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Sound Blaster Live! Value

User Guide

On-line Version

Summary of Contents for EMU10K1 - Sound Blaster Live! Value

Page 1: ...Sound Blaster Live Value User Guide On line Version ...

Page 2: ...Getting Started Creative Sound Blaster Live Value Creative Audio Software SBLIVEFM book Page 1 Tuesday April 10 2001 10 45 AM ...

Page 3: ...l rights reserved Version 1 2 CLI October 1998 Sound Blaster and Blaster are registered trademarks and the Sound Blaster Live logo the Sound Blaster PCI logo EMU10K1 E mu Environmental Modeling Environmental Audio Creative Multi Speaker Surround and DynaRAM are trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd in the United States and or other countries E Mu and SoundFont are registered trademarks of E mu Sys...

Page 4: ... or copy thereof is erased from the first computer and b there is no possibility that the Software will be used on more than one computer at a time 3 Stand Alone Basis You may use the Software only on a stand alone basis such that the Software and the functions it provides are accessible only to persons who are physically present at the location of the computer on which the Software is loaded You ...

Page 5: ... such other activities and the results thereof will constitute the confidential information of Creative that may be used only in connection with the Software TERMINATION The license granted to you is effective until terminated You may terminate it at any time by returning the Software including any portions or copies thereof to Creative The license will also terminate automatically without any not...

Page 6: ...nd used in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However this notice is not a guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try one or more of the followin...

Page 7: ...Interference Regulations Cet appareil est conforme aux normes de CLASSE B d interference radio tel que spe cifie par le Ministère Canadien des Communications dans les règlements d interfe rence radio Compliance This product conforms to the following Council Directive q Directive 89 336 EEC 92 31 EEC EMC SBLIVEFM book Page 6 Tuesday April 10 2001 10 45 AM ...

Page 8: ...is device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules Operation is subject to the following two conditions 1 This device may not cause harmful interference and 2 This device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesirable operation Ce matériel est conforme à la section 15 des régles FCC Son Fonctionnement est soumis aux deux conditions suivantes 1 Le matériel ne ...

Page 9: ...tive s Cambridge SoundWorks PCWorks FourPointSurround 5 Creative PC DVD and FourPointSurround 6 Two Speakers or Headphones 7 Installing the Creative Software 9 Windows 95 9 Windows 98 13 Windows NT 13 Testing the Installation 14 2 Using Sound Blaster Live Value 15 SB Live Tour 15 Creative Launcher 16 Options 16 Groups 16 AudioHQ 17 SoundFonts 18 Configure a MIDI Bank 18 Configure an Instrument 19 ...

Page 10: ...Mixer Menu 24 Customizing the Mixer 24 Playback 25 Balance Sliders 25 Volume Control 25 Recording 25 Speaker 27 Environmental Audio 28 Soundo LE 31 Embedding a Wave File 32 Linking 32 Toolbar 32 Wave Studio 33 Working with Wave Files 33 Playback 34 Mixing 34 Recording 35 Special Effects 36 Using Volume Meter 37 Customizing Settings 37 Creative PlayCenter 38 Configuring 39 SBLIVEFM book Page vi Tue...

Page 11: ...ontents vii 3 Troubleshooting 41 Installing Software 41 Sound 41 SoundFonts 43 Joystick 43 I O Conflicts 44 Windows NT 4 0 44 Creative PlayCenter 45 SBLIVEFM book Page vii Tuesday April 10 2001 10 45 AM ...

Page 12: ...y is necessary to achieve Environmental Audio E mu Environmental ModelingTM accurately positions audio objects in space calculates audio reflections and ultimately renders the 3D environmental audio model DynaRAMTM technology makes the downloading of sound samples more robust by dynamically allocating memory for storing and processing samples no need for onboard audio card memory SoundFont banks s...

Page 13: ...before you continue Getting More Information See the online User s Guide for MIDI specifications and connector pin assignments as well as instructions on using the various applications included with Sound Blaster Live Value Document Conventions The following typographical conventions are used throughout this document bold Bold face type identifies words and phrases that are to be entered exactly a...

