Hi!
Have a problem with my trusty E-MU 0404 USB interface. Recently did a software update to 1.40 BETA (Creative site) which froze the unit and killed both the mic inputs somehow. Now I don't get any sound wave from the mic, just static noise which sends the levels clipping. So no sound and a tap on the mic will be enough to make loud cracks, even if mic input levels from unit are at minimum. Also the mic channel volume leds show this, they go completely haywire.
I uninstalled software + drivers, reinstalled the previous version and updated firmware. Got perfectly normal clear sound from mic inputs for 2 minutes, after that the sound died again.
The weird thing is that all the time system sound works perfectly normal.
Have tried different mics and cables, with phantom and without. Changed E-MU power supply to another one. Opened the unit to visually inspect for bad caps (none showing). Swapped sample rates around (the only working one for me has always been 48kHz).
I'm really at my wits end here. I hope someone can help to bring this good old kit back to life. I thought it could be a hardware problem, but the problems came straight after the software update AND both mic inputs died at the same time. Also confusing is that I got it working briefly after downgrading software.
Thanks in advance!
Have a problem with my trusty E-MU 0404 USB interface. Recently did a software update to 1.40 BETA (Creative site) which froze the unit and killed both the mic inputs somehow. Now I don't get any sound wave from the mic, just static noise which sends the levels clipping. So no sound and a tap on the mic will be enough to make loud cracks, even if mic input levels from unit are at minimum. Also the mic channel volume leds show this, they go completely haywire.
I uninstalled software + drivers, reinstalled the previous version and updated firmware. Got perfectly normal clear sound from mic inputs for 2 minutes, after that the sound died again.
The weird thing is that all the time system sound works perfectly normal.
Have tried different mics and cables, with phantom and without. Changed E-MU power supply to another one. Opened the unit to visually inspect for bad caps (none showing). Swapped sample rates around (the only working one for me has always been 48kHz).
I'm really at my wits end here. I hope someone can help to bring this good old kit back to life. I thought it could be a hardware problem, but the problems came straight after the software update AND both mic inputs died at the same time. Also confusing is that I got it working briefly after downgrading software.
Thanks in advance!
Win 10?
Are you using Windows. If so 10. Theres been 3 major updates lately (as in like a version update complete with all the OG install options) From memory, as I built 3 PCS over xmas through January its the versions 19 and 20 causing problems with some drivers. They are rolling out the updates , mine arrived 2 weeks apart including my old PC and a laptop.
Creative are well known for wanting you to buy new and so not issuing updates, but I had read the USB EMU and Creative cards were working with the Win 7 driver, which was the last they issued. M-Audio are just as bad. Theres all these great sounding audio interfaces out there that are now over 10 years old.
I spotted an Asus Xonar Essence STX without a box for £5 in a computer shop just before most recent lockdown in the UK. I'm pleased and the op amps can be user up graded.
Are you using Windows. If so 10. Theres been 3 major updates lately (as in like a version update complete with all the OG install options) From memory, as I built 3 PCS over xmas through January its the versions 19 and 20 causing problems with some drivers. They are rolling out the updates , mine arrived 2 weeks apart including my old PC and a laptop.
Creative are well known for wanting you to buy new and so not issuing updates, but I had read the USB EMU and Creative cards were working with the Win 7 driver, which was the last they issued. M-Audio are just as bad. Theres all these great sounding audio interfaces out there that are now over 10 years old.
I spotted an Asus Xonar Essence STX without a box for £5 in a computer shop just before most recent lockdown in the UK. I'm pleased and the op amps can be user up graded.
@jiiteepee: Moro! 😃
I tried your magic button trick but unfortunately doesn't work. I Googled this factory defaults thing but didn't find anything. If you have more info, much appreciated!
@PeteDaBeat:
Thanks for the reply! Yes Win10. I haven't done the latest big update yet and this issue didn't happen when performing win update. The newest 20 update is available for me, but I don't think that could've messed the card up.
I tried your magic button trick but unfortunately doesn't work. I Googled this factory defaults thing but didn't find anything. If you have more info, much appreciated!
@PeteDaBeat:
Thanks for the reply! Yes Win10. I haven't done the latest big update yet and this issue didn't happen when performing win update. The newest 20 update is available for me, but I don't think that could've messed the card up.
Story continues. Today opened unit again, resoldered the power plug connector from board, because it seemed to have some wiggle. Problem still persists. Here is what I can record with a mic, this is me tapping gently on the microphone.
There is significant hiss if I put on direct monitoring and turn the mic input volumes higher. Turned all the way up it starts a feedback loop. Also sometimes when I turn the phantom 48V power off/on there is a loud high pitched whistle audible.
System sounds still work normally. Can't get over the fact that this started with software update. Could this be a driver thing? Can the input channels be configured somehow wrong in Windows? Any help much appreciated still!
