Eugene Gavrilov

Hi guys,

3551 is finally out. I've been working on it for the last two months. I hope it solves some of your issues, and, well, we are approaching 10-year anniversary of the kX Project

This is ALPHA version, I made some changes that might not work as expected, might be incompatible with existing plugins etc...
If everything works fine for you, don't update

Changes:

* Fixed issue with Wave HQ unsupported in Windows 7 (should work with all p16v-compatible cards now). p17-based cards will NOT support Wave HQ (as usual)
* Fixed mapping for Audigy2 ZS notebook side outputs
* Fixed kX Mixer memory leak (system hangs while HDD activity is high, kxmixer allocates a lot of memory), specific to Windows 7
* Fixed kX Mixer combo boxes showing no settings, empty lists (SPDIF and similar options), specific to Windows 7
* Added support for 32/64 ASIO clients under x64 OS (new feature)
* Improved 32/64-bit installer with support for UAC
* Fixed ASIO registration issues under x64 OS
* Fixed issue with ASIO driver not showing correct device names (you may see a UAC message when starting kX Mixer, this is OK)
* Installer updated, removed several shortcuts, added new ones, simplified installing, removed legacy code
* Fixed AC3 decoding not working under x64 OS
* Fixed AC3 passthrough problem introduced in 3543, should work fine now for Audigy/Audigy2

SDK changes:
0. License agreement is GPL now
1. Changed ‘char *’ to “const char *” in most places, some plugins might no longer load, need to update and re-compile them
2. KX_MAX_NAME is now obsolete, use KX_MAX_STRING [set to 128 by default]
3. More parts of the driver released open-source under GPL
4. OS X driver released opensource (without kX HAL though, just CoreAudio layer)

Here's the list of the problems I'm currently working on (cannot promise I fix them, but I'll do my best):

* improve audio quality for master mixer under windows 7
* memory leak in directsound applications (need more input on this in corresponding thread)
* sfman32 is not functioning properly because it (and kxapi.dll) are not located in system32 folder
* IR remote/multimedia keyboard under Win64
* soundfonts under x64

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Please post your bug reports here:
3551 bugs

Your donations are always welcome
I got about $200 for the last 3 years, btw...

Good luck and Merry Christmas

E.

P.S.
ah, the url:
http://www.kxproject.com/kxdrv3551-full.exe
This is unified build for both x86 and x64, for Windows XP, Vista and 7 "all in one" + the SDK...

qweiwei

thanks for the work, testing!

mkk

Woot, woot! Don't mind testing at all.

Tyrsonswood

Will be testing tomorrow, Thanks, E! You the man!

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ivanlaszik

Awsome, thanks a dozen.
It is already installed

JGSF

Thanks, E.!

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My kX plugins (actually it's only one )

Dave_Scream

im dreaming about closing crackling problem - when sound after some os working time start to crackle more and more when u make some stuff in browser for example.

melotron

Hi

"* Added support for 32/64 ASIO clients under x64 OS (new feature)" yeah!
I'm dreaming about it

Eugene, you are the master. Thanks!

silvertones

I should be able to test the side outs this weekend.

mkk

With my Audigy2 card it was enough to increase the playback buffer one step to 10.00ms in order to get rid of crackling with Master Mixer as default output.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...kx_buffers.png

xor_2

in 3550 I to be safe increased all buffers and there were no crackling at all no matter what computer was doing

but who would care with Master Mixer anymore when HQ works and doesn't have that kind of issues? HQ is 96KHz 24bit and it have huge advantage in resampling. Win Vista and Win7 resamples everything to frequency of sound card and it's way better to resample to 24/96 than 32/48!!! Expecially that card DACs are 24/96... Now I can set straight line from P16V to K2LT and change sound setting just in sound programs and don't care with ASIO to achieve high quality sound

I find (on Vista/Win7) quality of audio on 2/3, 4/5, 6/7 terrible it bites my ears. Noise everywere (from windows resampling wchich isn't top quality and on 16/48 does incorporate massive -90dB noise clearly audible on my A4PRO and RP-F30). Master Mixer was way better but still clarity of sound was nowhere what I could get using ASIO and utra quality resampling setting in winamp asio plugin. Now HQ have default comparable (if not better) performance and withouth whole ASIO hassle

mobomofo

Freakin awesome Eugeneous!

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http://www.youtube.com/vstmonger

xor_2

there is a simple way to test if HQ is all way superior than 2/3 and Master Mixer altogether and ofcourse test if HQ is working as expected in true 24bit.

just set up to three gain (i used three stereomix+gain's) and set it to +24dB then in set set volume 1% in in audio application (I tested in winamp) and play music. On 2/3 there will be massive background noise, which is more irritating than normal noise as it resembles digital artifacts On Master Mixer sound will be more artefacted but without noise, still very bad anyway. On HQ sound was clear and lovely This proves HQ is the only sound patch to use as it doesn't incorporate audible noise (with 96KHz sampling not audible to humans anyway) and have true 24bit depth so hd material will sound good and volume regulation won't make 16bit material to have less bitdepth.

