Creative Sound Blaster Live User Manual

User’s Guide

Creative Sound Blaster Live! Digital Entertainment 5.1

Creative Audio Software

Information in this document i s s ubject to change wi thout notice an d does not represent a commitment on the par t of Creative Technology Ltd. No part of this manual may be r ep rodu ced or tr ansmit ted i n any f orm or b y any m eans , el ectroni c or mech anical , i nclud ing ph ot ocopy i ng and r ec ording , fo r any pu r pose witho ut 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 t he software on an y other medium except as specifically allowed in the license agr eement. The licensee may make one copy of t he s of tware for backup purposes.

Octo be r 2000 Sound Bla s ter and Blaster are registered trademarks, and the Sound Bl as ter Live ! logo, the Sound Blast er PCI logo, EMU10K1, Environment al Audio, Creative

Multi Speak er Surrou nd, and LAVA! are tra demark s of Crea ti v e Technolog y Ltd . in the Uni ted St ates an d/or other count ri es. E-Mu and So undF ont are re gi st ered trademarks of E-mu Systems, Inc.. SoundWorks is a registered trademark, and Micr oWorks, PCW or ks and FourPoi ntSurround are trademarks of Cambridge SoundW ork s, Inc .. Microso ft, MS -DOS, and W indo ws are re gist ered trade marks of Mi crosof t Corporat ion. Man ufac tured under license f rom Dolb y Labora tor ies. Dolby , A C-3, Pro Log ic and the dou bl e-D sym bol are trad emar ks of Dol b y Laborat ori es. © 2000 Dolby L abora to ries . All rig hts res erved. All other products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

This product is c overed by one or more of the fol lowing U.S. patents:

4,506,579; 4,699 ,038; 4,987,600; 5,013,105; 5,072,645; 5,111,727; 5,144,676; 5,170 ,369; 5,248,845; 5,298,671; 5,303,309; 5,317,104; 5,342,990; 5,430 ,244; 5,524,074; 5,698 ,803; 5,698,807; 5,748,747; 5,763,800; 5,790,837.

Creative End-Us er Software License Agreem ent

PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE INSTALLING THE SOF TWARE. BY INSTALLING AND USING THE SOFTWARE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGRE E TO T HE TERMS OF THIS AG REEMENT, DO NOT INSTAL L OR USE THE SOFTWARE. PROMPTLY RETURN, WITHIN 15 DAYS, THE SOFTWARE, ALL RELATED DOCUMENTATION AND ACCOMPANYING ITEMS TO THE PLACE OF ACQUISITION FOR A FULL REFUND.

This is a legal agreement between you and

Technology Ltd .

This Agreement st ates the terms and co nditions upon which Creative offers to license the software sealed in the disk pac k age toge ther w ith all rela ted documentation and accomp anying items including, but not limited to, the executable programs, drivers, libraries and data file s as s ociated with such programs (collectively, the “Software” ) .

LICENSE

Grant of License

The Software is licensed, not sold, to you for use only under the terms of thi s Agr eement. You own the disk or other media on which the Software is origina ll y or subsequently recorded or fixed; but, as between you and Creative (and, to the extent applicable, its licensors), Creative retains all title to and ownership of the Software and reserves all rights not express ly granted to you .

For Use on a Sin gle Computer

The Software may be used only on a single computer b y a single user at any ti me. You may transfer the machine-readable por tion of the Software f rom one comput er to anot her compu ter , provid ed that (a) the Soft w a r e (including any portion or copy thereof) is erased from the first computer and (b) there is no possibility that the Software will be used on more than one computer at a time.

Stand-Alone Basis

You may use the Software only on a st and-alone basis, such that the Software and the functions it

and its subsidiaries (“Creative”).

Creative

Version 2.4, June 2000

provides are accessible only to persons who are physicall y presen t at the lo catio n of the comp uter on which the Software is loaded. You may not allow the Software or its functions to be accessed remotely, or transmit all or any portion of the Softwar e thr ough an y net wo rk or com muni cat ion line.

The So f t ware is own e d by Cr e a t ive and/o r its licensees and is pr otected by U nited States copyright laws and international treaty provisions. You may not remove the copyright notice from any copy of t he Software or any copy of the written materials, if any, accompanying the Software.

One Archival Cop y

You may make one (1) archival copy of the machine-readable portion of the Software fo r backup purp oses only in s upport of yo ur use o f the Softwar e on a single comput er, provided that you reproduce on the copy all copyright and other proprietary rights notices included on the originals of the Software.

No Merger or Integration

You may not merge any por ti on of the Software into, or in te gra te a ny po rti on of th e So ftw are w ith , any other program, except to the extent expressly permitted by the laws o f the jurisdictio n where you are located. Any portion of the Software merged in to or integra ted with another program , if any, will continue to be subjec t to the term s and condition s of this Agreement, and you must reproduce on the mer ged or integrated p ortion all

Network Version

If you have pur chas ed a “network” version of th e Software, this Agreement applies to the installa tion of the Software on a singl e “file serve r”. It may not be cop ied onto multiple systems. Each “node” connected to the “file server” must also have its o w n license of a “node copy” of the Soft w are, which becomes a license only for that sp ecific “node” .

Transfer of Licen s e

You may tran s f er your license of the S of tware, provid ed that (a) you transfer all portions of the Software or copies thereof, (b) you do not retain any port ion of t he Softwar e or any copy thereo f , and (c) the tran sferee rea ds and agrees to be bo und by the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

Limitat ion s o n Usin g, Copy in g, a nd Mod i fyin g the Software

Except to the extent expr es sly perm it te d by this Agr e ement or by the law s of the juris diction where you acquired the Software, you may not use, copy or modify the Software. Nor may you sub-license any of your rights under this Agreement. You may use the softwa re for your personal use o nly, and not for publ ic pe rfo rmanc e or for the creation of pub lic ly disp laye d videotapes.

10.

Decompiling, Disassembling, or Reverse

Engineering

Y ou acknowl edge that the Soft ware cont ains trad e

secrets an d other proprietary infor m ation of Creativ e and its licensors. Except to the extent expres s ly perm i t t e d by this Agr e e ment or by t h e laws of t he juri sdicti on where you are located, you may not decompile, disasse mble or otherwis e revers e engineer the Software, or engage in any other activities to obta in unde rl yin g infor ma tio n that is not visible to the user in connection with normal use of th e Sof tware.

In particul ar, you agree not for any pur pose to transmit the Software or display the Software's object code on any computer screen or to make any hardcopy memory dumps of the Softwar e's object code. If you believe you re quire informatio n rel a ted to the intero pe ra bility of the Software with other programs, you shall not decompile or disassembl e the Software to obtain such informat ion, and you agree to request such information from Creative at the address listed below. Upon receiving such a request, Creat ive shall determine whether you require such informat io n for a legitim a te purpo se a nd, if so, Creative will provide such info rm atio n to you within a reasonable time and on reasonable conditions. In any event, you wil l notify Creative of any info r m ation de r ived from r eve r s e e ngine er ing or such other activities, and the results thereof will constitute the confidential information of Creative that may be used only in connection with the Software.

For Software With CDDB Features

11. This package includes applications which may contain software from CDDB, Inc.of Berkeley California ("CDDB"). The software from CDDB (the "CDDB Cl ient") enables the applicatio n to do onlin e dis c ident ifi cati on and ob tain musi c-rela ted information, including name, artist, track and title information ("CDDB Data") from online servers

("CDDB Servers") and to perform other functions . Yo u agree that you will use CDDB Data, the CDDB Client and CDDB Servers for your own personal no n-comme rc ial us e onl y . You agree not to assign, copy, transfer or transmit the CDDB Client or any CDDB Data to any third party. YOU AGREE NOT TO USE OR EXPLOIT CDDB DATA, THE CDDB CLIENT,OR CDDB SERVERS,EXCEPT AS EXPRES SLY PERMITTED HEREIN. You agree that your non-exclusiv e license to use the CDDB Data, the CDDB Client and CDDB Servers will terminate if you violate these restrictions. If your license terminat es , you agree to cease any and all use of the CDDB Data, the CDDB Client and CDDB Servers. CDDB reserves all rights in CDDB Data, the CDDB Client and the CDD B Se rvers , inclu d in g all owner s hi p r i g hts. Y o u agree that CDD B, Inc. may enf orc e its rig hts under this Agreement again st you directl y in its own name. The CDDB Client and each item of CDDB Data are licensed to yo u "A S IS." CDDB makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding the accu racy of any CDD B Data fro m in the CDDB Servers. CDDB r es er ves the right to delete data from the CDDB Servers or to change data categories for any caus e that CDDB deems sufficient. No warranty is made that the CDDB Client or CDDB Servers are error-free or that functioning of CDDB Client or CDDB Servers will be uninterrupted. CDDB is not obligated to provide you w ith any ne w enhan ced or add i tional data types or categories that CDDB may chose to provide in the future. CDDB DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES

OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. CDDB does not warrant the results t hat will be obtained by your use of the CDDB Client or any CDDB Server. IN NO CASE WILL CDDB BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTIAL DAMAGES OR FOR ANY LOST PROFITS, OR LOST REVENUES.

TERMINATION

The license granted to you is effective until terminate d. You may terminate it at any time by returning the Software (inclu ding any portions or copies thereof) to Creative. The license will also terminate automa tic ally without any notice from Creative if you fail to comply with any term or conditi on of this Agreement. You agree upon such terminatio n to return th e Softw ar e (inc lu di ng any porti o n s or co pies th ereof ) t o C r e a t ive. Upon term ination, Cre a t ive may al s o en f orce a ny r ights provid ed by law. The provisions of thi s Ag reement that protect the proprietary rights of Creative will continue in forc e afte r termin a tio n .

LIMITED WARRANTY

Creative warrants, as the sole warranty, that the disks on which the Software is furnished will be free of defects, as set forth in the Warranty Card or printed manual included wit h the Software. No distributor, dealer or an y other entity or person is authorised to expand or alter this warranty or any other provisions of this Agreement. Any representation, other than the warranties set forth in this Agreement, will not bind Creative.

Creati ve does not warrant that the functions contained in the Software w ill meet your requirements or that the operation of the Software will be uninterrupted, error-free or free from malicious code. For purposes of t his paragra ph, “malicious code” means any progr am code designed

to contamin ate other comput er programs or computer data, consume computer resources, modify, destr oy, record, or transmit data, or i n so me other fashion usurp the normal operat ion of the computer, computer s ys tem, or computer network, includi ng viruses, Trojan horses, droppers, worms, logic bombs, and the like.

ABOVE IN THIS AGREEMENT, THE SOFTWARE IS PRO VIDED AS-IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTAB ILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. CREATIVE IS NOT OBLIGATED TO PROVIDE ANY UPDATES, UPGRADES OR TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR THE SOFTWARE.

Further , Cr eati ve sh al l not be l iabl e for t he accu racy of any information provided by Creative or third party technical support personnel, or any damages caused, eith er dir ectly or indi rectly, by acts taken or omission s made b y you as a resul t of suc h tec hnical support.

You assume full responsibility for the selection of the Software to achieve your intended results, and for the installation, use and results obtained from the Software. You also assume the entire risk as it applies to the quality and perfor mance of the Software. Should the Software prove defective, you (and not Creative, or its distributors or dealers) assume the enti r e cost of all necessary ser vi cing, repair or correction.

This warra nty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary fro m country/state to country/state. Some countries/states do not allo w the e xclu sio n of im plie d war ranti es, so the above exclusion may not apply to you. Creative disclaims all warran tie s of any kind if the Softwar e

EXCEPT AS STATED

was customised, repackaged or altered in any way by any third party other t han C reative.