Page 14: ...ry for a complete installation CD Audio Cable Phillips Screwdriver not included Audio Card Creative Audio Software CD Digital Cable Installing your audio card requires you to perform the following steps Install the audio card Install the Creative audio software Test the installation Refer to the colored insert for specific information about the audio card SBLIVEFM book Page 1 Tuesday April 10 2001...

Page 15: ...mputer cover 4 Locate a PCI slot for the audio card Remove the slot cover from the slot save the screw to secure the audio card 1 2 3 4 PCI slot for audio card Before you remove the computer cover touch a grounded metal surface to discharge static electricity Remove or disable any existing audio card and its driver from your computer Refer to the manufacturer s documentation for details SBLIVEFM b...

Page 16: ... of the computer securing the card with the screw assures proper grounding 7 Connect the CD audio cable from your CD ROM drive to the audio card s CD audio connector Or connect the CD digital SPDIF cable from your CD ROM to the audio card s CD SPDIF connector 5 7 6 CD audio connector 7 SPDIF CD audio connector Audio Card You may want to connect the data cable to the audio card before inserting it ...

Page 17: ...oystick Microphone Stereo CD player tape deck etc Powered speakers rear or amplifier Powered speakers front headphones or amplifier MIDI device If you are connecting a single pair of powered speakers or headphones you must use the third jack Use the fourth jack if you are connecting an additional pair of powered speakers See the next section Configuring the Speakers for detailed information SBLIVE...

Page 18: ...llent complement to Sound Blaster Live Value After installing the Creative Software open the Speaker utility from the AudioHQ to select the speaker configuration See Speaker on page 27 for more information Creative s Cambridge SoundWorks PCWorks FourPointSurround After you have installed your FourPointSurround speaker system open AudioHQ and select the 4 Speakers option in Speaker Configuration Ou...

Page 19: ...cable If you have an additional CD ROM drive installed connect the CD ROM to the Sound Blaster Live Value through the CD_IN connector using an MPC to MPC 4 pin audio cable Connect the PC DVD drive to the Sound Blaster Live Value through the CD_SPDIF connector using an MPC to MPC 2 pin audio cable PCWorks FourPointSurround Sound Blaster Live Value PC DVD drive Encore Dxr2 decoder CD IN connector AU...

Page 20: ...ster Live Value you must enable the AUX input on the Mixer as shown below Two Speakers or Headphones If you have a two speaker system or want to use headphones connect to Sound Blaster Live Value through the Line Out jack third from the top AUX input icon click the speaker icon below to enable SBLIVEFM book Page 7 Tuesday April 10 2001 10 45 AM ...

Page 21: ...dditional Speakers Result PCWorks PCWorks Environmental audio SoundWorks SoundWorks Environmental audio with improved bass MicroWorks MicroWorks Excellent Environmental Audio and bass Creative SBS20 SBS50 or similar powered speakers PCWorks Use the PCWorks speakers in front and move the existing speakers to the rear SBLIVEFM book Page 8 Tuesday April 10 2001 10 45 AM ...

Page 22: ... New Hardware Found dialog appears 2 Select the Driver from disk provided by hardware manufacturer option and click OK The Install From Disk dialog appears 3 Insert Sound Blaster Live Value Disk 1 into your CD ROM drive Enter the path for your CD ROM drive and the software on the disk For example use the Browse button to locate or type the following 1 2 3 This manual reflects a software installati...

Page 23: ...d to restart your computer restart your computer for the drivers to take effect NOTE When your computer attempts to restart Windows 95 it may take up to six minutes to update the system settings DO NOT RESET your computer even though there does not seem to be any hard disk activity 6 If Autorun is enabled and the Sound Blaster Live Value Disk 1 is in the drive the Creative Software Installation sc...

Page 24: ...ease read the file for any last minute information not included in this manual Click Next when finished 8 Next you are asked to accept the default destination directory or enter a new directory When the directory is correct click the Next button 9 Next the Setup Options are displayed When you select an option the installation continues 7 8 9 SBLIVEFM book Page 11 Tuesday April 10 2001 10 45 AM ...

