Sound Blaster Live! was the first sound card from Creative with the "What U Hear" recording input channel. This was supported in the Windows drivers, so no additional software was needed to utilize it. The analog stereo audio signal that came out of the main Line Out was directed into this input. That way, one could mix all available inputs and the MIDI synth into one stereo signal. When using "What U Hear" with 5.1 sound, the sound would be downmixed to stereo first. The Creative Recorder utility included with the sound card was specifically designed to take advantage of the "What U Hear" feature, making it a simple matter to capture streaming sound from any source, even from programs that deliberately avoid providing a means for saving the digital sounds, thus freeing non-technical users from the complexities of "patching" between inputs and outputs of various software modules.
The 5.1 series of SB Live is Creative Lab's newest line of soundcards. What sets the X-Gamer apart from it's MP3 brother is the bundle. The X-Gamer comes with full versions of the EAX enabled games: Thief II, MDK2, Deus Ex and Unreal Tournament. For those that don't already own these titles, they more than make up for the price of the soundcard by themselves.SpecsFeatureDescriptionMIDI FeaturesSynthesizer ChipEMU 10K1Synthesizer TypeWavetable (Scalable PCI)Polyphony64 (with 8-point interpolation)RAM sizeBased on system RAM, up to 32MBSample Sets2, 4 and 8MBSynthesizer EffectsReverb, Chorus, Flanger, PitchShifter, Distortion, etcMIDI Channels48Digital AudioFeaturesDuplex TypeFull DuplexMax. Recording Depth16-bitMax. Recording Rate48 KHzMax. Playback Depth16-bitMax. Playback Rate48 KHzSignal-to-Noise Ratio>96 dBSoundfont SupportYesBuilt-in AmplifierNoCompatibilityWindows MEYesWindows 2000YesWindows 98YesWindows 95Yes Windows NT 4.0YesGeneral MIDIYesMPC3YesPlug & PlayYesSound Blaster PCIYesEAX SupportYesMicrosoft DirectSoundYesMicrosoft DirectSound 3D &DerivativesYesPCI 2.1YesAC97YesMPU-401 UARTYesDolby Digital 5.1 decodingYesConnectorsMicrophone InYesLine InYesLine Out (Front)/Speaker OutYesLine Out (Rear)YesMIDI/Joystick PortYesMPC3 CD Audio InYesAuxiliary InYesS/PDIF InYesTelephone Answering Device (TAD) InYesOthersLive!DriveOptional4 Speaker SupportYesLive!Ware UpgradesYesCreative MultiSpeaker SurroundYesCreative EnvironmentsYesAudigyDriveBundle and featuresCreative Labs has an interesting way of bundling their soundcards. There are currently 3 different versions of the SoundBlaster Live 5.1 series: the Platinum, the X-Gamer and the MP3. The Platinum has all of the features and bundle of the MP3 and X-Gamer and Live Drive II , but it also is the most expensive of the 3. The MP3 comes with music software including: Mizman studio, Cakewalk 8.0 Gold, Creative Keytar, Creative Rhythmania , Creative WaveStudio and Kool Karaoke.Here's a list of what the SB Live X-Gamer 5.1 comes with:SB Live X-Gamer 5.1 soundcard (basically a SB Live Value with 5.1 and digital out )Thief IIUnreal TournamentMDK2Deus ExWindows 95/98/ME/2k/XP? driversAudio HQMiniDisc CenterKeytarCreative's Playcenter 2 (audio CD and digital audio (such as MP3 or WMA) playerCreative MediaRing Talk (allows you to make phone calls over the Internet from one PC to another PC with MediaRing Talk installed)Pixmaker (Creative edition) (kind of like Hypersnap)Creative Rhythmania (lets you create a MIDI file choosing from a professional set of backup rhythm and instruments)Creative WaveStudio (to play .wav files)Kool Karaoke (yes you can play Karaoke songs and use your microphone to sing along!)First, justas with all other cards in the Live product line you will find the Creative Launcher, Creative Surround Mixer, PlayCenter(currently 2.1) in the bundle of both cards. For details on theseprograms as well as details on all the otherapplications that are included in the downloadable version of LiveWare 3.0 you shouldcheck the Livereference review. You will also find an analog cd cable, a digital CD cable and a microphonein each box. In terms of software thecommon elements not on thedownloadable version of LiveWare 3.0 are:
Creative Sb Live Platinum Ct4760 Sound Card PCI Drivers
Come to think of it, I seem to recall the sound playback also being very quiet after the installation of the drivers from the CD -ROM.There might be some "gain" controls under the Mixer settings. I cannot recall, as it has been almost 20 years since I've installed my card with a Windows 98SE setup.I noticed that there is an "UPDDRV95.EXE" file in the \Win95drv folder. Perhaps run that and see if it makes a difference?