LIMIT ATION OF REMEDIES AND DAMAGES THE ONLY REMEDY FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY WILL BE THAT SET FORTH IN THE WARRANTY CARD OR PRINTED MANUAL INCLUDED WITH THE SOFTWARE. IN NO EVENT WILL CREATIVE OR ITS LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR FOR ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, LOST REVENUES OR LOST DATA ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THE SOFTWARE OR THIS AGRE EMENT, EVEN IF CREATIVE OR ITS LICENSORS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT WILL CREATIVE’S LIABILITY OR DAMAGES TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON EVER EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO USE THE SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE CLAIM.

Some countries/states do not allow the limitation or exclusion of l iabi lit y fo r inci dental or c onse quen tia l damages, so th e above limit ation or exclus ion may not apply to you.

PRODUCT RETURNS

If you must ship the software to Creative or an authori s e d Cr e ative dist r ibutor or de a le r , you must prepay ship ping and either in s ure the software or assume all risk of loss or damage in transit.

U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS

All Softw are and related documentation are provided with restricted rights. Use, duplication or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to

restrictions as set forth in subdivision (b)(3)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software Clause at 252.227-7013. If you are sublicensing o r using the Soft ware out side of t he United States, you w ill comply with the applicable local laws of your country, U.S. e xport control law, and the English version of this Agreement.

CONTRACTOR/MANUFACTURER

The Contractor/Manufacturer for the Software is:

Creati ve Technology Ltd

31, International Business Park Creative Resource Singapor e 609921

GENERAL

This Agreement is bindin g on you as well as yo ur employees , employers, c ontractors and agents, and on any succes s or s and assignees. Nei ther the Software nor any information derived therefrom may be e xpor ted e xce pt i n a ccord ance w ith th e la ws of the U.S. or other applicable provisions. This Agreement is governed by t he laws of the State of California (except to the extent federal law governs copyrights and federally registered trademarks). This Agreement is the entire agreement between us and superse d es a ny other un de r s tandi n gs or agreements, inc lu ding , but not limited to, advertising, with respect to the Software. If any provision of this Agreement is deemed invalid or unenforceab le by any count ry or governmen t agency having jurisdiction, that particular provision will be deemed modified to the extent necessary to make the prov ision valid and enforceable , and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

For questions concernin g this Agreement, please contact Cre a tive at the addr ess stated abo ve. For questions on product or technical matters, contact the Creative technical support cent re nearest you.

ADDENDUM TO THE MICROSOFT SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT (WINDOWS 95)

IMPORTANT:

files (the “Microsoft Software”) pr ovided with this Addendum, you are agreeing to be bound by the follow ing terms . If you do not a gr ee to be bound by these terms, you may not use the Microsoft Software.

The Microsoft Software is provided for the sole purpose of replacing the correspond ing files provid ed with a previously licensed copy of the Microsof t software pr oduct identified above (“ORIGINAL PRODUCT”). Upon installat ion, th e Microsof t Software files become part of the ORIGINAL PRODUCT and are subject to the same warranty and lice n se ter ms and con dit io ns as the ORIGINAL PR ODUCT. If you do not ha ve a valid license to use the ORIGINAL PRODUCT , you may not use the Mi crosoft So ftw are. Any o ther use of the Microsof t Software is prohibit e d.

SPECIAL PROVISIONS APPLICA BLE TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

IF YOU ACQUIRED THE SOFTWARE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU), THE FOLLOWING PROVISIONS ALSO APPLY TO YOU. IF THERE IS ANY INCONSISTENCY BETWEEN THE TERMS OF THE SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT SET OUT EARLIER AND IN THE FOLLOWING PROVISIONS, THE FOLLOWING PROVISIONS SHALL TAKE PRECEDENCE.

DECOMPILATION

You agree not for any purpose to transmit the Software or display the Software’s object code on any computer s c reen or to make any hard copy memory dumps of the S oftware’s object code. I f you believe you require information related to the interopera b ilit y of the Sof twa re with ot her

By using the Microsoft software

programs, you shall not decompile or dis a s s e mble the Software to obtain such information, and you agree to request such information from Creative at the address lis ted earlier. Upon receiving such a request, Creative shall determine whether you require such information for a legitimate purpose and, if so, Creative will provide such information to you within a reasonable time a nd on reasonable conditions.

LIMITED WARRANTY EXCEPT AS STATED EARLIER IN THIS AGREEMENT, AND AS PROVIDED UNDER THE HEADING “STATUTORY RIGHTS”, THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS-IS WITHOUT W ARRANT Y OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRES S OR IMPLI ED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, QUALITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

LIMITATION OF REMEDY AND DAMAGES THE LIMITATIONS OF REMEDIES AND DAMAGES IN THE SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT SHALL NOT APPLY TO PERSONAL INJURY (INCLUDING DEATH) TO ANY PERSON CAUSED BY CREATIVE’S NEGLIGENCE AND ARE SUBJECT TO THE PROVISION SET OUT UNDER THE HEADING “STA T UT ORY RIGHTS”.

STATUTORY RIGHTS

Irish law provides that cer tain conditions an d warrantie s may be im pl ied in contra cts for th e sale of goods and in contracts for the s upply of services. Such conditions and warranties are hereby excluded, to the extent such e xclusio n, in the conte xt of this transaction, is la w f ul under Irish law. Conversely, such conditions and warranties, insofar as they may not be lawfully e xcluded, shall apply.

Accordingl y noth in g in this Agre em e nt shall prejudice an y righ ts tha t you m ay enj o y by vi rtu e of Sections 12, 13, 14 or 15 of the Ir ish Sale of G oods Act 1893 (as am ended).

GENERAL

This Agreem ent is govern ed by the laws of th e Republi c of Ireland. Th e local language version of this agreement shall apply to Software acquired in the EU. This Agreement is the entire agreement between us, and you agree that Creative wil l not have any liability for any untrue stat eme n t or representation made by it, it s agents or anyone els e (whether innocent ly or ne gligent ly) upon which yo u relied upon entering this Agreement, unless such untrue statement or representation was mad e fraudulently.

Safe ty In fo r mati o n

The following sections contain notices for

CAUTION:

by the user in a CSA/TUV/UL certified/listed IBM AT or compatible personal computers in the manufacturer’s defined ope rator access area. Check the equipment operating/installation manual and/or with the equipment manufacturer to verify/confirm if your equi pment is suitable for user- installed applicat ion cards.

Any changes or modifications not expressly approved by the grantee of this device could void the user’s authority to operate the device.

various countries:

This device is intende d to be installed

Modifications

Compliance

This product conf orm s to the fo llowin g Council Directive:

Directive 89/336/EEC, 92/31/EEC (EMC)

❑

Introduction

The All-Round Audio Solution for Internet and Digital Home Entertainment........xi

System Require ment s............ .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. ..xi i

Live!Ware Benef its........................................ .................................................... .........x ii

Getting More Informatio n.......... ...................................... ...................................... ..xiii

Where To Go From Here ........ ............................................. ....................................xiii

Other Recommen dations..... .... ... .. .. ..... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... ..xiii

Document Conventions......... ...................................... .............................................xiii

1 Installing Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1

Your Audi o Card............. .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .....1-2

Installi n g the Card....................................... ..................................................... .....................1-3

Connecting Related Peripherals......................... .... ....... ........ ....... .... ....... ........ .... ....... ........ ..1-4

Enhancing Your Sound Blaster Live! Experience................... ... ..................... .. ... ..............1-5

Playing Games and Musi c, and Watching Movie s........... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... ..1-5

Watching DVD Movies or Playin g DVD Games........... ........................................1-5

Recording and Content A u th oring............................................ ...............................1-9

Positioning Your Speaker s....... ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. .....1-9

2 Installing Software

Installin g Audio Dr i ve rs and Appl ica tions.......... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... ..2-1

Using Sound Blaster Live! ........... ... ....................... ... ...........................................................2-2

Uninstall in g the Applications................................. ............................................. .................2-3

Reinstalling the Audi o Drivers...................................... ...................................... .................2-4

Playing Legacy Games... .................................................... ..................................................2-4

3 Using Sound Blaster Live!

Creative Sound Blaster Live ! T our............................ ....... ....... .......... ....... ....... ......... ....... ....3-2

Creative Diagnostic s........... .... ....... ..... ....... ..... ..... ....... ..... ....... ..... .... ....... ..... ....... ..... ....... ......3-2

Creativ e Laun ch er.......... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ....3-2

Surround Mixer................................................. ... ..................... ... ..................... ....................3-3

Switching betwe en analog an d digita l out put modes.. ..... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .3-4

Enabling Bass Redir e ctio n........ .. .. ... .... ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ....3-5

Enabling Dolb y Digita l (A C- 3) Deco ding... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ..... .. ... .3-5

AudioHQ............ ............................................. .................................................... .................. 3-6

SoundFont Control........... ....... ....... ....... .......... ..... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....3-7

Device Co n trols.. ............................................. ............................................. .............3-9

Creative Keyboa rd............. .......... ....... .......... ......... ....... .......... ......... ....... .......... ......3-10

EAX Contro l...... ............................................. .................................................... ....3-11

AutoEAX.............................. .................................................... ..............................3-12

Wave Studio...... .................................................... .................................................... ...........3-12

Creativ e Pl ayCent er 2...... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ..3-13

Creativ e Recor de r...... .. ..... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ..3-13

Creativ e LAVA!........... ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ....3-14

Creativ e Med iaRi ng Talk............. .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ..3-14

Creativ e K eyt ar..... ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... ......3-15

Creativ e Rhy thman ia... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. ....3-15

4 To Do This ... Use These Applications

Multimedia P l ayback................. ............................................. ............................................. .4-1

Digital Ente rtainm ent....... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... .. .. ..... .. ....4-2

Internet Ente rtain ment . ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ......4-3

Gaming Ref erence.......... .................................................... ...................................................4-5

General Specifications

Features............. .................................................... .................................................... ............A-1

Connectivity........ ................. .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. .. ... ......A-3

Sound Blaster Liv e! c ard....................................................................... .. ................A-3

SB Emulation in MS-DOS/ Windows 95/98/ME

Background.............. .. ... .. .. ..... ................... ................... .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. .. ................... ..... ............B-1

Understanding the Installatio n Program............ ..................................... .............................B-2

The AUTOEXEC.BAT File Settin g s.......................................... .............................B-2

The CONFIG.SYS File Settings............................................. .................................B-3

System Resour ce Setti ngs. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... .. .. ..... .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. .....B-3

Input/Output (I/O) Add r esses........................................ ...........................................B-3

Interrupt Request (IRQ) Line......... ............................................. .............................B-4

Direct Memo r y Access (DMA) Ch annel............ ...................................... ..............B-4

Envir onm ent Variables...... ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... ..B-5

CTSYN Envi ronm ent Variable......... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... ..B-5

BLASTER Environment Variable.... .................................................... ...................B-5

Determinin g Resources. ...................................... ............................................. .....................B-6

Selecting the Bes t Audio Options in a Game........ ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. ..... .. ... ..B-7

Music Opti o ns................................. ...................................... ....................................B-7

Digital Audio Options.................. ...................................... ......................................B-7

MS-DOS Mode Utilit ies.................. .............................. ............................... ........................B-8

SBECFG.EXE........................................ .................................................... ..............B-8

SBEMIXER.EXE.............................. .................................................... ...................B-8

SBESET.EXE.......... ............................................. ....................................................B-9

SBEGO.EXE........................................................ ................................................. B-10

Troubleshooting

Problems Inst alli ng Soft wa re....... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... ..C-1

Problems W ith So und.............. ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... .. .. ..... .. ... .. .....C-2

Problem with Surround Mixer.................... ........ ......... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......... ....... ....... .....C-4

Insufficient SoundFont Cache.................. ................................. ... ................ ................. .......C-5

Problems W ith J oys tick...... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. .. ..... ... .. .. ..... .. ...C-5

Resolving I / O Co n flicts................. .............................................. ........................................ C-7

Problems in W ind o ws NT 4.0............ ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ... .. ... .... ... .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .. ... .... ...C-7

Problems w ith Encore DVD Pla y er.......... ............................................. .............................C-8

Introduction

The All-Round Audio Solution for Internet and Digital Home Entertainment

Sound Blaster Live! P layer 5.1 is t he top audio solu tion for you r games, movi es, CDs, MP3 songs and other Internet entertainment. With its suppor t for today’s leading audio standard—EAX— Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 cre ates real-life, mult i-dimensional sound and multi-textured acoustical environments for t he most realistic 3D audio experienc e. Its powerful E MU10K1 audio processor delivers audio at optimum CPU performance with the highest fidelity and absolute clarity. Combine it with a four- or fi ve-speaker setup and you’ll experience realistic 3D audio, EAX in supported games, and enjoy your movies with true surround sound. The Live!Ware upgrade program will keep your Sound Blaster Live! card up to date with continual upgrades supporting future technologies, functionality, and features.