Page 25: ...rogram Folder is correct 11 The Installation Information dialog lists the installation selections you have made To make changes to your selections click on the Back button until you reach the screen with the option to be changed Then click Next until you are returned to the Installation Information dialog If the information is correct click the Next button to continue 10 11 SBLIVEFM book Page 12 T...

Page 26: ... inform you of the progress of the installation 13 You may be prompted to restart your computer restart your computer for the drivers to take effect 14 To install the additional software insert Sound Blaster Live Value Disk 1 and Disk 2 each time selecting the software that you want to install SBLIVEFM book Page 13 Tuesday April 10 2001 10 45 AM ...

Page 27: ...the installation is complete 6 Restart your computer for the changes to take effect NOTE When your computer attempts to restart Windows 98 it may take up to six minutes to update the system settings DO NOT RESET your computer even though there does not seem to be any hard disk activity 7 Follow the software installation instructions for Windows 95 Windows NT The following instructions describe the...

Page 28: ... Alternatively open the PlayCenter by selecting its icon on the Creative Launcher 2 On the PlayCenter click the Media icon and select Open Media File 3 Use the Browse dialog to find Creative SBLive and Media The Media directory should contain a number of audio files from which you may select to test your Sound Blaster Live Value installation 1 2 SBLIVEFM book Page 15 Tuesday April 10 2001 10 45 AM...

Page 29: ...o LE Wave Studio Creative PlayCenter Other software included with Sound Blaster Live Value may be on Disk 1 or another CD ROM disk Begin your installation of the additional software as described in Installing the Creative Software on page 9 SB Live Tour SB Live Tour is a multimedia presentation that guides you through the features and utilities included with your audio card Topics included are Sou...

Page 30: ...System menu click Properties The Properties dialog appears 3 Select or clear the desired options 4 Click the OK button to apply the changes to the Launcher Groups You can place three kinds of items on the Launcher Subgroups Shortcuts Plugins A subgroup is an item within a group that may contain more items The installation creates a number of group tab pages in the Launcher that may contain shortcu...

Page 31: ...reative and click on AudioHQ AudioHQ uses the familiar Windows group to display the icon for each utility The AudioHQ interface has the standard look and feel of the Windows Control Panel It contains several control utilities that allow you to view audition or set up the audio properties of one or more audio devices on your computer SBLIVEFM book Page 17 Tuesday April 10 2001 10 45 AM ...

Page 32: ...he replacement 5 To clear a bank from the stack select the bank and then click the Clear button A variation bank can only be cleared by clearing its main bank 6 Repeat Steps 3 4 or 5 as required By stacking a SoundFont file instead of replacing one with the other you may return to the original sounds or use the new selection You can spot hide particular instruments by loading one or more SoundFont...

Page 33: ...ed on the Configure Bank tab page 4 Click the Load button and load a SoundFont or single instrument for example WAV file The last file loaded always appears at the top of the Instrument Stack with an arrow pointing to it 5 To clear an instrument from the stack select the instrument and then click the Clear button 6 For faster processing of SoundFont files the files are loaded into memory You need ...

Page 34: ...ect the new device from the SoundFont Device list Device Controls Device Controls allows you to configure your audio devices for audio playback The EMU8008 chip or higher on your audio device allows multiple simultaneous Wave playback sessions therefore you can play several games at the same time and enjoy the sounds from them all Playback Sessions To set maximum simultaneous wave playback session...

Page 35: ... directly support the AWE device That is in the audio devices list of the games there is no device with the label AWE Wave Blaster Emulation is disabled if your system already has a true Creative SB16 compatible audio card installed and correctly configured under Windows 95 Sound Device To select the sound device to configure 1 On the Options tab page click the device you want to configure from th...

Page 36: ...nk and the instrument you want 2 Click the keys on the keyboard to test the sound If you have an external MIDI input device you will probably find it easier to use To select multiple notes to play simultaneously use your right mouse button to click on each key each key selected is marked by a black dot To release the keys right click each one or click the All Notes Off button To slide across the k...

