Creative Audigy 2 User Manual
Have a look at the manual Creative Audigy 2 User Manual online for free. It’s possible to download the document as PDF or print. UserManuals.tech offer 28 Creative manuals and user’s guides for free. Share the user manual or guide on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
Using Audigy 2 Software 3-3 Introduction to the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 software suite This section walks you through the main suite of the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 software that enables you to make full use of Sound Blaster Audigy 2’s versatile and powerful features. Creative MediaSource Go! Creative MediaSource Go! is a convenient launch pad, not only for Creative MediaSources components, but also for your own frequently used applications. If you have desktop shortcuts for your favorite applications, you can place them in one central location, Creative MediaSource Go! The Creative MediaSource Go! button launches Creative MediaSource Go! Launcher. Creative MediaSource Go! floats on your desktop as a small profile bar. Clicking a button on the bar causes it to expand horizontally into a shortcut bar. Creative MediaSource Go! Launcher contains icons that launch the various MediaSource modules for controlling Sound Blaster Audigy 2. You can also add your own shortcut icons to Creative MediaSource Go!. For more information and usage details on Creative MediaSource Go!, refer to its online Help. Creative MediaSource Go! Launcher Just like the Start button in Windows, Creative MediaSource Go! Launcher provides a single point of access to most of the software programs you need, to control and customize Sound Blaster Audigy 2. Creative MediaSource Go! Launcher consists of four tabs: Programs, Product Settings, Product Support and Companion Products. ❑Programs houses shortcuts to Sound Blaster Audigy 2 applications. You can also add your own shortcuts to other applications. ❑Product Settings houses shortcuts to specific programs for changing Sound Blaster Audigy 2’s hardware settings. ❑Product Support contains diagnostic software, product update information, product registration forms, demonstration software as well as helpful documentation such as Getting Started guides. ❑Companion Products allows viewing of information on other Creative products and applications.
Using Audigy 2 Software 3-4 For more information and usage details on Creative MediaSource Go! Launcher, refer to its online Help. Creative MediaSource Player Creative MediaSource Player is the only software you will need for music and multimedia entertainment. Unlike other media players, Creative MediaSource Player is specially designed to access the power of your Sound Blaster Audigy 2 card. With it, you can: ❑play back music and multimedia files: MP3, WAV, WMA, NVF, MLP, Video CD, etc ❑enhance playback of ordinary music with surround effects using EAX ❑vary the speed of audio playback without affecting the pitch (Time Scaling) ❑use Smart Volume Management to play back a list of songs at a similar volume level even if they were originally recorded at different loudness levels ❑Switch between Creative MediaSource Organizer and Creative MediaSource Player with just a click of the mouse. ❑Use the built-in Creative MediaSource Recorder to record audio (see the section below). For extra convenience, you can switch between Creative MediaSource Organizer and Creative MediaSource Player with just a click of the mouse. For more information and usage details on Creative MediaSource Player, refer to its online Help. “What U hear” multichannel recording Use Creative MediaSource Recorder to record at up to 24-bit/96 kHz from any audio sources processed by the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 card. A multichannel What-U-Hear recording mode lets you capture audio directly from the audio cards 6.1-channel analog speaker outputs, without the need to connect any cables to the Line Out connectors. You can then capture surround-sound movie/gameplay audio, and even audio content enhanced or upmixed with CMSS and EAX effects. For more information and usage details on Creative MediaSource Player and Recorder, refer to its online Help. Creative MediaSource Organizer Managing a huge collection of audio CDs and MP3 files can be a headache. With Creative MediaSource Organizer, you can find any recording easily, no matter where it is stored on your hard disk or external storage devices. The following is a list of tasks you can perform with Creative MediaSource Organizer.
Using Audigy 2 Software 3-5 Finding and organizing songs Creative MediaSource Organizer searches your hard disk to compile a database of songs available, called a “PC Music Library” or PCML. Once you have a PCML, you can sort it and search for songs. Searching is very fast due to a sophisticated engine and use of three search fields: artist, genre and album. Once songs have been found, you can create playlists to automatically replay them in any desired sequence. You can also enter and edit extra information about each MP3 recording with ID3 tags. Ke e p yo u r mu s i c database up to date As songs are added or deleted from your computer and other storage devices, your PCML will need to be kept up to date. The Media Sniffer will monitor specified folders on your hard disk for file changes, and update your PCML accordingly. Transferring songs NOMAD users can use Creative MediaSource Organizer to transfer music files to and from the computer and other compatible devices. Automatically playing multimedia content Media Detector makes it easy for users to access multimedia content from various internal or external media. There is no need to hunt through a maze of different software to play different types of files. Media Detector automatically recognizes the insertion or connection of CDs, VCDs, and external devices like the NOMAD Jukebox and NOMAD MP3 players. Upon recognition, the content in the media will automatically start playing without further intervention from the user. Extracting and converting songs Storing hundreds of songs on your computer can consume much hard disk space. WAV files and tracks from audio CDs can take up to 50 MB per song. To reduce storage on your hard disk, you can convert tracks from audio CDs into smaller 4 to 5 MB MP3 files. Creative MediaSource Organizer’s built-in Rip Now module lets you easily extract tracks from audio CDs, then convert them to MP3 and WMA formats at high resolution bit rates of 320 Kbps and 160 Kbps, respectively. To eliminate the need for you to manually type the track information of an audio CD’s ripped tracks, a feature called CDDB can connect your computer to the Internet (Gracenote’s CDDB service) and automatically retrieve the track names and other useful track information for you.
