EMU 1616 with Shure58S/58SE for skype calls?

Question

Hello!
I've sent this question to Thomann.de support, but I didn't get anything useful in return..
Basically I want to buy this bundle - http://www.musicstore.de/en_EN/LVL/_SET_-Shure-SM58SE-inkl.-Stativ-Kabel/art-PAH109
And I have a bit older version of this card (1616 instead of 1616M):
http://www.musicstore.de/en_EN/LVL/EMU-1616m-PCIe-16-In-16-Out-FX/art-PCM0008873-000
Will this microphone work on skype, for voice calls?...
Usual PC microphones don't work with 1616 card (as they are not active microphones). My work involves skype calls and I can't call when 1616 is connected. At least not with usual PC microphone.
So I'm using integrated sound card for quite a while...
Will this mic work for this? Please advise.
Best wishes,
Aleks

Answer 1

You and I had the good sense to see tremendous value in the E-Mu 1616 MicroDock audio interface.  Unfortunately, apparently few other people did, or maybe E-Mu would still be in business.  
Where to start.
Until recently, I used a headset under Windows XP with no problem. Not even sure how I had Patchmix set up, but I knew NOTHING of ASIO outputs in those days, so might not even have had a Send inserted somewhere.  I was able to use both a headset mic (see below), and/or a phantom-powered condenser with Skype audio-call sessions. I upgraded to Windows 7 in Jan 2013, and although I've used Skype rarely since then, my call record shows that I made a long call last summer, so it must have worked.  In the fall, I updated what may have been a very old version of Audacity, and suddenly could no longer get 1616 sound into Audacity. I've since learned that Audacity doesn't support ASIO, and apparently there's no other way to interface them. (Using properly matched ASIO "send" inserts, I can still use my mics with Pro Tools.)  I also use a product called Total Recorder, which I generally have set up to record from "software" (as opposed to a mic input), and used to regularly put me on one channel and the other person on the other channel.
Now I find that Skype doesn't hear the 1616. Total Recorder doesn't (although their earnest support dept has assured me it should, and should not depend on getting the sound via ASIO -- I have yet to check their report fully, but my first try was unsuccessful).  And the Skype situation is a total mystery -- it says my microphone is working properly, but neither the Call Quality record/play test, nor the test call will hear it, whatever I have tried. (And I swear I've tried and triple checked everything, even removing other recently added audio software and reverting to a week-old Restore Point. (I dare not go back months, if that is even possible.)  
Skype does "hear" a USB headset that I plugged in just for testing.  Windows foudn and loaded drivers for it, and I made a successful test call.  Although of course in comparison, the headset's audio sucked.
So, although I have no hands-on experience with the SM58 my short answer is: Yes, it should work with any professional dynamic or condenser mic.  But in my case, it still does, but Skype suddenly does not work with it.
Supposedly "correct" configuartion for Skype.
http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=87610
To use an ordinary telephone headset with the MicroDock, you need an amplifier of sort between them. (Which was news to me until a guy deep in Plantronics nicely explained -- apparently headphones use an electret approach?)  With suitable mono/stereo adapters etc., an Andrea APS-100 Battery Box should do the trick.  I got mine from eMicrophones, but a search may turn up other current sources.  About $12 plus shipping.  It uses a AAA battery, and fidelity is okay for phone use.   I don't know if it would be the correct solution (or at all a solution) for a low-output (cheap tape recorder) dynamic mic.  That probably would call for a conventional pre-amp of some kind, although the mic I just tried seems to give signal enough.
By the way, I tried your link to the 1616m and succeeded in putting into a cart, where it says they have it "in stock."  Some nerve!  Okay, a bit of thanks to Creative Inc. for not doing away with the E-MU site entirely, but how does anyone have the chutzpah to sell the thing when there is no support, no "official" driver (just a 2010 beta and 2009 documentation), nobody there, no active forms or email, and their forum is virtually dormant?