CREATIVE Sound Blaster Live!
(With Live Ware 2.0)
Reviewed by Anurax Lian (29/05/99)

<Introduction><The Good><The Bad>
<Environmental Audio Extension>
<Conclusion><Rating>

Back to top

Introduction

Its been almost a year since the arrival of the Creative SBLive sound card and you'd probably wondering why is Hardware Zone is reviewing this card now. Well, actually Matthew did do a review last August on this card and man was it good. But the main purpose of putting up this review is because this is probably THE best PCI sound card that has ever come by our hands. Further more, Creative Labs has once again added new life to their range of SBLive product with their innovative upgrade to their LiveWare programs, THE Creative LiveWare 2.0 upgrade.

By now most users would know the capabilities of the SBLive so I'll skip the part on it processing capabilities and support. The review is based on LiveWare 2.0 and it capabilities. However, if you'd like to know more on the SBLive please check out Matthew's review. ****

Creative has been around for quite awhile and since the invented the actual digitized sound with first Sound Blaster sound card, its not surprising that they'd be the one to come up with more innovative design to improve the sound card industry. Let's see what they've installed for us.

Back to top

The Good

LiveWare 2.0 is very impressive from top to bottom. It adds new life to SBLive card by providing more functionality to it. One thing I noted about the SBLive is that within this hardware it has a lot of processing power and nothing more. This card relies a lot on software implementation and thank god Creative is with us on that. One thing great about the EMU10K1 chip is that it can process a lot of raw power and decodes practically anything a programmer feeds it, thus giving us versatility and top notch quality sound.

Surround Mixer / Speaker 2

Creative Playcentre

 As you can see this is the new Mixer center and Speaker control panel for the SBLive. Users can control practically every thing from here, except the Midi Sound Font. (P.S: Creative hint, hint…ahemm) The number of presets available has jump to quite a considerably large number. I remember when I first brought my first SBLive home, the toughest thing was trying to get the right Environment setting. There were many to choose from. Being an audiophile, this was really good news coz it let me tune a sound card to my liking and not tune my ear to a manufacturer's standard.

This time round with LiveWare 2.0, Creative has added even more presets to their Environmental Audio Extensions (EAX). Furthermore, they have split it up to 2 settings.

1. The Category
2. The Preset

Each Category has a number of presets to choose from. However, users have the option of choosing the general default or ultra "cheem" (hokkien for difficult/complicated) custom for the ultimate sound.On a personal note, this could also lead to the ultimate flop. However, after playing for hours, it was quite fun though. E.g. There is a Category called " CDAudio/MP3" and within this category there were a couple of interesting presets.

1. Chipmunk
2. Sound Female to Male Voice
3. Male to Female Voice

Now, is this innovative or what! Which sound card on this planet could actually decodes a female voice and converts it to a male voice or vice versa. The chipmunk setting was kinda cute, it actually sounded like a fast forwarding of a cassette player. The actual quality of the output was kinda cheesy but then again, its the first of its kind. In fact this was not the reason why I got the sound card for, but the fact that Creative managed to provide such top-notch service really gives me reason to support them. These are only 3 of the available settings and there are like over a hundred more other settings that user can choose from. Another great thing about this is that programmers can write their programs to fit the kind of sound they want their user to hear.

In LiveWare 2.0 also supports MP3, CDAudio, WAV, Midi, MPEG layer 1 and all other registered MCI standards so users can use the Creative PlayCenter to run practically all their multimedia programs on one program.

Back to top

Environmental Audio Extension

Environmental Audio Extension - The one thing that the SBLive differs from other cards.

EAX is probably the most innovative concept this century that I can really put my hat off and applaud to. Speed, and graphically power are some of the stuff you'd probably expect out from the computing industry. However, EAX is something totally different.

3D sound …hmm what is that anyway?? I mean, really 3 dimensional sound, or can we say that sound is 3D? I don't think so. They say concept of X, Y and Z directions (Left, Right, Up, Down, Forward and Backwards) is what 3D sound is. But in order to achieve all that, you'd only need to control the volume coming out of certain directions and that’s it, it'll sound like it came from a particular direction, which is all to it.

