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[DocLotus]

I have gone back to using the Creative SoundBlaster Audigy software with MC9 set to Output Mode Direct Sound.

Why?

* ASIO in its current form is simply too unstable.

* I would remove some totally un-related items from the Windows Program Start-up & ASIO would start doing weird things such as not remembering the saved configuration.

* ASIO many times simply would not load the remembered saved configuration that I had saved. It worked most of the time but would sometimes simply start up with no sound as it lost the saved configuration.

* All too often ASIO would show an error message saying something about an incompatible configuration.

* Every time I would slide the MC9 progress bar ahead of where it was currently playing ASIO would complain (loudly) by making clicks & weird noises.

* Plus a lot of little things during the installation such as...
  - A message comes up at the beginning advising me (among other things) that I am not to reboot the computer no matter what the installation says.  However, when the installation is finished it tells me to reboot contrary to what it told me at the beginning.
  - During installation, I am asked to install "Joystick"...  Joystick on an audio driver?  Weird, simply weird.
  - During un-installation you better be very careful or you will not be able to install any audio driver without getting an error message saying something about... "There is another audio device installed that can cause problems with two audio devices running at the same time".  What other audio device are they talking about? This caused me all kinds of trouble on my system.  The only way I was finally able to resolve it was to use Win XP's Restore function to reset my system to a time before all the problems began.  Only then was I able to install the Creative Audigy software without a lot of error messages.

After using ASIO for several months now & returning to the Creative SoundBlaster Audigy software I honesty can say that I really do not hear any difference between ASIO & the Creative software as far as sound quality is concerned.  I now think the so-called ASIO improvement is all in our minds & not really discernable by our ears.

My overall advise to anyone contemplating ASIO is simply... Go at your own risk!

Remember, this still Beta (or maybe Alpha is more like it) software.

[KingSparta]

I don't see the big deal with ASIO the sound sounds fine with the standard drivers.

My ears hear it fine

[DocLotus]

I now totally agree with you.

[Mike Noe]

FWIW, I've been using RME's ASIO implementation since before MJ/MC even supported, back when only WinAmp would work with it (plug-in).  I've never experienced anything like you've noted and with numerous auditions, we have decided we'll never go back, this difference is that great under the current setup.

Sounds to me like the ASIO support (driver for your sound card) you were attempting to use was bogus, not the MC interface or ASIO itself.

[DocLotus]

It was right from the kXProject web site... Home of the kXProject ASIO driver that everyone has been using for MC9

[bspachman]

I don't know, Doc, I'm with Mike on this one...

My M-Audio DiO 24/96 has performed like a champ with ASIO since day one of MC9's betas. It even did pretty well with the alpha ASIO plugin for MJ8...

I'm not familiar with Audigy's drivers or the kXProject drivers, but my guess is that something is squirrelly with them....

Do those drivers work well in ASIO mode with other (non-MC9) software?

Best,
Brad

[DocLotus]

kxProject drivers have nothing to do with MC9.

They are written to replace Creatives SoundBlaster Live! & Audigy drivers plus the Mu chip set that Creative sells to a lot of other sound card manufactures..

[Bartabedian]

  - During installation, I am asked to install "Joystick"...  Joystick on an audio driver?  Weird, simply weird.

Generally, SB's have MIDI ports that double as joystick ports, and drivers are usually installed for this to work correctly. It has no effect on anything sound related.

[escaflo]

I am currently using kxdrivers on my SbLive (poor student). I must admit that I can quite clearly hear the difference between kxdrivers and the drivers that came with my SbLive.

But I am not going to say that the kxdrivers is all wonderful. Although generally I have not much trouble with it, I do encounter some weird stuff like my sound just dropping dead on me from the middle of nowhere. It will just stop working. and sometimes, it fastforwarded. and u get little chipmunks singing in my com.

I am willing to live with that for now because of the "huge" difference it makes to my ear.  anyway, i do believe that drivers works differently on different com. if it doesn't work real well on your computer, tough luck. it is just like that stupid creative drivers also tends to keep crashing my computer which resulted in me looking for another alternative drivers. *shrug*.

[Marko]

Well now, for me, if I enable ASIO in MC's options, fix the sample rate to 48,000, everything sounds awesome.....

Except when I try streaming web radio.
.asf in this case. This is absolutely 100% reproduceable here and is a bug that was introduced just before MC went gold.

