CREATIVE Sound Blaster User Manual

User’s Guide

Creative Sound Blaster

Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Creative Technology Ltd. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the written permission of Creative Technology Ltd. The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the license agreement. It is against the law to copy the softwar e o n a ny ot her m ed iu m except as specifically allowed in the license agreement. The licensee may make one copy of the software for backup purposes only.

The Software License Agreement is found in a separate folder on this installation CD.

November 2003

Version 1.1

Copyright © 2003 Creative Technology Ltd. Sound Blaster and Blaster are registered trademarks, the Sound Blaster logo, Creative Inspire and Creative Multi Speaker Surround are trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd. in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft, MS-DOS, and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Apple, Macintosh, Mac and Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Manufactured under license from Dolby Laboratories. Dolby, Pro Logic and the double-D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. © 2001 Dolby Laboratories. All rights reserved. All other products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Contents

Introduction

Welcome to

high-quality digital audio entertainment.......................................... viii

Package Contents ........................................................................... ix

System Requirements ..................................................................... ix

Getting More Information.................................................................. x

Product Registration......................................................................... x

Technical Support and Warranty Information ...................................... x

Document Conventions..................................................................... x

1 About Sound Blaster

What You Need......................................................................................1-1

Sound Blaster........................................................................................ 1-2

Switching modes ........................................................................... 1-4

2 Installing Sound Blaster

Installing Hardware....................................................................... 2-1

Installing Software........................................................................ 2-2

In Windows 98 SE/Me/2000/XP............................................... 2-2

Verifying the software installation ....................................................2-3

In Windows 98 SE/Me ............................................................ 2-3

In Windows 2000/XP..............................................................2-3

Attaching Sound Blaster ................................................................. 2-4

Using a clip ........................................................................... 2-4

Using velcro strips ................................................................. 2-5

Connecting Microphones ................................................................ 2-6

Connecting Headphones ................................................................ 2-6

Adjusting Headphones Volume ................................................ 2-6

3 Using Sound Blaster

Connecting Peripherals ........................................................................... 3-1

Connecting Speaker Systems .................................................................. 3-2

Mixing analog inputs ..................................................................... 3-3

4 Sound Blaster Applications

Creative Sound Blaster Applications .........................................................4-1

Creative MediaSource Go! ....................................................................... 4-2

Creative MediaSource Go! Launcher................................................ 4-2

Creative MediaSource Player ...........................................................4-3

Creative MediaSource Organizer ..................................................... 4-3

Finding and organizing songs .................................................. 4-3

Keep your music database up to date ...................................... 4-4

Transferring songs.................................................................4-4

Automatically playing multimedia content................................. 4-4

Extracting and converting songs..............................................4-4

Storing music on recordable CD .............................................. 4-5

Creative Device Control .......................................................................... 4-5

Creative Diagnostics............................................................................... 4-5

Creative EAX Console ............................................................................. 4-6

Audio Effects: Environmental Sound Processing................................ 4-6

CMSS 3D: Simulating Surround Sound ............................................ 4-6

Audio Clean-up: Removing noise and distortion................................ 4-6

Time Scaling: Varying the speed of playback.................................... 4-7

Creative Surround Mixer .........................................................................4-7

Creative WaveStudio ..............................................................................4-7

Creative Speaker Settings....................................................................... 4-8

Creative MiniDisc Center .........................................................................4-8

Creative Graphic Equalizer ...................................................................... 4-8

5 Using Applications

Multimedia Playback............................................................................... 5-1

Watching DVDs ............................................................................ 5-1

Playing MP3, WMA, WMV or Dolby Digital 5.1 files ............................ 5-1

Playing back Wave and CD Audio files ............................................. 5-2

Playing MIDI files.......................................................................... 5-2

Compiling personal albums ............................................................ 5-2

Content Creation.................................................................................... 5-3

Recording digital audio .................................................................. 5-3

Internet Entertainment ........................................................................... 5-3

Encoding CD songs to MP3/WMA format .......................................... 5-3

Downloading and playing MP3/WMA songs....................................... 5-3

Playing MP3/WMA songs with EAX .................................................. 5-3

Gaming Reference..................................................................................5-4

Enjoying EAX support.................................................................... 5-4

Enjoying DirectSound3D support .................................................... 5-4

Appendixes

A General Specifications

Inputs and Outputs................................................................A-1

Controls ...............................................................................A-1

Display Indicators..................................................................A-1

B Troubleshooting

Problems Installing Software ...................................................................B-1

Problems with Sound..............................................................................B-2

Problems With Hardware.........................................................................B-6

Problems with Software ..........................................................................B-6

Index

Introduction

Welcome to high-quality digital audio entertainment

The product name may differ depending on your region.

Thank you for purchasing Creative's external Sound Blaster® audio solution.

Sound Blaster is simple to set up via your USB port. The compact and portable design is lightweight and requires no additional power adapter.

Sound Blaster delivers high quality stereo sound for digital music, movie and gaming. Also with the Creative Multi-Speaker Surround virtual surround sound with Dolby Digital music on your stereo speaker systems or headphones.

Digital music lovers will be able to enjoy an enriched digital music experience with the bundled Creative MediaSource Player that lets you play, record, organize and burn your own audio CDs easily in this one-stop digital music center. The Smart Volume Management (SVM) feature automatically adjusts the volume during playback of MP3s encoded at different volume levels.

