Live!Drive Bug Squashed
June 3, 2003

This patch (LIVEDRVL2030530.exe) fixes a problem in all versions of Windows where the S/PDIF output may not work correctly when the AC3 pass-through is activated on the Live!Drive. You don't need this if you do not use a Live!Drive.

kX Project Drivers Updated
June 3, 2003

Aokromes sends news that the latest version 5.10.0.3533b beta of these free alternative drivers for the Live!, Audigy and APS is out. More: Information | Download

Audigy 2 Drivers Updated
May 9, 2003

Three months after the last update, Creative has another set of driver updates.

Audigy 2 DriverPack 3 (WDM Drivers for Win98SE/ME/2000/XP)

There are no new features in this update.

Fixes included in this update
1. Optimizes EAX 3 performance
2. Improves CMSS2 performance
3. Adds Audigy 2 Platinum support for pre-installed/system integrated Audigy 2 cards

Creative MediaSource DVD-Audio Player v1.00.82 (Patch)

For users of Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 and Windows XP Service Pack 1 operating systems ONLY

Features or Enhancements included in this update
1. Improves the management of DVD-Audio tracks database.
2. Adds a new option to enable or disable the Software Eject button

Fixes included in this update
1. Fixes Power Management issues on the Audigy 2 ‘Welcome Menu’ application.

Creative MediaSource 1.01.09 Update (for Win98SE/ME/2000/XP)

Features or Enhancements included in this update
1. Supports more CDRW drive models for creating Audio or MP3 CDs
2. Supports playback of 24 bit / 192 kHz digital audio format in Windows XP SP1

Fixes included in this update
1. Fixed malfunction of CDDB acquisition for Audio CD due to installation of Roxio™ software
2. Corrects information display in the ‘Play from’ dialog box in PC Music library
3. Corrects the problem of MP3 and WMA files not playing back properly with Creative MediaSource
4. Improves general performance and functionality

Live! Drivers Updated
February 28, 2003

Two driver patches are released today. The first version is known as the LiveDrvPack_Patch, and weighs in at 6.17 MB. This version works only if you have LiveDrvPack.exe (SBLW-XPWEB-W3-US dated July 17, 2002) installed. How will you be able to find out if you have installed this previously, Creative doesn't say.

The second version is the LiveDrvUni-Pack and is a huge download at 23.32 MB. You should get this if you are not sure if you have installed any patches since July 17.

A patch for Creative Recorder brings it to version 2.00.34. The MiniDisc Center patch upgrades it to version 1.00.15. The Remote Center patch brings it to version 1.40.26. The LiveDrvUni-Pack patch has to be installed for these three software patches to work.

Note that all of the above drivers and patches are for Windows 2000 and Windows XP only. (There are no driver updates for Windows 95/98/Me.)

The only software patch that works for all Windows OSes is the one for PlayCenter, which allows Live! users to use PlayCenter version 3.02.50. (PlayCenter 3 was originally made available only to Audigy users.)

Download (Creative Asia)

Audigy 2 Drivers Updated
February 11, 2003

Two months after the last update, Creative has released updates for the Audigy 2. This round of updates fixes many nagging compatibility and performance issues but doesn't add many new features.

Audigy 2 DriverPack (WDM Drivers)

Fixes
1. Improved front panel headphones support.
2. Correct surround-channel response when using EAX Effects presets.
3. System lock-up issue on dual processor and Hyper-Threading enabled systems resolved.
4. Improved MIDI playback.
5. Compatibility issue with NVIDIA® nForce(TM) onboard gameports resolved.

Creative Surround Mixer version 3.00.57

Fixes
1. Correct functionality of the mixer slider control when CDDA is not enabled in Windows® Device Manager.
2. Optimized panning feature that produces a smoother sound panning effect.
3. Subwoofer volume slider returns to its default position when the default button is clicked.
4. The CD Audio icon instead of a generic wave icon is displayed in Creative Surround Mixer.
5. Improved content of the online help file.

Creative MediaSource version 1.00.57

Fixes
1. Correct volume response when playing wave files after re-launching Creative MediaSource.
2. Proper functionality of Creative MediaSource Organizer's PC Music Library when users are not logged in with administrator rights in Windows® XP.

Creative Speaker Settings version 1.00.56

New Features or Enhancements
1. Option to synchronize settings in Creative Speaker Settings with Microsoft® Windows® Control Panel speaker setup settings.
2. More intuitive Speaker channel test; sequence now moves in a clockwise direction.

Fixes
Correct functionality of Creative Speaker Settings when the sound device in the Windows control panel is changed.

