Creative SB [Live!, Audigy, Audigy2, EMU10kX eDSPs] OSX Driver info here!

[LostInTranslation]

Hi Eugene,

 

Thank you for the awesome work! (never believed that I will use soundblaster on osx)

I have a SB Live 10k1 CT 4832 b800 and it works well for a few minutes then it starts to distort for a while (like loosing power or something like that). after that it comes back to normal sound then, again, behaves like loosing power for a while and so on in some kind of cycle.

I attached the output of console (picture 5)

 

Regards.

[LostInTranslation]

update: if the sound gets distorted and i unload/reload kXaudio after a short time i get kernel panic.

[Oxtie]

update: if the sound gets distorted and i unload/reload kXaudio after a short time i get kernel panic.

 

OK, see my signature below? Download 1.0b3 (or 1.1b0 which is stable in your case, the great Live series). This does not mean that distortion will go away, it only means you will not get Kernel Panics while unloading and reloading On the other hand, if you can wait for next release, better. (lol living with kernel panics don't make sense thats all )

[LostInTranslation]

ok Oxtie, thanx!

[Yutani]

The driver works OOTB, no hissing sound, no distortion even after hours of playing and all channels are assigned correctly.

 

But there are still a few issues here:

- No bass output at all, even when playing DVDs. Subwoofer works in Audio MIDI Setup, though.

- Single channel volume in Audio MIDI Setup resets always to full volume. That's not so good for me, because I have a 5.1 speaker set without master volume and I have to set the master volume in OSX to a very low level.

 

My soundcard is a Audigy 2 (SB0240 10k2 A000).

[thisisepic]

Nice to see someone finally tackling these drivers, excellent work!

[Mac Boy]

Yay! I've been waiting for 2 years for this driver, and almost bought a new sound card. I'm using 1.1b1 with no problems at all! Thanks.

[letopo]

I used the KX drivers from the early versions, I started with the EMUHACK.

I use the kx in a SBLive! two live! connected internally (4-bone) in an Audigy 2, in an Audigy 2 and two lives!.

Spend time learning the use of DSP and all possibilities.

Eugene Gavrilov is a kind of hero to me.

Once again I find making a great contribution to the community. :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

[morfy]

After upgrading to 10.5.5 I have many kernel panic apparently without reason, but if I turn off the driver 1.1b1 the system is stable: why?

[Oxtie]

After upgrading to 10.5.5 I have many kernel panic apparently without reason, but if I turn off the driver 1.1b1 the system is stable: why?

 

OK, see my signature below? Download 1.0b3 (or 1.1b0 which might be stable in your case). if you can wait for next release, better. (lol living with kernel panics don't make sense thats all )

[catboy]

hi all..

 

I use Kx driver 1.1b0 all time! no freezes no sound distorts ..

 

When install RealPlayer. (UB) . no sound..! but works w/ALC882 on board... a _Kx driver bug? or realplayer bug?

[shaftspaz]

Using 1.1b0 for my Audigy 2 card...so far no problems and it's been twenty minutes. Sounds as good as it did in Windows Vista (geez aren't I a glutton for punishment ). Can't wait to try WOW with it.

 

One question...I seem to be weird and have the Creative Inspire 6.1 surround speakers. Any suggestions for best speaker arrangement?

[shaftspaz]

Okay...back again. 1.1b0 crashed my system after I watched a video in iTunes that was on a networked computer. (It had survived for about 30 minutes until then.)

 

Rebooted, and uninstalled 1.1b0 and went to 1.1b1. Played WOW for about 10 minutes. The subwoofer is really loud...almost to the point of pushing it too hard. I did go into the Audio Midi settings to tweak things (after all, the only way I got good audio in Vista was those Daniel K drivers), but I was just looking for recommendations as to which speakers should be which number (yes, I know it sounds bad, but I can't think of a better way to put it...maybe 'which speaker should be on which channel?'). Currently, I have:

1=left front

2 = right front

3 = center front

4 = sub

5 = left rear

6 = right rear

7 = center rear

Looking for suggestions from other Creative Inspire 6.1 owners (or were there only three of us?)

