Creative Live! and Audigy 24bit into X-Fi Xtreme Audio driver modd - Overclock.net

dragosmp · 12-20-08

Here's another guide, this time on how to transform some old Live! or Audigy SE/24bit cards into an X-fi Xtreme Audio.

Since this thread started a couple of things changed: on daniel_k's blog a modded driver is linked that no longer contains the CMSS, 3D and Crystalizer. That driver will turn the card in an X-Fi, but without it doing anything to sound quality. Fortunately I managed to dig up an older modded driver on my hard drive, made also by daniel_k, that has all the goodies. It's uploaded on a few mirrors, probably not all as stable as I would have liked, but at least one should work.

Toolbox:

modded drivers for SB Audigy Value/SE/LS & Live! 24-bit
- - mirror 1
  - mirror 2
  - mirror 3
  - mirror 4
one of the following sound cards
- SB Audigy Value
- SB Audigy SE
- SB Audigy LS
- SB Audigy 24bit
- SB Live! 24bit

What would you gain by using these drivers:

bragging rights - for all intents and purposes you'll have an X-Fi
X-Fi specific software like the Crystalizer, which sounds pretty amazing
EAX 3.0, 4.0 and (not sure) 5.0 in software - using these effects in games may increase the CPU usage; you can always choose not to enable them
decent drivers for XP and Vista (x86 and x64) for sound cards that have been forgotten by their makers.

Some background information

You should know that if you have an onboard sound card, the sound quality of even a 20$ Audigy SE would be quite noticeable even with its stock drivers. With these drivers you get much more than what you paid for. See this modd as the one 4 years ago, when you could modd a 80$ ATI 9800SE into a 300$ 9800XT with only a driver update; if you missed that one be sure to get at least this one.

What to do (the actual modd)

Download the drivers from one of the mirrors above and install them. Enjoy your new X-Fi Xtreme Audio. The end.

If you have any comments or questions unanswered don't hesitate. This modd works because of the simple reason that the Audugy Value/SE/LE 24bit and the X-Fi Xtreme Audio are nothing more than rebrands of the venerable SB Live!.

Cheers!

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P.S. It is not important if you install the drivers over the stock ones, though I would clean the old junk. I haven't cleaned anything and it worked, but if it doesn't try this: use DriverCleanerPro in Safe mode (press F8 during startup to accede) to clean any driver you may have installed, and afterward install the new ones.

Credits:

Fist to daniel_k's drivers that are all a Creative user could wish for
To many members on OCN that have helped maintain the thread and kept suggesting mirrors to keep the thread alive

Aftermath: During the life of this thread, a few members have asked modds for different Creative cards, so here's what I found:

- Modd for EMU 10k1 cards (Live! EMU and Audigy 1) - the modd is in this post, the only things missing are some stock drivers is someone that has one of these cards to test it

- Modd for Audigy EMU10k2 to add the X-Fi Crystalizer and the X-Fi console that can be found on this post - it's tested and working

sktfreak · 12-21-08

Well done, REP+!

dragosmp · 12-22-08

Glad you like it, but give us some feedback if you tried. I'm curious what you guys are thinking.

Grizzly Adams · 12-22-08

This is a repost from a while ago, but with a much more appropriate layout and title. rep+

I have been using it for a few weeks and I really like the crystalizer.

JTD92 · 12-22-08

Does this work with the Audigy 2 ZS?

dragosmp · 12-23-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by JTD92

Does this work with the Audigy 2 ZS?

Hey mate,

This guide does not refer to the Audigy 2 ZS by default, but since I've started this thread I might go all the way.

daniel_k has found a way to enable Crystalizer on all Audigy EMU cards (like your ZS), and all the details can be found here. From what I gathered, the Crystalizer does not work in hardware as it does not have the extra few bits of chip the X-Fi has.

On the cards described at the beginning of the thread (Live!, Audigy Value/SE/24bit, X-Fi Xtreme Audio) I have to say ALL is in software: Equalizers, Crystalizer, environmental effects, CMSS - it does not slow down the system on a decent CPU (tested on my X2 4400+ and e5200).

For convenience, here are the steps as described by daniel_k:

Quote:

X-Fi Crystalizer for SB Audigy Series

Warning: This software is unofficial, not supported by Creative Technology Ltd.