If you wish to c reate your o wn music or audio cont ent in the future, you r Sound Bla ster Li ve! car d also offer s you many upgrade options whic h will allow you to connect multiple digital and analog devices simultane ously , including keyboards and other music gear, as well as optical c onnection to MiniDisc and DAT recorders.

System Requirements

For Creative software, your card requires at least :

Genuine Intel

❑

Pentium® class pro cessor: 166 MHz for Windows 95/98 or Windows Millennium Edition, 200 MHz for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 Intel or 100% compatible motherboard chipset

❑

Windows 95, 98 or Millennium Edition, Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000

❑

16 MB RAM for Windows 95/98 or Millennium Edition (32 MB RAM recommended),

❑

32 MB RAM for Windows NT 4.0, 64 MB RAM for Windows 2000 160 MB of free hard disk space

❑

Open half-length PCI 2.1 compliant slot

❑

Headphones or amplified speakers (available separately)

❑

CD-ROM drive required for software installation

❑

Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 gives you an estimate of the hard disk space required when you select it on the installat ion screen. Includ ed applica tions may need highe r system require ments or microphone for basi c functionalities. Refer to the documentation for indi vidual applicat ions for details.

Live!Ware Benefits

xii

Your Investment Is Protected

as you have less of a likelihood of finding your audio card obsolete short ly after purchasing it. Th rough Live!W are , new features and appl ications are always made available for you to experience the latest tec hnology and to extend the life of your card.

The Value and Experience Increases Over Time

as Live!Ware continues to deliver new capabilit ies and enhanc ement s. Each upgra de will “rejuvenate” your audio card, allo wing you to experience new functionality. It is as if your audio card is “reborn”.

Y our Hardware Is Up T o Date

because th e latest Live! W are upgra des are on ly a downl oad away . When new standards and capa bilities emerge, your hardware is ready for it—just download the functions and your hardware becomes up-to-date!

Getting More Information

Where To Go From Here ...

Other Recommendations

See the online instructions on using the various applications in your audio package.

For hardware and software ins ta llation instructions , refer to Chapters 1 and 2.

❑

To learn about the bundled applica tions, refer to Chapters 3 and 4.

❑

Vi ew the cont ents of th e Demo CD for addit ional demonstra tions, l ibraries a nd other softwa re.

❑

Visit the

❑

User’s Guide

www.soundblaster.com

for MIDI specificat ions and connector pin assignm ents, as well as

site for more information, content and Live!Ware updates.

Document Conventions

The following typographical convent ions are used throughout this document:

bold

italic

UPPERCASE Directory name, f ile name, or acronym.

Text that must be entered exact ly as it appears. Title of a book or a place holder, which represents the information you must

provide.

The notepad icon indicates informat ion that is of particular importance and should be consider ed be fore continuing.

The alarm clock designates a caution or warni ng that can help you av oid situations involving ri sk.

xiii

Installing Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1

This chapter is organised as follows:

Your Audio Ca rd

❑

Inst al li n g th e Card

❑

Connecting Rel ated Peripherals

❑

Enhancing Your Sound Blaster Liv e! Ex perience

❑

Positioning Your Speakers

❑

Installing Sound Blas ter Live! Player 5.1 1-1

Your Audio Card

C ( p

o d A a a

Your audio card has these jacks and connectors which allow you to attach other devices:

A jack is a one-hole connecting interface whereas a connector consists of many pins. Som e connectors here may not be av ailable on your card. Refer to the online

User’s Guide,

“Hardware Info rmation”, for details on connector pin assignments.

Line Out and Rear Out jacks can be used si multaneously to powe r

4.1 channel speake r systems. In addition, the Analog/D igital Out

ack can be used to power the

Centre and Subwoofer (LFE) for

5.1 channel speake r systems.

CD Audio connector

Connects to the Analog Audio output on a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive using a CD audio cable.

Telephone Answering Device connector

Provides a mono connection from a standard voice modem, and transmits microphone signals to the modem.

nalog/Digital Out jack

6-channel or compressed AC-3 SPDIF

utput for connection to external digital evices or digital speaker systems.

lso supports Centre and Subwoofer nalog channels for connection to 5.1 nalog speaker systems.

Line In jack

onnects to an external device

such as a cassette, DAT, or MiniD

layer

Microphone In jack

Connects to an external microphone

or voice input.

Line Out jack

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

Rear Out jack

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

isc

AUX connector

Connects to internal audio sources such as TV T uner, MPEG, or other similar cards

Joystick/MIDI connector

Connects to a joystick or a MIDI device. You can buy an optional MIDI kit that allows you to plug in the joystick and MIDI device simultaneously.

CD SPDIF connector

Connects to the SPDIF (Digital Audio) output (where available) on a CD-ROM o r DVD-ROM drive

Audio Extension (Digital I/O) connector

Connects to the Digital I/O card or Live! Drive.

Warning: This is not an IDE inter face. Do

not

connect to your

IDE devi ces.

1-2 Installing Sound Blas ter Live! Play er 5.1

Figure 1-1: Jacks and c onnectors on the Sound Blaster Live! card.

Installing the Card

Figure 1-2: Sec u r ing the au di o c ard to the

PCI expansion slot.

Unused brackets

ii. Fas ten t he card

to the slot with a screw.

i. Gently press the

audio card into the slot.

PCI slot

ISA slot

Do not force the audio card into the slot. If it does not fit properly, gently remove it and try again

1. Switch off your sys tem and all peripheral devices.

2. Touch a metal plate on your system to ground yourself and to discharge any static electricity, and then unplug the power cord from the wall outlet.

3. Remove the cover from your system.

4. Remove the metal plate from one unused PCI expansion slot in your system and put the screw aside, to be used later.

5. Align the Sound Blaster Live! card with the vacant PCI expans ion slot. Press the card gently and evenly into the slot as show n in Figure 1-2. Ensure that the card is seated firmly inside the

PCI expansion slot.

6. Secure th e ca r d to th e ex pa n s io n slo t wi th a screw.

7. Replace the cover onto your syst em .

8. Plug the power cord ba ck into the wa ll outlet, and swit ch on th e system.

Installing Sound Blas ter Live! Player 5.1 1-3

Connecting Related Peripherals

❑

If you are playing games in Windows 95/98 MS-DOS mode (pure DOS mode), you must:

• Make sure the CD In connect or and the Analog Audio connector of the CD-ROM or PC-DVD dri ve are connected.

• In addition, if you get distorted audio, do not connect the CD SPDIF connector to the Digital Audio connector of the CD-ROM or PC-DVD drive.

❑

If you connect to the Digi tal Audio and Analog Audio connectors of the same CDROM or PC-DVD driv e, do not unmute CD Audio and CD Digital at the same time in Surround Mixer.

Analog Mode (default): Connects to Centre and Subwoofer channels. Digital Mode: Connects to digital speakers*, MiniDisc or DAT via minijack-to-DIN cable. For instructions on how to switch between digital and analog modes, see “Switching between analog and digital output modes” on page 3-4.

Cassette and CD player,

Line-out

Synthesiser, etc.

Microphone

Connects to analog front and rear inputs of FourPointSurround speakers

* e.g., Playworks DTT3500 Digital speakers

CD-ROM drive

MPC-toMPC (4-pin) audio cable

Line In Mic In

Line Out

Rear Out

Joystick/MIDI

Sound Blaster Live! card

GamePad

Figure 1-3: Connecting other devices.

PC-DVD drive

MPC-to-MPC (2-pin) audio cable

Connects to Live! Drive IR. See “Enhancing Your Sound Blaster Live! Experience” for more details.

1-4 Installing Sound Blas ter Live! Play er 5.1

Enhancing Your Sound Blaster Live! Experience

The Sound Blaster Live! card alone wil l mo st undoubtedly give you endless hours of lis tening pleasure. To further enhance your SB Live! experience, there are several upgrade options (available separa tely). The following information and diagrams on the next few pages show how you can connect these options to your SB Live! card.

Playing Games and Music, and Watching Movies

Watching DVD Movies or Playing DVD Games

With F ourPoi ntSur round Di gital spea kers from Camb ridge Soun dWorks, you can experie nce

❑

crystal cle ar gam ing sequ ences or mus ic fr om the Digi tal DI N connecti on. If you want an e ven more immersive surround experie nce while watching movies, get the Playworks DTT3500

5.1 Digital speak ers. A minijack-to-DIN cable is bundled with the speaker set for this connection.

Alternatively, you can also connect an analog 5.1 channel speaker system (such as the

❑

DeskTop Theater 5.1 DTT2200 speakers from Cambridge SoundWorks) or even your 6channel home th eatre sp eaker sy stem. B esides the Front and Rear outputs , the SB Live! card has an Analog/Digital Out jack which allows you to connect to your Centre & Subwoofer channels. For instructi ons on how to sw itch between th e analog and digit al modes of the Dig ital/Anal og jack, s ee “Switching between analog and digital output modes” on page 3-4

To watch DVD movies on your PC, why not get Creative’s PC-DVD kit which comes with a

❑

PC-DVD drive and Encore MPEG2 decoder card? You can c onnect your Encore Dxr2, Dxr3 or MPEG2 decoder card to an extern al Dolby Digital (AC-3) decoder such as the DeskTop Theater speaker systems . In this case, disconnect the audio ca rd’s Aux In connector from the decod er card’s Audio Out connector. However, if an external Dolby Digital (AC-3) decoder speak er system is no t available, th is conne ction is necessary.

* Information continues on page 1-9.

Installing Sound Blas ter Live! Player 5.1 1-5

Playing Games and Music, and Watching Movies

with 4.1 or 5.1 Digital Speaker Systems

FourPointSurround or DeskTop Theater Digital Speakers

Analog Line and Rear Inputs

Digital DIN

Playing Game s and Watching Movies

with an Analog 5.1 channel speaker system*

5.1 Channel Analog Speaker System*

* e.g., DTT2200 Speak er System from Cambridge SoundWorks

Analog Front, Rear and Centre/ Sub Inputs

Minijack-to-DIN cable

Triple stereo audio cable

Analog/Digital Out jack

Sound Blaster Live! card

Watching DVD Movies or Playing DVD Games

with Creative PC-DVD and DeskTop Theater 5.1 Digital Speaker System

RCA cable

Connect for do wnmix audio only w hen a Dolby Digital (AC-3) decoder speaker system is not available.

Dolby Digital (AC-3) SPDIF Out jack

MPEG2 decoder card

Dolby Digital (AC-3) SPDIF In

DeskT op Theater 5.1 Digi tal Speaker System

Digital DIN

Connects to the Optical Digital I/O card or Live! Drive (see next page).

1-6 Installing Sound Blas ter Live! Play er 5.1

Figure 1-4 : Connecting peripherals to t he Sound Blaster Live! car d.

