E-Mu 1212m better intern effects as any plug-in

[treewhispers]

hello there,

to my surprise the intern effects of the E-MU 1212m PCI-Soundcard sound better then any plug-in.... I really wonder why in every review about the 1212m the intern effects are refered to as rubbish and not better then plug-ins.

I compared the 1212m effects with many plug-ins. I really know what good plug-ins sound like but compared by the intern effects of the 1212m all plug-ins (even very expensive) sound like crap. the 1212m effects make the sound of the source better. suddenly the music starts to breath again and the muddy sound goes away. the EQs and compressor in the 1212m doesn`t try to emulate a vintage sound, sound rather in a neutral way but they sound more like real hardware. for example the reverb-effect ist better then any plug-in-reverb or IR I know.
In almost every review people say the effects were not good. that´s why I`ve never used them and always tried plug-ins for years. today I used them by chance and was totally blown away from their clear and fresh sound. the first time ever I used plug-ins and had the feeling that it sounds right and improves the mix and takes away this out of the box-sound.
I really wonder why my other plug-ins doesn`t reach this level.

it`s not up to my daw. I use samplitude and recently used reaper that has a very good sound that makes everything sound better but the problem with the plug-ins is the same here..

so that`s wrong with the ears of the reviewers or maybe my ears, because I can`t hear the bad things I`ve read about the 1212m-effects...!
maybe people didn`t A/B them much?
maybe people don`t give this effects a chance because they feel overextended with the routing of the card?
maybe people didn`t use them because the processor doesn`t allow the use of so many instances?
maybe people couldn`t imagine that intern effects of a not so pricey soundcard could be really good and tend to see it as a gimmick like in the most hifi-soundcards... or because the design of the plug-in doesn`t look so expensive?
so I really don`t get it what the hell annoys people on the intern E-MU-effects. if you got one try the effects and compare it to your best plug-ins and then tell me if I`m really wrong.

this whole topic brings my to the idea if other plug-in based systems like powercore etc. could be as just as good or even better. bevore I`ve always was in doubt if plug-ins could ever be a good deal. today I really had to change my mind.

best wishes

tree whispers

[staticwhitesound]

interesting. the emu-1212m is my interface as well, and i've had really good experiences with it, although i've only ever used the built in effects for monitoring purposes, which it is great for. i've never 'printed' them. i'll have to check it out for myself. are you printing tracks with the effects on them, or using seperate tracks to send only the effect to a track? i was thinking of trying to figure out how to do the latter, since it's a good failsafe in case you decide you want to tweak that reverb or delay come mix time.

[treewhispers]

I use the E-Mu effects as inserts in the DAW-channels (via E-Mu PowerFX).
so just as a normal plug-in. unfortunately you can`t use many effects the same time. if you wanna bounce a file you should use the PowerFX in render-mode. it´s more suited for rendering files in realtime because the Power FX is meant to be a realtime-effect. it`s all mentioned in the manual of the card.

the effects really doesn`t sound like any native plugs, so they are more like hardware.
plug-ins always seem to "pretend" but these effects sound "real" and you can easily see that they work and improve the sound. native plug-ins never make the overall sound better. even if it`s gets warmer, crisper, more brilliant it`s also a little muddy and I think you pay for a loss of quality.
I A/B the E-MU FX with URS, waves, stillwell and some other demo-plug-ins.

I also checked many native reverbs and they can`t stand up with the E-Mu. Soundwise these native plug-ins always add their own color and the E-MU effects sound more neutral but in a good way. they EQ, compress and reverb without "stealing" sound. that`s how I would descibe it.
nevertheless the better the source signal the less native plug-ins can do any harm, so you can see the difference better by critical recordings.
look at the emu-hp... 32-bit DSP with 67-bit accumulator (double precision w/ 3 headroom bits)... whatever this means it sounds pretty good and maybe it just about the fact that these plugs use an own processor.

so try for yourself and tell me or us if you hear any difference between normal native plug-ins and the E-MU.

best wishes

treewhispers

[David C.]

I've got the 1212 card as well and have never even tried the effects on it. I actually don't know how. ??? Guess I should get the manual out.

Can you use them like a vst or dxi?

[RusRant]

I think it got a bad rap more because the drivers were so iffy. The plugin feature rarely worked smoothly, without dropouts, etc. Since the new drivers were released it's pretty stable, but I think a lot of people moved on as it's an older card. That said, the delays and mod effects are pretty good and the comp is nice, and transparent.

[treewhispers]

I use the effects via vst. barely or no dropouts with the "extra buffer mode". I use compressor, little reverb and an 1- or 3-EQ for every submix-bus.
if you don`t use to long reverb-tims and not many effects it really works. I guess the workload is alike an old uad-1-card.

the chorus is good. better than any vst-chorus.
reverb is good. it`s clear and warm, sounds very musical and natural. same for the dealy.
compressor is transparent and really able to give the source some beef, attack and loudness. I prefer this comp over any vst-compressor I`ve heared. it reminds me a lot on the FMR Audio RNC-Compressor, which is also a very transparent compressor but I would prefer the E-MU compressor.

after hearing this I switched off almost all my vst-plug-ins... no I hate them for betray me...
the only ones I use on some channels are one urs-compressor, wizoo-verb. waves ssl-comp in the master. in some situations on good material they add an interesting color you can`t reach with the E-Mu effects, but on the other hand they can`t keep up with the pureness of the E-Mu effects or the original hardware-effects they try to emulate.

call my crazy but I also played with the idea to buy a 2nd daugther card for the E-MU to use more of the DSP-Effects.

if E-Mu would create a better GUI people would pay those effects more attention I`m shure.

what about the uad-cards? maybe someone knows this cards and can compare them with the E-MU? if the uad were on the same level it were the perfect solution. on the other hand I don`t need neccesarily this vintage unit-sound and would prefer more neutral plug-ins instead of fakes.
exept the SSL duende, which I would trust because it`s based on original SSL-hardware.

if audio is recorded good the only things you need is little compression, maybe EQing for correction and a little reverb or delay.
so it`s just about three good plug-ins. I don`t believe you need a shipload full of vst-plug-ins (maybe some girlfriends need more plugs...). it`s more about 1-3 good pre-amps, 1-3 good mics and room treatment.
and if I just had to bought one card with three plug-ins for maybe 200 bucks maybe I got the money left I need badly for a 2nd pre-amp or a good mic.

best wishes

treewhispers