Disabling EAX (ENV) presets for 2D voices only?

Pa3PyX · Dec 19, 2007, 11:02 AM

Greetings, another newbish question.

Is there a way to set up EAX (from Creative AudioHQ) so that the environmental effects (i.e. Reverb and Chorus presets) only apply to 3D sounds when running a DirectSound3D application, while 2D sounds (for example narrator voices and GUI navigation in a game) are played back unadulterated?

So far I haven't found a way to do so on my SB Live! board (EMU10K1 DSP, supporting hardware-accelerated EAX 2.0 as a DS3D extension). However, my on-board audio (C-Media, with CMI8738 DSP also supporting hardware-accelerated EAX 2.0) appears to do that by default -- which is the correct behavior (I think).

In both cases, I was using Prince of Persia - The Two Thrones as my test application; in both cases, I was using two-speaker set-up with "5.1 Surround Sound" chosen in Windows audio properties, but 2.0 chosen in the sound driver control panel (so as to have the driver downmix the software-rendered 5.1 streams to 2 on-the-chip, rather than have Windows do it in software) -- that setting should have no bearance on hardware-accelerated DS3D though (which is a prerequisite for hardware EAX support, because obviously we cannot do any 3D spatialization on already mixed streams).

I understand that with kX drivers, I would do this by routing only FX4/5/6/7/8/9 (3D FL/FR/RL/RR/Center/LFE channels) through the Reverb and Chorus plug-ins, while routing FX1 and FX2 (Stereo L/R) directly to the mixer (bypassing Reverb and Chorus). But kX drivers have no EAX support to speak of, so I cannot use those for that purpose.

With Creative's drivers, I can adjust effects from Audio HQ either on the "master" level (I can disable effects here, but will have no bearance on DS3D applications, which enable them back), or on the "source" level -- for Wave and all of AC97 inputs separately. But if I disable reverb and chorus effects for Wave source (by setting them to 0%), that also disables all effects for 3D sounds (which of course mostly negates the point of using EAX). The only thing I can do, it seems, is to set the Default Reverb and Default Chorus effects to settings that don't produce any audible distortion of the sound. That way, 2D sounds in a game are OK until EAX parameters are explicitly set by the game (i.e. until the effects are turned on). But then, the problem surfaces again.

Any suggestions?

Pa3PyX · Dec 20, 2007, 06:17 AM

Nevermind, I should have examined available DSP presets first. "EAX Games - Normal Effects" does the job; it already sets all chorus effects to zero (both Master and Wave), and if I also slide Master Reverb (in AudioHQ) to zero but keep Wave Reverb at default, this does the job (i.e. lose effects for 2D voices, media playback, etc. while keeping effects for 3D targets).

Dec 19, 2007, 11:02 AM	#1
Pa3PyX DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Disabling EAX (ENV) presets for 2D voices only? Greetings, another newbish question. Is there a way to set up EAX (from Creative AudioHQ) so that the environmental effects (i.e. Reverb and Chorus presets) only apply to 3D sounds when running a DirectSound3D application, while 2D sounds (for example narrator voices and GUI navigation in a game) are played back unadulterated? So far I haven't found a way to do so on my SB Live! board (EMU10K1 DSP, supporting hardware-accelerated EAX 2.0 as a DS3D extension). However, my on-board audio (C-Media, with CMI8738 DSP also supporting hardware-accelerated EAX 2.0) appears to do that by default -- which is the correct behavior (I think). In both cases, I was using Prince of Persia - The Two Thrones as my test application; in both cases, I was using two-speaker set-up with "5.1 Surround Sound" chosen in Windows audio properties, but 2.0 chosen in the sound driver control panel (so as to have the driver downmix the software-rendered 5.1 streams to 2 on-the-chip, rather than have Windows do it in software) -- that setting should have no bearance on hardware-accelerated DS3D though (which is a prerequisite for hardware EAX support, because obviously we cannot do any 3D spatialization on already mixed streams). I understand that with kX drivers, I would do this by routing only FX4/5/6/7/8/9 (3D FL/FR/RL/RR/Center/LFE channels) through the Reverb and Chorus plug-ins, while routing FX1 and FX2 (Stereo L/R) directly to the mixer (bypassing Reverb and Chorus). But kX drivers have no EAX support to speak of, so I cannot use those for that purpose. With Creative's drivers, I can adjust effects from Audio HQ either on the "master" level (I can disable effects here, but will have no bearance on DS3D applications, which enable them back), or on the "source" level -- for Wave and all of AC97 inputs separately. But if I disable reverb and chorus effects for Wave source (by setting them to 0%), that also disables all effects for 3D sounds (which of course mostly negates the point of using EAX). The only thing I can do, it seems, is to set the Default Reverb and Default Chorus effects to settings that don't produce any audible distortion of the sound. That way, 2D sounds in a game are OK until EAX parameters are explicitly set by the game (i.e. until the effects are turned on). But then, the problem surfaces again. Any suggestions? __________________ Q: What happens when the value of Pi changes? A: The universe reboots.

Dec 20, 2007, 06:17 AM	Thread Starter #2
Pa3PyX DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Nevermind, I should have examined available DSP presets first. "EAX Games - Normal Effects" does the job; it already sets all chorus effects to zero (both Master and Wave), and if I also slide Master Reverb (in AudioHQ) to zero but keep Wave Reverb at default, this does the job (i.e. lose effects for 2D voices, media playback, etc. while keeping effects for 3D targets). __________________ Q: What happens when the value of Pi changes? A: The universe reboots.