Connecting to External Consumer Elecronic Devices:

Dolby Digital Decoder/Amplifier

3.5mm(mono)to-RCA cable

Analog/Digital Out jack

Dolby Digital Decoder/Amplifier

Connecting to Exte rnal Consumer Electronic Devices:

Discrete 6-channel Amplifier

Dolby Digital (AC-3) SPDIF In

Analog Front, Rear and Centre/ Sub Inputs

3 sets of 3.5 mm (stereo)-to-RCA cable

Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 card

Connects to the Optical Digital I/O card or Live! Drive (see page 1-8).

Installing Sound Blas ter Live! Player 5.1 1-7

Recording and Content Authoring

with Optical Digital I/O card and Digital I/O Module

Recording and Content Authoring

with Live! Drive IR

SPDIF (RCA) In Out

SPDIF In (RCA)

Optical Input

MiniDisc Recorder

Optical Input

To Digit al Speaker System**

MIDI d evices (e.g., MIDI keyboard)

**e.g., FourPointSurround or DeskTop Theater 5.1 Digital Speaker Systems*

Digital device ( e.g., DAT)

Optical Output

Recording to or from an external digital device supporting RCA SPDIF input/output

Digital I/O Module

2nd analog Line In for an additional recording device

SPDIF (RCA) In Out

Digital device ( e.g., DAT)

MiniDisc

AUX input from an analog sou rce (e.g., CD player, tape deck)

Live! Drive IR

Line In 2

Digital In/Out

Digital DIN

MIDI In MIDI Out

Connects to SB Live! card

Headphones

Microphone / Line In

Optical Digital I/O card

FourPointSurround and Desktop Theater 5.1 speak er s ys tems, Digital I/O

Note:

via MiniDIN-tostandard DIN adapter ( pr ovided)

MIDI d evices (e.g., MIDI keyboard)

Module, D i g ital I/O card, Live! Drive IR and cables are available separately.

To Digital Speaker System**

Digital DIN

Metal bracket

Connects to SB Live! card

1-8 Installing Sound Blas ter Live! Play er 5.1

Recording and Content

Figure 1-5: Recommended speaker positions

for the 4-speaker configuration.

Computer

monitor

Front left

speaker

Front right

speaker

Rear left

speaker

Rear right

speaker

You

Sub-

woofer

Authoring

If you are a musician with semi-professional requirements, you may want to upgrade your

❑

Sound Blaster Live! card with either the Optical Digi tal I/O card (plus Digita l I/O Module), or the Live! Drive IR.

For either options, you will be giv en:

❑

• A set of SPDIF (RCA) and Optical input/output jacks for recording to and from external digital devices;

• MIDI input/output connectors for connection to MIDI devices;

• A Digital DIN connector for connection to digital speakers s uch a s the

FourPointSurround or DeskTop Theater 5.1 Digital Speaker Systems;

• A second analog Line In allows you to co nnec t to an additional input device (e.g. a CD player) for recording.

The Live! Drive IR fits into the standard 5¼” drive bay of your comput er and t hus a llo ws y ou

❑

easy access to the se conne ctors from it s front panel . The Headphon es a nd Microph one inputs utilise ¼” jacks for high-quality connec tivity.

Positioning Your Speakers

If you are using four speakers, place them so that they form the corners of a square with you exactly in the centre (as in Figure 1-5) and tha t they are angled toward you. Make sure the computer monitor is not blocking the path of your front speakers. If you have a centre speaker, place it on top of your monitor, als o angled tow ard you . You may want to adjust the relative positions of the speakers until you get the audio experience you like best. If you hav e a subwoofer, place the unit in a corner of the room for the bes t bass experience.

Installing Sound Blas ter Live! Player 5.1 1-9

Installing Software

This chapter shows you how to install the audio software in the various Windows operating systems. It consists of the following sections:

Installing Audio Drivers and Applications

❑

Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1

❑

Uninstalling the Applications

❑

Reinstalling the Audio Drivers

❑

Playing Leg acy Ga me s

❑

Installing Audio Drivers and Applications

You need device driver s to control the componen ts on your au dio card. To insta ll these dri vers as well as the bundled applications, use the following instruc tions. The instructions are applic able to all Windows operating systems.

After you have installed the card and sw itched on your system, Windows autom atically detects the card.

1. If you are prompted for the dri vers, clic k the

2. Insert the installation disc into your CD-ROM drive.

The disc supports Windows AutoP lay mode and starts running automatically. If not, see “Problems Installing Software” on page C-1.

3. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

button. Otherwise proceed to step 2.

Cancel

Installing Software 2-1

Setting Up Joystick Drivers in Windows NT 4.0

In Windows 2000, the joystick drivers ar e au to m atically set up.

1. Log on to your computer as Administrator.

2. Click

3. Double-click the

4. In the List of Drivers box of the then cl ick the OK button.

5. Insert the Windows NT 4.0 CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.

6. In the

E:\DRVLIB\MULTIMED\JOYSTICK\X86

if E:\ is the CD-ROM drive letter, and then click the OK button .

7. In the then cl ick the OK button.

8. In the

9. Restart your computer when prompted.

Start

Install Driver

Add Unlisted Or Updated Driver

Microsoft Joystick Configuration

Settings

Control Panel

Multimedia

dialog box, type

icon, click the

dialog box, se le ct

Add

Devices

dialog box, click

dialog box, clic k the OK button.

tab, and then click the

Unlisted Or Updated Driver

Analog Joystick Driver

Add

button.

, and

Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1

2-2 Installing Software

Congratulati ons ! You have succes s f ully installed Sound Blaster Live! Pla yer 5.1. For more information on how you can get the most out of your audio car d, re fer to the other chapters in this manual.

Uninstalling the Applications

Use the follow ing steps to cleanly remo ve applications before you reinstall them to correct problems, cha nge conf ig uration s, or make v ersion upgra des. These ins truct ion s are appli cable to all Windows operating systems.

1. Cl ose the audio card’s app lic atio ns if they are open. Thi s incl udes Crea ti v e Launch er and the SB Live! icon on the taskbar. Applications that are still running during the uninstalla tion will not be removed.

2. Click

3. Double-click the

4. In th e

, and then click the

5.1

5. In the delete and then click the The selected applications will be uninstalled.

6. Click the OK button to close the

7. Restart the computer if prompted.

Start

Add/Remove Progr ams Properties

Creative Uninstalle r

Settings

Control Panel

Add/Remove Progr ams

Add/Remove

dialog box, selec t the check boxes of the items you want to

button.

Add/Remove Programs Properties

icon. dialog box, sele ct

Sound Blaster Live! P layer

dialog box.

Installing Software 2-3

Reinstalling the Audio Drivers

You may want to reinstall only the audio drivers if you think they have been corrupted.

1. Insert the installation disc into your CD-ROM drive. The disc supports Windows AutoP lay mode and starts running automatically. If not, see “Problems Installing Software” on page C-1.

2. Follow the instructions on the screen until the

3. Click the

4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation of the audio drivers.

Drive rs o n ly

button.

Setup Options

dialog box appears.

Playing Legacy Games

2-4 Installing Software

For more information, see Appendix B, “SB Emulation in MS-DOS/ Windows 95/98/ME”.

Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1

Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 is supported by a full range of applications to help you get the absolute most from th e aud io ca rd. The software most important to the operation of your audio card is the Sound Blas ter Live! group:

Creative Sound Blaster Live! Tour

❑

Creative Diagnostics

❑

Creative Launcher

❑

Surround Mixer

❑

AudioHQ

❑

Wave Studio

❑

Creative Pla y Center 2

❑

Creative Record er

❑

Creative LAVA!

❑

Creative MediaRing Talk

❑

Creative Keytar

❑

Creative Rhythmania

❑

T o lo cate a nd run thes e progra ms, cl ick For more information and usage details for these applications, refer to their respective online help.

Start

Programs

Creative

Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 3-1

Sound Blaster Live!

Creative Sound Blaster Live! Tour

This is a good place to s tart to learn more about the fe atures of Sound Blaster Live! and to experience its awesome capabilities. The tour uses PixAround’s technology to immerse you in a panaromic “walk-through” experience which encompasses a number of closely-related interactive and informat ive demos, each featuring a different aspect of Sound Blaste r Live!.

Creative Diagnostics

Creative Launcher

Use Creative Diagnostics to quickly test your audio ca rd’s Wave, MIDI or CD Audio playback, recording function and speaker output.

Creative Launcher allows you to orga nise your desktop and open Creative applications quickly.

Creative Launcher resides at the top of your screen. The software installation creates a number of group tabs i n Launc her tha t may cont ain sh ortcuts t o Creat iv e appl ic ations suc h as PlayCe nte r 2 and Surround Mixer. It may also contain shortcuts to other applications for your hardware settings, v olume control, help files, or demonstration programs by Creat ive.

The

Live!Task

task easily. An application can also be launched automatically with its associated audio preset.

tab in the Launcher offers a "one-touch" se tting which you can use to perform a

3-2 Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1

Surround Mixer

To restore Surround Mixer to its original s e tting s , clic k

Program Blaster Live! Restore Defau lts

Creative

Start

Creative

Sound

Creative Surround Mixer is the nerve centre for setting and controlling the various aspects of your audio card. It consists of two "detacha ble" decks: the

Set audio presets here

Main deck

Speaker view

and the

Mixer deck

Main deck

Mixer deck

The top area of the

Main deck

allows you to:

• Select tasks or save, delete, import and e xport

combinations of the se settings as audio pre s ets for the selected speaker output. An audio preset, when selected, is your passpo rt to a one-step automatic configuration of speakers, mixer and effects for whatever you want to do: play a particular gam e, reco rd to a particular medi um, record o r pla y in a par tic ular s tyle—each st yle havi ng it s uniqu e set of positions of audio input sour ces. These presets can then be configured for use in Creati ve Launcher's Live!Task.

Spectrum view

audio presets

Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 3-3

. You can save endless

The three buttons at the left side of the Main deck allows you to switch between three different views:

• In the

within the speaker configuration space.

• In the

or recording.

view, you can select and create your audio presets and position audio sources

EAX

Speaker Spectrum

view, you can select your speaker setup and perform a speak er output test.

view, you can select and display the s pectrum analyzer during playback

Mixer deck

Switching between analog and digital output modes

3-4 Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1

The

Mixer deck

• Mix sounds from various audio input sources when playing or recording;

• Adjust the volume level for the audio input sources;

• Adjust the treble and ba ss level, front/rear or left/rig ht balance.

Tip

If you are not sure what t he ico ns on the Surrou nd Mixe r repre sent , pla ce th e point er ove r a ny

❑

icon or area to display the tooltip.

By default, the Analog/Digital Out jack of the audio card output s analog centre and subw oofer channels. To allow it to giv e digital 6-channel or compressed A C-3 SPDIF output (digital output mode), do the following:

1. In the Main deck of the Surround Mixer, click the

2. In the Speaker view, click the (This is ava ilable for all speaker modes except for the Headphones mode).

Alternatively, you can do the following:

1. In the Mixer deck of Surround Mix er, click the red plus sign above the

2. In the dialog box that appears , click the To switch back to analog output mode, clear this check box. Changes made will be reflected in the Speaker view.

allows you to:

Digi t a l O ut p u t only

Digi t a l O utput only

Speaker

check box to select it.

butto n.

check box to select it .

VOL

control.

Enabling Bass Redirection

Some subwoofers may not be able to reproduce excessive bass. We recommend that you set the subwoofer volume slider to a low level before you enable bass redirection. Thereafter, increase the volume level to a comfortable level.

Dolby Digital de li ve rs five full rang e channels and one bass-onl y ef fect s channel . Howe v er most multimedia speaker systems have satellite speakers that usually do not reproduce low frequency content. Enabling bass redirection al lows low frequency source content from the front, rear and centre channels to be redirected and added to the low freque ncy source effec ts (LFE) channel to produce deeper subwoofer output. This fea ture is useful for producing bass in games or applicati ons that have only front and rear channel content . To enable bass redirection:

1. In the Main deck of the Surround Mixer, click the

Speaker

2. In the Speaker view, click th e

button.

