# Sound Blaster Live! What MIDI Synth is this?



## xLDKx NewYorker (Aug 26, 2014)

Might be a dumb question but...
Sounds really good for a Sound Blaster, question is anyone know the synth in this thing?
BTW It's in my DOS / Early 3D Rig... I know it's not the thread, but any game suggestions would be nice too.


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## Dent1 (Aug 26, 2014)

xLDKx NewYorker said:


> Might be a dumb question but...
> Sounds really good for a Sound Blaster, question is anyone know the synth in this thing?
> BTW It's in my DOS / Early 3D Rig... I know it's not the thread, but any game suggestions would be nice too.



Midi wasn't just unique to Sound Blaster, it was a standard on most soundcards back in the 90s and early 2000s. It was an interface for connecting instruments to the computer.


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## xLDKx NewYorker (Aug 26, 2014)

Dent1 said:


> Midi wasn't just unique to Sound Blaster, it was a standard on most soundcards back in the 90s and early 2000s. It was an interface for connecting instruments to the computer.


I know this, I was asking what synth chip was on this particular model....
Edit* or it's equivalent older Sound Blaster Midi synth... And actually you are wrong Midi is the file that's played... Midi synths were commonplace in the 90's


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## Dent1 (Aug 26, 2014)

xLDKx NewYorker said:


> I know this, I was asking what synth chip was on this particular model....
> Edit* or it's equivalent older Sound Blaster Midi synth... And actually you are wrong Midi is the file that's played... Midi synths were commonplace in the 90's



I'm not wrong.  I'm talking about the MIDI interface.

I misunderstood the specifics of your question but my answer was still correct in regards to the MIDI interface.

MIDI also had its own file format .SMF, . Mid

The soundblaster Live used a FX8010 DSP chip design by E-mu Systems or " E-mu".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FX8010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_Live!


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 26, 2014)

Live and pci 512 were the last series to have a great hardware midi decoder. I remember playing a midi file on those compared to the xfi and they sounded awesome on the pci 512/live


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## xLDKx NewYorker (Aug 26, 2014)

eidairaman1 said:


> Live and pci 512 were the last series to have a great hardware midi decoder. I remember playing a midi file on those compared to the xfi and they sounded awesome on the pci 512/live


Yeah what got me wondering was it kinda sounded like the mt32 but not at the same time... Like middle ground between the two


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## xLDKx NewYorker (Aug 26, 2014)

Dent1 said:


> I'm not wrong.  I'm talking about the MIDI interface.
> 
> I misunderstood the specifics of your question but my answer was still correct in regards to the MIDI interface.
> 
> ...


Thanks, and sorry about that... I misunderstood you as well haha


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## chr0nos (Aug 26, 2014)

AFAIK all soundblaster should be able to sound great, you just need the right soundbank loaded 

Edit: Or Soundfont I think


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## zsolt_93 (Aug 26, 2014)

I still had a SB Live! on my last PC. Too bad there is no x64 driver support. With Win7 32 bits it ran just fine and could power my amp less salvaged speakers that my onboard cant having no dedicated amp needing a pass through the TV and still not as loud as with the SB. Have a few of them laying around the house maybe even some older.


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