Creative Audigy 2 Sound Blaster

[Scarface2003]

Hello,

I have a Sound blaster Audigy 2 sound card. As I don’t have much space in my room, I only have 2 speakers and the sub woofer set up to my desktop PC. This setup seemed to work fine with my windows XP. But when I upgraded to windows 7, the drivers were not supported.

So I downloaded the new drivers from creative’s website and under device manager, everything is Ok. The only problem that I have realised is that when I am watching something on you tube; I get to much base and can’t understand what the video is saying. I have tried to tweak the speaker settings and set them to 2/2.1 desktop speakers, but no joy. I didn’t have this problem with windows XP. Also when I use the disk that was provided, it is not fully compatible and freezes the computer system.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[x_Mr_C_x]

Check in the Start menu under Creative to see if you have something called Creative Console Launcher. If it is there it should have an EQ button that lets you play with an Equalizer and a Bass button to tweak the bass settings. My card is a X-Fi and that is how I can adjust settings. It may not be included on the Audigy 2 though but worth a look.

[Scarface2003]

Check in the Start menu under Creative to see if you have something called Creative Console Launcher. If it is there it should have an EQ button that lets you play with an Equalizer and a Bass button to tweak the bass settings. My card is a X-Fi and that is how I can adjust settings. It may not be included on the Audigy 2 though but worth a look.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Under start - creative - I have the following options - Creative Audio Console, Creative software autoupdate, creative wave studio 7, Product registration, Alchemy, Creative media source, creative media source 5.

When clicking on Creative Audio Console - I get a grey box with options but no EQ button or settings that I can tweak.

It has following tabs - device information - Speakers (I have set these to 2/2.1 Speakers) - EAX ( Set to No Effects) - CMSS 3D - Decoder (Use built in Decoder selected) - SPDIF (Default) - Bit accurate - Headphone Detection - Restore default (All 4 options ticked).

[x_Mr_C_x]

Yup sounds like yours doesn't have the same features as mine. What is the version of the driver you downloaded? Are you on 64 bit or 32 bit Windows 7? If all else fails it may be worth dropping Creative an email to find out if you can access those options.

[ZX7R]

You may as well just buy a new sound card. Shouldn't cost you more than 30 quid.

[Scarface2003]

Yup sounds like yours doesn't have the same features as mine. What is the version of the driver you downloaded? Are you on 64 bit or 32 bit Windows 7? If all else fails it may be worth dropping Creative an email to find out if you can access those options.

Hi,

I am on windows 7 32 bit and under the driver properties for Creative SB Audigy 2 (WDM) it says
Driver Provider: creative
Driver Date: 18/3/2010
Driver Version: 6.0.1.1377

I don't know what the (WDM) stands for, Windows Device Manager or something ???

I tried getting in contact with Creative, but no joy, they just told me to check on their website for up to date drivers.

You may as well just buy a new sound card. Shouldn't cost you more than 30 quid.

I will if push comes to shove. Its just that I am skint and out of a job at the moment and also sound card has been arouns since I built the PC and has worked fine. Also I have the speaker set and the Creative unit that sits on top of the desk.

Difficult to part with as still works. This issue has just sprung up since had new op system.

[Over Carl]

Difficult to part with as still works. This issue has just sprung up since had new op system.

I know exactly what you mean. I luckily escaped this headache as my brother was begging me for mine (he's broke but into music, and these cards have decent s/r ratio - doubt you'll get anything similar quality for £30).

[B.I.G.]

I use an audigy 2 under windows 7 64 bit and have had no problems with it albeit with 5.1 speakers.

My driver version is showing as 6.0.1.1241 and date is 12/12/2006

[x_Mr_C_x]

The latest driver on creatives site for the Audigy 2 is dated 9th April 2010 and has a version number of 2.18.0017 (This version is probably for the whole package hence the difference to your number)

If you got to http://support.creative.com/Download...downloads.aspx and paste SBAX_PCDRV_LB_2_18_0017.exe into the search box it should bring it up.

WDM stands for Windows Driver Model and it is basically just a standard that drivers are meant to be designed to for Windows.

[Scarface2003]

The latest driver on creatives site for the Audigy 2 is dated 9th April 2010 and has a version number of 2.18.0017 (This version is probably for the whole package hence the difference to your number)

If you got to http://support.creative.com/Download...downloads.aspx and paste SBAX_PCDRV_LB_2_18_0017.exe into the search box it should bring it up.

