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You might get it to work with drivers from kX Project. Back in the day before I could afford a proper sound card those drivers were terrific, allowing (relatively) low latency recording with consumer hardware.

*nod*

I'm a quiet snob. I have a big, full sine, always-active Tripp-Lite UPS. It lives in the closet where I can't hear its screaming Delta cooling fan. (I'd switch the fan out for something less noisy, but somehow I fear that Tripp-Lite probably used minimal heatsinking on the inverter and made up for it with a loud, fast fan.)

The loudest computer I have is a quad-core Q6600 SLI 9800GT Alienware box. And even it is pretty quiet, now that I've rewired the extra case fans (all five of them) into the motherboard and choked their speed down in BIOS. It runs nice and cool, too. *shrug*

At work, I recently installed a quad-core Dell Precision desktop box with two hard drives and some manner of fancy quad-output video card whose precise model escapes me. It's like a whisper.

Other quiet systems I have aren't as impressive, but are certainly quiet: An old Athlon XP with carefully-directed airflow. Passively-cooled GPU with the blank panel missing to direct intake air over its heatsink, open 3.5" cover on the front where the hard drives are (again, to use intake air to directly cool the components). There is also a big, slow-moving fan on a big solid copper heatsink for the CPU, which is knocked down even further by using the fan outputs on the (quiet) Antec power supply. It's hard to tell that it's running, and the components are never more than just barely warm to the touch.

There's another old K6-2 which just runs some fancy audio processing 24x7 in Windows XP with KX audio drivers; it's diskless, running completely from a CF card (the system predates SSD). CPU and GPU are passively cooled. The only moving part is a slow-moving, thermostatically-controlled Arctic Cooling model that I've installed in the power supply.

I don't understand folks these days, thinking that if a system is fast, that it must also be screamingly-loud. If anything, a loud desktop computer is full of bearings which will wear out and die sooner than they might otherwise, and it will accumulate so much dust inside that all of that extra airflow starts to become counter-productive after a few months.

These issues pertain to all Creative cards, but not to the E-mu APS and some Audigy2 Platinum Ex cards. Creative audio cards based on the EMU10kX audio DSP require a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) in order to produce analog output. In general, this task is typically performed by either AC97 Codecs or I2S Codecs.

As a rule, Creative audio cards use the AC97 Codec for Front and Center/Subwoofer outputs, and I2S Codec for Rear output. The AC97 Codec is also used as an ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) and, thus, is responsible for all on-board analog inputs. (Note that LiveDrives and other DaughterBoard cards use different schemes).

The AC97 Codecs used in SBLive! cards are rather noisy devices (when compared to I2S Codecs), and this leads to some quality problems. As a rule, SBLive Rear outputs have much better Signal To Noise Ratio (SNR), Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and Channel Separation (acs) since they use the I2S Codec. So, if you want to get better sound quality for music playback it is recommended that you plug your speakers into the 'Rear Out' and enable the 'Swap Front and Rear' kX Mixer option (the swap is enabled by default).

The Audigy and Audigy2 cards use both AC97 and I2S Codecs for Front output and this theoretically gives you rather good Front quality. But nevertheless, the AC97 Codec causes some distortion and thus the same procedure is recommended for use with Audigy / Audigy2 cards as well.

Certain Audigy2 Platinum Ex cards lack AC97 codec and thus don't require Front and Rear outputs to be swapped.

Vista's DRM problems are no "Myth" at all.
Maybe some overblown exaggeration made by some blogger and the Zdnet blog you're citing is specifically attempting to debunk them.

That doesn't prevent Vista's DRM to suck anyway.

- About the HDCP/DRM
Needing a whole DRM stack just to connect your screen is what I find the most abusive.
It's MY display that I BOUGHT legally with MY OWN MONEY.
It's MY graphic card that I BOUGHT legally with MY OWN MONEY.
I have complete legal ownership of both these items.
THEN WHY THE HELL MUST THERE BE A DRM STACK that has to decide what goes on my screen and what doesn't ?
Why is it putting arbitrary restriction on what I can do with something I own legally ?
All this stupidity only because the **AA are afraid that someone *might* attempt to pirate digital content at no loss using the digital transmission.
(As if all this has prevented Muslix64 and Co to design a method to decode HDDVD & BD using keys dumped from software).

The some idiotic design is replicated on other channels, including the audio path. And give the ability to the audio player to refuse to play if it considers the driver stack insecure.

