OK..I bought this after trying out the PreSonus FireStudio and the Line 6 TonePort UX8. The E-MU 1616, IMHO, sounds way better than those other units. Yes, I use it for live performances...and I don't have to drag a mixer with me, I use PatchMix.

The PathMix DSP mixer is my favorite feature. I find it very easy to use and understand, especially if you have had any experience with analog mixers. Read the manual if you have any questions, it is very understandable. I had it up and running in less than ten minutes. Your first channel is by default set up to play back audio files from your Windows media player or whatever (WinAmp, iTunes, etc). You can insert a channel, and then choose what comes in to it from the 1616. You have six inserts per channel where you can drop effects, etc. The first thing you should insert is a peak meter. The effects are very nice. You can add color to vocals, guitar, etc. This box rocks.

I found it extremely easy to use. Like I said, up and running in ten minutes. Good luck to the guy who slammed this product and wants to try firewire...the FireStudio uses Beta drivers which suck...do yourself a favor and google "Presonus Firestudio problems". Firestudio doesn't like Sonar, and I got nothing but audio dropouts trying to get it to work with Sonar LE. I returned the unit..then I tried the Toneport uX8 and my CPU was running at over 60%...and still audio dropouts. I have a DELL 6000 with 2 gigs RAM and a 1.86 gHz processor. With the 1616 I run about 9% on the average.

The quality is great. I use it for live gigs...you just have to take care of your equipment. I also have an expensive hollow-body guitar which is built well but will definitely break if I handle it carelessly. Just because I carelessly break something doesn't mean it wasn't built well.

Excellent value...and I did my homework and compared.

I haven't dealt with support.

I really like the PatchMix DSP mixer. The unit itself is sort of plain, but the functionality is compelling.

Active Musician

Jazz

Incredible sound! I've used this to record a couple of our shows and just love it! Works flawlessly and captures crystal clear audio!

Has all the eatures I need. I just wish the dock could be powered from the laptop.

A little bit of a learning curve to get going iniitially, but once your past that, it becomes very powerful. May not be the case for someone used to working with ASIO though.

Everything is solid and just feels nice. Very well put together.

Very good value for the money. Always wanted a good way to bring multi-track audio into my PC... now I have it!

Have no had to call them.... can't rate.

I own it and am glad I purchased it!

active musician

Bluegrass

Nice and clear recordings, no colour. Preamps are actually good enough to use without having to purchase a seperate unit. I get clean mixes... It's perfect!

6 physical inputs and another 6 out... with an adat you get 16in and out... you cant beat that for a laptop... I get about 4ms latency- NICE!!! Turntable inputs are cool I guess.

Card seem fragile, but other than that it's tops!!!

worth every penny to me!

EMU has really good support.

It's sleek dark blue- looks good!

producer

noise industrial

Love the DSP-efx, specially the reverbs.

The PatchMix is a bit confusing, I would prefer a more "logic" interface for routing in-n-outs.

the knobs could be a little bit more sturdy, but in compare to M-audio-gear they feels solid.

This is why you should by it, excellent support. But no Linux drivers and I dont think there will ever be (at least not from E-MU)

looks nicer in the shop (most things do).

experienced hobbyist

non-guitar-based/electronic

Sound Quality is pristine when it doesn't give out on you. I own both the PCMCIA AND the PCI version for 2 separate computers; if your processor peaks *and by PEAK, I don't mean 100%, it can happen over 60%), the sound gives out and everything sounds like its being run through a horrible bitcrusher.. which means you have to change the latency buffer back and for OR turn on and off the Box OR restart the software. This has happened in Winamp and LIVE (god forbid during a live show)

You can use JUST the Pcmcia card, or hookup the break and.. out look at all those ins and outs... Plus.. THE CONVERTERS!

Good Luck figuring out PatchMix. can it be figured out? yeah.. but if you think it's plug and play.. forget it; it's about a day or 2 of trial and error and banging your head against the wall. unintuitive software interface. should start with more ports enabled and mapped to a predictable setup, then turn OFF thing from there.. but basically you have to build your whole routing setup.

Huge TILT on this one. Breakout box is killer hardware.. the PCMCIA is flimsy. feels like its about to break.. and if you bump it, it can mess up your sound... which eleminates the point of it being mobile.