Speaker Selection

button

to select the 5.1 speaker mode if it is not selected.

3. Click the

Advanced

4. In the dialog box tha t appears, click th e

butto n.

Bass Redirection

button. When enabled, the button is orange.

Enabling Dolby Digital (AC-3) Decoding

By enabling Dolby Digital decoding, the SB Live! card will decode Dolby Digital stream to six discrete analog channels. The Cambridge So undWorks DeskTop Theater DTT2200 speak er system is an ideal match for this usage. Thus, an external Dolby Digital decoder is not r equired for you to enjoy multi-speaker surround sound. To enable Dolby Digi tal (AC-3) decoding:

1. In the Speaker view, clear the

Digital Output only

2. Follow the steps 1 to 3 de scribed in the previous sec tion and then click the

check box.

AC-3 Decode

button if it is no t yet enabled.

However, if you wish to use an external Dolby Digital decoder, do not enable this feature. This setting will pass through compressed Dolby Digital (AC-3) PCM SPDIF output from the Analog/Digi tal Out jack. Remember to set the S B Live! card to the

Digital Output

mode. In

addition, you will need a separate 3.5mm-t o-RCA jack cable to connect to your decoder.

Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 3-5

AudioHQ

AudioHQ contains several control utilities tha t allow you to view, audition, or set up the audio properties of one or more audio devices on your computer.

AudioHQ can be accessed using any of the following methods:

• Click

• Click or double-click the AudioHQ icon located at the bottom right corner of your

Window s d e s k top.

Start

Programs

Creative

Sound Blaster Live!

AudioHQ

;

3-6 Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1

SoundFont Control

Creative SoundFont Control allows you to configure MIDI banks with S oundFont fil es and instruments, as well as set the cachin g algorith m and space.

Configure a MIDI Bank

To configure a MIDI bank:

1. In SoundFont dialog box, click the tab.

Bank

2. In the

3. Click the

4. To replace a SoundFont file, click the file and

5. To clear a bank from the s t ack, select the ban k

6. Repeat Steps 3, 4 or 5 as required.

By stacking a SoundFont file instead of replacing one with the other, you may return to the original sound s or use the new selection.

You can “spot” hide particular i nstruments by loading on e or more SoundF ont files on top of the original.

When you clear a SoundF ont file, yo u remove the latest configura tion of the main bank and any variation banks, includ ing the latest conf iguration of instruments on the Conf igure Instrument tabbed page.

Select Bank

configure.

Load

file you want to the MIDI bank. The latest file loaded alw ays appe ars at t h e top of the

Bank Stack

The top of the stack is indicat ed by an arrow.

then cl ick the

and then clic k the A variation ban k can onl y be cl eared by clearing its main bank.

list, sele ct the MIDI ba nk to

button and load the SoundFont

box.

Clear

butto n.

button.

Replace

Configure

Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 3-7

Configure an Instrument

Setting the maximum amount of cache memory for SoundFont files does not mean setting aside or reserv ing the spac e. The space can still be used by your computer or other files, if needed.

To conf igure an instrument:

1. In the SoundFont dialog box, click the

Configure Instrument

2. In the

Select Bank

tab .

list, select the bank whose instruments you wa nt to configure. You can select any bank.

3. In the

Select Instrument

list, select the instrument to configure. In the

Instrument Stack

, you may see an instrument entry although you did not load an instrument on t his page . The inst rument can be found in a bank loaded on the

Configure Bank

tabbed page.

4. Click the

button and load a SoundFont or

Load

single-instrument (for e xample, .WAV) file. The last file loaded always appears at the top of the

Instrument Stack

with an arrow

pointing to it.

5. To clear an instrument from the stack, select the instrument and then cl ick the

Clear

button.

6. For faster proces sing o f SoundF ont f iles , the f iles a re loaded into m emory. You ne ed to set the maximum amount of cache memory your SoundFont files can occupy, so that your system performance doe s not suffer from insuff icient memory . You can also set the caching algorithm for a balanced system performance.

3-8 Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1

SoundFont Options

You change the following options on the tabbed page of the Soun dF ont Control dialog box:

To specif y th e ca ching al g o rit h m :

• Select an algorithm from the list.

To set the amount of cache for SoundFont files:

• Drag the amount of cache.

To chang e the SoundFont device

• Select the new device from the

Device

SoundFont Cache

list.

SoundFont Cache

slider to set the

Options

SoundFont

Device Controls

Playback Sessions

Sound Device

Device Controls allows you to configure for audio playback the audio devices that allow multiple simultaneous Wave playback sessions. For example, you can play five Wave tracks at the same time and enjoy the sounds from them all. This feature is currently not supported under Windows

2000.

To set maximum simultaneous Wave playback sessions:

• On the

Simultaneous Wave Playback

higher number of Wave playback sessions, or to the left to set a lo wer number of simultaneous playback sessions.

To select the sound device to configure:

• On the configure from the Sound Device list. The device is immediately selected.

tabbed page, drag the

Wave

Options

tabbed page, click the de vice you want to

Maximum

slider to the right to set a

Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 3-9

Creative Keyboard

Creative Keyboard is a virtual ke yboard which allows you to audition or play musical notes produced through MIDI de vices. To edit the sound, use Vienna SoundFont Studio or another sound editor.

MIDI Input

Test an Instrument

3-10 Using Sound Blaster Li ve! Player 5.1

To select a MIDI input device:

1. In the

2. Click the OK button.

You can use external MIDI input devices to audition your MIDI banks and instruments. First, connect a MIDI input device to your audio card and then se lect that device in Creative Keyboard.

To test an instrument:

1. In Creative Keyboard, click the bank and the instrument you want.

2. Click the keys on the ke yboard to test the sound. If you have an exte rnal MIDI input devi ce,

Select MIDI In

dialog box, click the correct MIDI port.

you will probably find it easier to use it instead.

box in the

Options

Tips

T o s ele ct m ultipl e notes to pl ay simult ane ously, use your right mouse b utton t o c lick the ke ys,

❑

which will be marked b y black dots. To release the keys, right-click them one by one, or click th e

❑

simult aneous release. To slide across the keyboard, drag the mouse.

❑

If the playback’s sustain is too long, click the

❑

All Notes Off

button.

button fo r

EAX Control

EAX Control allows you to configure the EMU10K1 effects engine. It allows you to specify the components that make up the audio elements that in turn make u p an audio effect. An a udio effe ct is the modeling of a rea l-world expe rience. We have provided some entertainment, gaming and various audio effec ts to get you started with. EAX Control can be also be accessed from Creative Surround Mixer.

Learn from the online help how to:

Configure master effects

❑

• A dd or rem o ve eff ects

• Specify the effect ty p e

• Specify the degree or amount of the effect

• Edit an effect all the way down to its parameters or building blocks

Configure source effects, that is, set the amount of the effects to apply on an audio source.

❑

Configure MIDI playback effects

❑

Export an audio effect to a file

❑

Import an audio effect

❑

Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 3-11

AutoEAX

AutoEAX allows you to s pecify for any audio application which audio preset to automatic ally associate with the currently active speaker output. For the auto ma tic audio presets to work, AutoEAX must be active or at least minimised.

Associating an Audio Preset

Wave Studio

For each audio application on your computer, you can specify the audio preset that will be automatically associated with it, for each speaker output configuration. For example, when playing an audio CD using Creative PlayCenter 2, you may want to associate different audio presets for the speake r outputs "Live !S urround" and "4 Speakers".

1. In the

2. In the

3. In the

4. If you wan t Au toEAX to monit or this appli catio n's a ct iv ity, clear the

For other functio ns, refe r to it s onl ine help.

Wave Studio allows you to perform the following sound editing functions easily:

Play, edit, and record 8- bit (tape quality) and 16-b it (CD quality) Wav e data. Enhance your

❑

W av e data o r creat e unique sounds with various special effects and e diting o pera tions such as rap, reve rs e, echo, mute, pan, cut, copy, and paste.

Open and edit several Wave files at the same time.

❑

Import and export raw (.RAW) data files.

❑

Application

for a particul ar spe aker ou tput . If the appl icat ion is not in the li st, click t he to browse for and open the application.

Speaker Output Linked Audio Preset

application/speaker -output combi nation. This combination trio ar e automati cally set.

application

that applica tion even when the application is started.

list, se lect the audio a pplicati on with whic h to as sociate a n audio pre set

Browse

box, click the speaker output to configure.

box, click the audio preset you want to associa te with this

Do not monitor this

check box. If you check it, AutoE AX will not configure the audio preset for

button

3-12 Using Sound Blaster Li ve! Player 5.1

Creative PlayCenter 2

Creative PlayCenter 2 is a revolutionary audio CD and digital audio (such as MP3 or WMA) player. Besides managing your favourite digital audio files on your computer, it is also an integrated MP3/WMA encoder for ripping audio CD tracks into compressed digital audio files. It can encode tracks at speeds of up to 8x faster than normal play sp eed and up to 320 kbps.

Creative Recorder

Recorder allows you to record sounds or music from various input sources like the microphone or Audio CD, and save them as Wave (.wav) files.

Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 3-13

Creative LAVA!

Creative LAVA! (Live! Audio-Visual Animation) gives your music visual expression that enhances the emoti onal depth of your music exp erience.

Through LAVA!, 3D graphical objects interact with the music and intelligently dance to the sound cues from sources such as CD and MIDI.

Explore the various animation scenarios provided by LAVA! or create your own environments and scenarios for your animation.

Creative MediaRing Talk

3-14 Using Sound Blaster Li ve! Player 5.1

Creativ e Media Ring Talk is an aw ard- winni ng Internet voice communication software. It allows you to make long distance and international calls over the Int er net, from your PC to another PC with Internet ac ce ss and MediaRing Talk installed. It al so a llo ws you t o make calls to a regular telephone if you subscribe to MediaRing’s V alueFone service. All you need to do is start MediaRing Talk; dial the number; and let MediaRing Talk establish a connection for you.

Furthermore, with Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1’s EAX, your voice can be modified as you take on different “personas” (for example, a male or female person, chipmunk etc. ) when you talk to the other party. Disguise you voice and your friend on the other end may think he’s talking to another person! To make use of the se voice ef fects, just clic k the Voice Effects button (also known a s th e EAX b utton) and select the desi red persona from the list.

Creative Keytar

With C r ea tive Keytar, an easy-to-use and highly interactive edutainment soft ware for beginners, you can turn your multim edia c ompute r into a virt ual rhythm gui tar sy stem immedia te ly. Click a picture at the top of the scr ee n to choose your fav orite guitar. Press a function key (F1, ..., F12) to activate a chord, and you can start strumming or plucking your favorite tunes.

Just hold the chord wit h one hand until it is time to change the chord and use the other hand to strum or pluck the strings according to a tune's rhythmic varia tion. You don’t need to wor ry about notes, all you need is a sense of rhythm and to remember your chord keys.

Creative Rhythmania

Creative Rhythmania lets you create a MIDI file, choosing from a professional set of backup rhythms and instruments.

Creative R hy t hmania allows you to :

Perform with auto-accompaniment in Rhythm mod e:

❑

• Four-part Rhythm section

• Preset backing styles

• Interactive backing arrangement

• Chord Palette syste m

• SoundFont support

Choose between two K eyboard types: PC (QWER TY) ke yboard or MIDI k eyboa rd connecte d

❑

to your PC.

Rhythmania is e ssentially a pattern-based software:

You play a Pattern to provide auto-accompaniment for your melody playing.

❑

Y o u create or modify a P attern by b uilding or cha nging it Secti on by Sect ion in Rhythm mode.

❑

Then, you combine a Pa ttern and a melody to create a Sequence in Sequencer mode.