Page 37: ...kHz 10 kHz 12 kHz 14 kHz 16 kHz and 18 kHz Fine grain spectrum displays the normal frequency spectrum of the reocrding signal linearly Its range is 160 Hz to 12 kHz with a frequency interval of about 86 Hz and is very detailed This mode is the fine grain version of the spikes spectrum mode Spikes spectrum displays the normal frequency spectrum linearly Its range is 160 Hz to 12 kHz with a frequenc...

Page 38: ...nter to change the size and shape of the Mixer Place the mouse pointer on the side or corner of the Mixer and holding down the left mouse buttom drag the side or corner to re shape the Mixer To change between record playback mode double click the left mouse button with the pointer in an open area of the Mixer The device panels can be moved switched added and deleted from the Mixer See the Help uti...

Page 39: ...ound is produced In Play Control setting a device volume slider to zero may not completely mute the sound To show volume controls only 1 If the title bar is displayed open the Mixer menu and uncheck the Advanced Controls command Or right click in an open area on the Mixer and uncheck the Advanced Controls command Recording To select a device in Record ing Control and other views 1 Select the recor...

Page 40: ... recording volume use the volume sliders of the respective sources in the Recording Control view of Mixer 4 Select your recording sources make sure they are on 5 In the wave recording program for example WaveStudio set your record options and then click the Record button to start recording 6 To stop recording click the Stop button in the recording program IF you select the What U Hear device icon ...

Page 41: ...r select AudioHQ and double click the Speaker icon Or click the Start button on the Taskbar select Programs then Creative followed by Sound Blaster Live Value Click on AudioHQ double click the Speaker icon 2 Select the speaker configuration from the Speaker Configuration box 3 Use Creative PlayCenter or Windows Media Player to open and play a wave file Return to the Speaker dialog and drag the wav...

Page 42: ...ay from you they sound softer You can place them anywhere in front of you behind you at either side diagonally wherever To select the audio device 1 In the dialog click the Options tab 2 In the Audio Device box click the device you want to use 1 2 SBLIVEFM book Page 28 Tuesday April 10 2001 10 45 AM ...

Page 43: ...m environment to create a new environment You cannot save changes to or delete a default environment Save the new environment with a new name or the name of an existing environment in the Environment box and click the Save button To add an effect to the environment Click the Add button select one or more effects from the Add Effect dialog and then click the OK button The added effect appears in th...

Page 44: ...k box To change the amount of the effects for an audio source 1 In the Environmental Audio Control dialog click the Source tab 2 In the Select Source box click the source whose effect amount you want to change 3 To change the amount of an effect to apply to the source select the effect and move the Amount slider to the left or right The amount is reflected in the Amount column of the Effects list ...

Page 45: ...tion save the settings into the current environment or in the case of a default environment save the settings as a new environment by typing a new name or the name of an existing custom environment in the Environment box and then click the Save button To configure an effect 1 To change the value of a parameter select the parameter and move the slider at the bottom of the dialog You can audition ch...

Page 46: ... a Sound File dialog appears 2 Select the wave file you want to open Information about the file such as the wave format and data size are displayed in the dialog You can preview a file by clicking the Play button 3 Click the OK button To play a wave file 1 Open the wave file 2 Click the Play button or press the P key To stop the playback click the Stop button or press the S key To record a wave fi...

Page 47: ... in Soundo LE the changes are reflected in the application copy of the file To link a wave file in an application 1 Open Soundo LE 2 Create a new wave file or open an existing file that you want to link 3 Save the wave file if you created a new one The wave file must be saved before you can link it to an OLE client 4 On the Edit menu click Copy Sound The wave file is placed on the Clipboard 5 Open...

Page 48: ...en to the playback of the selected wave file File format size date and time are shown at the bottom of the dialog List Files of Type box allows you to type or select raw data files RAW 3 Click the OK Button You can also open multiple files using the drag and drop method by holding down the SHIFT key and dragging the files from Windows Explorer to the WaveStudio window To convert the wave format 1 ...