WDM stands for Windows Driver Model and it is basically just a standard that drivers are meant to be designed to for Windows.

I have tried again from creative's website and the 40MB is the latest driver and apps I have for the Audigy 2 Platinum ex sound card. I looked through the driver and apps details and couldn't find anything to help.

What I am really missing which for some reason is not included in this 40MB package is the settings and eq settings for the speakers for windows 7. I used to have this on windows XP - wonder if there is a way of getting that back ? Tried it from the disk provieded but just crashes windows 7 all together.

[x_Mr_C_x]

I have tried again from creative's website and the 40MB is the latest driver and apps I have for the Audigy 2 Platinum ex sound card. I looked through the driver and apps details and couldn't find anything to help.

What I am really missing which for some reason is not included in this 40MB package is the settings and eq settings for the speakers for windows 7. I used to have this on windows XP - wonder if there is a way of getting that back ? Tried it from the disk provieded but just crashes windows 7 all together.

Did you actually install this latest driver or just read the notes?

I've just found this post on the Technet forums that should hopefully sort you out!

[Scarface2003]

Did you actually install this latest driver or just read the notes?

I've just found this post on the Technet forums that should hopefully sort you out!

I have the actual 40Mb download from creative’s website installed and have nothing flagged up in the device manager section. Sound and game port drivers seem to be fine.

The link above says:

Included in the pack:

- Audigy series driver 2.18.0001.8 (latest beta)
- Audio Console 1.20.57
- EAX Console 3.00.56 (Windows XP only)
- Graphic Equalizer 2.00.60
- MediaSource DVD-Audio Player 2.00.78
- SoundFont Bank Manager 3.20.34
- Speaker Settings 2.00.60
- Surround Mixer 4.00.63 (Windows XP only)
Some of the stuff is Windows XP only

And then further down the page:

Advanced EQ and Special FX not available on Windows 7 / Vista
These presets don't work on Windows 7 / Vista

It sounds like a common problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated, first time I have come across the link above, and others seem to have problems with sound and speakers too.

Thanks for the reply.

[DelTrotter]

Try the Daniel K drivers for creative

I have an Audigy 4 and with windows 7 it just does not work with games! iv tried every driver! Creative Audigy just does not like Windows 7.
Creative support is poor to say the least . I had success with the Daniel K drivers to get it at least working with video and music but games, no chance!! Crackles and distortion constantly.

Looks like creative from what ive read is that they purposely fucked up the drivers for vista and Windows 7 as they have such such a monopoly that people will just upgrade with them

drivers here
http://nomoregoatsoup.wordpress.com/audigy-drivers/

http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-channe...l-xfi-etc.html

Read the above link. Its been a shambles and Creatives Stance has been disgusting


http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r202...l-K-Speaks-Out


"»blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/04/d···-fi.html

Daniel_K, Who Fixed Creative's Broken Vista Drivers, Speaks Out

Daniel_K, the Creative Labs fan who fixed the company's broken Vista sound card drivers only to be threatened by the corporate brass, just e-mailed with his side of the story.

"My name is Daniel Kawakami and I'm Brazilian," he writes. "I'm NOT a cracker, a hacker, just an enthusiast modder with basic assembly knowledge and very persistent."

Kawakami's expertise allowed him to enable advanced features in sound cards that Creative advertised as Vista-compatible, but which did not perform as well under that operating system as they do under Windows XP. After tolerating the distribution of his unofficial drivers for a time, Creative's vice president of corporate communications, Phil O'Shaughnessy, ultimately asked him to stop, and accused him of "stealing their goods." O'Shaughnessy also wrote that whether or not it cripples its Vista drivers is a "business decision that only we have the right to make."

The rest of Kawakami's e-mail follows, verbatim, after the jump.

ALchemy

It all started when Creative released the first beta of ALchemy for X-Fi cards, saying it used X-Fi's advanced capabilities (EAX5).

After some investigation, I've found an EAX5.0 check and patched it... and it worked!

Sometime later, they released the final version of ALchemy X-Fi and the paid version of ALchemy Audigy.

I was realy mad at them, they didn't release a new Audigy driver and were charging Audigy owners for a software that runs on top of bugged drivers? What is the point of that?

Then I modified the X-Fi "free" version of ALchemy, not the paid version.

I did the same with the later versions, but when they released the 1.00.11, I couldn't patch it anymore.

So I bought it, just for the sake of it.

