Kx audio driver mod [Sound blaster live!, audigy 1/2/4/RX emu edsp]

[ITzTravelInTime]

For testing i also got a lot of cards to test the driver on, let me show to you which sound cards i have that works with the kx audio driver:

 

1) sound blaster audigy 2 zs platinum, SB0360 complete with it's io panel ( i got it for a very low price from ebay, few weeks ago, currently used in my dfi lanparty testbench)

2) sound blaster audigy 2 zs SB0350 with gold connectors (also from ebay, but i own it from more than an year)

3) sound blaster audigy rx SB1550, it's my daily driver card, supports pcie and i can use it in my i7 rig, (i bought it brand new from a local shop 1 year ago)

4) sound blaster audigy (1st series) SB0090 with a creative live drive II front unit (i also got it for cheap on ebay, currently used with the live drive in my asus P5Q3 Deluxe based rig)

5) 2x sound blaster live! CT4830 (that i just got for free, i use them as testing devices for the drivers, some times on the test-bench dfi lanparty, and also for old machines like my pentium 2/3 retro gaming rigs)

6) sound blaster live! 5.1 SB0060 (i got it as part of a large haul of parts from ebay, i just use it as my other sb live! cards)

7) sound blaster live! 5.1 digital SB0220 (got it from a friend, it's used just like my other sb live! cards)

 

So i have quite a lot of stuff to do tests with, only cards missing are some of the hard to find stuff like the expensive professional ones from E-MU and some others like the sound blaster 512 (cheaper version of the live! series), i have so much cards also for my hobby of collecting hardware, and i also own some of the older sound blaster isa cards, i'd like to collect more stuff too, just to play with them on my 386 dos machine.

 

I hope that you enjoy what i did to support such old cards (for today standards) like sb live! and audigy on the latest versions of mac

[marvelloard]

I was testing driver playing music during 12 hours. It was some king of stability-test because I had reboots when kx and AppleHPET installed in S/L/E (I put volume almost to 0, so do not know problems that you described, also for 1 hour when I used headphones did not hear problems with buffer). 

 

I will try to test during whole day next week with  headphones.

 

I see. Actually I've never had any stability issues with this driver, only the buffer issue.

 

@ITzTravelInTime

Thank you again for your work, I'm happy to be able to use my Audigy, even without inputs.

[ITzTravelInTime]

Guys do you know someone that can help me to get inputs to work? i am trying everything but i can't get it to work, i know that there are developers way better than me in driver developing, so i ask to the community for help, i can provvide all the stuff that is needed to try it, but i don't know how to do it because i am a front end developer, my job is to creante end user applications so i know just something about writing drivers, but i want my sound cards to work properly, so i want to create a team and try to do it.

 

For reference we have code from the windows kx audio driver and from the linux alsa driver that does have working inputs on this cards.

[ITzTravelInTime]

Always regarding adding input support i asked about it to the creator of the original kx audio driver some time ago, and that's his answer:

Continuing with the inputs stuff i have checked the code from the windows kx driver and i can't see much differences in the way driver is initialized for inputs

 

For the audigy rx my recent tests shows that all the audio outputs on it seems to work just fine, because respect to the original kx audio driver, i forced the driver to initialize that card as an audigy 4 (because they have the same CA0103 chip, the rx has just a bridge chip to work on pcie) and the AAFP connector that is on the audigy rx with this drivers works (with the original kx driver it doesn't), so if i only could make the inputs to work we have a quite cheap and fully working pcie sound card for mac.

 

I have also discovered why the input testing mode on the current version of the kx audio driver mod causes a kernel panic, so i have done a patch to fix at least that, you will have it soon

[RomichA]

Hello! First of all thank you very much for your work!

I have 1616m pciE card and only with your version of this driver it began to work!

Sometimes i have system freeze and reboot after watching youtube. I do not have this issue during work in Logic pro. 

(E-mu as output device and another card by RME as input)

 

Also i do not have any input on my E_MU card

I installed this driver on Sierra and High Sierra with the same result.

ITzTravelInTime, thank you!

[ITzTravelInTime]

Hello! First of all thank you very much for your work!