❑

Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 3-15

To Do This ... Use These Applications

Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 offers you digital and internet entertainm ent, multimedia playback, and gaming. The following reference tables p oint you to the bundled applications that will help you achieve your goals.

Multimedia Playback

Multimedia

Playback

DVD Movies To play back DVD movies on your Sound Blaster Live! Player 5. 1, you

must first have a DVD-compatible drive. Ne xt, you must have a software DVD sol ution th at is a v ai la ble fr om Crea ti v e. F or the fu ll D VD e xpe rience , you may want to purchase Cambridge SoundWorks’ DeskTop Theater 5.1

or a Dolby Digital (AC-3) decoder. MP3/WMA Creati ve PlayCenter 2 supports/plays MP3 and WMA files. Wave/CD

Audio

Use Creative PlayCenter 2 to play back files in both Wave and CD Audio

formats. WAV is the format for digital audio files on the Win dows

operating pla tform. CD Audio is played back from an audio co mpact disc

on your CD-ROM drive.

Applications

To Do This ... Use These Applications 4-1

Digital

Multimedia

Playback

MIDI MIDI (*.MID) is a music format used by musicians that is playe d bac k

from the internal synthesiser on the Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 ca rd. Use Creative PlayCenter 2 to play back MIDI files or use the MIDI sequencer bundled with your card. To achieve the best quality, load the 8MB GM bank in the SoundFont applet found in the AudioHQ group.

SoundFont MIDI

Dolby D igita l (AC-3) audio

Many musicians have cr ea ted music fil es that use ex ot ic or non - r egu l ar instrument (non General MIDI c om pliant). These i ns truments are s tored in SoundFont banks. Such MIDI files can be pla yed back from Creativ e PlayCenter 2. The bundled CD contains many examples of MIDI demos that use high quality SoundFont banks .

Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 offers Dolby Digital (AC-3) decoding so there’s no need for an external Dolby Digital decoder. Just configure your speaker setup to 5.1 Speaker systems in Surround Mixer.

Applications

Entertainment

4-2 To Do This ... Use These Applic a tio ns

Digital Entertainment Applications

Watch Surround Movies If you want to enjoy high quality movie entertainment,

ensure you have good speakers. If you have 4 or 5 speakers conne cted t o your Sound Bl aster L iv e! Play er 5.1 card, configure your respective speaker setup in Surrou nd Mixer. For DVD movies, it is recommended that you purchase Creative PC-DVD Encore’s solution as well as the Cambridge Sou ndWorks’ DeskTop Theater 5.1 Speaker systems.

Internet

Digital Entertainment Applications

Play Customise d Albums You can compile your own albums containing your

favorite mus i c us in g th e bund led Crea tive Play C e n t er 2; whether they are in CD Audi o, WAV or MIDI format.

Play Guitar Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 le ts you play the guitar on

your PC. W ith Creative K eyt ar , y ou can li te rally tr ansfor m your computer keyboard into a guitar. And strum, using your mouse!

Play Keyboard Music with Auto-Accompaniment/OneMan Band

You need not invest in a musical keyboard to be a oneman-band. Creative Rh ythm ania lets you play music on your computer keyboard.

Entertainment

Internet Enterta i n m en t Applications

Experience Music with Visual Animation

Encode CD Songs to MP3 / Download and Play MP3 Songs

With LAVA!, your MP3 songs can now be associated and distributed over the Internet with a customised “music video” (called MV3) c ontaini ng hi gh quali ty 3D an imation that gives dynamic visual expression to your songs. Watch the animation dance to the beat of your music ! T o enjo y the LAVA! experience, you will also need an y 3D accelerated graphics card.

With Play Center 2, you can encode and record al l your favorite CD songs into your PC hard drive, creating a database for playing customised song lists . You can also add songs to your database by downloading them from various sites in the Intern et.

To Do This ... Use These Applications 4-3

Internet Enterta i n m en t Applications

Play MP3 Songs with EAX Use Creative PlayCenter 2 to create your own MP3

renditions with multi-dimensional and multi-textured realism by adding environments such as concert hall or bathroom! You can share these enhanced MP3 songs even with someone who does not ow n an SB Live! card.

Chat over the Internet using another Voice

T ak e on another persona li ty or life-for m while talki ng ov er the Intern et ! You can do th is wit h C reative MediaRing Talk and its Voice Personas feature, which uses S ound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 ’s EAX to modify your voice in real-time as you chat.

Create 360° Interactive PixAround Web Pages with Audio Hotspots

Use PixMaker to create immersive and interactive 360° web pages or postcards eas ily. You can even add audio hotspots in your panaro mi c pictures that will play audio files when clicked.

4-4 To Do This ... Use These Applic a tio ns

Gaming Reference

Games Applications

EAX Support Enjoy the many EAX titles by top game developers that

immerse you in realistic environments. Go to www.sblive.c o m fo r a ful l list of compatib l e ti tles.

DirectSound3D Supp ort DirectSound3D (DS3D) games are supported on your

Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 card . You can hear sounds positioned i n 3D space that enhance your ga m e experience.

A3D 1.0 Support Your card translates A3D calls into DirectSound3D,

meaning that you can enjoy A3D games.

Sound Blaster Compatibility Your card provides you with exce ptional Sound Blaster

compatibility so that you can continue to play the thousands of popular DOS games already in the market.

Audio Presets For Legacy/ Existing Games

Customised environments for non-3D audio games

You can still enjoy audio ef fects ev en if your game does not have EAX support. You card bund les over 50 presets for use with existi ng games. These can be accessed from Creative Launcher. You can also associate effects indivi dually with your favorite games. Launc h the AutoEAX applet.

You can create customised environments for your non EAX games using the EAX Control panel, which can be accessed from Creative Surround Mixer.

To Do This ... Use These Applications 4-5

General Specifications

This section lis ts the specifications of your card.

Features

PCI Bus Mastering

EMU10K1

Stereo Digitized Voice Channel

PCI Specification Version 2.1 compliant

❑

Bus mastering reduces latency and speeds up system performance

❑

Advanced hardware accelerated digit al effects processing

❑

32-bit digit al processing while maintaining a 192 dB dynamic ran ge

❑

Patented 8-point interpola tion that achieves the highest quality of audio reproduction

❑

64-voice hardware waveta ble synthesizer

❑

Professional-quality digit al mixing and equalization

❑

Up to 32 MB of sound RAM mapped to host memory

❑

True 16-bit Full Duplex operation

❑

16-bit and 8-bit digitizing in stereo and mono modes

❑

Playback of 64 audio channels, each at an arbitrary sample rate

❑

ADC recording sampling rates: 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz

❑

Dithering for 8-bit and 16-bit recording

❑

Genera l Sp e c i fi ca t ions A-1

AC 97 Codec Mixer

Volume Control

Dolby Digital (AC-3) Decoding

Creative Multi Speaker

Surround

(CMSSTM)

Mixes EMU10K1 a udi o sourc es and anal og sou rce s such as CD Audio, Line In , Micr ophone,

❑

Auxiliary and TAD Selectable input source or mixing of various audio sources for recording

❑

16-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion of analog inputs at 48 kHz sample rate

❑

Software record and playback control of Master, Digitized Voice, and inputs from MIDI

❑

device, CD Audio, Line, Micropho ne, Auxiliary , TAD, SPDIF , Wa ve/Dir ectSound devi ce, CD Digital (CD SPDIF)

Separate bass and treble control

❑

Front and Rear Balance control

❑

Muting and balance control for individual playback sources

❑

Decodes Dolby Digital (AC-3) to 5.1 channels or pass-through compressed Dolby Digital

❑

(AC-3) PCM SPDIF stre am to external decoder Bass Redirection: Enhances bass output to subwoofer for small sa tellite speaker systems

❑

Multi-speaker technology

❑

Professional-quality panning and m ixing algorithm

❑

Upmixes mono or stereo so urces to 5.1 channels

❑

A-2 General Specifications

Connectivity

Sound Blaster Live! Player

5.1 card

Audio Inputs

Audio Outputs

Interfaces

One line-le vel analog Line input via stereo jack on rear bra cket

❑

One mono Microphone analog input via stereo jack on rear bracket

❑

CD_IN line-level analog input via 4-pin Molex connector on ca rd

❑

AUX_IN li ne-level analog input via 4-pin Molex connector on card

❑

TAD line-level analog input via 4-pin Molex connector on card

❑

CD_SPDIF digital input via 2-pin Mole x connector on card, acc epting sampling rate s of 32,

❑

44.1 and 48 kHz

ANALOG/DIGITAL OUT via 4-pole 3.5mm minijack on rear bracket

❑

• ANALOG OUT: Center and Subwoofer channels

• DIGITAL OUT: Front, Rear, Center and Subwoofer SPDIF digital outputs

Three line-le vel analog outputs via stereo jacks on rear bracket, Line-Outs 1, 2 and 3

❑

Stereo headphone (32-ohm load) support on Front Line-Out

❑

D-Sub MIDI interface for connec tion to external MIDI devices. Doubles as Joystick port

❑

AUD_EXT 2x20 pin header for connection to Live! Drive

❑

Genera l Sp e c i fi ca t ions A-3

SB Emulation in MS-DOS/ Windows 95/98/ME

Background

Legacy games in th e marke t hav e been designed for only MS-DOS . SB Live ! supports MS-DOS games. There are two ways to play MS-DOS games:

❑

From the MS-DOS box in Windows 95/98/ME (recommended)

To open the bo x:

• Click

❑

In th e W in dows 95 /98 MS - D OS mo d e

There may be times when you do not want to or cannot run a game from the MS-DOS box. The game may be incompatible with Windows 95/98, or there are insufficient system resources to play the gam e with Windows 95/98 loaded. In such cases, use the MS-DOS mode, in which only the real-mode portions of Windows 95/98 are loaded.

To restart the system in MS-DOS mode when you are already in Windows 95/98:

1. Click

2. Cl ick the button.

To start the system in MS-DOS mode at system startup:

1. At sta r tup as Windo ws 95/98 is loading, hold the F8 key.

2. At the startup menu, choose the Command Prompt Only option, and then press <Enter>.

Start

Programs

Shut Down

Resta rt the computer in MS-DOS mode

MS-DOS Prompt

option b utton, a nd th en clic k th e OK

SB Emulation in MS-DOS/ Windows 95/98/ME B-1

Understanding the Installation Program

The installation program modifies your

AUTOEXEC.BAT

and

CONFIG.SYS

files.

The AUTOEXEC.BAT File Settings

The installation progra m adds the following statem en ts to the

SET CTSYN =C:\ WINDOWS SET BLAST ER=A 220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6 C:\PRO GRA ~1\C REA TI VE\ SB LIVE\ DOS DR V\S BE INIT. COM

The first tw o s tate ments set up the e n viron ment variables for y our a udio car d. F or an e xplana tion of the v ariables, see “Environment Variables” on page B-5 .

The third stateme nt runs S BEINIT .COM which is the SB Live ! MS-DOS driver. It is required for the SB Live ! ca rd to function properly under MS-DOS mode.

SBEINIT.COM requires the HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE files to be loaded. If needed, the installation program adds the neces sar y HIMEM. S Y S and EMM386 .E XE lines to your CONFIG.SYS f ile, creating the file if it is not presen t.

On the rare occasion a program does not work with e xpanded memory, simply add t he NOEMS parameter to your memory manager. For example:

DEVICE =C: \WIN DOW S\ EMM 38 6.EXE NO EM S

You may load this driver into high memory in the A UTOEXEC.BAT file, even though the default is not. For example:

LOADHI GH= C:\PR OG RA~ 1\ CRE ATIVE \S BLI VE \DO SDRV \SB EI NIT .C OM

Do not remov e the memory manager altogether. Do not attempt to load SBEINIT.COM into high memory when using the NOEMS option if S BEINIT.COM fails to run SBELOAD.EXE or SBECFG.EXE. In the rare case that an MS-DOS game will not work with a memory manager, you will not be able to use the SB Live! card with the game.

