Riderunner and Creative X-FI Audio

**l1nk** · 02-08-2010, 03:09 PM

I've bought this soundcard some time ago to replace my carpc integrated one (intel D945GCLF2 mb).
Today, after disabling the old soundcard from the bios setup, I've installed the new soundcard then I switched all the connections (5.1 setup) from old audio card to new one and tested.
Sounds better, it's undeniable and it's a lot better on silence test (i.e. when playing nothing).
However, I now have some doubt. The RR mixer I've created on my skin with controls for front, rear and subwoofer volume (using RR VOL command) it's malfunctioning; the front, rear and subwoofer controls refuse to respond! I guess it depends on the fact that the windows mixer for the creative x-fi soundcard don't show the classic labels "front", "rear", etc that I used together with the RR VOL command in my mixer.skin file.
Any advice on how to handle this issue? Is there some other guy out there using this creative soundcard?

**guino** · 02-08-2010, 03:33 PM

This isn't an "issue" -- it's simply the fact that this card doesn't have the same mixer audio lines OR they may be there under different names. Many cards just don't have support for Front/Rear/Sub lines (this could be one of those) in which case there's just no way to control anything like that. You can make a debug line and see all the audio lines available (listed in the beginning of the debug file) or you can use the windows mixer to see which lines are available for control, if there's some sort of rear/front control, then it may be just a matter of finding the right names for the audio lines and adjusting the skin accordingly.

**popi79** · 02-08-2010, 03:40 PM

I use the same card x-fi xtreme music and yes the sound is far better.
I don't use the mixer in RR I use the x-fi console in entertainment mode with all controls...
now maybe is a driver issue, try to uninstall and install again.

**l1nk** · 02-08-2010, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by guino

Many cards just don't have support for Front/Rear/Sub lines (this could be one of those) in which case there's just no way to control anything like that.

OMG!!

Tomorrow I'll try to take a look at the rr debug file then...

Originally Posted by popi79

now maybe is a driver issue, try to uninstall and install again.

...I'll try to install updated drivers because at current time I only have master, wave, midi (etc.) controls on the windows mixer.

Any other creative x-fi user opinion is appreciated.

**l1nk** · 02-08-2010, 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by popi79

I use the same card x-fi xtreme music and yes the sound is far better.
I don't use the mixer in RR I use the x-fi console in entertainment mode with all controls...
now maybe is a driver issue, try to uninstall and install again.

A question for you: can you please check your windows mixer and tell me if you have such controls as in the picture?

**popi79** · 02-09-2010, 10:08 AM

This is what my sound control panel looks like....

using 6.0.1.1301 3/3/2009 driver.

**Blue ZX3** · 02-09-2010, 10:40 AM

OT...

@|1nk
Great avatar! I like that character the best...

**guino** · 02-09-2010, 09:26 PM

Originally Posted by popi79

This is what my sound control panel looks like....

using 6.0.1.1301 3/3/2009 driver.

Is this win98 or something ? the driver version can definitely make a difference.

**l1nk** · 02-10-2010, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by popi79

This is what my sound control panel looks like....

using 6.0.1.1301 3/3/2009 driver.

Ok, same here! I've installed latest drivers for win xp from creative but no change on windows mixer.

So, I think Guino was right and this specific audio card drivers does not provide "classic" audio controls on windows mixer even if configured for 5.1 channels.
The software provided with the card supplies some kind of control (not tested yet) on various channels but it isn't fully integrated with the o.s. controls.

At this point I think I'll proceed with a complete restyle of my mixer leaving only the master and wave volume, joining the eq controls in the same screen, as I have a lot of extra space!

It's really a shame that I can't control front, rear and subwoofer volume directly from the frontend interface, expecially because it's a simple software lack from creative!

@Blue ZX3: Thank you, I like Achmed a lot but also José Jalapeño (on a Stick) is not bad

**jessekilner** · 02-13-2010, 09:53 AM

I have a very similar problem with the x-fi 5.1 (USB) it worked fine all levels responded in Xp, but now Im running a dualcore setup and finding Xp drivers is turning out difficult. So I switched to Win7 Ult. Well now RR only raises the two fronts none of the rears or sub will raise. I triied changing the setting in config (master...Line) but no luck. It does this on both Home PC's as well with latest RR. I triied different Creative drivers also. I triied Centrafuse demo to see if that would work & it does but if I touch any of the mixer settings then it unbalances the left and right and the volume then stops working within Centrafuse. I would simply switch back to XP but the motherboard is a pain to find drivers thats are'nt supported. I would hate to use onboard as the X-fi has 24bit-96khz

any suggestions would be awsome.