Inside my computer desktop, I have a piece of hardware that has been transplanted across multiple desktops. It’s the E-MU 1820M digital audio interface card with external audio dock which I bought sometime in mid-2000s. It supports 24-bit 192kHz audio, 18 inputs and 20 outputs, 2 MIDI ports, 2 TFPro mic preamps with 40dB gain and 48V phantom power. I don’t really use half of the professional features, but what I really love is the clean audio production and expandability of both analogue and digital connections.
The card survived several OS and desktop upgrades, from Windows XP to Windows 7, Windows 8 and even Windows 10, though the official drivers only support up to Windows 7. But now that new mainboards no longer come with the old 32-bit PCI slots, I had to hold on to my 6-year-old desktop that ran on first-generation Intel Core i5 CPU. Often, I had searched for alternatives to replace the audio interface but none is as worthy for my budget. It just couldn’t bear to write off something that still works wonderfully just because the new-generation desktop components have turned obsolete.
Then, 2 coincidences occurred.
First, I spotted a pre-loved desktop with great casing for a reasonable price. I love how the parts are assembled, including the provision of SSD and HDDs. It would cost at least 50% more if I had assembled brand new.
Then I came across this brilliant hardware adapter that converts a PCI-express x1 slot into 2 old-school PCI slots. The issue is that there was no space to fit the audio card with the adapter into the existing horizontal slot against the existing mainboard. And most people would buy a casing that fit the mainboard with no spare room.
The amazing thing about this particular pre-owned desktop is that it had one vertical slot perpendicular to the regular horizontal slots (see earlier pic with the new desktop, notice the white slot covers). And I was like: what are the odds of me finding a desktop that I fancy with a special slot that I could make use to fit my precious audio card with the adapter?
I bought the desktop off the current owner in a flash.
After I completed the OS installation and data migration (post here), the next step was to wait patiently for the adapter to arrive. The order from AliExpress took 3 weeks, and I had to buy 2 components from separate sellers. One was the main PCI converter adapter, and the other was a special L-shaped SATA cable to power up the adapter. The L-shaped connector is important because normal SATA cable would stick out and block the PCI board.
In preparation of a worse-case scenario, I thought of a few options if the adaptor failed to work, one of which was to keep the old desktop and use it only when I needed to create audio projects. I could live with that, since I had few music projects these days. The other option was to abandon my old audio box and get a new USB audio interface, plus USB-MIDI cables to plug my existing synths.
The components finally arrived. I installed the parts, connected the cable to the power supply unit, and turned on the PC. No display? Oh, the cable came lose which I was moving the desktop around. Restart.
OK, boot success into Windows 10, but no sign of hardware auto-detect, and the audio box had no light. I clicked into System -> Device Manager and identified that a certain “Digital Audio Interface” was detected but not installed. I promptly installed the E-MU 1820 PCI driver (EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA.exe), followed by the audio software (EmuPMX_PCApp_US_2_20_00). Then I rebooted.
The first sign of success is when the audio box started initialising with flashing lights. Then the E-MU audio software started up. The final verification: I opened up an audio file, and saw the peak meter moving. I then turned up the volume knob gradually, until I heard a familiar sound from the speaker.
Welcome back, old friend! You’re working all over again in a fifth-generation Intel i5 desktop!
Link to buy the PCI-express to PCI converter
Link to buy the L-shaped SATA power cable
Windows 10 Version 1903 and Later
During my Windows update on 4 November 2019, the E-MU soundcard appears to have some error appearing on the PatchMix DSP and the audio card stopped working. After searching online, I found this article which seems to have fixed the problem.
On hindsight, I suspect the fault lies with the ASIO driver, and if I had tried to change the registry as mentioned after step 7, the soundcard might work and I need not go through the whole re-installation process. I have taken a screen shot of the instructions in case the site went dead.
Update 9 May 2020: One day out of nowhere, my E-MU 1820M refused to play audio. It was strange because the peak meter on the PatchMix app was moving, which indicates things should be working. I suspect perhaps one of the capacitors in the external interface box was damaged, resulting in the failure of the amplifier. Before I gave up, I decided to do a full re-installation and followed the steps above. After completion, the output worked. I wonder what went wrong on that fateful day. Perhaps a Windows update replaced something which cause the audio interface to stop working.
VST Plugins for Free
If you own the E-MU 1820M, I reckon you own a desktop audio workstation (DAW). Everyone loves free things, so someone shared me this link where you get to use 15 free VST plugins, which are plug-ins for your audio projects. If you are producing music on a budget, these may be of interest. https://beginnerguitarhq.com/vst-plugins/
15 comments
Have you had issues running this card under Windows 10 since the install? Elsewhere on the web, it looks like people are having trouble getting the 1820 working under Win10.
