PC Sound Card question re: speakers

Factual Questions
1

I have a Soundblaster Live Value sound card on my not-very-new PC (700 mhz processor, running Windows XP Pro).

I now am also the proud owner of an iPod with iTunes. I’ve successfully connected my PC to my home theater system at the other end of the house. However, in order to do so I had to use the same (green) output port that I was using for my PC speakers. In addition, I had to uncheck the “Digital Output Only” option in the control panel settings. My PC speakers require this setting to be checked in order for them to work.

I’m stumped. I seem to be in an either-or situation.

How can I connect and use both my PC speakers for PC related sounds, and my surround-sound speakers for playing music via iTunes? And can I specify which output goes where? In other words, I don’t want my PC sounds to be coming out of my surround-sound speaks.

Do I need to buy a new sound card? (CompUSA has the Audigy 2 EZ for $99).

2

Short answer is no. The SB Live has only one output (as you’ve seen). A splitter may have been possible if your computer speakers accepted an analog, not digital signal. If you put a splitter on the jack, you’d have to enable or disable digital output every time you wanted to switch speakers.

The Audigy 2 has two outputs (actually can be configered for several, but no need to get that indepth here) one is a digital spdif output, the other is the standard output, which can be either digital or analog. I haven’t played with one too much, but I do believe that the soundcard only will support one output at a time, so you’re back to changing back and forth.

Now, it is possible to install two sound cards in the computer, and tell each program what card to use (I-tunes to use the SB live, set to analog, and attached to the surround sound…other games set to use an audigy, attached to your computer speakers)

3

Thanks kinoons for your response. I have a couple of follow-up questions.

Drat. I was afraid of that. If it were a simple click on the task bar (for example) I could live with it, but that damn “digital output only” check box is buried pretty deep.

This may be a silly question, but what is a “digital spdif” output? Can I connect my computer speakers to this output? On the Audigy 2 box it looks like it has a lot more ports than my Soundblaster Live. I’m disappointed that I can’t configure a digital line out at the same time I have an analog line out.

Hmmm. I hate to be a skeptic, but can I really have two sounds cards in my computer and be able to point programs to a particular sound card? How would I do that? If this arrangement works then I guess I’d have my solution, because I was willing to buy a new sound card anyway.

4
      • You can if the software in question allows dong so. I did it in Win98 and XP, had a SBLive and an Audiophile 2496 installed. Most good audio editing software for example does, but I don’t know a lot else that does. I don’t have iTunes so I don’t know about that, but in other instances you’d just set one sound output as your “system default” and then within individual programs you would set the other as their output. I had my audio editing programs set to use the Audiophile soundcard output, and everything else left on default, which was the SBLive. -And I even used a “splitter” to run them all to the same PC speakers, so I didn’t need two sets of speakers. It worked just fine.
  • Also–consider shopping online. I just looked at MWave and you can get a whitebox/OEM version of the SBLive 7.1 card with Dolby decoding for ~$25 these days, and whitebox Audigy2 for around $40. If you get the SBLive, just be certain to buy one that has Dolby hardware decoding built-in. …The only thing the whitebox/OEM versions lack is the pretty retail box and some of the software. They will have a CD with basic drivers, but won’t have all the fancy media players included–and I already know that the updates on Creative’s site are exactly that–you need an original version of the media player installed off a retail-version CD before you can “update” it, but there are ways of getting around that problem. :wink:
    … -And the software you got with your current card may run on the newer card anyway: I have an SBLive (full-retail version) in my older computer, and bought a whitebox Audigy2 for my new PC. The Audigy2 driver CD did not include the Creative Playcenter, which I like. The FAQ on the Creative site says that “the Audigy2 is not compatible with earlier player software versions”, but I tried it anyway–performed a “custom install”, selecting only the SBLive Creative Playcenter–and after updating, it works 100% perfect.
    ~
5

each program generally has the ability to choose the sound output. The SB Audigy has two outputs, the SPDIF is a direct digital output to speakers that have an intergrated digital decoder. The other output is a normal speaker output (analog or digital)

So, it should work with two sound cards. Its not the best answer in the world, but i think its the only one.

6

Rather than swapping outputs and modes, why not just get a remote media player for the other end of the house?

I’ve got a Squeezebox, and have been happy with it, especially since I was able to point the software at iTunes and say “the MP3s are over there” and it just works.

7

“Mama’s got a squeezebox, daddy doesn’t sleep at night.”

Sorry. I couldn’t resist. <grin> (I had to Google ‘remote media player’ to find out what you were referring to though.)

I’ve got a second sound card. I’m going to try that option. Fortunately there is a 21 day return policy, even if the box is opened.

Thank you all very much for your help. I really appreciate it.

8

Well, I hope one or more of you are subscribed to this thread…

I’m ready to throw everything out. This is so frustrating.

