[kongsmoelf]

Hi! I have been recommended the Creative Emu 0404 USB to record my music (Which is nothing special as of the moment) and I understand Nada, of the tech in this description: http://dk.europe.creative.com/shop/product_bundles.asp?category=70&subcategory=0&prod uct=1415&page= . I don't have a soundcard in my computer (Besides some integrated sucking something)

My question is: Is there a soundcard of some sort integrated in the product?

-Toby

[Yoozer]

USB Audio/MIDI Interface

Audio interface = fancy term for soundcard, so yes.

24-bit/192kHz

Means it records using 24 bits (large dynamic range) and at 192khz (high resolution). Comparison: a CD uses 16 bits and 44khz.

A/D and D/A converters

A = analog, D = digital. An analog signal is continuous - a digital signal's broken up in little steps.

Mic/Line/Hi-Z preamps

Means you can plug in a microphone or electric guitar.

ultra-low jitter clock

Jitter is disturbance in the clock's accuracy. Imagine a regular clock that moves the seconds indicator. It takes one minute to do a full rotation, and one may assume that the minute's broken up in 60 equal parts. That may however not be the case; one "second" may actually take 1.1 seconds or 0.9 seconds. For regular clocks it doesn't matter that much since accuracy for the minute is the most important, but for a clock running at the higher speeds of kilohertz, it is important.

(A/D: 113dB SNR, D/A: 117dB SNR)

Explanation about what SNR is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal-to-noise_ratio

48V phantom power

Explanation about phantom power:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_power

soft limiting circuit

Imagine having a bouncing ball. Throw it on the floor; it'll make nice curvy bumps. Now, throw it really hard; eventually it'll hit the ceiling. That's what happens when signals clip - they get "cut off". A soft limiter would slow the bouncing ball down so it'd still make a sort of curve.

optical and coaxial S/PDIF (switchable to AES/EBU) and MIDI In/Out

If you have any fully digital audio gear you can hook this up: see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/PDIF.

MIDI is so you can plug synthesizers in there; most modern synths come with an USB connection as well as a MIDI connection, older ones don't.

Ultra-low latency

This means it doesn't take half a second to hear something from one of your software synthesizers.

Hardware zero-latency direct monitoring (mono/stereo)

Incoming sound (instruments you're recording) is usually passed around the computer through various layers of software which all hold it back for a millisecond or so. Zero-latency ignores those layers and just lets the signal through.

Compatibility with most popular audio/sequencer applications - ASIO2,
WDM, MME, AC3 and DTS Passthru supported

It'll work on anything you throw on it, but ASIO is what you'd use. If you have FL Studio or whatever, you choose in the audio setup menu that you want to use the E-mu ASIO drivers. That's it, done.

[kongsmoelf]

Thanks for the explanations/diffination of the different things!

About that ASIO thing; You get these softwares with the product:

E-MU Production Tools Software Bundle CD-ROM
- Cakewalk SONAR LE
- Steinberg Cubase LE
- Ableton Live Lite 4 for E-MU
- Steinberg Wavelab Lite
- IK Multimedia AmpliTube LE
- SFX Machine LT
- Minnetonka diskWelder BRONZE (trial)
- E-MU Proteus® VX (over 1000 sounds included)
Well thanks again.

-Toby

[Yoozer]

Originally Posted by kongsmoelf

- Cakewalk SONAR LE
- Steinberg Cubase LE
- Ableton Live Lite 4 for E-MU

All sequencers, and all of these can use ASIO.

- Steinberg Wavelab Lite

This is used to cut samples with. If you have a drumbeat and you only want the snaredrum, you can use this to isolate it from the rest.

- IK Multimedia AmpliTube LE
- SFX Machine LT

Effects units.

- Minnetonka diskWelder BRONZE (trial)

For burning your productions to CD. Fairly useless since there's InfraRecorder (free).

- E-MU Proteus® VX (over 1000 sounds included)

This is a sampling library which gives you a bunch of instruments. Most free plugins are simulations of so-called subtractive synthesizers; an adequate library of realistic instruments is not that easy to find.