[plprado]

hi. I have been using 1.1b0 with success. No more kernel panics with this version. But I can't get 5.1 to work. I configure it but no sound comes from the other outputs besides the main one. If I go back to Audio MIDI Setup the configs are reset (back to stereo).

 

I read some people got 5.1 to work so I was wondering if anyone can help me with this. I'm running 10.4.11.

 

Could it be that I haven't tested with all the spearkers at the same time? I mean, if a unplug the spearkers from the main output will sound still come out from the remaining outputs?

 

thanks!

[Icchan-san]

Thx for the driver! I installed for Audigy 4 24, i got 5.1 I make a test and works great

[neodude991]

hi. I have been using 1.1b0 with success. No more kernel panics with this version. But I can't get 5.1 to work. I configure it but no sound comes from the other outputs besides the main one. If I go back to Audio MIDI Setup the configs are reset (back to stereo).

 

I read some people got 5.1 to work so I was wondering if anyone can help me with this. I'm running 10.4.11.

 

Could it be that I haven't tested with all the spearkers at the same time? I mean, if a unplug the spearkers from the main output will sound still come out from the remaining outputs?

 

thanks!

 

I have the same problem also running 10.4.11, any help??

[lenmac]

Guys this may be a stupid question.. and perhaps I missed the post.. but how can I tell if the driver is loaded or not??

[lenmac]

Shoot.. doesn't appear to have any information for me.. I have onboard audio, as well as a Creative Sound Blaster PCI 128 Card CT4810.... doesn't appear to recognize in the system profiler, although in the audio options, there is the onboard HD Audio (doesn't work) and the AC97 Audio which is the one which I'm trying to use these drivers for.

 

 

 

Long story short.. I have the issue with the 10 minutes, then goes garbled sound.. think the 1.0b fixes that.. but I'm doubting I have it loaded.

[Oxtie]

Shoot.. doesn't appear to have any information for me.. I have onboard audio, as well as a Creative Sound Blaster PCI 128 Card CT4810.... doesn't appear to recognize in the system profiler, although in the audio options, there is the onboard HD Audio (doesn't work) and the AC97 Audio which is the one which I'm trying to use these drivers for.

 

 

 

Long story short.. I have the issue with the 10 minutes, then goes garbled sound.. think the 1.0b fixes that.. but I'm doubting I have it loaded.

 

See further below something that says "Extensions" or "Loaded Extensions" or "KExt" etc... . This is to know that the driver is loaded or not, In Audio, it may not appear for now, (future releases may show only the name of the Audio Card [set by E])... Onboard Audios are suppose to be disabled from BIOS if I'm not wrong. Didn't you try reinstalling drivers? (and Uninstalling through it's wizard), Deleting kext cache and repair?

[lenmac]

Ahh.. Hmm.. so I don't think I have it loaded by the looks of things:

 

 

I see none that start with K... perhaps I have to 'unload' this one?

 

Hmm.. I do have below:

 

MaxxussAC97AudioES137x:

 

perhaps this is over-riding Eugenes drivers?

[little_vin]

1. The 1.1b0 works fine with my audigy 2 while 1.1b1 crash the system here and there.

2. Both 1.1b0 and 1.1b1 doesn't work with the game Quake 4 (The sound card doesn't support OPENAL?), even I've installed the openal for osx.

3. The realplayer only plays rmvb with bird twitter here.

 

any suggestion for the above problems is appreciated.

[Oxtie]

1. The 1.1b0 works fine with my audigy 2 while 1.1b1 crash the system here and there.

2. Both 1.1b0 and 1.1b1 doesn't work with the game Quake 4 (The sound card doesn't support OPENAL?), even I've installed the openal for osx.

3. The realplayer only plays rmvb with bird twitter here.

 

any suggestion for the above problems is appreciated.

