Eck

I don't get this one. To overcome no sound when using Parametric EQ (Advanced EQ Effects) I must open AudioHQ's EAX Control and scroll down to click "Parametric EQ" and then just click the Master Parametric Equalizer Volume Amount slider. Then I get full volume and the effect (Rock, Jazz, etc.). I tried clicking the Save button and doing this for all the EQ effects one at a time, and it does remember and enable the volume as long as I have the EAX Control open but if I close the box it will go back to silence if clicking an effect in PlayCenter, or even when returning to the EAX Control. Before playing music that I desire one of these effects in I must open EAX Control and set the effect and go down and click the little slider control button. Okay, I admit that I am currently using the Audigy 2 441 driver and the Audigy 2 apps installed as suggested here on my Live 5.1. Driver and software aren't exactly meant for this card (MSB0100-Retail Box), but everything just sounds so much better than those official 252's or even the 253's. All the software works, Soundfonts, Mixer, Speaker selection, etc. I did this as a last ditch effort to get the card and the newer drivers installed and operating properly. I had been using the Audigy 1 style software (Compaq CD style) with the newer driver, but updating the software to later versions of the same style had installed the Audigy help files. I had to rename the files to have them sort of open. I would get just the Index and Contents boxes and I would need to click a link like "Definition-Surround Mixer" to get the normal readings. Being a stubborn perfectionist I thought that if I uninstalled and reinstalled slightly differently, this would fix it. Big mistake! I got a "No SB Audio Hardware Detected-this install will close" message. Thinking I would be formating, I decided to see if I could check out the newer Audigy 2 stuff, if it would install, and broke out the files and forum posts I had downloaded and not messed with months ago. Would you believe the stupid Creative software now detected my card and , following the instructions to the letter, was able to install perfectly. It all works too, except for the Advanced EQ needing me to click the volume button for it to work, as noted above. I would note that to get the 441 driver to work, I first had to CTZAP in the 402 driver from another download (the EVIL ONE version that he tweaked from the Audigy 2 ZS cd), then run the 441 install (after ctcomp patching it), and then, following reboot, CTZAPPing the 441 driver over itself to get Windows XP to recognize it properly. The install program effect left Windows thinking it had a suddenly unsigned 402 driver with all 441 files! CTZAPPing it over itself fixes this. Games and music sound teriffic (much better than the official way). I needed to install PlayCenter as I had heard that Media Source doesn't work right with the newer Audigy 2 ZS driver series (402, 441) so I didn't bother installing it. The only program that doesn't work is the Creative Diagnostics, but that's understandable. It's probably expecting an Audigy 2 ZS, so it crashes when I try the tests. I think it's the first time I ever clicked on the program in all the years I've had a Live card so it's no major loss! Anyway, I don't expect anyone to be able to offer a miracle cure for the one problem. After all, this stuff isn't really designed for this card and its nice that so much does work, and offer much improved sound. The mids and highs actually sound like a modern soundcard, unlike the truncated mids and highs that previous drivers got out of it. I thought some tinkerer's or folks who'd like improved sound on the Live card would find this stuff interesting.

Dennis