Now with EAX, the sound does not create a space for itself, but rather create the environment for itself. It does try to fill the empty void, and it encompasses the void other card manufacturers try to fill in. 3D sound is just enhancement of what we've had all along, but EAX build a sound environment for us. Just imagine, playing a game that allows users to experience sound from the actual environment, creating an atmosphere almost exact to what the real thing is. Imagine play a soccer game an being able to feel the crowds cheering behind or playing a racing game that produces the environment of the place you're driving. Now that’s what I call pure sound. Not some cheap gimmick.

What exactly does EAX implementation entail? Normally when a game programmer is writing the code for a title he/she uses the DirectSound3D API as a bridge between the software and hardware in terms of audio. The Environmental Audio Extension provide programmers with a larger set of "instructions" to choose from by allowing for real time generation and panning effects including more realistic environment effects such as reverb and echo effects depending on the type of material the walls are made of in the room you happen to be in the game. For example, if you're playing a game which boasts EAX support (i.e. Unreal) with the SB Live! and you happen to find yourself in a room which contains 3 walls and an open area, the echo you would hear after firing a shot at one of the three walls would reflect a room with only three walls leaving an exit point for the echo where the 4th wall would be. Whereas if you were to find yourself in a completely closed area, the echo would be more continuous and feature an increased amplitude.

Creative has much confidence in the potential of their Environmental Audio Extensions, with the ease of implementation at a very attainable level and there is no reason to expect EAX to be a failure of any sorts.

Back to top

 The Bad

Creative SBLive is one card that is pretty software dependent, for it to perform to its fullest we have yet to see. As we can tell from initial drivers to the current LiveWare 2.0, this card is still growing and to see or can I say hear its full potential, only Creative Labs can tell. Well, this may not be bad, as in the long run, it'll be a sound investment. I've noticed the SBLive is pretty processor intensive and most of its functions won't work properly on anything less than a Pentium II or equivalent. However with the drop of prices this may not be a factor unless you're running a first generation Pentium or lower.

Cost can be a factor if you are deciding to get the SBLive retail version with the digital I/O card. But if you are just a gamer you'd can pick up the SBLive Value OEM version for just under $90 which is a real steal. Midi music is a far from what I'd expect from a 8MB wavetable, on my previous SB AWE64 Gold, but when I loaded a 8MB sound Font, it sounded really good except this time round, it just didn't seem to kick butt. Not to say it is lousy but, just that some instruments didn't sound right. Most General Midi were great like the Piano and Drum kits but the SFX instruments were weak and did not sound proper. However, this card is still better than any other sound card available for under $300 (err.... except for the AWE64 Gold, which however does not have all the functions of the SBLive though). If you are a Midi fanatic or Musician and still want to use the SBLive, an option would be to disable the SBLive Midi and use and external Midi source like a Roland midi modulator that connects to the midi/game port. For those with the Digital I/O card there are some newer digital modulators that can be connected to the Midi In of the Digital I/O card.

Some people may also find the number of settings available in the SBLive LiveWare quite imposing. I don't blame them because most users just want to turn on their PCs and run it without having to worry/care about anything else.

Back to top

Conclusion

Well, what can I say "get one now if you've not have one"? With so many games supporting EAX, this card has proven to be a new industrial standard for games, and if compatibility were to be an issue, this card still supports Microsoft D3D. However, if you are normal user running off desktop applications or word processors and spread sheets then this card may just be a little over kill. Its great for gamers who want the best sound there is, but if you really despise having to play around with too many settings and just want to start your PC, then the Diamond Monster MX300 is another good buy to consider.

Back to top

Ratings

Back to top

Copyright © 1998 by Singapore Hardware Zone. All rights reserved.

None of the above shall be reproduced, copied and/or
modified without the permission of the WebMaster.