- About the drivers for Vista 64.
Sorry, but Windows Vista 64 driver models seriously challenge free drivers (like kxProjet alternative drivers) and completely prevent open source driver project ( like 3DFX Voodoo 3/4/5 - which are compatible with 64bit system : XP 64).
The former, as a free/beer project may not have the budget to buy signing keys.
The later, as a free/speech project need to grant its user the ability to do whatever they want with the code. Should a newer patch be available for either Mesa or Glide, I should be able to recompile mine and load them (the recent patches to enable Quake4 on MesaFX comes to mind as an exemple). Without a signing key, it's something impossible to do. This both contradict the fundamental liberties that organisation like FSF are fighting for, and also violates GPLv3 (don't know if currently there are GPLv3 drivers being developed).
Yes, one could find signing key from other CA. But that cost money that some project don't have, or would require every single end user to have access to the key in order to keep the basic software freedoms.

And the ActiveX fiasco (and the various CA-signed malware that has appeared in the past) has already shown that merely signing code won't actually guarantee it's quality.

So these two are clearly both useless (video content got copied anyway, signing has never kept out malware) and arbitrarily restrict users freedom (I should decide what goes on my hardware, without needing to pay additional fee just to use something I've already paid for).

The alternate driver the parent refers to apparently doesn't work with Vista, which is kind of the point.

From their own FAQ:

Q. Under which Operating Systems can I use the kX driver?

A. The kX driver conforms to the WDM (Windows Driver Model) specification and is therefore compatible with the following Microsoft Windows operating systems: Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98 (Second Edition only), and Windows Me. Windows .NET Server 2003 may also be supported, however, this has not been tested. Windows 98 (First Edition) will not be supported since it has no built-in support for WDM drivers (v1.1 or later).

Perhaps their FAQ hasn't been updated, but from what I can see this only confirms that there are no Vista drivers for the Creative Labs cards that are being discussed. :(

Hmm. As for Creative, an alternative driver does exist, the latest beta (3538m, find it in the forum) of which does support Vista on all SoundBlaster Live! and other unsupported cards. They work great.

I'm aware that there are other devices that don't work with Vista, but I've got all of mine (some of which are quite old) to work, either with Vista-supplied drivers, or with Windows XP drivers. The situation is hardly as bad as it is sometimes made out to be.

The Soundblaster Live! (and LiveDrive!) I have never worked properly with XP after I upgraded from ME years ago (performance problems, features not working etc etc). Creative suck, no question, but the card is now pretty old so I am no longer worked up about it. You can get good, working drivers from the http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/KX Project and they might do a Vista version if we all give them enough money. Either that or run Linux. The KX project at least makes the hardware usable, which it never really was under XP.

...it is full of DRM crap that keeps you from doing anything...

Yes, because I start it up, open Winamp and all of my MP3s disappeared. The FBI was at my door and...wait, none of that happened. This has to be the number one thing I hear from anti-Microsoft folks (and a number of Windows users who don't like to admit they can't figure out how to use Linux), and yet I've still yet to see anything in Windows Vista that resembles DRM that is noticably absent from Windows XP.

...many government and corporate organizations even refusing to allow their systems to be switched over to it.

While I have no experience in the corporate world yet, my father works at TRW (now Northrop-Grumman). Guess how long it took them just to roll out Service Pack 2 for Windows XP? Hell, a couple of years ago, one of the company laptops my father was using at the time still had Windows 2000 on it.

...eventually new games wont run on anything but Vista...

http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/

Don't throw your SB Live away yet. Try the kx drivers. They're incredible. Open source too. I haven't bought a soundcard in ages, but if these SB Lives you're talking about are still based on the EMU10K chip, then this is all you need. The only reason to buy a more expensive card is if you need good analog ins/outs. For home recording, then 1/8 inchers on the SB Live are fine. If you're like me (and like the poster, from what it sounds like) and all the audio stays in the digital domain, then you really can't beat an EMU10K-based card with kx drivers.

I should note that I'm one of those people who thinks that most people are full of bullshit when it comes to comparing audio products. I can't judge things like "warmth" and "clarity." The only basis I have for saying these drivers are hot shit is that they give ~5ms latencies. True, internal cards may be noisy, but I have good hearing and I don't hear any noise. Maybe they "muddy" up the sound or whatever, but thats probably just bullshit.

Ok, actually I had forgotten the name of it. I did several tries on Google until I tried EMU10. I have used the driver in old P3/Celery computers with SBLive cards. Here's the webpage:
http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1

I believe he was refering to this: http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1

Heya bud, have you tried the KX soundblaster drivers in windows. I have exactly the same sound card and since switching to this alternative driver set i have never had any issues.

http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1

Regards

Basically all pro cards from the low end up are designed to do one thing only: get audio in and out of the computer accurately. You pay for more ins and outs, better converters, etc, but all they do is play and record sound.