Creative DVD-Audio Player version 1.00.60

Fixes
1. Watermark copy protection feature enabled.
2. System lock-up issue on dual processor and Hyper-Threading enabled systems resolved.

Mac OS X Drivers for SB Live!
January 3, 2003

Oh well, Creative releases a sound card for Apple computers and then doesn't support the latest version of Mac OS. Some folks are trying to write their own drivers, so if you've got the know-how, contact them! More: AccelerateYourMac!

Audigy Drivers
December 31, 2002

New Windows 2000/XP drivers for all models of the Audigy (including SB023x models). Download

Features includes:
Drivers are WHQL Certified
Provides Dolby Digital decoding from external SPDIF Input.
Speaker settings in Creative Audio Mixer are synchronized with Windows Multimedia setting.
New presets and effects added

Fixes:
Reduces excess reverb in MIDI while using software synthesizer
Removes glitches when playing MIDI using SoundFonts®
Removes distortion during AC-3 playback
Performs recording without playback
Improves multi channel wave file playback
Hardware acceleration of Open AL.
Fixed audio distortion and slow start up when resume from standby
Fixed elevation bug causing muffled sound in some games

Audigy 2 Drivers Updated
December 20, 2002

Creative released a host of updates for the Audigy 2:

Audigy 2 Driver Pack

New Features or Enhancements
1. ASIO 2.0 support - direct monitoring
2. Multi-channel "What You Hear" recording

Fixes
1. Improved multi-channel playback performance.
2. Improved Advanced Resolution playback and recording functionality.
3. Improved functionality of 5.1 and 6.1 channel decoding in some software DVD players that output only 2 channels despite 5.1/6.1 channel selection.
4. Improved uninstall procedure for game port device in Windows 98 SE and Me.
5. Headphones usage for 192 KHz DVD-Audio tracks.
6. Full functionality of Bass and Treble sliders during DVD-Audio or Advanced Resolution audio playback.
7. Improved response in applications when enabling or disabling Digital output.
8. Improved multi-channel audio playback in Doom 3.
9. Successful launch of Motorcross Madness 2 when Welcome Menu or DVD-Audio Player are launched.

Creative SoundFont Bank Manager version 1.00.14

New Features or Enhancements
Supports operating system's Sleep or Power Saving Mode.

Fixes
General improvements in performance and functionality.

Creative MediaSource Go! Update

Resolves the issue where program icons/shortcuts in the Creative MediaSource Go! Bar and/or Launcher are unable to launch the respective programs.

Creative EAX Console version 1.00.54

Fixes
1. Continued functionality of application even after several consecutive launches.
2. Faster system shutdown time in Microsoft® Windows® XP when Creative MediaSource 3. Player or Organizer is active.

Creative MediaSource version 1.00.54

New Features or Enhancements
1. Option allowing erasure of re-writable CDs, available from the "Burn CD" menu.
2. Improved functionality when creating an Audio CD to full capacity.
3. Automatic copying of subfolders when drag-and-drop is used to move folders into PC Music Library.
4. Option allowing automatic closure of the Transfer window, available from the "Settings" menu.
5. More status information displayed in the Now Transferring window.
6. General improvements in the performance and functionality of Creative MediaSource applications.

Fixes
1. Faster system shutdown time in Microsoft® Windows® XP when Creative MediaSource Player or Organizer is active.
2. Functionality of program icons or shortcuts in Creative MediaSource Go! or Launcher.
3. Playback of media files with names containing Asian or double-byte characters.
4. Successful installation of Creative MediaSource in folders with names containing Asian or double-byte characters.
5. Proper display of Chinese characters in some Asian language character viewers that are opened before Creative MediaSource. Applies to Windows 2000 and Windows XP only.
6. Creation of Audio CDs from WMA files.
7. General improvements in performance and functionality.

Creative DVD-Audio Player version 1.00.55

Fixes
1. Optimized CPU usage.
2. Fast-forward and rewind during playback on dual processor systems.
3. Better performance on certain DVD-ROM drives.
4. General improvements in performance and functionality.

Creative Labs Explains New Driver Policies
December 11, 2002

The Inquirer posted an article on Creative's driver policy. Here's the official line on why web downloads weren't made available:

Creative said that the latest Windows XP drivers for Sound Blaster Live! and Sound Blaster Audigy were only available on CD, and offered at a nominal charge including postage and handling.

It offered these drivers on a CD because, it said, it didn't want customers to wait until they were prepared in Web format, and also were provided in that form because non-broadband Internet users might have spent many hours downloading the whole caboodle.

