[iyonix-support] Re: Soundblaster Live driver testing

Some info on Simon's Sound Blaster driver, for anyone who's 
interested.

I got a Sound Blaster Live card through eBay for 4.95gbp, model number 
SB0220. This is compatible with the Iyonix and Simon's driver. Fitting 
is easy -- just plug it into a spare PCI slot. And remember to move 
your amp plug to the SB card output ;-)

Simon's program will only play WAV files sampled at 44kHz (48kHz 
samples will sound slow) -- though the source is provided and it's 
easy to change a single line and recompile it with gcc. The quality is 
excellent.

Adrian Lees has adapted Simon's code and built a provisional 
replacement SoundDMA module. This lets you play mp3s as normal, but 
only via AMPlay (DigitalCD plays one file, then freezes the machine).

Again the quality is excellent, especially if you listen through 
headphones. Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain album has some whistling on it 
which always showed some distortion through the normal Iyonix sound 
system, but plays perfectly through the SBLive (I used to think it was 
imperfections in the mp3 encoding). High piano notes are also much 
improved.

Currently the SoundDMA replacement does slow the machine down a bit. 
DIYDoom becomes a bit jerky for instance, though in normal use you may 
not notice it.

The development discussion is on the Iconbar:

http://www.iconbar.com/forums/viewthread.php?threadid=7281&page=1

...which contains links to the software (still being developed, with 
the possibility of sampling/recording to come).

Public thanks to Simon and Adrian for their work on this. It's a real 
advance for the machine, and they deserve every congratulation :-)

Best, Chris

-- 
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