The Creative cards from the Live on up are all DSPs. They are designed to convolute sound. So in a game if they want it to sound like you are in a parking garage, they give the proper commands to the card and it convolutes the sound to do it's best appromation of a parking garage. This leads to both lower CPU usage and more realistic sound than doing the processing all on the CPU.

So the problem is, because of this consumer focus, sacrafices were made. One was that the Lives and Audigys output (and input) only one sample rate: 48kHz (Audigy 2s have 96kHz, but only in special cases). They'll accept any you like under that, but sample rate convert that. They do an ok job, but not great, distortion is introduced that you can see on a scope and hear on good equipment. So they are right out for good recording. Also, they kinda chepskated on the converters for the cards, so they are noisy, compared to others in their price range.

But, for all that, they are real, no-shit, DSPs. If you get the OSS kX drivers (http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1) you can actually write your own assembly programs for the DSP and control what it does.

Now the X-Fi is extremely exciting as it fixes most of the problems people had. For one it has three different modes it can be set in. In pro mode it dispenses with all teh resampling crap and does accurate 1:1 bit capture at any sample rate up to 96kHz. In other modes where it does resample, it does it with a kickass high-order filter that introduces essentially no distortion.

I am unsure if it has the ability to function as a VST plugin built in, but certinaly nothing precludes it from doing so. It's a powerful DSP and has the capability to route sound in and out of it.

So, really, it's not comparable to pro cards. They are designed to do different things mostly. There are some pro cards that feature DSPs, but very few. These days in pro work, the effect processing is done in software. It's more flexable and real time is non-critical. However in a game, you can't dump 20% of your CPU in to doing a single high-quality reverb, so having a DSP is a real boon.

Personally, I use both. I have an M-Audio Firewire 410 for pro, an Audigy 2 for consumer. I imagine that'll become an X-fi very soon here.

I always had bad experiences with stable machines becoming unstable after installing Creative's drivers, and never liked that you can't seem to just install what seems like a driver but have to screw up your system with what seems more like an application suite / (buggy) driver combo. What's worse is that despite the bloat Creative's stuff never has the features that I actually want in a sound card.

The only salvation for my SB cards has been the 'kx project' drivers:

http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1
(sorry I don't know to enter a URL here...)

If you are a musician these drivers have the features you actually want; WDM, ASIO, GSIF - other than the sound floor (on my SBLive) they make the card competative with a mid level music card. No bloat and I've found the driver to be solid, though the UI is rather yucky.

Do you know the model number? (eg: CT0072 or SB0092) It should be printed on the board. Also, the worst case, and maybe also the best case, is you can use the KX Project drivers. Not so great for gamers, but wonderful for musicians. You get much higher sound quality using these, and far less delay. Plus you can do ASIO and GSIF.

KX Project:
http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/

That DSP chip on the Sound Blaster Live & Audigy is actually a really amazing little processor, and is used a lot by musicians for low latency applications. Of course, Creative's software is worthless for that - one would need the kX Drivers (http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1) to tap into that power. Sadly, those are only for Windows, but if you have a sound board with an EMU10K processor and a Windows installation, be sure to check them out. Even if just to mess with the microphone and make your voice sound like Darth Vader or the Chipmunks. :)

I know quite a few people that have multiroom/wireless/wired/whole house/multiple zone/ etc setups and not one person really uses it much after about the first 2 months, or they only use it about once a year. It all looks like an outstanding design, great in theory and looks like a tremendous advantage to have such a thing but when it really comes down to it, they just do not use it. Throw computers into the mix and it makes it seem even much more the hassle of maintaining it and although a lower cost, still maybe not worth the time investment. I am all for geek projects but it is hard to justify the cost for a specialized system. Of topic here but i know one guy who went through a tremendous effort to broadcast the output of his central DVD player to any tv in the house. He had signal combiners and notch filters and attached the output to his house cable system along with a IR remote extender. Neat idea, you can tune any tv in the house to channel 80 or something in that region and watch what the downstairs DVD player is playing and using a universal remote control to control it. Well, you can buy standalone DVD players from Wal-Mart for $29. Was the effort worth it? Maybe to some but not others.

On that note.. I have a multipurpose computer near my stereo and I use plain old mapped drives to get to my music and video. For the audio connection, I use the coaxial digital output of my SBLive directly to my reciever (limits ground loops and much less noise then using the analog outputs). If you go that route, use the KX driver pakage, not the drivers from SB, they are much better.

