New Soundblaster?

Hi,

I'm fed up of the crackling when using Soundfonts at high polyphony on my
Soundblaster Platinum, and I don't think there will be a proper fix anytime
soon.

So, what's the best Soundblaster card to get now then? I'd need soundfont
support, Live Drive! and other such features. 5.1 support would be nice.

Bear in mind I'm running an Athlon with VIA chipset, I don't really want to
buy a brand new card & find out the crackling is still apparent.

Thanks in advance,
Dan.

I'm fed up of the crackling when using Soundfonts at high polyphony on my
Soundblaster Platinum

Soundblaster what Platinum, Live?

I've been using the Audigy for almost 2 weeks now, and I find the MIDI sound
quality to be excellent to say the least. One thing to bear in mind though
is that laying on the reverb and other such effects too thick while playing
loud, rich instruments WILL make the sound distort. It's unavoidable. Try to
turn down the reverb and see if that clears up your problem.

Anyway, I feel the Audigy with its unlimited soundfont size to be superior
to the Live. The PersonalCopy 5.1c font I use now (57MB) is excellent!

Bear in mind I'm running an Athlon with VIA chipset, I don't really want
to
buy a brand new card & find out the crackling is still apparent.

Make sure your mobo BIOS and mobo windows driver pack is up-to-date, that
should fix any VIA issues that remain.

Lenny wrote:
Soundblaster what Platinum, Live?

Yeah - Platinum Live.

[Snip]
Try to turn down the reverb and see if that clears up your problem.

Don't have any reverb on at all. It happens when a few instruments are
playing - high polyphony.

Anyway, I feel the Audigy with its unlimited soundfont size to be
superior to the Live. The PersonalCopy 5.1c font I use now (57MB)
is excellent!

Cool, I'll check it out. )

Make sure your mobo BIOS and mobo windows driver pack is up-to-date,
that should fix any VIA issues that remain.

My MOBO Bios was flashed recently, and windows driver pack is up to date. It
seems Athlon + Soundblaster + Via Chipset = (.

I think I might check out the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro - looks rather nice!

Cheers,
Dan.
--
Daniel Fard
http://www.shelldesign.co.uk

Don't have any reverb on at all. It happens when a few instruments are
playing - high polyphony.

Ok, well I was just trying to eliminate things for you. I guess you play
keyboard yourself, so you know wether you have any DSP effects active or
not, as many MIDI files will turn on more or less reverb on their own...

The PersonalCopy 5.1c font I use now (57MB) is excellent!
Cool, I'll check it out. )

If you use it with a Live, you'll start to lose notes after a while. Audigy
doesn't have that problem, I've played MIDIs for hours and hours with no
drops whatsoever using this soundfont. Very nice, soundfont support and the
flexible DSP engine was one of the main reasons I selected the Audigy2 ZS.

My MOBO Bios was flashed recently, and windows driver pack is up to date.
It
seems Athlon + Soundblaster + Via Chipset = (.

Hm, it actually works fine for most people. Must be a fluke in your
system. You could try moving the card to a different PCI slot, or reading
some BIOS tweaking guides that might fix your issues.

I think I might check out the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro - looks rather
nice!

Is it the one with the internal or external break-out box? The external
version is overly expensive in comparison to what it delivers over its
peers, IMO. I have the basic model since I need the internal audio
connectors to hook up the card to my TV tuner and internal modem.