Recording on a SB Live! sounds bad

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Spanky
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2004 9:49 am

Post by Spanky » Wed Mar 10, 2004 10:03 am

I've got some problems with my cheapo SB Live! player 1024 (europe).
I used the latest drivers from the creative site and it has some really nasty issues in Sonar 3.1.1. (sonar 3 and 3.1 had the same issue)

When i put the driver into WDM-mode for instance, my card DOES register the line-in signals, but it won't play back.

When i put the driver into MME-mode my card records and also plays back but it sounds VERY crappy (the high-fruencies are too loud).

My card doesn't support ASIO.

When i use the KX-drivers from KX-project i've got some technical issues which i think can be solved, but realtime playing soundfont banks won't work anymore, which i don't want.

I also use an analog Soundcraft mixer but this can't be the problem since i also used the "what you hear" option and it sounds as bad as a line-in recording.

I'm planning to buy an audigy 2 but I have to be sure it's my soundcard and not my setup / pc-settings.

Playback realtime (synth-output or soundfont banks) work just fine and playing mp3's , wav's or other things via my soundcard (into a stereo input channel on my mixer) sound ok.

Recording in a wave editor (Soundforge f.e.) also sounds crappy when playing back the result.

My studio specs:
-------------------
AMD Athlon 1000
Sis 735 chipset (!no VIA popping&noises!)
512 MB RAM
TNT2 32MB Videocard
Creative Sound Blaster live! value/gamer 1024
-------------------
Yamaha CS1x synthesizer
Soundcraft Spirit Folio 10 channel mixer
-------------------
Sonar 3.1.1
Soundforge 6 (sonic foundry)
Vienna 2
A lot more :)

Hope somebody can help me and it could be i'm thinking the wrong way and have to adjust my mixer settings ... ?

Thanks in advance,

Frank
Last edited by Spanky on Wed Mar 10, 2004 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.


GretscGuy
Posts: 434
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2003 1:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts USA

Post by GretscGuy » Wed Mar 10, 2004 12:56 pm

Well, if it also sounds bad in SF you've narrowed down the problem. What's your budget and what are you looking to record? Maybe some of us can reccomend a good care for your needs.

andychap
Posts: 685
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2003 7:26 pm
Location: UK

Post by andychap » Wed Mar 10, 2004 9:07 pm

Why bother getting expensive software like Sonar 3 and Sound Forge and then use a basic interface like that. You can use the cheapest, even free software to make good music if you have a reasonable soundcard, not the other way round. :wink:

Guest

Post by Guest » Thu Mar 11, 2004 12:29 am

I work with midi combined with wav's and sounfonr banks. Plus, i want to use the realtime effects. I've also tried reason but they relay on software synths only, whilst i want to use hardware and buy new synths in the future.

Also the answer is not very related to my question :roll:

I'll try an audigy2 in the weekend which should work better.[/quote]

Guest

Post by Guest » Thu Mar 11, 2004 12:30 am

I work with midi combined with wav's and sounfonr banks. Plus, i want to use the realtime effects. I've also tried reason but they relay on software synths only, whilst i want to use hardware and buy new synths in the future.

Also the answer is not very related to my question :roll:

I'll try an audigy2 in the weekend which should work better.
Why bother getting expensive software like Sonar 3 and Sound Forge and then use a basic interface like that. You can use the cheapest, even free software to make good music if you have a reasonable soundcard, not the other way round.

Spanky
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2004 9:49 am

Post by Spanky » Thu Mar 11, 2004 11:31 am

I already found a solution. I use the rear-output now which has better codecs... Everything sounds pure now (tip for other users).

frank

Swearengen
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jun 16, 2004 1:24 am
Location: Deadwood

Post by Swearengen » Wed Jun 16, 2004 1:31 am

I have a sblive card, using Sonar 3.1.1, and it sounds amazing...at times i do have some latency issues, but the sound quality is amazing. Especially with Amplitube! :) :wink:

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