You must have a Creative sound card or something. Their drivers for 2000/XP have always been terrible. If you have a SBLive! or Audigy, I recommend getting the kX Project Audio Drivers. They're third party and do a lot of the basic things better than the orginal drivers do. It has things like a fully customizable bus and surround filters so you can upmix stereo music to surround - something Creative dumped when they moved on from Windows 98. EAX is supposedly not supported, but surround seems to be working just fine for me.

My current driver has per-application volume support.

Downside is this: say you turn on winamp, and it's all good. Then you switch to your web browser - sound goes up or down. Then you switch to gaim - sound goes up or down. Or you launch a game or something and BAM - super loud, oops.

So really, it's just a pain. I'd rather have everything consistent. I also just turn off system sounds.

These fixed my problems with dual cpus and my creative live!

http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1

try this 3rd party driver from kxProject driver link it has the features to control ur EMU DSP way surpassed what Creative offers in their driver.

May I suggest you look into the KX driver project, available at http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?language=e n
I have been using this driver as a replacement for the sucky Creative drivers for years now. The difference in performance and features is simply astounding. Works particularly well for low latency applications such as Cubase or Reason, although I see no reason why gaming would not benefit also.

I am rather disappointed by the quality of this article:
"I just got a new computer with a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 card with amazing sound and music capabilities. For example, theres support for 24-bit EAX Advanced HD sound,"

What the fuck is 24 bit EAX Advanced HD Sound? Its not a feature, its a fucking marketing term. EAX may loosely refer to 3D Audio features but the author clearly doesn't know what he's on about.

Firstly let me get something off my chest - creative fucked ME over. my Soundblaster Audigy, a "24 bit" card is nothing of the sort. It only plays 16 bit sounds. Apparently it can (in hardware) mix 24 bit sound down to 16 bit, bypassing the windows functions that do the same, nonetheless marketed to me as a 24 bit card. So of course this means the card is completely useless if bought specifically for audio work.

Also my mate bought a soundblaster live, one of the selling points was that the "liveware" could be upgraded, providing more features/effects/whatever. His original cd came with liveware 3.0, since then (well last time I checked) creative have not bothered updating the SBLive liveware, which is a bit naughty.

Their drivers are SHIT, check this, this and this.

The last link hints on having the same FUCKED UP driver problems that I have been having: the original driver off the cd will install, but none of their updates off their website work. I have been through all the tech support and they have even sent me out a new driver cd (for free) but those drivers wont install. Creative seem to have some sort of fucked up hardware detection routine in the driver installation for every drivers apart from the ones on the original cd, and this hardware detection always tanks stating "No creative product found in this computer. Please ensure it is installed properly."

My mate has a soundblaster live and when he went from win 98 to winXP his SBLive just completely refused to work, with all the drivers from creatives website claiming that he had not soundblaster installed. The CHEEK! If only creative would allow MS' hardware detection to do the work, rather than have their FUCKED UP BUGGY hardware detection fail to find legitimate hardware. My mate now uses unofficial drivers for his soundcard that *arent even written* by creative. This was the only way he could get his sound card (that he paid 180 pounds 5 years ago for) to work.

Once I gave up on getting any semblence of modern drivers working, I moved onto getting 3d audio working in games. Like fuck was that going to work. Every game I tried refused to recognise the existence of EAX hardware. In every game without fail, the EAX option would be unselected. This was particularly galling with halo.

In the end I uninstalled my SB Audigy and used my onboard 5.1 surround. Which is recognised by games, shock horror! Admittedly when theres about 10 people firing at once in halo the sound gets choppy, but at least I have surround.

Also we have to ask about the quality of onboard effects on the soundblaster live. The reverbs are so shit and tinny that you cannot possibly use the for any audio application. This belies their claim that their soundcards are good for musicians.

Finally we have to ask: is the lack of decent 3d support due to game developers not being bothered, or is it due to the 3d support/hardware accelerated sound support being in such a perilous state?

I tend towards the latter. The author of the article states:
"Creative Labs has a virtual monopoly, due at least in part to aggressive techniques such as lawsuits or buyouts to take care of most potential competitors....Fortunately, even without competitive market pressures, Creative Labs has developed high quality audio hardware."

Rhapsody IS a different but you can still "buy" songs from the service for 0.79 and burn it to CD.