Well, I did manage to patch the latest version of ALchemy X-Fi to run on any card, without even removing Safecast, but I'm done with that.

The Audigy drivers

They took several days, countless Vista reinstalls.

Creative purposedly modified the Audigy drivers to disable some features when Vista is detected and also purposedly introduced some bugs to prevent some XP utilities from running.

I did a complete analysis of the driver to determine where all the checks and bugs were introduced and started modding.
Features that I've successfully enabled:

- Dolby/DTS decoding (originally discovered by another Creative forum member, but I've explained how to use it)
- CMSS, CMSS2 and Stereo Surround (originally only "CMSS" was available, this setting also affects ALchemy/OpenAL, so it is really useful)
- Advanced EQ and Special FX presets
- DVD Audio
- Hardware MIDI synthetizer (I wrote a small utility that automatically detects and changes the default Vista MIDI Synth during driver install or can change it later using its GUI. Some media players lets you choose the MIDI synthesizer)
- Equalizer (with preset saving, very hard to accomplish, had to deal with bugs in Creative software and use my creativity to find a workaround).
- WaveRT (a Microsoft replacement for ASIO, however I don't know if it really works or not)

The Live!/Live! 5.1 drivers

Creative have always released UDA (Unified Driver Architeture) drivers.

They purposedly ruined the Live! support in Vista: 2.1 speakers setting resulted in distorted sound.

After some investigation, I discovered the culprit module and replaced it with one from the last XP version and the problem was fixed.

In the later releases, Bass Management, Equalizer and EAX effects using software processing and Hardware MIDI support were added.

There was also an ALchemy for Live! cards.

The X-Fi drivers

I've added the following improvements: Hardware MIDI and WaveRT.

I didn't have a X-Fi to test, so modding was then limited to these features.

The Audigy LS/SE/Value/Live! 24-bit drivers

Officially, they lack Bass Management, Equalizer and EAx effects, once available in XP drivers.

I've found that the Audio Center utility (originally from the Vista Audigy Advanced MB drivers) worked just fine with these cards, so I made it available.

Also fixed an annoying bug present in the official drivers that cause the speaker type changing to Full Range speakers on reboot (disabling Bass Management).

The X-Fi Xtreme Audio drivers
Have the same speaker type bug. I fixed it.

Gameport support pack for Vista
Allows a limited number of gameport controllers to work on the x86 version of Windows Vista.

What Creative didn't like

I've learned how Creative enables or disables a feature for a specific model.

Alchemy:
My last ALchemy release (1.00.08) was complately unlocked and could be used with any sound device from any vendor.

Audigy cards:
Successfully enabled the software-based X-Fi Crystalizer for use with Audigy cards.

X-Fi:
Got Dolby Digital Live enabled on any X-Fi card. To clarify, I still didn't manage to enable DDL on Audigy cards.
A friend of mine bought a X-Fi, so I could test it, it really works.
The only current X-Fi based card that supports DDL is the Auzentech Prelude.

The P17 to Xtreme Audio mod
P17 is the codiname for a simple PCI audio controller that powers the Audigy LS/SE/Value, Live! 24-bit and X-Fi Xtreme Audio host-based soundcards.

Completely modded the P17 drivers to transform any Audigy LS/SE/Value and Live! 24-bit into a X-Fi Xtreme Audio (enabling Crystalizer).

Modding is OK

I don't think there was something wrong with mods themselves.

Modding is a common practice among enthusiasts and I don't recall some company threatning a modder, unless you allow an exclusive feature to be used with competitor products (ie: SLI on non-NVIDIA chipsers or ALchemy on competitor products, as I've said before).

Remember the Promise Ultra to Fasttrak mod? It was even published on a well known review site.
There was also the GeForce to Quadro mod, the NVIDIA nForce 4 to SLI mod, also published on review sites.

What I did wrong

I've asked for donations.

Do I really need the money? No, thank God I don't.

I thought it would be ok to ask for donations so I could buy new hardware to support.

I did buy some hardware: an used Live! 5.1 for ~$15 and a new Audigy SE for $60.

Computer hardware is really expensive here in Brazil.

An X-Fi Xtreme Gamer costs about $240 here, with taxes and shipping, The same card can be bought for ~$80 in the US.

I just can't spend my money buying new hardware that I won't even use.

Even the features I've enabled, I don't use.

Later I tried to encourage donations to release the DDL feature for X-Fi and Crystalizer for Audigy.

I said something like "the more people donate, the faster I'll release".