There is significant hiss if I put on direct monitoring and turn the mic input volumes higher. Turned all the way up it starts a feedback loop. Also sometimes when I turn the phantom 48V power off/on there is a loud high pitched whistle audible.
System sounds still work normally. Can't get over the fact that this started with software update. Could this be a driver thing? Can the input channels be configured somehow wrong in Windows? Any help much appreciated still!
Attachments
Thanks a lot Bucks! Feeling a little stupid that I didn't think of that myself.. :O
Have a WIN10 laptop where I installed the card. But same thing, system sound works but mics don't. Actually with the laptop it doesn't even "see" the 0404 microphone inputs.
Could someone with this card please check which driver they are using for the 0404 microphone in Control panel / device manager / audio inputs and outputs? On my main system it's using an "audio endpoint" driver by Microsoft. Surely this can't be correct? I tried to update it but it won't find any compatible drivers anywhere online or on my disk.
EDIT: Oh and when I installed the EMU on my laptop, I first used the BETA driver. This worked like a treat, it made my system audio (laptop speakers) go madly distorted. There's really something strange with this BETA version of the drivers. I managed to get sound back by uninstalling and reinstalling the onboard sound device drivers.
Have a WIN10 laptop where I installed the card. But same thing, system sound works but mics don't. Actually with the laptop it doesn't even "see" the 0404 microphone inputs.
Could someone with this card please check which driver they are using for the 0404 microphone in Control panel / device manager / audio inputs and outputs? On my main system it's using an "audio endpoint" driver by Microsoft. Surely this can't be correct? I tried to update it but it won't find any compatible drivers anywhere online or on my disk.
EDIT: Oh and when I installed the EMU on my laptop, I first used the BETA driver. This worked like a treat, it made my system audio (laptop speakers) go madly distorted. There's really something strange with this BETA version of the drivers. I managed to get sound back by uninstalling and reinstalling the onboard sound device drivers.
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Could it be that well protected Windows installs its native drivers rather than unsigned beta drivers (W10 supports USB 2.0 audio devices natively)?
Try google a solution for to install unsigned audio drivers for W10.
Did you get Creative/E-MU ASIO installed (if not then try install using manual installation regsvr path) and then try recording using ASIO in some ASIO capable recording software (ACON Acoustica 6 Basic edition is free )?
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Installed the 1.4 beta package to a fresh 64-bit W10 (.1903) as seen in attached image.
No issues here so, it might be that your
- W10 build is newer (they dropped support for some audio devices already in this 1903 release)
- firmware upgrade/update proces was not complete (if ASIO not working properly with inputs)
No issues here so, it might be that your
- W10 build is newer (they dropped support for some audio devices already in this 1903 release)
- firmware upgrade/update proces was not complete (if ASIO not working properly with inputs)
Attachments
All I/O's are named correctly (E-MU 0404 USB ... ) here... everywhere (System Audio Control Panel, software I/O settings).
Yes mine are also named correctly but can you please check which driver the mic inputs are using?
Path: Control panel - device manager - audio inputs and outputs - Microphone 0404USB - Properties - Driver
Also when I tried to search for the ASIO driver, I can't find it anywhere on system folders. It should be under Windows/System32 right? So I'm thinking that the drivers for these inputs have not been installed at all on my system.
My WIN10 version is 20H2. I was suprised to see this actually, did not realize it had updated to the latest version automatically. My system was updated just in the last few weeks so around when I did the software update and noticed these problems.
Should I try to uninstall the latest feature update?Attachments
I have the same info what your attached image shows (different date and version of course) and Driver Details says: "no driver files are required or have been loaded for this device ... . I have an old Audigy 2 card installed too and it has the same info there... .
Hmm... have you looked emasio.dll at Windows\SysWOW64 -folder?
Hi just a quick follow up. Problem solved, card working again normally. Have no idea what caused this unfortunately and don't know the solution either. My issues were distorted mic input sound, gain leds going crazy even at minimum gain settings, high pitched whistles when toggling phantom. First thought it was a hardware issue but now it seems it was a Windows/driver thing.
What I did was I opened up the card and split in two halves and left it for a day or two. When I went back to reinstall once more, this time the firmware updater showed me I was on old 3.x or 4.x firmware, previously every time I was on 8.04 firmware. So for some reason it seems the unit had reverted back to default firmware. There is a "bootstrap" pin on the board which apparently defaults the firmware but I didn't touch this.
Sorry can't help out more but really happy my card is working again. Managed to get the 1.40 BETA version running too. Thanks to everyone who pitched in!
What I did was I opened up the card and split in two halves and left it for a day or two. When I went back to reinstall once more, this time the firmware updater showed me I was on old 3.x or 4.x firmware, previously every time I was on 8.04 firmware. So for some reason it seems the unit had reverted back to default firmware. There is a "bootstrap" pin on the board which apparently defaults the firmware but I didn't touch this.
Sorry can't help out more but really happy my card is working again. Managed to get the 1.40 BETA version running too. Thanks to everyone who pitched in!
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