Using Audigy 2 Software 3-6 Storing music on recordable CD If you have a CD-writer, another way to reduce music storage on your computer’s hard disk is to record audio tracks onto CD-R or CD-RW for playback on many consumer hi-fi devices. Creative MediaSource Organizer’s Burn CD module lets you create your own audio and MP3 CDs from WAV, MP3 and WMA files. The Burn CD feature also lets you easily design, create, and print matching CD covers and liner notes for your audio CDs. For more information and usage details on Creative MediaSource Organizer, refer to its online Help. Creative MediaSource DVD Audio Player Use this application to play back today’s highest quality audio recordings available on DVD-Audio discs. You can enjoy music 24-bit/96 kHz multichannel surround-sound music, or stereo recordings of up to 24- bit/192 kHz resolution. A Pentium III/AMD Athlon 1 GHz or faster processor is recommended. Requires 256 MB RAM for Windows 98 SE, Windows Me, Windows 2000 SP3 or Windows XP SP1. Also requires a second-generation 6x or faster DVD-ROM drive. Visit www.soundblaster.com for updates on OS- specific support issues. Creative EAX Console Creative EAX Console allows you to configure the Audigy 2 processors effects engine. Creative EAX Console promises to deliver sounds that are so life-like, you can almost see them! It is the computer industrys first system to recreate and deliver real-world, interactive audio experiences in games, music, and other audio applications. These audio effects take your computer beyond home-theater quality, immersing you in sound so vivid, your imagination can almost “see” it. The effects go beyond todays surround sound and 3D positional audio, to actually model an environment by taking into account room size, acoustic properties, reverb, echo, and many other effects that create a real-world experience. Creative EAX Console consists of four sections: Audio Effects, CMSS 3D, Audio Clean-up and Time Scaling. Audio Effects: Environmental Sound Processing In Audio Effects, you can choose how you want to enhance all kinds of ordinary two-channel sounds. ❑Advanced EQ lets you boost or de-emphasize the low, mid or high frequencies of sound to suit individual preference and equipment characteristics. Choose various presets like Jazz or Rock to suit the audio characteristics you like best.
Using Audigy 2 Software 3-7 ❑Special Effects let you modify sounds with pre-programmed algorithms so that male voices can be turned into female voices, or human speech turned into “chipmunk talk”. You can have lots of fun, especially when communicating over the Internet. ❑Studio Effects can add standard distortion, wah, delays and chorus effects to an electric guitar or other musical instrument. ❑Environmental Effects simulate typical acoustic environments like stadiums, concert halls, and jazz clubs. By choosing an effect like “concert hall”, you can make any music sound like it is being produced inside a concert hall, with all the characteristic echos and reverbration. Various settings let you vary the type of effect, amount of effect applied, and others. If you have connected rear speakers to your computer, EAX will trick your ears into believing that your room has turned into a concert hall or jazz club. EAX becomes more effective as the number of speakers connected is increased. It supports up to 6 speakers and one subwoofer. ❑Karaoke Effects let singers add high-quality echo to add richness to their voices. Users can also vary the music’s pitch to suit their vocal range. CMSS 3D: Simulating Surround Sound Creative MultiSpeaker Surround (CMSS) 3D makes ordinary two-channel (Left and Right Stereo) sound seem to surround you, even through only two speakers. For users with 5.1 or 6.1 multichannel speaker systems, CMSS can also simulate surround sound from ordinary stereo. This is useful for watching DVDs and VCDs, which contain only stereo soundtracks. Select CMSS for multichannel audio enhancement on 4/4.1, 5.1 or 6.1 speaker systems, and CMSS2 for movies. Note: For a 4/4.1-speaker system, audio for your subwoofer is processed by the speaker system. Audio Clean-up: Removing noise and distortion Audio Clean-up allows you to process prerecorded as well as real-time audio, in order to remove noise, click sounds and other artifacts. For example, when recording music from old vinyl records, “click” and “pop” sounds can be removed with the Clean-up feature. The Click Meter informs you whenever the noise clean-up feature is activated during recording and also how many clicks are removed.