1. Enable ASIO and set sample rate in MC
2. Get MC to open this link.... http://62.25.96.7:80/rrs/
3. after a few seconds buffering, MC goes *poof* and throws a buffer overrun error leaving (presumably) whatever was in the buffer repeating over and over very quickly and very loudly. The only way (that I've found) to kill the racket is to reboot as fast as possible.

It is for this reason that I now use direct sound too.

I've never used the KX drivers, just the default SB ones.
would be nice if it would work like it used too

-marko

[DocLotus]

I was at the creative site yesterday looking for the latest default drivers for my Audigy & discovered that Creative is no pointing you to another site for a completly new driver called
EAX ADVANCED HD Performance Beta Release.

DETAILS...

This package is an official Creative Labs Beta Release but is NOT provided for download by Creative. The link below will take you to Tomshardware website where you will be able to download the beta package. This release is primarily for Sound Blaster Audigy users and significantly improves gaming performance for all cards in the Sound Blaster Audigy range. It does however also provide benefits for the Audigy 2 family of cards (as shown below). This release is ideal for high-end gamers who want even better performance than they currently enjoy. This release has been tested by Creative Labs for gaming use ONLY. No other functionality has been tested. It should be noted that the Sound Blaster applications provided with your card may not function after installation of this driver. For mixer and speaker configuration the standard Windows apps can be used.

This release will be followed up with a final official driver update that will integrate the performance features with the core driver and application set. The beta release is designed to stop functioning on the 1st of August 2003 by which time the final release previously mentioned will be available.

This update is exclusively for Sound Blaster Audigy and Audigy 2 users running on Windows 2000 or XP ONLY.

Fixes & Features

Sound Blaster Audigy Specific

Sound Blaster Audigy performance increased by 10%-15% for EAX ADVANCED HD

Number of simultaneous voices has been doubled from 32 to 64

Sound Blaster Audigy and Audigy 2 Benefits


Reverb presets setting by game audio engine is now on average 10X faster


EAX Morphing performance enhanced, typically yeilding a 2X improvement in framerates for morphed sections.

File Details

Operating Systems:
     
Windows XP & 2000
Languages:
     
N/A
Size:
     
13.6 MBytes (approx 35 minutes @ 56.6Kbits/s)
Filename:
     
aud_betadrv_030417.exe


It is avaliable from Tom's Hardware... http://www.tomshardware.fr/download.php

Think I'll wait until August when it is supposed to be available.

[Mike Noe]

IMO, Creative cards attempt to "do everything".  By attempting to be a jack of all trades, the are surely a master of none.  Not saying they're bad, but the primary focus is obviously not on hi-quality audio performance, as most people do not care and are buying these things for gaming and such or they came with the computer the person bought.

IMO, it might be worth it for you to upgrade to a M-audio or RME or some other such card that has more applicable driver support options.

[Bartabedian]

IMO, Creative cards attempt to "do everything".  By attempting to be a jack of all trades, the are surely a master of none.  Not saying they're bad, but the primary focus is obviously not on hi-quality audio performance, as most people do not care and are buying these things for gaming and such or they came with the computer the person bought.

IMO, it might be worth it for you to upgrade to a M-audio or RME or some other such card that has more applicable driver support options.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Matter of fact, I've had a system with both SB Audigy and an Echo Gina pro audio card, and A\B-ing between the two would blow anybody away, even the most novice music listener.

[KingSparta]

Mike Noe

What Air Field is that picture of? and what were you flying in if you took the picture?

[DocLotus]

Wichita Falls ?

[dbett]

My biggest complaint about the kxproject drivers was the problems I had trying to play games with them installed.  On several games the sound was really screwy.  This was with a SBLive.  But I did notice a minor improvement in MC playback quality and didn't have any other problems (except maybe general system instability - but with Win 98 who knows?).  

But I ultimately went back to the Creative drivers - but can't get rid of the kxproject's joystick drivers.   ?  They keep reinstalling automatically.  Not a big deal.

[Mike Noe]

Naw, that's my home field, Eagle's Nest (W13) in the southern Shenandoah Valley of VA.  Shortest paved strip in the state, 2009 ft.

http://www.airnav.com/airport/W13

That's short final to 24, my dad took the shot as I was a little busy.    We were in a '67 Cherokee 140.

BTW, that other thread about he hi-quality sound cards is a real keeper!