 40, Contemporary Christian, Pop/Rock, Decent Rap, Inspirationals, and Children Songs

iq100

Late to the party, but wanted to share my experience installing EMU 0404USB.
Would not install EMU CP on computer1, but would install on computer 2 and laptop.
EMU support could not figure it out.
On a hunch I disabled my Anti-Vir program, and bino, the EMU CP sw installed.
Maybe was just a quirk. I did NOT try and repeat the experiment.
All computer were XP PRO or HOME and SP2.

JGSF

You can always use it with no drivers at all...
I use mine more often as an external ad/da converter than as a soundcard. It works like a charm.