Emu 0404 USB 2.0 Audio/MIDI Interface

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Audio Magic - Not
This unit started to hum after a while and their tech blamed it on my PC's power supply. They thought it may be a faulty grounding problem in regards to the USB connection. Yeah Right. Anyway, I did not find this to be any better then the cheaper Creative audio products I have used in the past and have since gone back too. Maybe if your stuck with a laptop and need an external sound card mixer combo this would do the trick. Some of the issues in regards to operation are that the knobs are located on the top of the unit so you cannot stack it. It must always be kind of displayed in a place of honor to operate. You know, out in the open with plenty of free space above so you can work those knobs and get at those connectors. It did come with some free software, with some of that stuff being very hard to use. It is like using early editions of PC software from the 80s, running under DOS. So if you want to proudly display the hardware out in the open and to spend days, maybe years learning the features of some of the great software that is included with this product then this is for you.

Excellent product unless you run MacOS X 10.5 Panther
I bought this product a few months ago from another retailer. I use it with a MacBook 2ghz, 2GB RAM, blah blah blah. When I ran MacOS 10.4 Panther it worked great. The audio quality is excellent *IF* your source inputs are clean. By that I mean, if you're using a high quality microphone with XLR inputs you will get a very clean sound. I've also used it with a Martin D16RT acoustic guitar with builtin mic and a Taylor 812ce with builtin pickup and - again - it recorded extremely clean audio. The product works as advertised. But, as of February 12th 2008, if you're running MacOS X 10.5 Leopard it doesn't work. I can't start standard audio applications like Garageband, they just crash. You'll have to remove the EMU driver to get the system back to normal too. Took me several hours to figure dig through the issue and determine the cause. I hope EMU provides a driver update for 10.5 in the near future. But CHECK BEFORE YOU BUY if you're running Leopard.

Just what I wanted
The Emu 404 was just what I wanted. While it is obviously not professional quality sound, it is perfect for home recording. My one suggestion is don't skimp on a mic. the better the mic the more you'll get out of this interface.

Doesn't get better than this for the price
I have to say, EMu has really put out some fantastic products in the past few years. I have two 1212Ms and they are stellar. So, I decided to use this for some simple audio processing and then tossed my ekit through it. The sound is very clean, and the timbre seems true, maybe slightly forgiving. I don't credit the DACs as so many seem to do. I believe the preamps in this unit are the real story. As for durability of the case, well, it's plastic, some composite that seems quite durable actually; only time will tell.

Good Product - medium footprint
I purchased this when I found out that the Steinburg MIDEX-8 would not work with Intel Macs after I purchased a Mac Pro (Steinburg discontinued support for the MIDEX-8 in 2003). I was really looking for a MIDI interface but this unit also provides me with guitar and microphone inputs which is a bonus. In the past I have had to mess with a PCI card for audio input into my Mac. This can get messy. I like the front access. After searching for this type of product I found that there are MANY to choose from so the issue was how to decide on which one to purchase. One of the factors for me was the MAC/PC connection method. Available interfaces include USB 1.1, USB 2.0, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800. Firewire 800 would be great because the greater bandwidth should produce the lowest latency (in theory). Of course extra bandwidth costs extra money. Based on pricing I elected to go for USB 2.0. The firewire units go up by a quantum leap in price ($500 and up). I was trying to stay around $200.So far I have not found the USB 2.0 interface to be a problem. I would not bother with USB 1.1. The other factor was power. Since USB has a limited current capacity I did not want a unit that relied on existing USB power because I did not want my audio levels to be low (e.g., headphone output). I therefore looked for a unit that requires external power. I understand that some people would prefer portability but this is not a factor for me. I use this device in my home studio only. Checking Amazon's price and this and other product reviews I decided to puchase this device and so far I am very pleased with it. I do not notice any latency and it works just fine with Cubase 4.0 and Garage Band. I expect it will also work with BIAB. I also liked the feedback that mentioned the high quality of the DACS. I think this will handle my needs for now. I miss the 8 MIDI in and 8 MIDI out of the MIDEX-8 but I can use MIDI thru on the e-mu product. I would prefer a smaller footprint (like the Focusrite Saffire - firewire) however I can also live with that for less than $200.