I think it is the best of both worlds. You get unlimited streaming of over 600k* songs (according to their web page). You can search for artists, songs, albums, etc and pick exactly what you want with pause, replay, ff rew etc.., or use the preconfigured radio stations and create your own genre of radio stations and just let it play. While the radio service is going, you can skip to the next song so you are not forced to listen to something you do not like either. The service is very good overall. You can login to the service from any *Windows* computer to use it. The downside is only one active connection per login so the kids and I sometimes end up booting each other off. My typical use of the system is split 50/50 between the radio streaming and directly selecting music I want to hear. If I hear something I like and want to own, I have a tendency to jump over to Amazon or similar and look for it used as I have not done the burn option in Rhapsody yet. I was surprised to find artists from CdBaby on Rhapsody and have bought cd's directly from there also.

Not specific to Rhapsody but I currently have one of my computers attached to my Yamaha home stereo via the S/PDIF digital output from my SBLive using the KX drivers (not really required but much better then the drivers from SB) and it sounds very good as far as a compressed music file goes. My own midi files sound much better though ;)

* of the 600k claimed, some are not burnable and some are not manually selectable but the total 600k is streamable via the radio function.

Creative drivers and software is just crap, admit it. The simple fact that you NEED the CD to install the drivers bugs me out. I have a SB Audigy 2 Platinium and I still need to get the drivers on CD installed before installing whatever I downloaded from Creative.

Also, its technically possible to have multiple outputs out of your soundcard (read this like in "i got some music playing from the speakers, and also game sounds from earphones plugged in the front panel"). But you know what? Creative drivers makes this thing impossible. But the hardware admit it!! Sucks, isnt it?

Heres your savior: The KXProject.

If you dont mind going into complicated stuff (you use Linux, right? it shouldnt be a problem then), you can control how the soundcard should behave when it got some audio input. For example you can shoot the line-in to the front earphone plug, normal (aka WAV/mp3) sounds to the main speakers, so on. that picture speaks for itself.

Did I mention free, too?

So there. Have a nice day!

Creative drivers and software is just crap, admit it. The simple fact that you NEED the CD to install the drivers bugs me out. I have a SB Audigy 2 Platinium and I still need to get the drivers on CD installed before installing whatever I downloaded from Creative.

Also, its technically possible to have multiple outputs out of your soundcard (read this like in "i got some music playing from the speakers, and also game sounds from earphones plugged in the front panel"). But you know what? Creative drivers makes this thing impossible. But the hardware admit it!! Sucks, isnt it?

Heres your savior: The KXProject.

If you dont mind going into complicated stuff (you use Linux, right? it shouldnt be a problem then), you can control how the soundcard should behave when it got some audio input. For example you can shoot the line-in to the front earphone plug, normal (aka WAV/mp3) sounds to the main speakers, so on. that picture speaks for itself.

Did I mention free, too?

So there. Have a nice day!

Creative drivers and software is just crap, admit it. The simple fact that you NEED the CD to install the drivers bugs me out. I have a SB Audigy 2 Platinium and I still need to get the drivers on CD installed before installing whatever I downloaded from Creative.

Also, its technically possible to have multiple outputs out of your soundcard (read this like in "i got some music playing from the speakers, and also game sounds from earphones plugged in the front panel"). But you know what? Creative drivers makes this thing impossible. But the hardware admit it!! Sucks, isnt it?

Heres your savior: The KXProject.

If you dont mind going into complicated stuff (you use Linux, right? it shouldnt be a problem then), you can control how the soundcard should behave when it got some audio input. For example you can shoot the line-in to the front earphone plug, normal (aka WAV/mp3) sounds to the main speakers, so on. that picture speaks for itself.

Did I mention free, too?

So there. Have a nice day!

That said, if you have a good mic (as good as you can with an 1/8" input) and turn off the +20 dB mic preamp, you should be getting reasonable sounding takes. The next improvement you could make would be to use a separate mixing board or preamp that allows you to condition the sound before sending it to the soundcard. Boosting the lows, etc., will usually help a cheap mic sound better before it hits the soundcard.

I actually direct-line my electric guitar sometimes with a 1/4-1/8" mono adapter and get some great sounds. Granted you have to at least some reverb and preferably an amp simulator before it sounds like a "live" electric guitar, but it certainly is not impossible to get good sounding recording with a Soundblaster.

And I do mean "good", not "professional".

KX Project has alternate drivers for the SB Live! that focus on recording audio and using multiple soundcards simultaneously. More info on this site than I can digest.

Hammer Sound is no longer updated, but has a moderate collection of free soundfonts so your midi stuff will sound like Dr. Dre instead of some AOL user's homepage.

Audio Forums is, to the best of my experience, the place to go when you want answers from people who know for sure. This is definitely the place to ask for tips on getting the best quality recording out of your SB Live.