I have 1616m pciE card and only with your version of this driver it began to work!

Sometimes i have system freeze and reboot after watching youtube. I do not have this issue during work in Logic pro. 

(E-mu as output device and another card by RME as input)

 

Also i do not have any input on my E_MU card

I installed this driver on Sierra and High Sierra with the same result.

ITzTravelInTime, thank you!

if you pull out your E-MU card from the system and use another sound card for output, does it still gives playback problems in youtube? Maybe it could be another kind of issues for the youtube stuff, but i suggest to you to do this test to make sure if it's caused by this driver or some stability issues with your setup, and also try the latest version of the driver, it works better, you can find it in some previous posts, i still have to update the first post

And alo i am happy that you enjoy my work

[RomichA]

i do not have this problem if i select RME babyface as output in preferences of system or select no output. (in second case also i do not have sound, but do not have restart system too)

I have installed the second version of your driver, but the same situation. 

But i really like your work. So if you will need some tests with this driver - i'm ready!)

[hbk08]

Hello! A big thank you for your hard work and keeping this project alive. 
I would like to build a hackintosh on my PC and I have a Creative Audigy FX sound card. Does the input work with your latest version? I use the input of my sound card very often, so it would be really important for me to know.

[ITzTravelInTime]

i do not have this problem if i select RME babyface as output in preferences of system or select no output. (in second case also i do not have sound, but do not have restart system too)

I have installed the second version of your driver, but the same situation. 

But i really like your work. So if you will need some tests with this driver - i'm ready!)

 

ok, in case i will send to you some test version of the driver 

 

 

Hello! A big thank you for your hard work and keeping this project alive. 

I would like to build a hackintosh on my PC and I have a Creative Audigy FX sound card. Does the input work with your latest version? I use the input of my sound card very often, so it would be really important for me to know.

 

 

I am trying everything I know, but at the time being the driver still does not have working inputs, so i have decided to let them to be disabled in the versions i have published, (you can show them using the -kxbeta boot arg, but if you try to use it the system will kernel panic, i have created a new testing version in which they still not work, but there is no more a kernel panic) and also the driver does not supports the audigy FX, because the audigy fx does uses a different kind of controller chip for which this driver is not designed for, not it will require to create an all new driver for it, that's something i can't do, sorry

 

But thanks for all of you to appreciate my work, i am very happy to see that

[hbk08]

Thank you for your information about that. Is there any supported kext for the fx available? Or has it been at sometime available?

If not, can you advise me please, which sound card I can get (with 5.1) to run it under mac os?

I checked most pci sound cards (creative, asus,..) but there is no official mac os driver... .

[ITzTravelInTime]

Thank you for your information about that. Is there any supported kext for the fx available? Or has it been at sometime available?

If not, can you advise me please, which sound card I can get (with 5.1) to run it under mac os?

I checked most pci sound cards (creative, asus,..) but there is no official mac os driver... .

As fra as i know the audigy fx has never worked on mac, and if you looks for pcie sound cards with official mac support, you should look for professional cards, like card from ESI, if you want a sound card with is pcie and works on latest mac and latest windows, you can use the sound blaster audigy rx that can be quite cheap and works on mac using this driver, all the outputs will work, but inputs will not work

[leogel]

First, I would like to thanks ITzTravelInTime to give us this good driver.

 

​But I still have problem with the drive.  I am using the Audigy 2 sound card (SB0240). The sound card shows in the system as sound blaster Audigy 2 SB0240 in the sound - output. 

 

I only have two front speaker working. even I am choosing the 5.1 in the audio midi setup (But in the speaker config menu (the sparker setup pic), when I press each speaker for test, it work perfect) .  But When I play music or movie. only two front speak working.  I try the driver in the first page and the new drive. Both work the same. I also try the config file which ITzTravellnTime help AslashA modded config file. It is still the same. 

 

Please help me how to setup up 5.1 speakers.  The sound card working in the windows 10.   I am using the High Sierra。

 

I was upload the speaker setting pic and the audio device pic.

 

I am a very new hackintosh user. Please help me. Thank you very much.

