EDIT 2: Guide Finished, Enjoy!
Well, I have read tons of guides here on Neowin, but never seen one for sound. I have seen some Winamp ones, but not for sound cards and its drivers. So I decided to write a guide of my own, based on my own experiences and ideas. Althought this might be good for some, others might hate it. This is my first shot at a guide, so please feel free to comment on it, wether it be negative or positive.
As we all know, Creative cards are very popular. I can say Ive always owned a creative card and I know most of the members here on Neowin have one. Wether it be a Sound Blaster Live! or an Audigy 2ZS or whatever. Also, many of us like to get the best from our hardware. We softmod our treasured pieces of equipment for bettery funcionality, stability, etc etc. We try the best drivers, configure them to our tastes and so forth.
Well, A few months back I came across these drivers for EMU10 based cards. They are called the Kx Project drivers, which can be found at their website.
I have personally used this for my SB Live! 5.1 for about a year, give or take. And I have never had a single complaint. They are very easy to install, stable, and provide lots of configuration opportunities to get the best out of your sound card. Now please note, these drivers are intended more on the music area of sound. They do not do anything for things such as THX and EAX enhancements in gaming. So these might NOT be very attractive for hardcore gamers who want to feel every BANG they get in Battlefield 2. These are more for the music junkie who either edits, makes or otherwise listens to music on theyre computers most of the time.
Installation:
The installation for these drivers is very straight forward. You dont have to be a l33t computer user to use them. For one the drivers, as stated above, can be found at the website by going into the downloads section. The latest stable version of the drivers available is 5.10.0.3537. They are intended for SBLive, EMU APS, Audigy, Audigy2 and SB 512 cards, although I have read they work on others as well. Please make sure to download the full version. Once downloaded you just have to install them, and once installed they will take you to the main application to install the drivers. See below for some screenshots..
:NOTE: I advice uninstalling previous Creative Live drivers, as they might or might not interfere with the Kx drivers:
The main download section, make sure to download the ones circled into a place on your computer where you can find them
Once downloaded, just double click the icon and it will be pretty self explanatory
After the program has installed, it will take you to the following window. In this part you will click install and click yes to any prompts it will give you. Once done, just accept to reboot.
Congratulations, you have successfully installed the Kx Project drivers. Now on to configuration and usage.
Configuration:
These drivers have alot of things you can play with. These are just some of the main ones I personally use to improve audio with my music. More information on other settings, and plugins, can be found at the forums the Kx project site has at Driverheaven.
Once installed, you will find the following icon in your taskbar. Please right click it and select Kx Mixer
Once done with that, you will be taken to the main Kx mixer. Here you can enable 5.1 audio, change the volume levels for each individual speaker, the bass levels, recording levels, enable Surround audio (Low, Medium, High settings) and many other things
At this screen you have a variety of settings. These are all very dependant on how you have your speakers placed, the type of music you listen to, and your personal taste in how your music sounds. I like my music to have a balance between good, bumpin, bass and a surround sound effect. Heres how Ive set up mine for this.
As I said before, its all dependant on where and how youve set up your speakers. Also, on how many you have as well. Take note these drivers take anything from SB Live! to Audigy2 and above, so the combination of speakers can be 4.1 - 7.1. Heres how Ive setup the speakers in my room, just to give you an idea of why Ive setup my speaker volumes the way I did.
Another note I should add in to how Ive setup my speaker settings in the drivers is this...In the first screen of the Kx mixer I have my Master Mixer at 100% and the Wave at about 15%. I do this because if I go too high with the wave, I get alot of distortion with music and games. Also in this same screen, I have the "Toggle front Swap and read mode" option checked, which should be done by default when you install these drivers. Along with that, in the back of my SB Live! instead of pluging the green into the green colored part on my computer, I switch them up. I put the black into the green, and green into the black. This adds better sound for me, but like I said before, its all dependant on taste. In the same screen where Ive mentioned these settings, you can enable 2.1, 4.1, or 5.1 audio. To access this setting, you can also just right click the Kx project icon on the taskbar and go to Add-Ons>Surround + [8]. Here you can do alot of things. My setup in that specific area is 5.1, for Surround I have copy, and I check off Subwoofer Output as well as Bass redirection. The bottom part I put all the way up to 320hz and voila.
Also, one added thing. Open Kx mixer and go to the icon where it says AC 97, in this screen go to the 3DSE area. Here you can choose Low, Normal or High levels of 3DSE. This all depends on your taste as well as your speakers. Some speakers might sound a bit awful when put in high, so normal should fit most users. I have mine set to normal, and I get good bass and speaker output. I listen to a variety of music, alot of which is spanish, but also I listen to old school punk and things of the sort. But were all different, so as I continue to repeat, configure them to YOUR taste. Put on Winamp, and let your favorite song play, during the playtime edit your speakers to how you like them.
I hope you guys find this guide useful in someway. Im sorry if I didnt get into TO much detail, but I pretty much covered the basics for an everyday user who listens to music. If youd like to learn more about the musician based areas of the Kx project drivers, please visit theyre website or the forum they have on driverheaven. It has a wealth of information for anyone whod like to learn how to use the drivers more in depth. Also if youd like to a DSP guide, contact _R2D2 here on Neowin, and as he stated on a post, he'll look into making one.
If you have any questions or comments, or would like me to add in anything else to the guide, feel free to contact me. Otherwise, Enjoy your new sound drivers
This post has been edited by Daviesbad04: Aug 15 2005, 18:17
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