Soundblaster Live:
The next step in PC audio
by Creative Labs
Due to compatibility problems, there has been only one choice for a gaming soundcard since the late 80’s. Anyone who has spent 4 hours trying to get an ESS or Pro Audio Spectrum sound card working in a DOS game knows what I’m talking about. In the past, since DOS had to make direct calls to the sound card, Soundblaster was the card of choice because it was supported by almost every single game that came onto the market. With the advent of DirectX, however, soundcards other than Creative’s Soundblaster line have become more and more popular with Gamers. Since Direct-X just talks to a driver rather than making direct calls to the card, compatibility under Windows 95/98 is no longer an issue. Creative’s last addition to their Soundblaster line, the AWE 64/Gold/Value, was kind of a disappointment because it offered little improvement over their previous Soundblaster AWE 32 and AWE 32 Value. Since other manufacturers were stealing Creative’s thunder (no pun intended), Creative was forced into putting fourth a soundcard that did much more than other cards that were becoming available on the market. Creative’s latest edition, the Soundblaster Live! again puts Creative at the top of the soundcard ladder.
The first thing I noticed when I purchased the Soundblaster Live! (SB Live!) was the size of the card compared to my old AWE 32. The amount of condensing that has been done to the card to make it fit into a PCI bus is amazing. Since the PCI bus is faster, this card takes advantage of the bandwidth and lower CPU overhead that comes with being on a PCI bus. Another thing I noticed was the Digital IO card that is provided with the SB Live!. This card makes it possible to record directly from a digital source like an external DAT or Mixer and connects via a provided 40 pin cable. The card also doubles as a midi keyboard interface and multi-speaker out for later Dolby Digital (AC3) compatible computer speakers.
Installing the soundcard into my system was a complete snap. All I had to do was boot into safe mode, remove my old soundcard’s driver from device manager, and shut the machine down so that I could remove my old card and install the SB Live!. When I installed the Live! and turned on the machine, I just followed the directions provided with the card and my machine immediately picked up the card and installed the driver. When I got into windows, the Live! had put a little Icon into my system tray that doubles as a shortcut to many of the Live’s! special features like 4-speaker setup and sound field emulation.
Once I had the card and drivers installed, I was itching to try out some games, but I heard that Unreal had excellent 4-speaker support for the Live! and also had a new 32 streams patch. However, before I was able to set up four speakers, I had to go out and fork over 60 bucks for a pair of speaker stands for my rear speakers.. Finally, after hooking up my speakers and setting up my stands, I was ready to try out some games. The first game I decided to try was Unreal. After only about 3 minutes of playing, I was convinced that my purchase was well worth the money I paid. Unreal sounds amazing with the Live compared to my old AWE 32. You can actually hear sounds coming from the direction from which they originated. When using the GES Bios rifle (green goo gun) in Unreal, you could fire off shots, turn around and hear the blobs of goo exploding behind you. I also got to spend some time with Motocross Madness and was impressed with this game which ran using Microsoft’s direct 3-D sound API. Jedi Knight was another title in which the Live! performed very well. With 3-D sound, Jedi Knight has more of that “I think I’m actually here” feeling to it. I even managed to try the Live! with some old DOS games like Betrayal at Krondor, Warcraft, and Command and Conquer. The legacy DOS support was flawless and all the games played without a hitch, further increasing my confidence in the Live’s! abilities.
Compared to my old PCI soundcard, the SB Live! uses only about 2-5% of my CPU resources, where my AWE 32 could use up as much as 15-30% depending on what I was doing. Another big plus to the Live! was the low signal to noise ratio apparent when I got almost no hiss when I cranked the volume on my computer speakers to full volume with no sound playing. The Live! also was provided with a 3-D sound accelerated version of Unreal, Cakewalk Express Gold, and a host of other programs that enhance the capabilities of the Live!.
Although the full version of the Live! is pretty spendy (MSRP $199.95), there is a Value edition (MSRP $99.95) that lacks the Digital IO card and Cakewalk software. Most gamers will most likely opt for the value edition because the extra features of the full edition aren’t enough to warrant the extra price for most users. If you are a musician, the Live! full edition does have some excellent features that make midi and sound production on your PC much simpler, easier and cheaper
The Highs of this card are its great sound, low noise and excellent compatibility with almost all 3-D sound API’s available. What are the Lows of this card" Hmmm… I’m still thinking . . . Oh yeah, the fact that A3D 2.0 cards are going to hit the market soon, but for now, it’s still the best gaming card out there. The Bottom line is if you are in the market for a new soundcard and are looking for the best in PC audio, look no further; the Soundblaster Live delivers all you could want and more!