It still works for me, even after the recent Win10 update.
Great! Does your EMU 1820m work with any limitations on Win10? On Win7 I can use only 44,1 and 48 Khz sample rates.
Hi. After reading your guide I decided to move my old 1820 to a new computer. I bought the same PCIe adapter. The lights on the Dock are on, but I’m having trouble getting the sound.
Do you remember which version of the driver and application you installed?
Cheers
Mike
Hi Mike! I installed the EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA and EmuPMX_PCApp_US_2_20_00, as described in this thread. https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=203576
If the lights are on, that means the hardware is detected and recognised by the OS. If the PatchMix does not show any activity, try to check if there are conflicts with the existing audio card on your motherboard and disable it. Also, try to reboot. During my years of using, once a while the hardware will not output audio, but a reboot usually did the trick.
Hope that helps!
Hi Mike, I wonder if this guide will help you. I’ve updated the article with this latest development.
Hi,
I plan to move out of WIN7 to the new desktop with WIN10 and wondering what desktop case / CPU / Motherboard you found?
Any specific recommendations?
I am in a similar situation; I lost the use of my DAW after nearly two decades and multiple hardware/os upgrades. Like you, I love my Emi 1820m and want to keep using it. Being disabled and retired limits my budget so I decided to take an already existing machine with an Asrock 97 mobo in it, upgrade the essentials (power supply, memory, a couple of very quiet fans) and put it back into the Cosmos tower case. Alas, I completely missed on the fact that the pci-express card format ain’t compatible with pci-e. The adapter you cite is no longer available. Do you know of an alternative? Like one of the other commenters stated, it is a rather confusing thing to search for and understand what the net throws back at you.
Btw, I really like the look of that case you found, could you identify what it is?
Hi thanks for sharing your experience! The case is generic, I cannot recall the model. There are PCIe-to-PCI adapters for sale if you search the keywords. Here’s one to start: https://www.wish.com/product/5d4850a6f67d48137b2836a9?hide_login_modal=true&share=web
Well, according to your article and the others I tracked down, this should work. It didn’t for me, sadly and I don’t know what to do. At the moment, the problem is absolutely no lights on the 1820m breakout box. Windows 10 (pro) device manager appears to see and correctly identify the card but I get no joy from it. I could not install the drivers in the manner described because with my dual monitor setup, for some reason I cannot get an active display for either the bios/uefi or in safe mode. I used a different means to authorize running a script within Powershell and it appeared to work. At the time, I did this, I had failed to notice the sata power plugin so I attempted to use the device before it was plugged in to power and, of course, I noticed there where no lights. So, today, I found a sata connector that I could make work, plugged it in (got a blue light on the pci board I didn’t have before) and thought I was home free.
Wrong. Still no lights, no joy and a butt-load of frustration. I have no idea what to do to try and get this working nor do I have any idea how to verify that the drivers are properly installed.
Suggestions?
Based on your article, I have researched and bought a number of PCIE TO PCI converter cards. I noticed the jumpers convert the current from 5v to 3.3v. While I observed that the card you are using does not have these switching jumpers, does it automatically switch the current back and forth between 5v and 3.3v ? Currently I am wondering if EMU 1820m runs stable with PCI at 5v or 3.3v current?
Hi, I’m not knowledgeable on this area, but I did a quick search online and I believe that the PCI cards will be able to detect the voltage required and consume the right amount. The fact that your converter supports both 3.3V and 5V is a good sign!
Good morning.
Can anybody help me with a EMU APS audio card (is a PCI card came out in 1999)?
I had made it work with WinXP but after a re-installation of WinXP, i have the same exact problem you described here:
“…my E-MU 1820M refused to play audio. It was strange because the peak meter on the PatchMix app was moving, which indicates things should be working…”
I am trying to make it work now and for 1,5 month with no luck. I have installed all the Windows OS : Win95, Win98, Win2000, WinMe, WinXP, WinVista with drivers i found on web, but the card do not have sound, in all of these OS”s.
I also gave the card to a technician to examine it if there is a bad circuit, but he told me that the card seems to be OK.
Any tip or idea, will help.
Thanks
Hi, sorry to hear that your card is not working. What I usually do was to re-install the drivers. The other possible reason is that your 3.5mm output connector is broken.
Hi Chester Tan.
Thanks for your reply.
I have already, for 2 months now, installed and reinstalled the drivers, maybe 100 times.
As for the output connector, it is not a 3.5 mm but a big one and it is not one, two channel connector, but two separate one channel (one left and one right) connector. It is unlikely to have broken both of them. The card also have two connectors for recording and two connectors for digital output. All of them do not give or receive audio signal.