Use the Audio feature in the EAX console to remove pops, noise and hiss when recording your old records and tapes. Bass Boost and EAX features such as audio environment presets and Time Scaling will enhance your listening experience through either headphones or stereo speakers. Bass Boost and EAX features such as audio environment presets and Time Scaling features in Sound Blaster deliver an exemplary 2.1-channel digital audio performance.

Use the 10-band Creative Graphic Equalizer to personalize and customize your audio playback.

5.1 DVD movies, 3D games and MP3

(CMSS), you can enjoy

Introduction viii

Package Contents The package contains the following items:

❑ Sound Blaster ❑ One clip ❑ 2 velcro strips

The items listed here may differ in certain countries.

❑ Y-sp litter cable ❑ USB cable ❑ Sound Blaster Installation CD ❑ Sound it! for Macintosh Application CD ❑ Quick Start leaflet

System Requirements

In Windows 2000, Service Pack 3 may be necessary for full and correct functionality. In Windows XP, Service Pack 1 may be necessary for full and correct functionality.

❑ Intel® Pentium® II 350 MHz, AMD K6® 450 MHz or faster processor ❑ Intel, AMD or 100% compatible motherboard chipset ❑ Windows

98 Second Edition (SE), Windows Millennium Edition (Me), Windows

2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1)

❑ 64 MB RAM for Windows 98 SE

128 MB RAM for Windows Me/2000/XP

❑ 340 MB of free hard disk space ❑ Available USB port ❑ Headphones or amplified speakers (available separately) ❑ CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive installed

Other applications may have higher system requirements or may require a microphone. Refer to the individual application’s online Help for details.

Note:Your Sound Blaster can be used with Apple computers running Mac OS X v10.2 (up to version 10.2.8) as well. It works with the native Mac OS X v10.2 audio driver and does not require software installation from the Installation CD. For additional functions such as recording within Mac OS X v10.2, use the bundled Sound it! application.

Introduction ix

Getting More Information

View the contents of the Sound Blaster Installation CD for additional demonstrations, libraries and other software. Visit the www.soundblaster.com site for the latest Sound Blaster news and products. The site also includes information on making purchases, technical help, and software and driver updates.

Product Registration Enjoy a host of benefits by registering your product during installation, or at

www.creative.com/register. Benefits include:

❑ Service and product support from Creative ❑ Exclusive updates on promotions and events

Technical Support and Warranty Information

Document Conventions

Technical Support information can be found in the installation CD. Go to d:\support\<language>\support.pdf.

Warranty Information can be found in the installation CD as well. Go to d:\warranty\<region>\<language>\warranty.pdf (replace d:\ with the drive letter of your CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive, <region> with the region you are in and <language> with the language the document is in).

The following typographical conventions are used throughout this manual:

The notepad icon indicates information that is of particular importance and should be considered before continuing.

The alarm clock designates a caution or warning that can help you avoid situations involving risk.

The warning sign indicates that failure to adhere to directions may result in bodily harm or life-threatening situations.

Introduction x

About Sound Blaster

This chapter explains the physical features of your Creative Sound Blaster

About Sound Blaster

What You Need

In addition, you will also need an available USB port on your computer.

Before you begin installation, be sure that you have these:

Installation CD

Sound Blaster

Y-splitter cable

USB cable

Clip

2 velcro strips

Figure 1-1: Items needed for installation.

About Sound Blaster 1-1

Sound Blaster

Sound Blaster has these jacks and connectors that allow you to attach other devices:

Rear Panel

Line In jacks

Connects to audio devices such as tape decks and audio players.

Line Out jacks

Connects to powered speakers or an external amplifier for audio output.

Optical In jack

Connects to digital audio devices such as DAT and MiniDisc players.

Optical Out jack

Connects to external digital devices or digital speaker systems.

Figure 1-2: Jacks, connectors and ports on Sound Blaster.

About Sound Blaster 1-2

Front Panel

Headphones Volume Control

Adjust the headphones volume by turning this dial left or right.

USB port

Connects to the computer’s USB port using a USB cable.

Power LED

Lights up blue when Sound Blaster is connected to your computer.

Microphone jack

Connects to an external microphone.

Headphones jack

Connects to a pair of headphones. Your speaker output is muted when you connect the headphones to Sound Blaster.

Side Panel

Digital/Analog switch

Switches between Digital Only and Digital/Analog modes.

Figure 1-3: Jacks, connectors and ports on Sound Blaster

About Sound Blaster 1-3

Switching modes You can switch between Digital Only and Digital/Analog mode using the Digital/

Analog switch located on the side panel of Sound Blaster. The table below illustrates the different functions between each mode:

It is recommended that you do not play any audio files before switching between Digital Only and Digital/Analog mode. Sometimes, you may need to close and launch the audio application after switching modes for it to function properly.

Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS pass-through is only available in Digital Only mode.

Table 1: Digital/Analog and Digital Only Mode

Connectors/Jacks Digital/Analog mode Digital Only mode

Line Out Available Not available

Line In Available Not available

Headphones Available Not available

Mic In Available Not available

Optical Out fixed at 48 kHz 44.1 and 48 kHz

Optical In 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz

About Sound Blaster 1-4

Installing Sound Blaster

This chapter tells you how to install Sound Blaster

Installing Sound Blaster

Installing Hardware 1. Turn on your computer.

2. Connect the supplied USB cable as shown in Figure 2-1.

Notebook computer

• The USB cable can be connected to your computer while the computer is turned on.

• The USB port(s) on some computers are located on the front panel instead of the back.

Desktop computer

USB port

Figure 2-1: Connecting Sound Blaster to the computer.

Installing Sound Blaster 2-1

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