This was even worse, but I was so eager to modding that I didn't think straight. I was hoping to get a X-Fi asap.

While I did ask for donations, once released, the downloads would be public.

I do recognize that I deserve some criticism for that.

To date, I've got $146, with amounts ranging from $1 to $50 (this value is still uncleared).

Reversing ALchemy was also wrong, I know. But I reiterate, what is the point of improving ALchemy and changing for it, when it requires an improved driver? It was my protest against Creative.

What Creative did wrong

- They publicly threatened me, just to show their arrogance.
If they had contacted me by e-mail or private message I would do the same thing (remove everything) and no one would know about their insatisfaction.

- Removed everything I posted in the forums, even if unrelated to the "forbidden" stuff.
If they can't provide better drivers, let people make their own choice.

- They did not recognize my hard work.
I've been supporting about every Creative PCI soundcard, would even support USB devices if I had one of them.

To date, the Audigy Vista Support Pack was downloaded about 20,000 times.

The current situation

DDL encoder and Crystalizer were not publicly released.

I've deleted the P17 to Xtreme Audio mod and ALchemy from FileFront (where I store the files).

I've been told they will allow me to continue with my mods, except the "forbidden" ones.
I'm also allowed to receive donations."

[Scarface2003]

Thank you so, so much for that lengthy email, DelTrotter. Very very interesting. I have not come accross this information before. The way Daniel_K has been treated by Creative is appauling.

I have the folowing version downloaded from creatives website http://support.creative.com/downloads/

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy series driver 2.18.0017
Filesize : 40.42 MB

Which still gives so many annoying problems, when listening to you tube videos and on top of all that i can't adjust the speakers to allow me to hear whats happening in the videos.

I agree with Daniel on everything but most of all he says that even he does not use all the features, what he has should work correctly. Also creative should think twice as it is the consumer who is getting their arse ripped apart by paying for drivers with bugs and more patches on top of that.

Anyways, should i firsty uninstall the creative drivers from my PC and then downoad the drivers by Daniel from http://nomoregoatsoup.wordpress.com/audigy-drivers/
or can they be installed alongside these ?

Which drivers should I install - to get the sound card working to the best of its ability ? I am using windows 7 - 32 bit version.

Many, many thanks again.

[DelTrotter]

Thank you so, so much for that lengthy email, DelTrotter. Very very interesting. I have not come accross this information before. The way Daniel_K has been treated by Creative is appauling.

I have the folowing version downloaded from creatives website http://support.creative.com/downloads/

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy series driver 2.18.0017
Filesize : 40.42 MB

Which still gives so many annoying problems, when listening to you tube videos and on top of all that i can't adjust the speakers to allow me to hear whats happening in the videos.

I agree with Daniel on everything but most of all he says that even he does not use all the features, what he has should work correctly. Also creative should think twice as it is the consumer who is getting their arse ripped apart by paying for drivers with bugs and more patches on top of that.

Anyways, should i firsty uninstall the creative drivers from my PC and then downoad the drivers by Daniel from http://nomoregoatsoup.wordpress.com/audigy-drivers/
or can they be installed alongside these ?

Which drivers should I install - to get the sound card working to the best of its ability ? I am using windows 7 - 32 bit version.

Many, many thanks again.

Uninstall using add and remove program then use a cleaner like driversweeper to clean.reboot and install in safemode.
ill post a version for you

Like i say I had my audigy 4 working perfect with Video and Music. But when it came to games it just distorted. I have no clue why but had to go back to my Realtek onboard sound .

[Scarface2003]

Uninstall using add and remove program then use a cleaner like driversweeper to clean.reboot and install in safemode.
ill post a version for you

Like i say I had my audigy 4 working perfect with Video and Music. But when it came to games it just distorted. I have no clue why but had to go back to my Realtek onboard sound .

Thanks for posting.

After removing the Creative Sound card drivers, which drivers do I install from the link given,
Eg.
Audigy Series Vista Driver Installer Version 2, daniel_k’s SB Audigy Series Support Pack 3.8 (which are beta drivers), Audigy Series Vista Driver Installer Version 1, etc etc.......

Or which combinations of the drivers can be used without causing conflicts ?

Thanks.

[DelTrotter]

3.8 is the latest but i had to try them all to find the best ones. GL id recommend the 3.8's thou first

[Scarface2003]

3.8 is the latest but i had to try them all to find the best ones. GL id recommend the 3.8's thou first

Will try.

Thank you very much