AUTOEXEC.BAT

file:

B-2 SB Emulati on in MS-DOS/ Windows 95/98/ME

The CONFIG.SYS File Settings

The installation program adds the following statements to the CONFIG.SYS file:

DEVICE =C: \WIND OW S\ HIM EM .SYS DEVICE =C: \WIND OW S\ EMM 38 6.EXE

System Resource Settings

In the following tables, the prefer red values are in bold.

Input/Output (I/O) Addresses

This section e xpl ains the fol lo wing s oftwar e SB emulati on re sources —not hardware resou rces— of your card:

Input/Output (I/O) Addresses

❑

Interrupt Request (IRQ) Line

❑

Direct Memory Access (DMA) Channel

❑

If your card encounters a conflict with a peripheral device, you ma y need to change its resourc e settings . For details, see “Resolving I/O Conflicts” on page C-7. When any r es o u rce setti ng is ch a ng e d , m ak e su r e th at th e envi ron ment vari ab le s (see “Environment Variables” on page B-5) reflect the changes as well. You can view your system environm ent by typing

I/O addresses are communication areas used by your computer’s central pro cessor to distin guish among various peripheral de vices connected to your system when sending or recei ving data.

T a ble B-1: Possible default input/output (I/O) addresses.

Device Default I/O Address Range

SB interface

MPU-401 U A RT MIDI interface 300H to 301H

at the DOS prompt.

SET

220H to 22FH

240H to 24FH 260H to 26FH 280H to 28FH

310H to 311H 320H to 321H

330H to 331H

SB Emulation in MS-DOS/ Windows 95/98/ME B-3

T a ble B-1: Possible default input/output (I/O) addre sses.

Device Default I/O Address Range

Interrupt Request (IRQ) Line

Direct Memory Access (DMA) Channel

Stereo music synthesiser

388H to 38BH

An IRQ line is a signal line that a device uses to notify your computer’s central processor that it wants to send or receive data for processing.

T a ble B-2: Possible default interrupt request (IRQ) line assignment.

Device Default IRQ Line

SB interfa c e

, 7, 9, 10

A DMA channel is a data channel that a devi ce uses to transfer data directly to and from the system memory.

T a ble B-3: Possible default direct memory access (DMA) channel assignment.

Usage Default DMA Channel

First DMA channel 0, 1, 3 Second DMA channel

, 6, 7

B-4 SB Emulati on in MS-DOS/ Windows 95/98/ME

Environment Variables

Environment variables are used to pass hardware configuration information to the software in your system. For MS-DOS, your audio card includes the following:

CTSYN Environment V ariable

❑

BLASTER Environment Variable

❑

CTSYN Environment Variab le

BLASTER Environment Variab le

The CTSYN environment variable points to the location of the resides in the W indows directory . The syntax for this variable is as follows:

CTSYN= pat h

where path is the location of the

The BLASTER environment variable specifies the base I/O address, IRQ line, and DMA channels of the SB interface . Its syntax is:

BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6

The parameters in the command are as follows.

This Parameter Specifies

xxx

SB interface’s ba se I/O add r ess. IRQ line used by the audio interface. First DMA channel used b y the audio interface. Second DMA channel used by the au dio interface. MPU-401 UART interfa ce ’s base I/O address. Card type. x must be 6.

CTSYN.INI

file.

CTSYN.INI

file, which us ually

SB Emulation in MS-DOS/ Windows 95/98/ME B-5

Determining Resources

The MS-DOS dr iver SBEI N IT.CO M m ust be ru nning for SBECF G . E X E to work

properly

To find the current SB Live! SB16 Emulation resources in Windows 95/98:

1. Click

2. In the

3. In the

4. Double-click

SB16 Emulation

5. Click the

You can use the information in the resource list to help you configure MS-DOS games for use with the SB Live! card.

The resource list may show th r ee entries of “Input/Output Range” and two entries of “Direct Memory Access”. They correspond t o the sequence of entries in Table B-1 and Table B-3. If the number of entries do not match, a good estimate of the identity of the device is its I/O address or DMA channel.

To find the current SB Live! SB16 Emulation resources in MS-DOS mode:

1. Switch to your SB Live! DOS driver direc tory, that is:

C:\PROGR A~ 1\CRE ATI VE \S BLI VE\DO SD RV

2. Type

Some older games may have diff iculty detect ing the SB Live! card at certain resource settings. Typically, these games expect the card to be at a fixed set of resources and would fail to load if those resources are not dete cted. If you have older MS-DOS games that do not work properly, try changing the SB Live! SB16 Emulation configuration. Use the followi ng as a guide:

Start

Control Panel System Properties

SBECFG

Settings

window, double-click the

Creative Mis cell aneous Devi ces

Resources

tab.

and then press <Enter>.

Control Panel

dialog box, clic k the

icon.

System

Device Manager

, and then dou ble -clic k

tab.

Creative SB Live !

Problem: Solution:

interface port 220.

Problem: Solution:

B-6 SB Emulati on in MS-DOS/ Windows 95/98/ME

Sound Blaster emulation is not recogn ised.

Try switching the SB Emulation IRQ between 5 and 7, use DMA channel 1, use SB

The MPU-401emulation is not recognised.

Try using Port address 330.

Selecting the Best Audio Options in a Game

Most MS-DOS–based games that provide sound have some procedure for audio setup. These procedures generally allow you to choose from a list of popular audi o ca rds or audio devices.

Games may pre sent a udi o op tions dif fe rent ly. Some may present a si ngle choice tha t correspond s to a particular audio device; for example, Sound Blaster 16, Roland Sound Canvas, etc. Others provide an opti on for music and digit al audi o separat ely; for e xample, General MI DI music with Sound Blaster digital audio. In such a case, there are often two separate menus to configure.

Some games allo w you to se t the MIDI port addre ss and IRQ for m usic and soun d. Make sure tha t these settings correspond to the values di splayed by SBECFG. EXE or the Resourc es tabbed page of the Creative SB Live! SB16 Emulation Proper ties dialog box.

There are games that offer MPU-401/Roland (Gene r al MIDI or MT-32/LAPC-1) as an option. Often these games allow you to set the MIDI port address. Make sure that they match the MIDI address in the Resourc es list on Reso urces tabbe d page o f the Cre ati v e SB L i ve ! SB16 Emul ation Properties dia log box. The same value s c an be fou nd under “MPU-401 (General MIDI, Roland MT-32/LAPC-1) Emulation”, displayed by SBECFG.EXE in MS-DOS mode. Remember to enable the MT-32 MIDI patch with the SBEMIXER program if you select Roland MT-32 or LAPC-1 for music.

Music Options

Digital Audio Options

Most MS-DOS games offer a menu choice for sound when they start up. If you have a choice between General MIDI and MT-32, always choose General MIDI, since it will provide you with the best sound quality. If you need to use MT-32, you must firs t switch from the General MIDI instrument set (the default) to the MT-32 instrument set using SBEMIXER. Be sure to switch back to the General MIDI set when you are finished using the MT-32 instrument set.

SB Live! supports Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, Sound Blaster 16, and Adlib digital audio emulation. If an app lication provides all these as options, specify the choices in this order:

1. Sound Blaster 16

2. Sound Blaster Pro

3. Sound Blaster

4. Adlib

SB Emulation in MS-DOS/ Windows 95/98/ME B-7

MS-DOS Mode Utilities

The SB Live! card includes a few MS-DOS ut ilities. Thes e utilities r equire the SB Live! DOS driv er SBEINIT.COM to be loaded.

SBECFG.EXE

SBEMIXER.EXE

Use the SBECFG.EXE utility to obtain the hardware set tings and the status of the SB Live! card.Typing

PCI Hardware Settings: Port, IRQ

❑

Sound Blaster Emulation: Port, IRQ, DMA

❑

MPU-401 Emulation (GM, Rola nd MT-32/LAPC-1) Emulation: Port

❑

Adlib Emulation: Port

❑

The emulation set tings appear only if the y are enabled.

Use SBEMIXER.EXE to change the volume leve ls of the MPU-401 instrument s et used on the SB Live! card. You can use SBEMIXER.EXE from the command line—useful for advanced users who want to se t up batch files with particular volume levels—or within the SBEMIXER screen. The settings for SBEMIXER.EXE are independent of the Creative Mixer settings in Windows 95/98.

To set SBEMIXER values in the co mmand line:

At the DOS prompt, type the SBEMIXER comma nd in a single line. Its synta x is:

where square bracket s [ ] denote optional parameters, and:

This Parameter Specifies

/S:

/W:

/C:

/M:

/? View a short des cription of the parameters .

SBECFG.EXE

SBEMIX ER [/S:x] [/W:x] [/C:x] [/M:x] [/?]

Synth volume. x can be a value from the range 0 to 127. Wave volume. x can be a va lue from the range 0 to 127. CD audio volume . x can be a value from th e range 0 to 127. Synth MT-32/LAPC-1 mode. For x, 0 is Off, 1 is On.

at the command prompt displays the following hardware settings:

B-8 SB Emulati on in MS-DOS/ Windows 95/98/ME

An example of an

SBEMIXER

comman d is

SBEMIXER /S:64 /W:120 /C:50 /M:0

which corresponds to “set the sy nth volume to 64, the W a ve vol ume to 120, the CD audio v olume to 50, and turn off the Synth MT-32/LAPC-1 mode”.

To set SBE M IXER va lu es within th e M ixer screen :

At the DOS prompt, type

SBEMIXER

The interactive editor mo de allows you to chang e the mixer settings with the mouse, <Tab>, <PgUp>, <PgDn>, or arrow keys.

Use the Save button to s ave the settings for the next session.

SBESET.EXE

See “System R eso u r ce Settings” on page B-3 for a list of the possible values.

Use SBESET.EXE to manually c onf igure SB re sources or disab le SB Emulat ion. By de fault , SB Emulation in DOS follows the Windows setting s. F or example, if you disa ble SB Emulation in Windows, in the next boot to DOS, SB Emulation in DOS disabled. Under rare circumstances you may need to manually reconfigure DOS SB Emulatio n, for example, if there is conflict in DOS before it can boot to W indows. SBESET.EXE is run from the command line.

To set SBESET values in the command line:

At the DOS prompt, type the

SBESET [- A

xxx

] [-Ix] [-Dx] [-Hx] [-P

command in a single line. Its syntax is:

SBESET

xxx

] [-dx] [-wx]

where square brackets [ ] denote optional parameters, and:

This Parameter Specifies

-A

-I

-D

-H

xxx

x x

SB interface’s ba se I/O add r ess. IRQ line used by the audio interface. First DMA channel used b y the audio interface. Second DMA channel used by the au dio interface.

SB Emulation in MS-DOS/ Windows 95/98/ME B-9

-P

xxx

-d

-w

An example of an SBESET command is

which corresponds to “set the SB interface’s base I/O address to 240, the IRQ line used by the audio interfa ce to 5, the First DMA channel used by the audio interface to 3, and use the Windows-assigned resource configuration”.

MPU-401 UART interfa ce’s base I/O address. SB Emulation mode. For x, 1 is Off, 0 is On. Set x to 1 to use the Windows-assigned resource configuration.

Set x to 0 to use (your) user-assigned resource confi guration.

SBESET -A240 -I5 -D3 -w0

SBEGO.EXE

B-10 SB Emulation in MS-DOS/ Wi ndows 95/98/ME

Use this to confirm whether SB16 Emulation is properly instal led and working.

Troubleshooting

This appendix provides tips for solving problems you may encounter during installation or normal use.

Problems Installing Software

In Windows, the installation does not start automatically after the CD-ROM is inserted.

The AutoPlay feature in your Windows system may not be enabled.

