Review: Sound Blaster Live!

Other contents of the package include the digital I/O card, the ribbon cable that connects it to the SB Live!, manuals, a 2-pin digital SPDIF cable, the standard CD-ROM audio cable, a plastic microphone with stand, and a 3-fold CD jewel case that contained the installation and two application CD-ROMs.

Installation was straightforward. After plugging the Sound Blaster Live! into an empty PCI slot, I proceeded to connect the CD-ROM drive to the card using the supplied 2-pin digital cable. Then I connected a pair of powered speakers for the 4-speaker setup and turned on the computer. Windows 98 detected the card, but I canceled the drivers setup in lieu of running the setup program on the installation CD. After a reboot, the Windows start up sound was replaced by a rumbling, 3D thunder which alerted me that the four-speaker configuration is working. Below you can see the drivers installed by the setup program.

When I turned the volume knob on the speakers way up, barely any static came through- a tribute to the card's shielding circuitry. In contrast, turning up the volume knob on my Ensoniq AudioPCI produced unwanted hissing. Environmental Audio - Wow! Next I wanted to try out was SB Live!'s 4 speaker support and Environmental Audio. Via the AudioHQ control panel, I was able to select where different sounds sources (e.g. wave, CD, line in, etc.) are positioned by dragging the icon for the source to an X,Y location on the 2-D plane. The mapping is fairly realistic, but unfortunately I was not to position sound above or below me for true 3D sound. There are presets you can use for different games such as Quake II and Starcraft, although they're usually nothing more than minor adjustments to placement of the wave and MIDI output.

I then proceeded to try out Environmental Audio (EA). The EA effects are done in real-time, which is like (or even better than) having a high-end DSP receiver. EA claims to model sounds as they exist in their natural setting, and it achieves this feat through the use of the following parameters:

Decay Time (seconds)
High Frequency Decay
High Frequency Cutoff (Hertz)
Size
Diffusion
Density
Early Reflections Level (%)
Late Reverb Level (%)
Detuning Rate (Hertz)
Detuning Depth (%)
Reverb (%)
Chorus (%) The EA effects can be applied to just about any sound source. I played an Eurodance CD (using the card's SPDIF digital connection) with the Concert Hall environment selected and the result was spectacular as I increased the volume. It sounded as if I were in the front row of a concert taking place inside a large, you guessed it, concert hall. You can, of course, modify any existing environment or even create your own. Ah, there's nothing like playing Beastie Boy's Intergalactic in a flying saucer.

DSP Power The card supports up to 32 channels of simultaneous wave audio playback. I tried playing 3 MP3s at the same time and the system handled it without a glitch, although CPU utilization increased accordingly to around 20%. Enabling Environmental Audio effects did not, however, increase CPU utilization. This can be attributed to the heart of the the Sound Blaster Live!- the EMU10K1 DSP, which contains more than two million transistors and is capable of millions of instructions a second. MIDI Quality The Sound Blaster Live! uses the memory on your PC to hold the sound of the MIDI instruments. This can be good or bad depending on your system. It may be good in the sense that you'll be able to load large, high quality MIDI sound banks restricted only by the amount of memory in your PC, but it's not a good idea for users whose machines are low on RAM in the first place. By default a 2 Mbyte SoundFont (Creative's form of MIDI sound library) is loaded, but you can use a whopping 8 Mbyte SoundFont for the best quality. The 8 Mbyte SoundFont, as expected, sounds great- instruments and effects were crisper and packed more punch than the 2 Mbyte version. I could not, however, tell much difference between the 4 and the 8 Mbyte SoundFont, but I believe the quality of the two matches that of my Turtle Beach Rio. Unfortunately the control panel did not allow for EA effects to be applied to MIDI. Below you can see that the 8 Mbyte SoundFont (which actually only takes up a little more than 7 Mbytes) is loaded.

The Software Bundle The software bundle is massive. It includes Creative's own software (AudioHQ, PlayCenter, Rhythmania, WaveStudio, and Keytar) along with third party titles (Sound Forge XP 4.0, Mixman Studio, Cakewalk Express Gold, Parody Parrot, TextAssist, VoiceAssist, and a special version of Unreal).

I didn't get to try all the software, but I checked out all of Creative's applications, Sound Forge, Mixman Studio, and Unreal. One surprising feature of the Creative PlayCenter is its support for a myriad of sound files, including MP3s. Although the new Windows 98 Media Player also supports MP3 playback, you're better off using the more full-featured PlayCenter or the popular WinAmp. Keytar let's you horse around with a variety of guitars. This "application" will probably interest the younger audience. Rhythmania is MIDI composer that allows you to quickly whip up a song in no time. Creative's venerable Wave Studio capable, but you may want to use the more powerful Sound Forge XP 4.0 to edit your sound files instead.

The special version of Unreal uses Environmental Audio Extensions (EAX), and it sounds substantially different from the retail version. I noticed the sound field was expanded greatly as all four speakers were fully utilized and the ambience created as a result felt like a "live" experience indeed. Doors close with a lasting echo, birds call out in the distance, the earth rumbles all around you during an earthquake.... The implementation is not perfect, however, as baddies barely make any noise while attacking and occasionally the sound cracks up inexplicably.

I must say that Mixman Studio is my favorite part of the generous software bundle. It basically allows you to become a recording artist and the mixmaster instantly. After spending five-minutes in the program I concocted a neat 16-track, 124 BPM techno-reggae song that for some strange reason the family cats didn't appreciate. Aw well, who ever said cats have good taste? The Digital I/O Card The digital I/O daughter card is designed for musicians and serious audiophiles. The little card connects to the Sound Blaster Live! via a short proprietary cable. Unfortunately I didn't have the equipment to test it out. You should check out the official Sound Blaster Live! site for more information on how to make the most use of it.

Sound Blaster Live! Review Continued by David Yee