--- name: "oss_sblive" section: "7" platform: "linux" package: "oss4-base" version: "4.2-build2010-2" release: "Debian 8 (Jessie)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/oss_sblive" --- # oss\_sblive(7) Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live/Audigy family driver. ## NAME **oss\_sblive** - Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live/Audigy family driver. ## DESCRIPTION **Open Sound System driver for Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live!, Audigy,** **Audigy2, Audigy2-Value and sound cards.** **The sblive driver supports:** - • **8-48Khz Playback/Recording** - • **8 or 16 bits** - • **SPDIF digital output and Input** - • **Multi channel 5.1 (Live!) and 7.1 (Audigy) output.** **AC3 passthrough is only supported on Audigy series of the soundcards.** ## OTHER SIMILAR CARDS **There are several Sound Blaster cards that are also called as Live or** **Audigy. However these cards are based on entirely different hardware design** **and they are not compatible with this driver.** - • **Sound Blaster Live 5.1 card is used in some Dell machines but it's** **driven by the emu10k1x driver.** - • **Sound Blaster AudigyLS and Live 7.1 models are driven by the audigyls** **driver of OSS.** ### SBLIVE COMBO SPDIF AND AUDIO JACKS **Most models of Live! and Audigy cards have an orange combo jack that is** **used both for the analog center/LFE output and for digital DIN (S/PDIF)** **output. The output mode is selected by a driver configuration option** **(seel below) which should be set to proper value depending on the actual** **speaker configuration.** - • **Noisy analog center/LFE output. The orange combo jack at the rear plate** **of the Live/Audigy card is shared between the digital DIN and the analog** **center/LFE outputs. In digital DIN mode (default) you will hear very noisy** **output from the speakers connected to this output jack. If you have analog** **center/LFE (subwoofer) speakers connected then you need to turn off the** **sblive\_digital\_din (or audigy\_digital\_din) option.** - • **There is a new configuration option to enable/disable the "digital DIN"** **output. By default the digital DIN interface is enabled which disables the** **center/LFE analog output (uses the same combo jack). By setting the** **sblive\_digital\_din (or audigy\_digital\_din) option to 0 you can enable the** **analog C/LFE output feature. When digital DIN is disabled you can still get** **S/PDIF (or AC3) output from the digital (optical/coax) outputs of the** **optional livedrive unit.** ### SBLIVE MIXER **SB Live cards have actually two mixer chips. In OSS both of them are** **controlled together. However only limited set of features can be controlled** **using ordinary mixer programs (such as the mixer applet included in OSS).** **Majority of features can only be accessed using the ossmix and ossxmix** **programs included in OSS.** **The AC97 mixer is used to control volumes of the back bracket inputs (mic and** **line in) and the \_analog\_ CD input connector on the soundcard. The 'mic'** **volume controls the level of the rear bracket microphone input sent directly** **to the front (only front) speakers. The 'line' and 'cd' controls do the same** **for the back bracket line in connector and the on board analog CD input** **connector. It's usually recommended to set these volumes to 0.** **Another function of the AC97 mixer is selecting the signal that is passed to** **the master mixer (for example for recording). One of the 'mic', 'line' or** **the recording source in the AC97 mixer. The 'rec' volume control slider can** **be used to adjust the signal strength. The 'igain' control doesn't usually** **have any effect but some hardware revisions may use it for controlling the** **microphone recording level.** ### SBLIVE MASTER MIXER **Other mixer functions are handled by the DSP engine of the EMU 10k1 chip.** **Most input signals (including all digital signals and LiveDrive inputs).** **There are only two master mixer settings that can be controlled using all** **mixer programs. The 'vol' setting is the master output volume that affects** **both the front and rear speakers and the headphone output (digital output** **volumes are not affected). The 'pcm' setting controls volumes of all PCM** **playback channels (/dev/dsp#).** **In addition to volume sliders most inputs have a stereo VU meter pair** **(only in ossxmix) that can be used to monitor the input and to adjust the** **input levels properly.** **The master mixer consists of several sections that are:** - • **Primary section: This section has two settings. The "spkmode" setting** **selects how front/rear speakers are used for PCM playback (outputs from** **programs using /dev/dsp#). The possible settings are FRONT, REAR and** **FRONT+REAR. The default is FRONT+REAR. Change this setting if you like to** **get PCM playback only from front or rear speakers. The "autoreset" flag is** **used to control the "/dev" section.** - • **"/dev" section: This section controls the volumes of each /dev/dsp# device** **file supported by the device (there are 8 of them at this moment). These** **volumes will return back to maximum every time the device is opened. However** **this can be disabled by setting the 'autoreset' option to OFF. The ossxmix** **program has special ability to show the application using the particular** **/dev/dsp device (for layout reasons only the first 4 characters of the** **program name are shown).** - • **The equalizer section: This section controls the graphic equalizer for** **front speakers only.** - • **The front rear, and record sections: These three identical sections control** **the levels of external inputs and PCM playback (/dev/dsp# devices) to be** **sent to the front/rear speakers and to the recording device.