The converters and the ability to run right off the pcmcia OR breakout box make it worth the money.

the ability to switch between PCMCIA soundcard and breakout box gives it it's novelty value.

long time electronic producer

Electronic Downtempo ElectroPop

6 inputs, 6 outputs, adat expandability... it coulda been beautiful. to bad theit too stupid to use a connecter that stays conected.

the sound of the unit is great, and the card bus is cool too.... the problem is that the ethernet cable that connects the card bus to the breakout box (yes, they used an ethernet cable) is (predictably) LOOSE in its socket, so every time you so much as touch the cable the sound cracks pops and lags; and there is a very real possibility it'll crash your entire computer. seeing as how this a unit designed and marketed for laptop users, that seems like a remarkably stupid thing to do since it renders the unit completely and totally useless for live performances and makes it near-impossible to use even at home. Other problems with the unit include it's inability to dynamically recognize the breakout box, so if you turn off the box for some reason (or it's floppy cable results in a broken connection), you have to shut down and restart the entire unit to get it to recognize the line ins. now that's DUMB. creative really badly dropped the ball on this one, it could have been a truly awesome unit, but some really basic functionality problems completely undermine it. this is a big expensive "almost" that I would highly recomend avoiding. I'm returning mine.... guess i'll try oe of the firewire interfaces.

waste of time and money.

independant musician, producer

hip hop, trip hop, downtempo

Sound - Excellent. I hear no coloration or noise added by this. I reproduced your sound with very high quality. It records well too.

The E-mu 1616 has lot of features: many different patching and configuration options, sampling rates up to 192Khz, effects (the effects only work at 44.1Khz), and a software mixer which you can pick up on pretty quickly.

I'm giving this "Ease of Use" category a lower score for the E-mu 1616 than the rest. Why? Because switching between samples rates it kind of annoying in the way it prompts you. For example you could have loaded a 96Khz session into Patchmix (the software that comes with the Emu 1616) and when you load Cubase Patchmix will prompt you to switch to 44.1Khz. Okay... so you do even though your saved Cubase session is set to 96Khz. Once Cubase loads it prompts you again to swtich back to 44.1Khz. Maybe this is just Cubase and not Patchmix. Either way it is annoying. Sometimes switching between sampling rates can act a little buggy as well. Make sure you go to their website and download the latest patch. Since I did that everything has worked very smoothly.

Excellent quality considering all the effect you get, the pristine no-colorations-added DSP, and up 196Khz sampling rate -- this audio card is a no brainer.

Excellent value.

Support was a little weak. They gave me a few sources to research, but I was actually the one to work out the problem I was having switching between sampling rates.

Nice blue light on the front. A good layout design. Microphone inputs are all on the front and the outputs that should be on the back all there. There are a lot of inputs and outputs (and of different kinds... optical, SPDIF, etc.) considering the price of this item. The dark blue color looks good. The knobs look well built, not cheap looking. This interface doesn't look cheap.

The same AD-converters as digidesign's flagship Protools 192 - it sounds absolutely fantastic. Allthough I use a tube preamp, the preamps on the breakout box sound good. You have this nice SoftLim function where you can get the preamps to limit the signal to avoid digital clipping. You can drive these limiters to get real analog feel as well - good work!

As mentioned, the AD-converters and the preamps...In addition, you get turntable input, DSP power, MIDI in/out, ADAT & SPDIF in/out, headphone outputs (equivalent as a average digital effect unit) - well done!

The biggest challenge for a new user is to understand E-mu's software baser mixer, patchmix DSP. It can be a little confusing at first, but when you understand how it works it becomes a no brainer. Installation also went smoothly.

The PCMCIA card is fragile. If you weren't carefull, you could risk breaking the card in two halves - room for improvements! A little more effort could be made in developing the headphone solution - like it is now, you have to headphone outputs but they share the same output controls which makes it hard to make adjustments during a session.

The price is in fact unbelievable.

I was in contact with E-mu before I bought the card, and they answered really quickly. They also have user forums where a few of E-mu's employees answers questions daily - good work!

The 1616m transforms a laptop to a studio - that must be sexy!

Incredible sound. A audible difference over my old MOTU.

Pretty much every connection needed. Preamps deliver invisible gain, it just gets loud and live with no added noise or color. The control panel is insane, almost too much, but in a couple of sessions already the routing and FX have come in handy. Software bundle has lots of great stuff. Proteus X lite is very nice, definitely going to get more sounds for this.

Looks great and everything feels really solid, and quality. The only thing I worry about is that Card sticks out a ways from Laptop so have to be careful.

Incredible value.

No problems so can't say.

I;ve always dreamed of doing the things i'm doing on a laptop now. I love this thing.