[ITzTravelInTime]

First, I would like to thanks ITzTravelInTime to give us this good driver.

 

​But I still have problem with the drive.  I am using the Audigy 2 sound card (SB0240). The sound card shows in the system as sound blaster Audigy 2 SB0240 in the sound - output. 

 

I only have two front speaker working. even I am choosing the 5.1 in the audio midi setup (But in the speaker config menu (the sparker setup pic), when I press each speaker for test, it work perfect) .  But When I play music or movie. only two front speak working.  I try the driver in the first page and the new drive. Both work the same. I also try the config file which ITzTravellnTime help AslashA modded config file. It is still the same. 

 

Please help me how to setup up 5.1 speakers.  The sound card working in the windows 10.   I am using the High Sierra。

 

I was upload the speaker setting pic and the audio device pic.

 

I am a very new hackintosh user. Please help me. Thank you very much.

To use all the speakers at the same time you need that the media that you are using does supports all the 5.1 channels. for example a dvd movie which supports 5.1 should work with all the speakers in the tests i have done with my audigy 2 zs, and usually sound medias on internet and music files are made only for 2.1 channels audio, so if you want to use all speakers at the same time, you have to find a way to configure it to reproduce 2.1 sound sources to all the speakers with some tweaking to midi setup or using other programs

For example this can be useful https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/267193/macos-sierra-2-1-to-5-1-upmixer

[leogel]

ITzTravelInTime. Thank you very much again. 

 

​I was use the kodi media player for my music and the movie. It works with 5.1. I was setup in this setting.  - system setting- audio, setup 5.1 and stereo upmix on.  

 

But the movie in the safari still no luck.

 

​Hopefully this can help some one like me.

[Radion_vk]

Hi InsanelyMac,

 

If movie has only 2 channels you will hear only two speakers (does not matter how many you have).

For 2.1 or for 5.1 which can work in 2.1 mode you will hear front left + front right + subwoofer.

And again, this for 2 channels movie/sound.

 

I would suggest to test that 100% works for me. I'm using VLC player. Download any 5.1 mkv sample. Test it with VLC player (there are settings for audio as well). And report about result. 

 

ITzTravelInTime. Thank you very much again. 

 

​I was use the kodi media player for my music and the movie. It works with 5.1. I was setup in this setting.  - system setting- audio, setup 5.1 and stereo upmix on.  

 

But the movie in the safari still no luck.

 

​Hopefully this can help some one like me.

[ITzTravelInTime]

Hi InsanelyMac,

 

If movie has only 2 channels you well hear only two speakers (does not matter how many you have).

For 2.1 or for 5.1 which can work in 2.1 mode you will hear front left + front right + subwoofer.

And again, this for 2 channels movie/sound.

 

Yes, that's what i was trying to explain this, maybe there are some programs that tweacks the mac audio system to allow to hear the same audio to all the stereo channels

[leogel]

Thank you very much. ITzTravelInTime and Radion_VK. I think the kodi is only to put 2 Chanel music or video to the 5.1. But not the real one. 

 

By the way, is this driver support X-Fi (SB0460) , I think it was using EMU2K1 chip under High Sierra? 

 

How about the Creative Zx Sound Card, sound blaster AE or Asus sound Card? Is any ideas? just want do  some research. 

 

Thank you very much.

[ITzTravelInTime]

Thank you very much. ITzTravelInTime and Radion_VK. I think the kodi is only to put 2 Chanel music or video to the 5.1. But not the real one. 

 

By the way, is this driver support X-Fi (SB0460) , I think it was using EMU2K1 chip under High Sierra? 

 

How about the Creative Zx Sound Card, sound blaster AE or Asus sound Card? Is any ideas? just want do  some research. 

 

Thank you very much.

 

This driver does not supports 20k1 devices , some of that could work on mac using voodoo hda, then the recent sound blaster do not have mac compatibility, the sound blaster z and zx partially works using apple alc, and the most recent one, the sound blaster AE cards currently has not a mac support, all the asus sound cards are not supported, but multiple attempts to create a driver were done, without any success.