Page 49: ...electing Stop All Playback immediately stops all wave files from playing These two features are available only on audio cards that support these functions Mixing When you mix the data of two wave files the data of one file is added to another to create a new file After mixing you can play back the new file to hear the new sound generated To mix the data contents of two wave files 1 Activate the fi...

Page 50: ...cord over the selected wave file or from the cursor position by following the same instructions but choosing the relevant commands from the record Special menu When you open a compressed wave file WaveStudio decompresses the file before displaying it The file must reside on a drive that has sufficient disk space to accommodate the decompressed data The amount of space required depends on the compr...

Page 51: ...oves the sound from the left channel to the right channel This effect applies only to stereo files Phase Shift Applies a delay on wave playback in the selected channel a a specified amount of time or sammples This effect applieds only to stereo files Rap Repeats a portion of the wave file creating a jerky or stuttering effect to voice recordings Reverse Changes the sequence of data so that the sou...

Page 52: ...before the indicator Clicking on it again disables the indicator the check mark is no longer displayed If you have more than one wave device in your computer for example more than one Sound Blaster card the volume meter displays these devices You can choose which one to monitor by clicking on it Clicking Auto Reset Indicator turns on an automatic timer that resets the peak and valley indicators ev...

Page 53: ...ly with different media Not all features and functions of the PlayCenter may be available at any one time A grayed out button or menu indicates that the function or option is unavailable If you are playing a VCD or DVD Video the Video window appears Right click anywhere in the Video window to display the options menu To use the DVD function in PlayCenter you must have a Creative PC DVD drive and t...

Page 54: ...DVD drive 5 On the PlayCenter interface click the Play button To adjust the volume 1 On the PlayCenter LED display click and drag the Volume Slider to the desired volume level or double click the desired level on the Volume Slider Configuring You can set your preferences as to how PlayCenter is to handle the playback of your discs and multimedia files To set playback preferences 1 On the PlayCente...

Page 55: ... to close the Player Properties dialog 7 Click the OK button to save the changes and close the Disc Detector dialog To make PlayCenter your default player for multimedia files 1 Launch Windows Explorer 2 On the menu bar click View and select Options The Options dialog appears 3 Click the File Types tab page 4 Select the multimedia file type in the list and click the Edit button The Edit File Type ...

Page 56: ...ttings and then click Control Panel 2 In the Control Panel window double click the System icon 3 In the System Properties dialog click the Device Manager tab and select your CD ROM drive 4 Click the Properties button 5 In the Properties dialog click the Settings tab and select Auto Insert Notification 6 Click the OK button to exit from the dialog Sound There is excessive environmental sound or eff...

Page 57: ...as WAV MIDI files or AVI clips Possible causes Speaker volume is not set properly External amplifier or speakers are connected to the wrong jack Hardware conflict Output selection in the Configuration tab page on the Speaker dialog is incorrectly selected Original Sound sliders in either the Master or Source tab pages of the Environmental Audio dialog are set at or near 0 percent Check the followi...

Page 58: ...k box The smallest SoundFont bank available is 2 MB 2GMGSMT SF2 Joystick The joystick port is not working The audio card s joystick port conflicts with the system s joystick port To solve this problem Disable the audio card s joystick port and use the system port instead The joystick is not working properly in some programs The program may use the system processor timing to calculate the joystick ...

Page 59: ...k and click the Properties button 5 In the Properties dialog click the Resources tab 6 Select Use Automatic Settings and click the OK button 7 Restart your computer to allow Windows 95 98 to reassign resources to the devices Windows NT 4 0 A Service Control Manager error message appears with one or more other error messages at restart This occurs when you remove an audio card from your computer af...

Page 60: ...ral tab page of the Creative Disc Detector dialog select Enable Disc Detector 3 Click the Players tab 4 Select the DVD Disc entry and then click the Select Player button 5 In the Players Properties dialog click the Browse button 6 Browse to C PROGRAM FILES CREATIVE PLAYCENTER and double click CTPlay The Name box now displays CTPlay 7 Click the OK button twice to close SBLIVEFM book Page 45 Tuesday...

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