Use it at your own risk.

This utility was written from scratch and does not contain any copyrighted code. Creative’s director of developer relations, George Thorn told me, in a chat session, that is OK to provide mods as patches.
X-Fi Crystalizer for Creative SB Audigy series 1.2.0.0 - by Daniel Kawakami
WARNING: Use this utility at your own risk, without any guaranties. This small utility will unlock X-Fi Crystalizer on any Audigy card, except the Audigy SE/Value/LS.
It requires Windows running in Safe Mode.

How to use:
1) Install the unofficial “SB Audigy Series Installation Disc for Windows XP/Vista” (new version, unreleased) or “SB Audigy series Vista Support Pack” from Daniel Kawakami (daniel_k).
Restart Windows to complete the driver installation.
2) Restart Windows in Safe Mode.
Install the X-Fi Console, then run CrystalizerUnlocker.
Restart Windows in Normal Mode.
3) Open the X-Fi Console and enjoy!
IMPORTANT NOTES:
This is a software (host-based) implementation of Crystalizer
CMSS in Audio Console/EAX Settings only works with OpenAL/ALchemy
These utilities configure CMSS in hardware mode, that requires OpenAL or ALchemy. Disable CMSS to avoid conflicts with X-Fi CMSS-3D.
In software mode, used by Windows Vista, use the X-Fi Console to enable X-Fi CMSS-3D.
X-Fi Console
Provides the following audio enhancements:
- EAX effects
- X-Fi CMSS-3D
- X-Fi Crystalizer
These enhancements only work with the Windows Vista audio system, that uses software processing and don’t work with OpenAL and ALchemy.
When using X-Fi CMSS-3D, disable CMSS in Audio Console/EAX Settings to avoid conflicts.
*** There were some bugs in the previous version.
*** To install this new version, you must remove everything, including the driver, applications, “Creative” folders in “Program Files” and all registry entries.
The X-Fi Console is just the “X-Fi Audio Console” renamed to co-exist with the Audigy Audio Console and the unnecessary tabs were removed.
Without the CrystalizerUnlocker, it does nothing, so it was not “cracked”.
X-Fi Console and its files are property of Creative Technology Ltd.
Download:

Crystalizer Unlocker (19.4 Kb) - updated link
X-Fi Console 2.50.11 (5.78 Mb) - updated link
Console & Unlocker (All-In-One)

Enjoy!

P.S. Wouldn't it be nice if daniel_k were a member of this forum? He would surely get a couple of reps, he's done a fantastic work.

pez · 12-25-08

I'm glad I found this, because my onboard sound has started to act up, so I'm going to WalMart tommorow to get a dedicated sound card (which I planned to get the one of the Audigy's, not exactly sure the exact model), and I really hope I can get this to work. Expect some rep if I can get it to work tommorow.

dragosmp · 12-26-08

I'm looking forward for your feedback pez, it should work like a charm

pez · 12-26-08

Yeah, I think it probably will, but the only downside now is that I hope it will do better than my onboard sound is doing w/ this SLI driver conflict

.

headwall · 12-31-08

"Setup is unable to detect a supported product on your system. Please ensure that your product is properly installed before running this Setup program"

I have the Live! 24-bit external on Vista 32-bit. Of the dozens of drivers I've tried, the only driver that works is from the Creative website and it is completely un-listenably awful.

I've been up all night the past 3 nights trying to get this thing to work. Everything that seems to work for everyone else is NOT working for me! What is going on??

		Overclock.net - Overclocking.net > Components > Sound Cards and Computer Audio
Creative Live! and Audigy 24bit into X-Fi Xtreme Audio driver modd

12-31-08	#10 (permalink)
headwall New to Overclock.net Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 3 Rep: 0 Unique Rep: 0 Trader Rating: 0	"Setup is unable to detect a supported product on your system. Please ensure that your product is properly installed before running this Setup program" I have the Live! 24-bit external on Vista 32-bit. Of the dozens of drivers I've tried, the only driver that works is from the Creative website and it is completely un-listenably awful. I've been up all night the past 3 nights trying to get this thing to work. Everything that seems to work for everyone else is NOT working for me! What is going on??

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