I now have two sound cards installed: Soundblaster Live and Audigy 2 ZS.

Through the XP control panel I can choose to use either one or the other, but not both cards.

If I choose SB Live, I can get my computer speakers to play if I select Digital Output Only. And I can get my home theater system speakers to play if I de-select that option. Of course, without a splitter, I have to also change plugs. Only the Line Out works.

If I choose the Audigy via the control panel, I can’t seem to get anything to work. The documentation says that the card may not work right if there is a SB Live sound card also enabled. I can’t get my computer speakers to work at all, regardless of settings. I can get my home theater speakers to play the test, but I can’t get iTunes to route the output through the Audigy, even if it is the one selected in the control panel.

I cannot find any way to direct a particular program’s output to a particular sound card. How do I do this?

I can’t believe this is that hard to do. It is driving me nuts.

Any ideas?

9

Which program are you trying to point to each sound card? Let me know and I’ll look into it for you.

for example, my TV Tuner card has an audio setting inside its options. there I can select the audio output.

10
      • As far as I have ever seen, the individual program itself needs to contain the ability to select among different sound outputs. In the OS settings, there is only one for “system default”.
        …
  • The “only one soundcard supported at once” issue has been a drawback of Creative cards and drivers for a long time. To get around it, try running one of your cards with the KX drivers instead of its regular Creative drivers. http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/
    ~
11

Thanks DougC, kinoons for responding. I was pretty frustrated last night when I posted my frantic plea for help.

I simply want to direct iTunes output to my surround-sound speakers at the other end of my house, and everything else to my computer speakers. (Actually, it’d be great if I could have the option of which speakers to direct iTunes output to, but I’d accept a more permanent configuration.)

I cannot find a way to configure iTunes to do this. Perhaps it does not have this capability.

I’ll take a look a the KX drivers. Would it maybe work better if I kept my original SB Live soundcard, and added a soundcard that is not a Creative product?

I appreciate any and all guidance.

12

Not saying you HAVE to do this, but I checked in Windows Media Player 10 ::Tools - Options - Devices - Speakers :: and there is an option there to change output device. Is there a way you can get what you want by using WMP (or any other player that’s not iTunes)?

I re-read your OP and am not clear on how the iPod figures into this equation other than you probably use iTunes to configure your iPod…

Anyway, if you have Windows, and WMP10, give it a try just to see if it even works.

13
      • The KX drivers are supposed to support running multiple instances on the same machine. So you can have [any number of cards using the KX driver] and [up to one card using Creative drivers] in the same PC. I tried them a long time ago and they did not support all of the SBLive’s features at that time; they just allowed basic playing and recording, and EAX effects–but that was a couple years ago at least. Even so, you may want to use the KX drivers for whichever card you only need regular analog output on, or check the site and see if digital output is supported now.
        ~
14

I’ll try WMP to make sure it’s a software issue and not a hardware or connectivity issue. I use iTunes to organize my music for my iPod. In theory I could use WMP to play my music, but I would sacrifice the ability to use the playlists created in iTunes. That’s an undesireable sacrifice. One of the things I like most about the iPod and iTunes is the playlist capability.

I’m checking their message board to find out more information. I may have to post a query there on this conumdrum of mine. But even using a KX driver for one of the soundcards, I’m not sure how to get iTunes to use that soundcard instead of the other one.

15

well I looked through Itunes, and I didn’t see any options to choose the audio output. That’s a little disappointing. That means Itunes uses the default windows sound card. Using two sound cards may not solve your issue either, Sorry…

16

Just a thought, do your PC speakers have a headphone jack on them? If so why not connect your surround sound to that? Worst case you’ll unplug the wire from the PC when using the computer, and plug them back in when listening to music.

17
      • Ask on the iTunes support forum if it’s possible to force it to use a certain audio output, or to select from multiple outputs. There may be an *.ini or *.config file that you can alter.
        ~
18

Oooh. I like your thinking “outside the box”. Unfortunately my computer speakers do not have a headphone jack.

I’ll try and do that. Thanks.
Meanwhile, the helpful folks at DriverHeaven forums are helping me with a potential kX driver solution.

As always, you Dopers are the best. Thanks.

19

Oh my. I found out how to direct iTunes output to a particular sound card.

“QuickTime manages the actual audio playback for iTunes.” Sheesh. Who would’ve guessed THAT?

DougC, thanks for the proverbial “kick in the butt” to go to Apple/iTunes to try and find the answer.

After making the changes in QuickTime, my surround-sound speakers are playing iTunes music, and I can simultaneously hear PC sounds from my computer speakers.

I think I’m going to leave well enough alone for now. I’m pretty happy.

20

Strong work, glad to see you were able to get a good answer. Quicktime sets audio for Itunes…That sounds like something Apple, or any company, would do for their product.