EMU pci interfaces (eg 1212Mv2)...should i be afraid?

Hello ya'll,

I'm in the process of putting together a system for music production.

I will be running Ableton Live primarily, and want to be able to record some instrumentation (guitar, bass) as well as some vocals.

I wont be tracking any drums, if i need live drum tracks i'll do them in an actual studio, rather than frustrate myself with the limited and mid-level at best mics/pres/gates/etc i have in my home studio. So i don't need a lot of inputs.

I need an interface that will offer bang for the buck. I have always heard great things about the sound quality and zero latency of EMUs chips, even in their lower-end offerings (and frankly, an 0404 is really all i would probably need for my purpose)...but i've also heard horrific tales of driver problems...no updates for years, in some cases...including at the advent of Vista.

Concensus seems to be that the EMU stuff spanks other gear in the range (including M Audio's Audiophile 192, which i was considering) but, i cant see struggling for days/weeks with driver problems. All the drivers i looked at on their site were last updated in May of '08.

Anyone here using currently EMU interfaces, could you please relate your experiences?

Much appreciated.




Edit: i am just now reading about ESI's MAYA44e...anyone also have any experience with this unit?