I'm thinking that the early model Live! cards pre-Windows XP and pre-WMA drivers would be excellent choices for EAX sound plus good SB16 compatibility with good wavetable. This is a dirt cheap solution for those wanting to get into retro gaming on PC.
Do you have the CD you used successfully with your CT4760 linked someplace please? Otherwise I was going to use this on on Vogon's drivers. I have an ESS ES1869F ISA sound card installed as well if that matters.
No graphics or sound issues whatsoever (obviously in windows not dos). All drivers are also completely up to date.Sound Blaster dos drivers are the latest 2000 not 1999 drivers. Installed off the sound blaster live 5.1 installation disc.
I've gotton further than most on this issue as I've managed to get past the "is sound blaster emulation enabled" error message. I open SBEGO.EXE from the Sound Blaster Live's dos drivers folder and it detects my address, dma and irq settings but then hangs the system or resets the computer. I believe it has something to do with EMM386 or the STACKS setting in my CONFIG.SYS file. The reason I say this is that I've only gotton this far when editing these two lines of the CONFIG.SYS file. Different changes results in different results eg not being able to detect the sound blaster emulation at all or detecting it but not detecting the address,dma or irq settings. Obviously again in SBEGO.EXE. At least now SBEGO.EXE can detect the sound cards settings. And before anyone suggests anything regarding conflicts with IRQ's I'm way past this and there are no conflicts. I've also tried moving the Card around to different PCI slots and also changing the IRQ from 5 to 7. I'm so close to getting this working. It's just a matter of using the right lines in AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS.
And I agree with you regarding your comment. I have just been getting just a little excited lately seeing some progress as initially I had got as far as most others. That being that the sound blaster live emulation wasn't being detected at all. At least now it seems to recognise it but then, as stated previously, hangs or resets the computer. This occurs in SBEGO.EXE and also if I try to start a dos game. Most hang on the loading screens. The computer also sometimes hangs in the game setups when I go to select a Sound Blaster card from the list of available sound cards. That Rayer's patch seems to have helped a bit. I'd provide the link to his website but I'm not sure I'm allowed to post links on vogons?
King_Corduroy, yeah it's very annoying! I've tried everything as you can see from above. I've also got a diamond mx300 pci sound card which I haven't got around to testing as yet. It has sound blaster pro dos emulation. I didn't really want to use it though as this pc is dual booting with windows 98 se as well as windows xp pro and the diamond mx300's xp drivers are far from stable. What brand/model motherboard are you using?
Hi, I was unaware the PCI 128 had dos sound blaster emulation? Could you please tell me more about this. You've spoken to someone who actually has this card working fine in dos using a pentium 4 motherboard? If this is the case I'll happily swap out my live card for a 128. Even though the live is the better card.
SB PCI 128 is a rebranded and slightly modified Audio PCI card originating from the Ensoniq company. With modified AudioPCI based legacy dos drivers to emulate SB16, Horrible FM Music, Passable General Midi Softsynth based on ECW soundbanks. Requires EMM386 in pure DOS.
Regarding the PCI128, I'm under the impression that all creative PCI sound blasters will only work if your motherboard supports NMI. So regardless of it being a PCI16, PCI64, PCI128, PCI512 or a Live it's not going to work unless you have the right motherboard. Your previous working PCI128 may have had a different motherboard in it than the one your trying to use with your live.
Strange question guys hoping Chris from Microsoft can weigh in on this. I have to put an older sound card in my machine (Sound Blaster Live 5.1). My speakers quit working (2.1 set) and my niece gave me a set of Creative 5.1 speakers. Unfortunately the onboard sound doesn't support 5.1 (god only knows how long I've had this card). To my question...will the native Windows 10 drivers run that SB Live card and will it run the 5.1 speakers? Creative isn't doing drivers for this card for 10. To those of you that say get a new card...no can do. I have 2 internal cdroms (cdrom and dvd) and need to be able to hook the audio for both to the sound card. The newer SB cards don't support that hookup. You think that's wierd?
I would gladly donate 2 DVD writers and a soundcard if you lived in the UK - since even those a few years old are worthless - the only reason I still have them is they would sell for less than pennies. 2ff7e9595c
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