WHat is wrong with creative ?

[Thor_Sevan]

I don't understand this.
I am using an audigy (gamer) for a year now and installed the new drivers from creative. What do I hear ? Sound quality is again lowered by some mysterious reason. Bass and midranges are weeker again. I told myself it must be placebo effect so I boot in linux and play the same mp3 I payed in windows. What do I discover ? It sounds MUCH better in linux with third party made drivers. Why is that ?

Why everytime creative releases a driver (they already don't release drivers often...) they MUST manage to break something in favor of some stupid feature nobody will use.

Errrr.... I just want to know what you guys think of this new drivers set. Have you experienced same behavior ?

Thanks.

Thor_Sevan.

P.S.: I sincerly think creative needs some serious competition again.

 

[InlineFive]

I agree, ironically Creative has an monopoly with awful products. [sarcasm]How fascinating.[/sarcasm]

Personally I would prefer either M-Audio or Fortissmio III.

 

[Big Lar]

Been running Creative for about 6 years now/ no more... ordered an M-audio 2 days ago, and if it works out/ bye bye creative, drivers are too darn buggy

 

[Thor_Sevan]

Wow ! I installed old drivers I had somewhere (file name AUDDRVPACK_L11.EXE ) and the sound quality is AMAZING ! I would say about equal to the Linux drivers I have.
I can't beleive that reverting back to old drivers would make SUCH a difference ! Its astonishing!

Now I got a new problem... how can I install the audio HQ and surround mixer for this particular version of drivers ?
Damn...

Thor_Sevan

 

[Gunbuster]

Soundblasters went to hell after they bought and ransacked Ensoniq for PCI audio tech.

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: Thor_Sevan
Wow ! I installed old drivers I had somewhere (file name AUDDRVPACK_L11.EXE ) and the sound quality is AMAZING ! I would say about equal to the Linux drivers I have.
I can't beleive that reverting back to old drivers would make SUCH a difference ! Its astonishing!

Now I got a new problem... how can I install the audio HQ and surround mixer for this particular version of drivers ?
Damn...

Thor_Sevan

Ouch. I feel sorry for you man.

 

[Ionizer86]

My bud had an Audigy 1. Installed it and it loaded with so much garbage: bar this, app that. Totally crazy.
I borrowed a busted audigy to test, installed just the most basic package (tried to install just inf but it didn't work), and I got loaded with that junk too, so I had to sys restore.

Got a Santa Cruz for $6 in a crazy hot deal, install this huge 20+mb driver package from the net, and the only "bloat" is the necessary system tray control panel app with the equilizer, effects, etc. Very clean

TB, along with Hercules, M-Audio, etc, need to make more cards, IMHO.

 

[BFG10K]

If you're having sound problems try removing all traces of Creative's drivers and software and then installing just the newest drivers from the web.

Installed it and it loaded with so much garbage: bar this, app that. Totally crazy.

The standard driver install is only 720K and only installs the bare-bones drivers. No system tray icon, no applications and no utilities.

 

[OverVolt]

Creatives drivers crash my PC randomly, they just lock it up for no reason, never buying a creative card again.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
If you're having sound problems try removing all traces of Creative's drivers and software and then installing just the newest drivers from the web.

Installed it and it loaded with so much garbage: bar this, app that. Totally crazy.

The standard driver install is only 720K and only installs the bare-bones drivers. No system tray icon, no applications and no utilities.

Roger that. I have an audigy 2, with the driver only install. Everything works great, sound is great... I'm happy! No bloatware for me!

 

[AndyHui]

Turn OFF CMSS in Playcenter. Your bass and midranges will come back.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: AndyHui
Turn OFF CMSS in Playcenter. Your bass and midranges will come back.

Another thing I never understood. I just installed the basic driver pack... I don't have playcenter or any of that... yet I get 4.1 music. No one has explained how this is possible yet.

 

[AndyHui]

There's a whole load of settings that the drivers put through as default. Whether or not you have those programs there, these settings take effect. All these additional applications do, like PlayCenter, is allow you to get to them through the user interface.

 

[Nebor]

So then CMSS is on for me right now, and my sound sucks? I didn't even realize...

 

[Jeff H]

AndyHui, thanks for the CMSS tip. I recently did the auto update driver routine on CL's website and thought I noticed a degradation in sound quality (Audigy2, Klipsch ProMedia 2.1's). Turning off CMSS improved it, thanks!

Jeff

 

[Chaotic42]

If you think that's bad, use their CD-ROM drives, specifically the 52x.

You have to give them credit, the SB16 was awesome.

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
If you think that's bad, use their CD-ROM drives, specifically the 52x.

You have to give them credit, the SB16 was awesome.

Ouch, don't remind me. That was an horror.

-Por

 

[Lonyo]

Where's the CMSS option? I want to see if it's on or off, but I don't know where to look. I have the Audio HQ installed, no bars or Playcenter.

And how do you get rid of the damned splash screen when Windows starts!??!!?

 

[thraxes]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
If you think that's bad, use their CD-ROM drives, specifically the 52x.

You have to give them credit, the SB16 was awesome.

Hehe, I also still have my 52x drive from hell!!

SB16 was nice... the AWE 64 was work of art!
My brother still has my old AWE32 with 4MB Wavetable RAM upgrade... that was also one very sweet card!

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

And how do you get rid of the damned splash screen when Windows starts!??!!?

I've been wondering about that as well. It's not in MSCONFIG or the start-up folder.

The folder is C:\Program Files\Creative\Splash Screen though.

*EDIT*

Just cut and move the

C:\Program Files\Creative\Splash\EAX_HD.AVI

file. It gets rid of the splash screen on boot-up and everything still works apparently. I wouldn't delete it quite yet until we're sure it doesn't affect anything else.

 

[GTaudiophile]

CMSS makes a big difference. I installed the 383 drivers about a month ago and my sound went to hell. I did some research over at 3Dsoundsurge.com and realized CMSS is on by default and the ONLY way to turn it off is to install PlayCenter (more bloat) and turn it off.

It would be nice if nVidia got into the market and really gave Creative some competition.

 

[Jeff H]

Lonyo, I found the CMSS option by going into the surround mixer and clicking on the EAX Console button. From there go to the CMSS 3D tab and take the checkmark out of the Enable CMSS 3D box.

 

[IgoByte]

Yeah, Creative sucks! Creative has long sucked! And yet we all keep buying their overpriced products. I tend to stick to onboard sound with the newer PCs. Much cheaper and it's not that bad.

 

[Thor_Sevan]

Oh my god ! I can't beleive it worked !
I installed playcenter (latest) and I saw that the CMSS option was enabled by default... errr !
Now the sound is just fine.

Ouf, still can't beleive it took that much time to figure out THAT was the cause. I am sorry for all the other people out there that have no clue and get no bass and midrange with latest drivers... heh... but then again... they "might" use playcenter so...

Now that it is fixed, I want to say a big THANK YOU too all of you !

P.S.: I don't have the 3D option to remove CMSS in my surround mixer's EAX tab. I HAVE to use playcenter...

Thor_Sevan.

 

[sandorski]

I have long hated CL, but when I decided to upgrade my Aureal SQ2500(wanted WinXP and Klipsch 5.1s) I settled for an Audigy Gamer. I like the sound quality, but this Audigy has been the most flakey part of my system. A couple times I've upgraded only to lose sound. Many hours have been spent trying to get the Audigy working again, trying this driver or that driver. Everything else works fine, but this Audigy has been a PITA on numerous occassions.