But, the company added: "All of our drivers for Sound Blaster Live! and Sound Blaster Audigy are now up to date and available on our site for free download as well as continuing to be made available from our online store for those who wish to purchase the software and drivers on CD".

Audigy 2 MediaSource Updates
November 27, 2002

Creative released updates for the MediaSource application bundled with the Audigy 2.

Creative MediaSource
This update fixes Double-byte Character Set related issues which improves the overall usability of Creative MediaSource with non-English versions of Microsoft® Windows®.

This update:-
1. Resolves issue where Creative MediaSource cannot playback media files if the directory path or filename of the media files contains certain Double-byte Character Sets.
2. Resolves issue where Creative MediaSource applications fail to launch when installed in a user-defined folder containing certain Double-byte Character Sets in the user-specified installation path.

Requirements:
* For Users of Creative MediaSource (v1.00.12), running on Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP in Asian languages.

Note:
Some versions of Microsoft Windows (such as Japanese, Korean, and Chinese) use Double-byte Character Sets.

Creative MediaSource Go!
This update resolves the Applications Fail-to-Launch issue in Creative MediaSource Go!

This update:-
1. Resolves the issue where program icons/shortcuts in the Creative MediaSource Go! Bar and/or Launcher are unable to launch the respective programs.

Requirements:
* For Users of Creative MediaSource Go! Version 1.00.11, running on Windows 98SE, Windows ME , Windows 2000 and Windows XP only.

Note:
* To check the version of your Creative MediaSource Go!, right-click on the "Go!" button and open "About MediaSource Go!"
* This update addresses situations where running 3rd party applications (such as "Customizer XP" and "Hitman 2") may have modified the behavior of the shortcut links used by the Creative MediaSource Go! Bar/Launcher.
* Program icons that contain URL addresses (instead of shortcut links) are not affected

Audigy DriverPack
August 29, 2002

The Audigy version of the DriverPack (dated 26 Aug 2002) is now released. Like the Live! DriverPack, this is only for Windows 2000 and XP.

Added Features:

• The Drivers are optimized for Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
• Provides Dolby Digital decoding from external SPDIF Input.
• Speaker settings in Creative Audio Mixer are synchronized with Windows Multimedia setting.
• New presets and effects

Fixes:

• Reduces excess reverb in MIDI while using software synthesizer
• Removes glitches when playing MIDI using SoundFonts®
• Removes distortion during AC-3 playback
• Performs recording without playback
• Improves multi channel wave file playback
• Hardware acceleration of Open AL.
• Fixed audio distortion and slow start up when resume from standby
• Fixed elevation bug causing muffled sound in some games
  

Download

Live! DriverPack
July 17, 2002

Creative has released a "DriverPack" for the Live! that enhances performance. This is only available for Windows 2000 and XP. The core applications are updated. This includes AudioHQ and Surround Mixer. Download

Individual updates are also available for PlayCenter 3, Recorder, MiniDisc Center, RemoteCenter.

You can also get all of the above in one huge 50MB download.

UPDATE! Anton reports that the drivers are higher latency in SONAR, than those released in 2000:

Just wanted to report that the newest released W2K/XP drivers from Creative now work with Cakewalk SONAR 1.x (the elder drivers drove SONAR into mono mode on my PC) but the latency is worse compared to the liveware3 driver from year 2000. So for me Liveware3 driver are the optimium. Also tried the actual Kx drivers but hat problems with crackles and not functioning MIDI mixer control.

Compaq Drivers
May 11, 2002

Jason sent in information about a driver package (click here to download) released for Compaq customers:

Here is the link to a new set of Creative Labs drivers that compaq has released to their customers. Now there are some things you should know about this package. This is the FULL driver installation CD - it includes every single utility that Creative has to offer. All utilities, especially Audio HQ and Surround Mixer 2 have beend updated. It also fixes that annoying bug where you could only view your speaker setup by launching Surmix2.exe manually, and not through AudioHQ in your control panel. It also includes updated UDA drivers. Thats right, they work on both Audigy and Live brand cards. The driver is dated 3/18/2002 and is WHQL certified. The download weighs in at about 377mb, but its worth it since it can replace your dated installation CD. These drivers are WDM, and no VXD is included, so they should only work on Windows 98se/ME/2000/XP. To install, extract the files to a directory, then enter the audio directory, then setup. You then must delete CToem config file that is in the directory, or else setup wont work. Double click, and setup with what utilitys you wish to use. So far, these drivers are awesome - my audio quality is alot clearer, and I think the squeal of death problems are gone (I had them on occaision). What really interests me though, is that these drivers run on Sblives and Audigys, so thats a real plus. Enjoy.

