Sound Blaster Z / Zx / ZxR Modded Driver for Windows 10

Associate
Joined
21 Apr 2011
Posts
89
In Windows 10 build 1803, Microsoft made some kernel changes related to hardware timers that broke a lot of device drivers and caused high latency on many systems. Ever since then, Sound Blaster Z / Zx / ZxR series are plagued with issues such as audio stuttering, crackling, popping, and sudden channel swapping.

It's been 2 years and Creative Labs hasn't done enough to fix these issues. And therefore, the old house of ngohq.com is proud to introduce a modified driver based on the official software release from September 2019 and unofficial driver release from May 2020. This release is intended to solve issues and will not bring any new features.

Instructions:
Temporarily disable driver signature enforcement (hold down the SHIFT key while you click on the Restart button in the start menu, select Troubleshoot, Advanced options, Startup Settings, press on the Restart button, wait for the Startup Settings screen to appear and then press on 7), extract the SFX anywhere you want, and then run setup.exe as administrator.

Changes (v0.2):
* Updated driver to version 6.0.102.62.

Downloads:
Sound Blaster Z / Zx Modded Driver for Windows 10 | Mirror #1 | Mirror #2
Sound Blaster ZxR Modded Driver for Windows 10 | Mirror #1 | Mirror #2

*Update*
There is a new driver on Creative Labs website for Sound Blaster Z published on November 6th, 2020.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
7,813
Location
Scun'orp
Do you know if this affects the old Sound blaster xfi fatal1ty? I am using the PAX drivers at the mo, haven't updated drivers in years. Not getting any crackles, any other signs to look out for?
 
Associate
OP
Joined
21 Apr 2011
Posts
89
1. Disable automatic driver update in Windows 10 by importing this registry and then reboot.
2. Uninstall all Creative Labs software from the control panel and then reboot.
3. Open the device manager and ensure there is nothing related to Sound Blaster in both "Sound, video, and game controllers" and "System devices". If you see anything, uninstall and check box to delete driver software... and then reboot.
4. Download Display Driver Uninstaller, extract and run it, in 'select device type' pick audio, set device to Sound Blaster, and then clean and restart.
5. Download the driver from the 1st post, reboot with driver signature enforcement temporarily disabled, and then install it.
6. If you still get channel swapping, try to adust HW_CTL_MX_BSIZE and CalibDelay from the registery. There are several instances per each. Try setting RearLR and CSubLR to 0.
 
Back
Top Bottom