Sound Blaster Audigy 5.1?

[A.I.]

I got a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy. I receive no 5.1 when I play games. I only get 5.1 with Power DVD. I cannot find the speaker config thingy where you test each speaker is working.

I cannot see an option for simulate 5.1 either which my old sound card had which worked for all speakers. Is there an softwear update? I looked in the site but apart from trying one update which failed I don't know which is the correct one to choose. Or does Realtek HD audio manager have the 5.1 simulate option?

BTW I bought a new computer, my old one died.

[t0rek]

Be sure to set up your games config options for 5.1.

[A.I.]

Yes, i know this but what im talking about is an option to enable 5.1 simuate sound in the sound card. My old sound card had this option and i got surround sound for everything:pj64, pc games, wmp, regardless if it was trully 5.1 i still got sound comming from ALL speakers. Now i only get sound from the front speakers which really sucks cos i paid $70 on the Creative Sound Blaster for that very thing.

[Allnatural]

I have to manually enable stereo doubling with my X-Fi as well (wasn't so with my old Live card). This may not apply to you at all, but here is what needs to be enabled in the audio console...

http://members.accesstoledo.com/allnatural/audioconsole.jpg

Any similar options with your Audigy?

[A.I.]

I have to manually enable stereo doubling with my X-Fi as well (wasn't so with my old Live card). This may not apply to you at all, but here is what needs to be enabled in the audio console...
Any similar options with your Audigy?

No, there is no mixer which is really stupid. All there is: Creative Media Source Player, Creative Media Source Go, Media Source Audio Converter but there is no damn mixer.

Frankly, I feel a little upset for being ripped off with a sub standard sound card.

Do I have to register to get a mixer? It says I get the latest downloads, bla bla, if I register.

I have a realtek hd audio manager which i can go back to but even though its got a mixer with descent surround settings it cant enable surround sound for games. As I said, with my old sound card there was an 5.1 option which gave you a surround sound for all speakers which supported direct sound and it worked for every game i played, i mean i got all speakers working. This stupid sound card doesnt do this. I should have put my old sound card in, atleast i knew it worked with my games. :(

[squall_leonhart]

you need to download the latest drivers and Audio console dude.

the drivers that come with the audigy are old as heck.

[A.I.]

I uninstalled/reinstalled and lo behold the mixer appeared. The tek guy at the shop somehow failed to install it! There is a 3D sound option for games which is what i need. I dunno if i should update drivers or other stuff cos as the saying goes if it aint broke dont fix it. One gripe though the line out input shares the mic and i tried using a stereo splitter and the feedback nearly blew my pissy speakers to kingdom come!

[squall_leonhart]

i recommend updating the drivers, because early audigy drivers do have several issues which are fixed in later versions.

[A.I.]

I sometimes get stuttering, like a machine gun noise when I play wmp or a game. Certain apps, like HDD Thermometer, really excerbates it.

I tried to update Creative's new drivers manually but for some reason it refuses to install them, instead I get a message saying it doesn't recognise the device (?!?) when they're clearly there.

I also had no luck when I used device manager which told me my drivers didn't need to be updated but I was there when the tek guy installed them from the cd so you'd think the drivers on the site would be newer.

[A.I.]

Sorry about double post but I didn't want to start a new thread on the same topic and ppl will notice this rather than a 'edit'.

I was finally able to update sound blaster audiogy driver to sb live! 24-bit
(5.12.1.514)

Unfortunately, it hasn't fixed the issue of perodiacally stuttering every hour or so which lasts a few seconds. I googled and found sound issues run rife with Creative soundcards, even the higher end ones but it seems it is very difficult in finding a real fix.

I have tried a few suggestions such as lowering hardware sound acceleration level to 'Standard' and 'Basic but it didn't work. I am testing it right now with wmp on 'No acceleration' and its showing as 'simulated' so I guess it will turn off EAX but does that mean I will still get 3d direct sound? I normally run games with just 3d sound so will there be any notable difference?

Not that I seriously think this setting will work so is there a real fix like a patch or something else ppl can recommend?

Edit:Nope didnt work. Actually I think its made it worse. Instead of the machine gun like stutter I get this horrible digital foghorn effect.

I also remember i ripped my dvds with bit rate 192 kbps (best quality) where in past i just had it on 128 kbps (default) would that affect sound card performance at all?

[squall_leonhart]

this issue is commnly caused by the Sound card sharing an irq with another important device.

theres guides for this on guru3d

[A.I.]

thanks mate i will have a look.

[A.I.]

After googling for hours for some kind of magic fix i came across an interesing post.

This guy reckons his wifi network was causing stuttering when he lost internet connection cos it was searching for connection and that was sapping proccess power from card which runs off the cpu. Other apps running in background like anti-virus, explorer, ms updates, etc. could also reduce process power, causing slowdown in video and sound glitches.

Well i got this wifi usb for ds browser and blue tooth dongle and i normally switch them off cos they get really hot, especially the wifi usb. Maybe the loss of network connection trying to search for both devices might be causing perodic stuttering?

btw Squall i checked sys info and my Sound card isnt sharing an IRQ with another device so that rules that out.

[squall_leonhart]

doesn't mean its not the problem.