Master Mixer claim to have 32bit but it is oviously not true. Windows resample do 32/48 so it doesn't incorporate noise like in 2/3 wchich is 16/48 but it does incorporate clipping as it resamples to false bitrate

To my ears HQ sound much better than 3550 ASIO anyway and it should be used without any hesitation

ps. How can I donate to our driver (eu)genius?

mkk

I can't seem to find a way to apply a surrounder plugin or even change the volume(which is very loud by default) of the Wave HQ path, but it seems very intreaguing.

Jani-

This totally rocks! Thank you very much

nakamichi

@Eugene Gavrilov: You need to test the kX drivers with the Windows UAC set to 'Always Notify' (maximum protection) , not the default Windows setting.

'Always Notify' (UAC slider at the highest position) is what most people use these days. Enable Full DEP protection (nx = Always On) with bcdedit.exe as well.

Also test with a password-protected account and wait a minute or two at the login screen before entering the password and logging in.

There are a lot of issues: kX ASIO not registered, kX mixer tray app not loading after logging in, DSP settings not saved, some kX mixer settings are not saved, ...

nakamichi

WASAPI exclusive mode still doesn't work with a SB0240 card

I still get the 'output format not supported' error.

Anyone have a SB0240 (standard Audigy2 retail) to test / confirm this issue?

Test with XMPlay (+ latest WASAPI plugin) and Foobar2000 with the WASAPI output plugin.

xor_2

UAC is evil and it must be disabled at all time to save user... from annoyement In Vista though default is something like "always notify" so checking it out would help many people using this OS.

There are many issues, like not saving setting in kx dsp and ASIO is missing (was working in 3550, my os 32bit vista, uac off). So it is true ALPHA but still it is best sounding driver for my A4PRO to date

jaromanda

surely, these bug reports would be better off in 3551 bugs

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Feed your head.

RPGWiZaRD

YAY, this is the BEST xmas present I will get this year by far! ^^

BTW, I've tried donating in past but it was rejected I think...

Thanks for keeping kX Audio drivers alive, if only my knowledge in programming would be better I'd definitely wanna work on this project. It would be a shame to see a project like this dying before at least the most important bugs for Windows 7 would be fixed such as the Master Mixer distortion which is needed for 5.1/7.1 setups. Windows 7 will probably stay around being popular for quite a while and be very viable OS choice to use for the next 4-5 years at least and take over Windows XP's popularity base sooner or later.

RPGWiZaRD

Hmm, any ideas why I'm not seeing Wave HQ device in output device list? Should be there with Audigy 2 ZS right?

EDIT: Nevermind I'm stupid I forgot in the sudden rush of excitement that I'm at parents place where I only have an old Audigy 1 installed.

Works good so far on Audigy 1 on Win 7 x64 and I'm noticing a SQ improvement with 96kHz sample rate.

EDIT: I must say it really sounds great in Windows 7 now, I've listened to music like 3 hrs straight now with my headphones and can't stop listening.

silvertones

The DL keeps stopping. I've tried 2 computers. Any ideas?

mkk

No problem downloading here, but try this alternate: zSHARE - kxdrv3551-full.exe

silvertones

Nope. Neither place will keep going. I tried DL another large file and it went fine.I'll try it when I get to town in the next couple of days. I only have dialup but never have these issues. just takes longer.

MegaByte

Eugene, thank you for your hard work on this. I'm surprised (because I heard nothing of you and I thought the project was complete / dead) and impressed (sound quality is much better on my emu10k1)!

RPGWiZaRD

Yes I'm sure you're not the only one. It certainly suprised me seeing the 3551 update, I was already starting to accept the thought I may have to stick to 3550 for the next 4-5 years already. If you know any fellow kX Audio fans be sure to report to them about the update, the more testers or followers of the project, the better IMO, I already spread the word about the update in some forum I use. I just don't want this project to die, if I can do anything about it, I will.

jaromanda

To be honest, I've told everyone I know that uses kx to NOT BOTHER with 3551 - the major bugs in it are "show stoppers" - absolutely unusable

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Feed your head.

ReWired

The bugs you called "major" are probably system/card specific. Noone of them are shown with my config. The only one is broken audio from Master Mixer.
But using SPDIF/AC3 as Default Device for output solved everything Master Mixer related.
Of course I did clean install of 3551, not upgrade over old one.
kX Mixer loads everytime, DSP is saved and restored as usual...
And now I have even working MIDI port!

korogui

For some reason my DSP isnt being saved...
Everytime i boot my Windows 7 x64 the KXMixer is not being loaded in the tray... Then if I manually start using the KXMixer icon, it got the default audio setup.

I've removed the package completely, deleted all KXProject folders and reinstalled it... And same thing happens.

*Edit: Actually it seens to be pointing to a wrong place...

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/2118/61063108.jpg

I will try to change to C:\Program Files\kX Project\kxmixer.exe and see what happens. ;]

EditioN

I got the same problem, and i did as u said, changed to kxmixer.exe from Program Files and now everything is saved