 

For your above problem numbers:

1. This is a known issue and new drivers may fix the issue...

2. This is a very basic drivers (please read the unimplemented stuff in the first page) and will have more features over time but all this can speed up if you donate some Pizza or Bugers or SubWay type sandwiches (donation $ i mean )

3. Again known issue which is expected to get fixed in future releases

[lenmac]

Hmm.. wonder what I'm doing wrong..

 

I removed the AppleAC97Audio.kext (which housed MaxxussAC97AudioES137x) and installed the 1.1b0 kx and unfortunately now I no longer have any other options in my Audio settings.. (only the onboard one).

 

I put AppleAC97Audio.kext back in, and removed just the MaxussAC97AudioES137x kext and the same thing happens (after re-installing kx.

 

Seems I'm not able to load Kx driver.. I believe I should see that in the options if it's loaded properly.. hmm.. perhaps I'll try putting the kXAudioDriver.kext right in the AppleAC97Audio.kext package?

 

EDIT:

Nope.. no love there either.. bah! can't get this bloody thing loaded!

[plprado]

plprado and neodude991, are you both trying to play stereo files? (mp3 or 2.0 files)? Did any of you tried to play AC3 file (DVD or anything with 5.1 audio output and not just 2.0)? If you play any media file with 2.0, it will not work on any other speakers then front left and front right. The reason behind this is that "dsp" is not yet implemented (look for future releases). If 5.1 audio output is correct and shows stereo in Audio Midi app then something wrong with GUI code otherwise other part of driver. Either of ways, you should report it to Official Bug Report (see my signature for direct link)

 

Hi Oxtie, thanks for your answer. I think that's the case then, I don't have any audio or video file with 5.1 output. What I actually wanted was to get the same sound out from 4 different speakers (not necessarily split into 5.1 channels). But if I understand you this is not possible until "dsp" is implemented right? Well, if that's the case then I'm looking forward for a future release with this function.

 

I've already donated some and I'll sure keep donating as the driver gets new versions.

 

once again thanks a lot for your work.

[Oxtie]

Quote Updates, GUYS! Please take some time READ the following and HELP the "next build" get better!

 

Kernel Panics and Mic

thank you! )

I will be working on recording as soon as I fix panic issues...

Quote about people interested in Source code...

 

all user-level components of the driver for OS X will be opensource, GPL-covered

kernel-level components are shared between Windows and OS X (HAL library), and this library is my own code based on Creative Labs NDA-covered documents, and thus cannot be released opensource.

and there are several additional issues with opensource development mentioned by Max and discussed in this forum earlier...

 

E.

 

Quote about shutdown / standby issues... (Please confirm anyone affected by these and if possible also try previous builds and give feedbacks)

 

try the following:

1. install the driver

2. check that audio is ok

3. in terminal, unload the driver

(sudo kextunload /system/library/extensions/kxaudiodriver.kext)

- may need to type this twice

4. check with kextstat that kxaudio is no longer present

5. put your PC into sleep state

 

does this fix the problem?..

 

E.

 

Next quote with issues I've mentioned

1. Kernel Panics (aka freeze) for Audigy & some Live series (using previous 1.1b0 fixes Audigy)

2. Distortion for live series (Check out Hagar's workaround)

3. Quality loss (SSSSsss noise) (aka high treble) (aka massive bass and distorted trebles) (aka Tinny)

4. Streaming Media not playable

5. Shutdown Issues (some people report their systems no longer shuts down)

6. Audigy4 having problems with External drives

 

4. might be also related to distortion of system sounds in leopard (when played back in the sound preference pane)

5. is it present with earlier builds? where can I find a detailed description of the issue? my suggestions listed above concerning sleep mode apply to this problem as well.

6. remote control is not supported

 

also, Zaurak mentions issues with 'too high volume'. anyone to confirm this?

 

E.

 

 

Since E didn't mention 1,2,3 it is expected that next version will most likely fix these issues