UPDATE! Greg sends his comments on the drivers:

Drivers are hackable yes… but at a substantial loss of quality. Because you are removing the OEMconfig file as a recommendation, you should check and see if sndvol32.exe is showing analog record sources for Tad, line-in, aux, etc. If you see these channels than your Audigy is not supporting the 24-bit external ADC and is rendering the record sources for mixing at a 16-bit AC97 implementation (adding noise to the source) and drastically hurting your Signal to noise ratio. Without the OEMconfig = no longer 24 bit on non-digitized sources, rendering it to a 16 bit solution, not much better than SBlive 5.1. In comparison however you gain a 1394 port though!

Unofficial WDM Drivers

June 2001: 5.12.01.3300b
June 2001: 5.12.01.3219
May 2001: EMU10K1F 5.12.01.3213
June 2001: 5.12.01.3210
April 20, 2001: 5.12.01.3209 (for all SBLive! versions including 5.1 series)
March 2001: for 5.1 versions
February 2001: 5.12.01.3110

The official WDM 3107 version is available at Windows Update. Scroll down the page and see the news dated May 31, 2001 for more information.

Let us know if you discover a mirror of the WDM drivers elsewhere.

The AC3 passthrough fixes for Win2k are available. See the AC3 passthrough page for detailed information.

Official Live!Ware for 5.1 Cards

After half a year's wait, Creative finally released the 5.1 Live!Ware package for download. Click here for more information and see the reader feedback.

Live!Ware and Drivers for Non-5.1 Cards

Windows XP
Windows 2000
Windows Me
Windows 9x & Windows NT
Linux & APS Drivers

More downloads are available in the download section.
Live!Ware & Driver technical issues are in the tech section's drivers page.

Driver News

UDA Drivers?

UDA (unified driver architecture) beta drivers have been popping up in many places. However this version has somehow been leaked and crashes the PC very often, so we would not recommend that you try it. If you are eager, some have posted comments in the forums and newsgroups. We would still urge you to wait for the official release. (Thanks to those of you who have mailed be about this.)

Rumors

• EIP is reporting that the new drivers will be based on a "Unified Driver Architecture" and will be released between now and July 2001
• According to our reader ManniX who has seen Live!Ware 4 beta at Comdex, there is a new speaker positioning applet, and integrated DVD playback.

Tidbits

Harvey Fong states in the newsgroup: "ASIO looks like it may be included in the next big release (yes, it is all encompassing, that's why it takes so long)."

No more release dates, says Harvey Fong: "That's correct, we no longer quote release dates. Software design is too unpredictable for that, and estimate invariably become misinterpreted as delivery dates."

Besides the ports of Live!Ware 3 to WinMe and Win2k, there have been no new Live!Ware or features added since September 1999.

WDM 3107 at Windows Update
May 31, 2001 - Clarence

If you load up the Windows Update site and select Product Updates, you'll see this listed in the Device Drivers section (usually at the bottom of the page).

My card isn't a CT4760, however it still lists the driver for download. This goes to show that the WDM driver is designed to work on all SBLive! cards. The driver version number 3107 is older than the ones that come with the Live!Ware 5.1 that was released recently, and are also older than the unofficial ones that users have been sharing.

Thanks to Keith, Taner Kolack and Ryan Stotts for the information.

OpenAL Support
March 26, 2001 - Clarence

Creative will be supporting OpenAL, a cross-platform sound API for open-source 3D positioning and environmental effects. The recently announced 5.1 support will also be incorporated in OpenAL. We'll most likely see OpenAL supported in Linux and Mac OS X (for the SBLive! Mac edition). This article at GameSpot has more information.

Gateway WDM Drivers
8 October 2000 - Clarence

Gateway's SBLive! Driver Page has WDM drivers for the SBLive! that are meant for use with Gateway PCs. It is based on the Live!Ware 3 for Windows 2000 drivers and provides only basic functionality. The site lists the version as 5.12.01.3041. It works for Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows Me. Try at your own risk. The new WDM drivers are due to be released near the end of 2000.

No WDM Drivers for Windows 98
27 August 2000 - Clarence

Harvey Fong replies to a query in the newsgroups regarding WDM drivers:

There was never any announcement about WDM drivers for Windows 98. There is work currently in progress on WDM drivers for Windows Me/2000, and there are currently .wdm drivers available for Windows 2000. I'll post availability information when it gets closer the release date.

Harvey Fong
Technical Marketing Specialist
Audio Products
Creative Labs Inc.
http://www.soundblaster.com