DK SB Audigy Series Support Pack 2.5 (August 09)

[Maskulin]

Supports any model of the following Sound Blaster cards (based on Emu10kx DSP):

- Audigy
- Audigy 2
- Audigy 2 ZS
- Audigy 4

Audigy SE/LS/Value and Live! 24-bit cards not supported!




Operating systems supported: 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7 RTM / Vista SP2 / XP SP3

Included in the pack:

- Audigy series driver 2.18.0011.6
- ALchemy 1.30.00
- Audio Console 1.31.10
- DDL License Activation 1.00.04 (*)
- Dolby Digital Live Pack 3.00.03 (*)
- EAX Console 3.00.56 (Windows XP only)
- Graphic Equalizer 2.00.65
- MediaSource DVD-Audio Player 2.00.78
- SoundFont Bank Manager 3.21.00
- Speaker Settings 2.00.60

(*) Purchase and activation required, more info at http://buy.soundblaster.com.




Does this driver improve sound quality or performance? Are there any tweaks?

No, this driver does not improve sound quality nor increase performance.

No, there are no tweaks.

If someone states that its driver improves sound quality and performance, you are being fooled, cheated.

It is even worse that the so called tweaks come from a person who is not EVEN technically acknowledged, does NOT know anything about Windows internals, software engineering and sound fidelity that all audiophiles always look for.

If you "feel" the sound better, that is the infamous placebo effect and there is no real proof that any tweaks work.

In fact, I have yet to see a driver that states in its release notes that it improves sound quality.

I've disassembled about every single .SYS driver, .DLL libraries and .EXE executables and found nothing.

There are some undocumented registry values, but nothing related to sound quality or performance.

Would the so called tweaks even exist, they would be in my Support Packs, you can bet that.




Fixes and improvements:

- Workarounds a bug that unexpectedly resets the speaker configuration.
- Prevents an issue during installation on Windows 7/Vista that may result in low volume when certain enhancements are enabled.
- Really improves CMSS Headphone experience.
- Dolby Digital Live works on Windows 7.
- Updates all InstallShield setup scripts to support Windows 7.
- Fixes installation INI to properly install applications depending on the detected OS.
- Removes COM workaround for Equalizer, fixed by Creative.
- Adds workaround to a memory corruption issue preventing Equalizer from starting on Windows 7/Vista.
- Updates shared modules, responsiveness on certain applications is improved.
- Enables CMSS2 and Stereo Surround.
- Fixes 32-bit ASIO not working on Windows 7 x64.
- Fixes Encoder not available on Windows 7 x64 (related to fix above).
- Modifies default format on Windows 7 / Vista to 24-bit, 48kHz.
- Properly adds support for 64-bit OpenAL and 64-bit ASIO.
- Sets default speaker setting to 5.1 to properly reset configs to their defaults during install (fixes Bass and Treble leves not set to 50% on Windows 7 / Vista).



Undocumented fixes by Creative (not listed in the release notes):

- Fixes Equalizer Out of Memory error.
- Fixes Equalizer settings being lost on Windows 7 / Vista when speaker configuration is changed.
- Fixes low volume on Windows 7 / Vista when default format is set to anything higher than 16-bit, 48kHz.
- Fixes MIDI instruments in Melodic Pool not playing when speaker setting is higher than 2.1 speakers.
- Restores missing Microphone option in Surround Mixer (documented).
- Fixes Microphone mute, volume and +20db boost controls.



Release Notes:


Windows Security warning during driver installation

When prompted with: "Windows can't verify the publisher of this driver software", choose "Install this driver software anyway".


OpenAL 2D benchmark in RightMark 3DSound crashes your system

Due to a driver bug, your system will crash if you run the OpenAL 2D benchmark using 63 buffers. No problem With 62 or fewer buffers. OpenAL 3D and OpenAL 3D + EAX benchmarks are not affected.

Details: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (0x000000D1) - ctoss2k.sys


MediaSource DVD-Audio Player system requirements

- 32-bit edition of Windows 7 / Vista / XP
- any Audigy 2, Audigy 2 ZS or Audigy 4 card


Built-in Decoder on Windows 7 / Vista (requires Service Pack 1)

To use the built-in decoder, make sure it is enabled in Audio Console.

Select "SPDIF Out (Creative SB Audigy (WDM))" as the output device of your player and then configure the AC3/DTS filter to send the stream through SPDIF.

When you restart your computer, the Tone settings (Bass and Treble) are not applied.

Just readjust one of the controls one time per boot.


Advanced EQ and Special FX not available on Windows 7 / Vista

These presets don't work on Windows 7 / Vista.


There is no sound in games with OpenAL support on Windows XP

Disable Advanced EQ and Special FX selecting "No effect" before running the game or program.


Equalizer settings are lost

When you run a game with OpenAL support or using Creative ALchemy, the Equalizer settings are lost.

Just run Equalizer and the saved setting is loaded automatically.


Windows MIDI Device Configuration Utility

Use this utility to change the MIDI playback device for 32-bit and 64-bit applications.


Important Installation Notes

If any drivers are already installed, you must follow these steps to ensure a proper installation of the new Support Pack.


1) Open a Command Prompt window with Admin privileges (right click and select Run as Administrator).

Type the following commands:

takeown /f C:\Windows\*.cdf

cacls C:\Windows\*.cdf /G Administrators:F

Where Administrators may be different if you are running a localized version of Windows or you can simply use your login name.


2) Unpack the previous Support Pack or Creative official release.


3) Run \Drivers\Setup.exe and choose Driver Uninstallation, select Delete all shared Creative audio driver files. and click OK. Reboot when asked to do so.


4) Make sure the following files were deleted, otherwise delete them manually:

- For Windows 7 / Vista 32-bit open C:\Windows\System32 and delete UDAAPO32.DLL and UDAPLD32.DLL.

- For Windows 7 / Vista 64-bit open C:\Windows\System32 and delete UDAAPO64.DLL and UDAPLD64.DLL then open C:\Windows\SysWOW64 and delete UDAAPO32.DLL.




Download

[subtrade]

Thx, die Installation klappte ohne Probleme unter Win7.
Ich habe aber auch direkt nach der Anleitung de-/installiert.

[loomes]

Läuft bei mir unter W7x64 gar nicht gut.
Kanal hinten links ist tot, CMSS funktioniert gar nicht mehr.

Audigy Pack 2.0 wieder drauf und alles ist wieder bestens.

[Maskulin]

OK, im Audigy Support Pack 2.5 gibt es einen CMSS3D Bug.

Wer Probleme mit CMSS3D hat, bitte Pack 2.0 nutzen.

Wenn der Fix des 2.5 Packs online ist, sage ich bescheid.

Das 2.5 Pack steht aber trotzdem weiterhin als Download bei uns bereit.


//edit Maskulin//:

Mittlerweile ist eine neuere Version erschienen.
Diese findet ihr bei uns hier.

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