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[DocLotus]

I have heard that there is some software that will turn on the Center Channel of 5.1 Speakers during normal stereo playback.

It would be very nice to have the center speaker firing at all times other then when a DVD movie is playing.

Does anyone know what the software is called & where I can get it? ?

[Sergio]

A friend of mine had this problem with his Live! soundcard. I think it applies to Audigys too. Apparently, to enable the centre channel Windows-wide you have to install the Playcenter, or whatever that Creative player is called, and enable the centre channel there. Then all the programs will be able to use it. I think MJ makes use of it if the source is 5.1. I don't have a 5.1 card, so I don't know for sure.

Of course, this solution is only for Creative sound cards, I know know if that's your case...

Hope that helps

[DocLotus]

Hi Sergio;

Thanks for the feedback.

I have an Audigy Platimun card.  I looked at the Playcenter, but there is nothing about the center channel (or any other channel for that matter).

Any other ideas? ?

[Sergio]

I'm sure it's there... It's an option somewhere, with a lot of SS's... CRSS or something. Apparently you have to find this CRSS button, it's in the player's skin mode. If you still can't figure it out, tell me and I'll ask him again.

[DocLotus]

I've looked very hard for anything with a lot of SS's in the Creative PlayCenter... none found.  any ideas? ?

[Matt]

I really want a fully-customizable up mixer for MJ 9 so you can play any stereo source at 5.1.  It could be so much better than anything an amp has built in because we could make all the cross-overs, levels, and delays fully customizable.

The only tricky part is I'm not sure how many consumer cards let you open up 6 channels at once without jumping through hoops like EAX.

Anyway, this is somewhere on our list, so hopefully we'll have something cool eventually.

[DocLotus]

Matt... If you could do that, it would be simply wonderful for the following reasons...

SoundBlaster is selling a LOT of Audigy cards which all support 5.1 output in both single-cable digital & three-cable analog outputs.  I think this issue will become ever more in the forefront as who wants to have the main center speaker not working most of the time? ?

Also there are a lot of new 5.1 speaker sets being introduced for the PC.  Check out Logitech's brand new Z-680.

I'm in the process of getting a new 5.1 speaker setup but can't make up my mind between the Cambridge MegaWorks 510C, Klipsch Prolinear 5.1, or the new Logitech's.  They are all really wonderfuly powerful speakers.

[Matt]

I agree Doc.  We just have more ideas to cook than we have stoves.  Or something like that.

And for music, I'd recommend getting Senn HD580 or HD600 phones instead of expensive computer speakers.

I just can't say enough good things about my Senn's  

[DocLotus]

Matt;

I've had time to sleep on you mixing ideas & a couple of thoughts come to mind...

I use MJ only about 25% of the time but have sound coming at me 100% of the time so any left-right channel mixing into the center channel has to be without MJ running.

Possible solutions might be...

* A driver that is loaded when MJ is installed or updated that is always loaded & causes ALL left-right channels in ALL Windows sounds to be combined into a center channel.

* A small sub program may have to loaded that does the job.

* Call it a driver, seperate program, Windows add-in or what ever, it needs to cause ALL left-right channels in ALL Windows sounds to be combined into a center channel.

* It will have to be able to NOT combine channels when a true 5.1 sound source is detected as in a DVD movie with 5.1 so we will still have true 5.1 sorround sound when needed.

* It needs to run without MJ being loaded as in reality few of us actually use MJ all the time but we still need to hear the center channel.

[Sergio]

Just to clear things up, do you have 5.1 sound in other programs? When you play a DVD or an AC3 encoded video file, for example?

[DocLotus]

I have some AC3 music files & over 100 DVD movies.

Yes, 5.1 is working... the Creative test signals triggers all channels plus DVD movies (with 5.1) trigger the center channel.

My main concern is to use the otherwise useless center channel speaker on my 5.1 speakers for the 95 plus percent of the sound I listen to every day that is not surround sound encoded.  In otherwords, I want the center channel to produce sound on all sound sources, 5.1 (mostly DVD's), stereo (ripped CD's, midi files, Wav, & stereo cable TV), & mono (most Windows Wav files & other files).

[Sergio]

That sounds rather complicated... I agree the wise approach would be a driver, since it has to catch the audio before it is delivered to the sound card.

The problem is that:

1st - there are bound to be incompatibilities between programs and the driver, as there are with any driver, but this is not such a big deal

2nd - true 5.1 source detection doesn't seem so easy, since there are several ways to communicate 5.1 sources to the card (DirectSound3D, A3D, EAX, OpenAL, etc.) and it seems highly dependent on the sound card

3rd - general system slowdown, as every bit of sound has to be processed

I believe this would be a full time job...

Maybe JRiver are willing to do it, but it's hard, and it would be a lot simpler if the sound card manufacturers just included it in their drivers. Their drivers already do all that except for generating the central channel's sound. And maybe the option is there, only there is some weird procedure to turn it on...

You should ask Creative for support on this matter, maybe they can help...

[Sergio]

UPDATE: My frien has indicated me where the info on how to turn this on is located. Try this link and see if it solves your problem

http://dmzweb3.europe.creative.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=13,E=0000000000007162434,K=2855,Sxi=18,case=9728,Question255=obj(2824):obj(2828)

[DocLotus]

Sergio;

IT WORKS!!

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!

I have been putting up with this problem for two years & now, thanks to you & your friend, I no longer have to endure a dead center channel.  Simply Wonderful!!

A side note... The CMSS ON button also removes most of human voices from the rear channels & put them mostly up front where they should be.  Again... Simply Wonderful!!

This one little (and very hard to find switch) has a very big impact on total listening enjoyment.  Now I have the pleasure of listening to all my audio/video all over again from an entirely new perspective.

If I haven't already said it... Thanks Again!!

PS: Isn't this a wonderful forum?  Where else but at JRiver can one find real help from real people like the ones we have in this forum.  Thanks to all who helped me as this has been bugging me for a very long time.

[Sergio]

Anytime  

Glad I could help

[mattsnuts]

UPDATE: My frien has indicated me where the info on how to turn this on is located. Try this link and see if it solves your problem

http://dmzweb3.europe.creative.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=13,E=0000000000007162434,K=2855,Sxi=18,case=9728,Question255=obj(2824):obj(2828)

Hi,
I have the same problem; for me the CMSS setting works OK on my Extigy for mp3s played in Creative Playcenter, but not in MC 9. Any help appreciated, the link above no longer works and I can't find the article.

-Matt
Listening to: 'Sexy Sadie' from 'The Beatles [White Album] (Disc 2)' by 'Beatles'