X-Fi vista and alchemy drivers.

Ashman UK · 1 Oct 2007 at 17:20

Just a heads up if any x-fi owner using vista is interested, creative have posted new drivers.

http://uk.europe.creative.com/suppo...ber=&driverlang=1033&OS=26&select=0&x=23&y=13

If it has not been posted somewhere on here already.

helmutcheese · 1 Oct 2007 at 18:06

Cuchulainn · 1 Oct 2007 at 19:31

I'm using the Auzentech drivers for my X-Fi at the moment. I wonder if I should try these instead?

MeatLoaf · 1 Oct 2007 at 19:50

Nice one, I'll have a see what others think forst before i risk installing them :cool:

Cuchulainn · 1 Oct 2007 at 20:32

Ok, I have them installed and so far, so good.

I have my "What U Hear" output back too, useful for Total Recorder purposes

MeatLoaf · 1 Oct 2007 at 23:08

Does the mic work properly with these drivers?

Cuchulain · 1 Oct 2007 at 23:10

Cuchulainn said:
I'm using the Auzentech drivers for my X-Fi at the moment. I wonder if I should try these instead?

Are those the Auzentech drivers that are actually Creative drivers still?

(btw, 2 'n's doesn't make you me, get some imagination)

gurusan · 2 Oct 2007 at 07:01

So what's different with these drivers>?

Cuchulainn · 2 Oct 2007 at 10:10

Cuchulain said:
Are those the Auzentech drivers that are actually Creative drivers still?

(btw, 2 'n's doesn't make you me, get some imagination)

Yes they are, of course, what else?

And I wasn't aware there was another hound of Ulster on here but my imagination is grand, thanks for asking, I'm more than happy being myself

How about you?

hohum · 2 Oct 2007 at 22:19

These new drivers seem pants. The new PC I built has worked flawlessly since July, not a single random glitch or BSOD. Had been using onboard audio the whole time, seeing as XFI cards with current drivers have had issues with 4GB... so I purposely held off installing the card until they fixed it.

Now, they seem to have fixed it... but managed to break something else in the process! Guaranteed 'PROCESS_HAS_LOCKED_PAGES' blue screen of death every time I exit any game that uses OpenAL, and looking at Creative forums it appears I'm certainly not the only one having this issue. They must have a bunch of monkeys working in driver development. :rolleyes:

Back to onboard for me...

mrk · 3 Oct 2007 at 00:27

hohum said:
These new drivers seem pants. The new PC I built has worked flawlessly since July, not a single random glitch or BSOD. Had been using onboard audio the whole time, seeing as XFI cards with current drivers have had issues with 4GB... so I purposely held off installing the card until they fixed it.

Now, they seem to have fixed it... but managed to break something else in the process! Guaranteed 'PROCESS_HAS_LOCKED_PAGES' blue screen of death every time I exit any game that uses OpenAL, and looking at Creative forums it appears I'm certainly not the only one having this issue. They must have a bunch of monkeys working in driver development.

Back to onboard for me...

What onboard audio do you have btw ?

hohum · 3 Oct 2007 at 00:36

Realtek HD Audio ALC889A chip, on a Gigabyte P35-DS3P. I'm tempted to just stick with this now to be honest, I cannot tolerate critical system crashes for the sake of EAX effects.

mrk · 3 Oct 2007 at 00:50

I have the same audio on my Asus P5KC (P35) so am interested in knowing what the music and movie quality difference is like? - I am fed up with random pops whneplaying anything in Windows Vista that uses DirectSound on the XFI !

mrk · 3 Oct 2007 at 01:09

I just installed these drivers on a whim just to see if my particular issues are fixed.

So far so good!

I also must say I am hearing slightly more detail in the soundstage of music now.

I am using the card in the usual modes I us eit in, CMSS3D etc disable din Windows and Vista CPL set to 24bit 48000 Studio quality for playback and recording.

Oh and no pops/clicks yet!

hohum · 3 Oct 2007 at 02:24

mrk said:
I have the same audio on my Asus P5KC (P35) so am interested in knowing what the music and movie quality difference is like? - I am fed up with random pops whneplaying anything in Windows Vista that uses DirectSound on the XFI !

Slightly more clarity using onboard, slightly less bass than the XFI. If you have an amp however then that last point is moot. I personally use 16bit/44100khz in the control panel as upsampling of mp3 audio etc sounds a bit nasty at times.

Incidentally, tried an OpenAL-based game yet? Good luck with that...

hohum · 3 Oct 2007 at 02:25

Double post, despite only clicking once.

mrk · 3 Oct 2007 at 05:53

hohum said:
Slightly more clarity using onboard, slightly less bass than the XFI. If you have an amp however then that last point is moot. I personally use 16bit/44100khz in the control panel as upsampling of mp3 audio etc sounds a bit nasty at times.

Incidentally, tried an OpenAL-based game yet? Good luck with that...

I only have my STEAM game sinstalled, they use OpenAL?

Also I just noticed some random clicks playing some movies and when playing music, switched to WAVE out in Winamp and cicks vanish once again.

Damn them, DAMN THEM TO HELL!

mrk · 3 Oct 2007 at 07:31

Ok I removed my xfi gamer and Vista had preinstalled the HD Audio drivers already so didn't need to install anything for hd audio onboard

I must say the quality is most impressive compared to other onboard sound I have heard, no hiss, no crackling or distortions etc but it's nowhere near as crystal clear as the xfi - I have done a fresh reinstall of the xfi now and am using 16bit 44100 CD quality instead of upsampling to 48000 to see if this affects the clicking issue when using directsound.

Fingers crossed!

hohum · 3 Oct 2007 at 15:41

Source engine based games don't use OpenAL, no. The onboard sound quality is more than likely dependant on the motherboard components, not just the chip.

modo77 · 3 Oct 2007 at 17:32

These drivers fix the 4gig issue which is great. But I was getting bsod (locked process). So I went to safe mode, removed all the software and drivers. Then ran driver sweeper. Rebooted and reinstalled and all the bsod have gone away.

If you having problems I'd really suggest removing the lot in safe mode and reinstall. Worked for me (so far).

Oh and don't install the creative launcher as this breaks these drivers.