 

The most recent sound card compatible with this driver is the sound blaster audigy rx sb1550 but the driver is limited to 48 khz and only outputs are working on mac, but the driver works fine on high sierra

[leogel]

ITzTravelInTime. Thank you very much again.

Thank you your answer and give us this good driver.

 

So I think for the PCI/PCIe sound card only some creative sound card working under the hackintosh. The other brand sound card didn't work under Mac, Because I was find out the Asus and some third brand sound card use the  C-Media sound chip.  There is no luck for the C-Media sound chips. 

 

Do you think Audigy 2 or Audigy 2 zs is better than the onboard HD sound card? Such as the ALC 892 chip?  

[ITzTravelInTime]

ITzTravelInTime. Thank you very much again.

Thank you your answer and give us this good driver.

 

So I think for the PCI/PCIe sound card only some creative sound card working under the hackintosh. The other brand sound card didn't work under Mac, Because I was find out the Asus and some third brand sound card use the  C-Media sound chip.  There is no luck for the C-Media sound chips. 

 

Do you think Audigy 2 or Audigy 2 zs is better than the onboard HD sound card? Such as the ALC 892 chip?  

Cretive are not the only working under mac, there are many other internal sound card working on mac, some have also official mac driver from their producers, for the cmedia based pci cards the only that works on mac are the cmi8738 based ones, but with only outputs working and limited to 16 bit 44,1 khz or 48 khz, the sound blaster audigy 2/2 zs for me are better than on board audio, quality, amplification and clearness of the sound are way better than realtek on board sound, but the bad thing is that i did not succed in getting inputs to work with this driver, and i am trying every thing

[jaymack]

I gave up after trying everything for a very long time trying to get my Audigy 2zs to work with MAC at least with Clover that is. I use built in sound that to me sounds better. I do have a PC in another room that uses an Audigy 2zs, so I can compare the two.  Using the driver or trying to install it with the installer crashes my HP Z400. Oh well!

[ITzTravelInTime]

I gave up after trying everything for a very long time trying to get my Audigy 2zs to work with MAC at least with Clover that is. I use built in sound that to me sounds better. I do have a PC in another room that uses an Audigy 2zs, so I can compare the two.  Using the driver or trying to install it with the installer crashes my HP Z400. Oh well!

 

common issue using some oem motherboards like yours, see in the thread there is a guy who managed to solve it and also in all my test systems i got it to work using clover, it's more like a problem of your system

[leogel]

Cretive are not the only working under mac, there are many other internal sound card working on mac, some have also official mac driver from their producers, for the cmedia based pci cards the only that works on mac are the cmi8738 based ones, but with only outputs working and limited to 16 bit 44,1 khz or 48 khz, the sound blaster audigy 2/2 zs for me are better than on board audio, quality, amplification and clearness of the sound are way better than realtek on board sound, but the bad thing is that i did not succed in getting inputs to work with this driver, and i am trying every thing

I think for the card working under the Mac official driver are the professional sound card. I think those card are expensive.

 

Hopefully, we will see your new driver with the all ports working soon. Thank you very much.

 

 

I gave up after trying everything for a very long time trying to get my Audigy 2zs to work with MAC at least with Clover that is. I use built in sound that to me sounds better. I do have a PC in another room that uses an Audigy 2zs, so I can compare the two.  Using the driver or trying to install it with the installer crashes my HP Z400. Oh well!

Did you try to install the driver without install the Audigy 2ZS, I was install the driver first and shutdown the computer and install the Audigy 2. And turn on the computer. It works. I don't is my setting or my sound card has the problem, If I install the sound card before install the driver. It can't boot in to the system.

[ITzTravelInTime]

Th problem is that on some oem systems, it can be fixed disabling hpet or using fix hpet in clover

[DS-1]

For the first time I updated my main system to High Sierra. Using the original kx audio drivers, the system rebooted right after the speaker pop (the drivers were just installed).

 

Can these drivers fix this issue?

 

I'm using a Sb Live! in my hackintosh systems without issues from Mountain Lion. (I've always used the original .dmg version).

 

Thanks in advance for the reply!