To start the ins tallation program through the My Computer shortcut menu:

1. Double-click the

2. In the

3. On the shortcut menu, click

To enable AutoPlay through Auto Insert Notification:

1. Click

2. In the

3. In th e

4. Click the

5. In the

6. Click the OK button to exit from the dialog box.

My Computer

Start

Contro l Panel System Properties

ROM dr i v e.

Properties

My Computer

window, right-click the CD-ROM drive icon.

Settings

window, double- click the

butto n.

dialog box, click the

icon on your Windows desktop.

AutoPlay

Control Panel

dialog box, cl ick the

and fol low th e in s t r u ctions on th e sc r een.

System

Device Manager

Settings

tab and select

icon.

tab and select your CD-

Auto Insert Notification

Troubleshooting C-1

Problems With Sound

If your record source is “What U Hear”, then at any one time, you can only select one of the five sources and mute the others. Therefore, you can get sound from the rear speakers only from the selected source.

There is unexpected excessive environmental sound or effects when an audio file is played.

The last selected preset is an inappropriat e environment for the current audio file.

To switch to an appropriate environment:

1. Open the

2. In the Environment lis t, select “No effects” or an appropriate environment.

No sound from the headphones.

Check the fo llowi ng :

The headphones are connected to the Headphones jack.

❑

Under the

❑

select ed is “Headphones”. In the Mixer deck of Surrou nd Mixer, the re cording source selected is “What U Hear”.

❑

In a 4-speaker configuration, there is no sound from the rear speakers.

Check the fo llowi ng :

The rear speakers are connected to the audio card’s Rear Out jack.

❑

If you are playing sound from one of these sources:

❑

• CD Audio

• Line In

• TAD

• Auxiliary (AUX)

• Microphone

Environmenta l Audio

Speaker

view in the Main deck of Surround Mixer , make sure that the Speaker

control applet in AudioHQ.

C-2 Troubleshooting

To solve the problem:

1. In Surrou nd Mixer’s Mixer deck, make sure the source being played is selected, that is, enabled.

2. Select the same source as t h e r ecord source.

For example, if you are playing DVD games or movies, make sure that you select the Auxiliary device an d select the Auxiliary device as your record source in Surround Mixer.

If you have changed environments, make sure that your active sources are selected in

❑

Surround Mixer.

No sound from the speakers.

Check the fo l lo w ing:

You have connected your speakers to your card's output.

❑

You have selected the correct source in the Mixer deck.

❑

If both the above conditions have been met and you stil l do not get any sound, cli ck the

❑

plus sign

above the

control and check whether the

VOL

Dig ital Outpu t Only

check box is

red

selected. If it is, you are in the Digital Output Only mode and s o must connect to digital speakers to hear the sound from your audio card. See the sec tion on Digital Output Only in Surround Mixer’s online help for more infor mation.

No audio output when playing digital files such as .WAV, MIDI files or AVI clips.

Check the fo l lo w ing:

The speakers’ volume control knob, if any, is set at mid-range . Use Crea tive Mixer to adjust

❑

the volum e, if necessary. The pow er ed sp eake r s or e xte rna l amp li f ie r are con nec te d to t he ca rd’s Line Out or Rear Out

❑

jack. There is no hardware conflict between the card and a peripheral device. See “Resolving I/O

❑

Conflicts” on page C-7. The Speaker select ion in the Main deck of Surround Mixer corresponds to your speaker or

❑

headphone configuration. The

❑

Original Sound

sliders in either or both the

Master

and

tabbed pages of the

Source

Environm ental Audio applet are set to 100%.

Troubleshooting C-3

No audio output when playing CD-Audio or DOS games that require a CD-ROM.

To solve this probl em:

• Make sure the Analog Audio connector on the CD-ROM drive and the CD In connector on the audi o card are con nected.

Panning a source sometimes turns off its sound.

This occurs when you are in the Digital Output Only mode and the source ’s left -right balance in a software mixer application other than Surround Mixer (for example, the Windows Volume Control applic atio n) is at the oppo site end c ompared t o the posit ion to which you hav e panned th e source in the Main deck of Sur round Mixer. For exa mpl e, the CD Audio balance in Windows Volume Control is on the l eft but in Surr ound Mixer you ha ve panned the CD Audio to the right.

To solve this probl em:

• Open that other mixer, and center the balances for all the audio input sources. This ensures that your analog sources will not turn silent when you pan them in Sur r ound Mixer.

Problem with Surround Mixer

C-4 Troubleshooting

The mixer settings change unexpectedly every time the audio preset is changed.

To solve this probl em:

• Dissociate the mixer settings.

1. Click the Audio Preset Options icon in the upper right corner of Surround Mixer.

2. To dissociate mixer settings, make sure that menu that appears.

Dissociate Mixer Settings

is checked on the

Insufficient SoundFont Cache

There is insufficient memory to load SoundFonts.

This may occur when a SoundFont-compatible MI DI f ile is loaded or played while insufficient memory has been allocated to SoundFonts .

To allocate more SoundFont cache:

• On the

The amount of SoundFont cache you can allocate depends on the system RAM available.

Options

slider to the right.

tabbed page of the SoundFont Control applet, move the SoundFont Cache

The trade-off of a smaller SoundFont file is its lower sound quality.

Problems With Joystick

If there is still insufficient system RAM available:

• On the

The joystick port is not working.

The audi o card’s joysti ck port may be conflicting with the system’s joysti ck po r t.

To solve thi s problem:

• Disable the audio card’s joystick port and use the system port instead. Do the following:

1. Click

2. In the

3. In the

4. Double-click

5. Click the

Configure Ba n ks

SoundFont bank from the The smallest SoundFont bank available is 2 MB (2GMGSMT.SF2).

Start

Control Panel System Properties

Sound, Video And Game Controllers

Joystick

Properties

tabbed page of the SoundFont Control applet , s elect a smaller

Select Bank

Settings

Control Panel

window, double-click the

dialog box, clic k the

button.

box.

System

Device Manager

icon.

tab .

, and then select

Creative Gameport

Troubleshooting C-5

6. In the Properties dialog box:

Do not a ttempt to make changes to the BIOS unless you have experi en c e w ith syste m sof t w a re .

If you have an

Original Configuration (Current)

check box:

• Clear the check box to disable it. If you have a

Disable In This Hardware Profile

check box:

• Make sure that th e check box is selected to d isable it.

7. Click OK to restart Windows and for the change to take effect.

When the Gameport J o ystick in terface is disa b l ed, the entry in Device Mana g er has a red cross.

The joystick is not wor ki n g properly in some programs.

The program may use the system proces sor timing to calculate the joystic k position. When the processor is fast, the program may determine the position of the joystick incorrectly, assuming that the position is out of range.

To solve this probl em:

• Increase your system’s 8 bit I/O recove ry ti me of the BIOS se tting, usual ly under the Chip set Feature S ettings section. Or, if available, you m ay adjust the AT Bus speed t o a slo wer clock. If the problem persist s, try a different joys tick.

C-6 Troubleshooting

Resolving I/O Conflicts

You can also re fe r to the Trou bleshooting section in the Help file of Windows 95/98.

Conflicts b etween your audio c ard and another peripheral device may occur if your card and the other devic e are set to use the same I/O address.

To resolve I/O conf licts, change the resour ce se ttings of your audio card or the conflicting peripheral device in your syste m using Device Manager in Windows 95/98.

If you still do n ot kno w whi ch car d is c au sing t he conf lict, re mov e al l cards e xcept the audio c ard and other essential cards (for exampl e, disk controller and grap hics cards). Add each card back until Device Manager indicate s that a conflict has occurred.

To res olve hardware conflicts in Windows 95/98:

1. Click

2. In the

3. In the

4. Under the Sound, Video And Game Controllers entry, select the conflicti ng audio card driver—indicated by an exclamation mark (!)—and click the

5. In the Properties dialog box, click the

6. Make sure that the

7. Restart your system to allow W i ndo ws 95/ 98 to reass ign res ources to you r audio ca rd and/ or the conflicting device.

Start

Control Panel System Properties

Settings

window, double-click the

Use automatic settings

Control Panel

dialog box, clic k the

Resources

tab.

icon.

tab .

Properties

button.

System

Device Manager

check box is sel ected, and click the OK button.

Problems in Windows NT 4.0

A Service Control Manager error message appears with one or more other error messages at system restart.

This occurs after you remo ve an audio card from your computer after you have succe ssfully installed the Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1 card. Windows is trying to match the drivers to the removed aud io car d.

To solve thi s problem:

1. Log on to your computer as Administrator .

Troubleshooting C-7

2. Click

3. Double-click the

4. In the list, remove from under these entries

• Audio Devices

• MIDI Devices And Ins trum ents

the item s other than

• Audio for Creative SB Live!

• MIDI for Creative SB Live!

• MIDI for Creative S/W Synth

5. Click the OK button to close the dialog box. The drivers are removed.

Start

Settings

Control Panel

Multimedia

icon, and then click the

Devices

tab .

Problems with Encore DVD Player

C-8 Troubleshooting

The Encore DVD Player is not launched when a DVD disc is inserted into the drive.

To solve this probl em:

1. In the Windo ws syst em tra y , right -c lic k the Disc Dete ct or ico n, an d then click

2. On the

3. Click the

4. Select the DVD Disc entry and then click the

5. In the

6. Browse to C:\Program Files\Creative\PC- DVD Encore

7. Click the OK button tw ice.

Now when you double-click the Disc Detector icon, the Encore DVD P layer is launched.

General

Enable Disc Detector

Players Properties

and double-click the entry The Name box now displays the entry

tabbed page of the

Players

tab.

Creativ e Disc Detector

check box is selecte d.

dialog box, click the

ctdvdply

Select Pl ayer

Browse

button.

dialog box, make sure that

button.

Properties

Creative Sound Blaster Live User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

User’s Guide

Contents

Introduction

The All-Round Audio Solution for Internet and Digital Home Entertainment

System Requirements

Live!Ware Benefits

Getting More Information

Where To Go From Here ...

Other Recommendations

Document Conventions

Installing Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1

Your Audio Card

Installing the Card

Connecting Related Peripherals

Enhancing Your Sound Blaster Live! Experience

Playing Games and Music, and Watching Movies

Watching DVD Movies or Playing DVD Games

Positioning Your Speakers

Installing Software

Installing Audio Drivers and Applications

Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1

Uninstalling the Applications

Reinstalling the Audio Drivers

Playing Legacy Games

Using Sound Blaster Live! Player 5.1

Creative Sound Blaster Live! Tour

Creative Diagnostics

Creative Launcher

Surround Mixer

Switching between analog and digital output modes

Enabling Bass Redirection

Enabling Dolby Digital (AC-3) Decoding

AudioHQ

SoundFont Control

Device Controls

Creative Keyboard

EAX Control

AutoEAX

Wave Studio

Creative PlayCenter 2

Creative Recorder

Creative LAVA!

Creative MediaRing Talk

Creative Keytar

Creative Rhythmania

To Do This ... Use These Applications

Multimedia Playback

Digital Entertainment Applications

Internet Enterta i n m en t Applications

Gaming Reference

General Specifications

Features

Connectivity

SB Emulation in MS-DOS/ Windows 95/98/ME

Background

Understanding the Installation Program

The AUTOEXEC.BAT File Settings

The CONFIG.SYS File Settings

System Resource Settings

Input/Output (I/O) Addresses

Interrupt Request (IRQ) Line

Direct Memory Access (DMA) Channel

Environment Variables

CTSYN Environment V ariable

BLASTER Environment Variable

Determining Resources

Selecting the Best Audio Options in a Game

Music Options

Digital Audio Options

MS-DOS Mode Utilities

SBECFG.EXE

SBEMIXER.EXE

SBESET.EXE

SBEGO.EXE

Troubleshooting

Problems Installing Software