** **The CD Analog audio will only be heard from the FRONT speakers.** ### SBLIVE RECORDING **Before recording anything you need to set the volumes in the recording** **section properly. To enable recording from the AC97 connected inputs** **(mic, line in and analog CD) use the AC97 mixer to select the desired input** **and then tune the input level using the rec (and igain) setting.** **Finally set the 'ac97' slider in the record section of the master mixer so** **that the recording level is suitable.** **The OSS drivers permit recording any application that's currently playing.** **To record audio that's playing on any of the SB Live channels:** - • **Turn down the AC97 control in the "record" section. This prevents any audio** **being fed to the soundcard from MIC/Line-in/CD-in from getting mixed with** **the audio produced by the application that's currently playing.** - • **Type ossrecord -s\ -b\ -c\ test.wav** - • **To stop recording press \ and then you can play back the test.wav** **file using ossplay command.** **RECORDING ISSUES:** **In most cases noise is caused by the microphone input or some other** **(unused) input. Use the ossxmix program to turn off all unused inputs and** **finally save the current mixer settings (see below).** **Hint: Look at the VU meter panels of ossxmix. It's usually very easy to** **locate the noise source by looking which input has some signal coming from** **it.** **WARNING! If you turn off some of the signals in recording section or the** **AC97 mixer section this affects all subsequent recordings. Remember** **to raise the volume prior doing any recording. After that decrease** **the volumes again if necessary.** ### SBLIVE HARDWARE MIXING **You can use /dev/oss/oss\_sblive0/ pcm0-pcm7 to play multiple audio programs** **using the hardware mixing.** **Simply specify the device name with the application. A simple test is** **to do the following:** **ossplay -d/dev/oss/oss\_sblive0/pcm0 \ &** **ossplay -d/dev/oss/oss\_sblive0/pcm1 \ &** **ossplay -d/dev/oss/oss\_sblive0/pcm2 \ &** **You should hear all three wav files playing simultaneously.** **NOTE: Some apps may desire the old /dev/dspN names. e.g. /dev/dsp0 - /dev/dsp7.** **NOTE: You can increase the number of output devices from the standard 8 devices** **to 32 device. For this, run soundconf, select Set configuration options and** **look for the entry "sblive\_device", now type any number between 1 and 32** **for the number of channels you wish. You can also do this manually by editing** **oss\_sblive.conf and inserting sblive\_devices=XX entry,** **e.g.: sblive\_devices=27** ### CDROM CONNNECTIONS **There are two alternative ways to connect audio signal from a CD-ROM drive tor** **the SB Live soundcard. You can use a (three wire) analog cable or a (2 wire)** **digital cable. OSS now supports both of these choices. Note that there are** **separate mixer settings for both of these connections.** **The analog CD-ROM wire is connected to the AC97 code chip and this method** **works in most cases. To route the analog CD -input to the (front) speakers** **you need to raise the volume of the 'cd' control in mixer. However if you** **like to hear the analog CD input both from the front and rears speakers you** **need to do this in slightly different way (please read the description of** **the mixer above).** **The digital connection works only with CD-ROM drives that has support for it.** **Note that some CD-ROM drives having this digital output connector use a** **different signal level than the one required by SB Live. This means that the** **digital connection doesn't work with all CD-ROM drives (no sound). If you** **have problems with the digital connection you should use the analog one.** **When using the the digital CD input you may need to adjust the 'digcd'** **volumes using ossxmix (or ossmix).** **It should be noted that SB Live works internally at 48 kHz. This means that** **all S/PDIF input signals are automatically sample rate converted to 48 kHz.** **If you record from a 44.1 kHz (CD-ROM) and save the result to a 44.1 kHz** **file the signal will be sample rate converted twice. First from the 44.1 kHz** **input to internal 48 kHz and then back to 44.1 kHz. While the sample rate** **converter of SB Live is very precise this will cause some change. This should** **not be any problem when doing audio recordings but it may cause unwanted** **results when transferring digital data (such as AC3/DTS) using the S/PDIF** **the interface.** ## CONFIGURATION OPTIONS - • **sblive\_digital\_din=\<0\|1\> - This option is to enable/disable the "digital DIN"** **output of SB Live. By default the digital DIN interface is disabled which** **enables the center/LFE analog output (uses the same combo jack). By** **setting the sblive\_digital\_din option to 0 you can enable the analog** **Center/LFE output feature. When digital DIN is disabled you can still** **get S/PDIF (or AC3) output from the digital (optical/coax) outputs of the** **optional livedrive unit. Default: 0=analog output.** - • **audigy\_digital\_din=\<0\|1\> - same as "sblive\_digital\_din" option except for** **the Audigy soundcards. Default: 1=digital output.** - • **sblive\_devices=\<1..32\> - Number of audio devices to be configured.** ## LIMITATION - • **SB Live! devices will not work in Sparc systems due to PCI addressing** **limitations. Only Audigy/Audigy2 models work under Sparc.** - • **EMU Wavetable MIDI synthesizer is not supported** - • **AC3 passthrough only supported on Audigy/Audigy but not on SB Live! devices.** ## FILES **/etc/oss4/conf/oss\_sblive.conf Device configuration file** ## AUTHOR **4Front Technologies**