Using Audigy 2 Software 3-8 Time Scaling: Varying the speed of playback Karaoke fans and musicians may sometimes wish to slow a song down (or speed it up) to catch the lyrics or play along with the music. However, varying the speed usually also varies the pitch of the song. With the Time Scaling feature, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 users can maintain the pitch of a song while varying the playback speed. For more information and usage details on EAX ADVANCED HD, refer to the Creative EAX online Help. Creative Surround Mixer Use Creative Surround Mixer to select the device you wish to listen to or record from. It operates in two possible modes. Click the Basic Mode or Advanced Mode button to switch between the two modes: In Basic mode, you can: ❑mix sounds from various audio input sources when playing or recording ❑control volume, bass and treble In Advanced mode, you can: ❑control balance and vary the loudness ratio between front/rear speakers (fader) ❑control the relative loudness levels between Front Center, Rear Center and Subwoofer speakers (if any) For more information and usage details on Creative Surround Mixer, refer to its online Help. Creative Speaker Settings This is the main application to use for the following tasks: ❑Designating the number and configuration of speakers to use ❑Testing your speakers ❑Activating or deactivating Digital Output ❑Managing bass output by selecting subwoofer crossover frequency and volume Creative Speaker Calibrator Creative Speaker Calibrator assists you in optimizing loudspeaker settings and positioning to create much better surround sound and gaming sound effects.
Using Audigy 2 Software 3-9 Creative MiniDisc Center Creative MiniDisc Center allows you to play back songs on CDs or supported audio formats, and record them to digital recorders such as Digital Audio Tape machines, and also MiniDisc (MD) recorders. With Creative MiniDisc Center, you can: ❑create an album of your favorite songs, each of which may be in a different audio format ❑insert a preset period of silence automatically between each track ❑play back your personal album and record it to your MD recorder For more information and usage details on Creative MiniDisc Center, refer to its online Help. Creative SoundFont Bank Manager You can use Creative SoundFont Bank Manager to easily switch between multiple SoundFont banks for performances. This module is optimized to let users quickly audition various presets, reset MIDI devices, or create/modify/save various SoundFont banks from your computer’s RAM. Creative SoundFont Bank Manager also switches the Drum Kit on or off at Midi Channel 10. A virtual keyboard is provided for the user to use the computer’s keyboard or mouse to audition SoundFont banks or play musical notes produced through MIDI devices. To edit the presets in the SoundFont banks, use Vienna SoundFont Studio, which you can download from http://www.SoundFont.com. You can use external MIDI input devices to audition your MIDI banks and instruments. First, connect a MIDI input device to your audio card and then select that device in the Creative SoundFont Bank Manager. Once you discover the power of SoundFont technology, you will be amazed at the sound design possibilities available. For more information and usage details on Creative SoundFont Bank Manager, refer to its online Help.
Using Audigy 2 Software 3-10 Creative Audio Stream Recorder 2 Normally, to listen to a song on the Internet, you need to download the entire file onto your hard disk first — before you can even hear the music. Internet radio stations can, however, make it more convenient for you to enjoy downloaded music: they employ “streaming” technology by which music data flows like a “stream” to your audio card directly, bypassing permanent hard disk storage. Thus, the song starts to play as soon as a portion of its data stream has arrived at your audio card. The downside of streaming technology was that you could not record the music onto your hard disk for future reference. Audio Stream Recorder 2 (ASR2) is designed to overcome this problem by letting you record streaming audio onto your hard disk as standard MP3 or WMA files. To use ASR2, select from its predefined list of radio stations to listen to. You can click the red Record button to start recording music to your hard disk, or use the Schedule feature to program the computer to record streaming music unattended. You can also use ASR2 to listen to selected radio stations live by clicking the blue Play button. For more information and usage details on Creative Audio Stream Recorder 2, refer to its online Help. Creative Wave Studio When you need to edit sound files, use Creative Wave Studio. This application supports popular file formats like WAV and AIFF. With Wave Studio, you can convert between file formats and edit out any section of sound. Apply effects like fade-in/fade-out. You can also use it to blend two or more songs into a single file. For more information and usage details on Creative Recorder, refer to its online Help.
Using Audigy 2 Software 3-11 Diagnostic and troubleshooting utilitiesCreative Diagnostics Use Creative Diagnostics to quickly test your audio card’s Wave, MIDI or CD Audio playback capability, recording function and speaker output. For more information and usage details on Creative Diagnostics, refer to its online Help. Creative Speaker Settings This is the main application to use for managing your speakers and troubleshooting problems related to speaker configurations. See “Creative Speaker Settings” on page 3-8.
A General SpecificationsThis section displays the specifications of your Sound Blaster Audigy 2 card and Joystick/MIDI bracket.