# Soundblaster Z support?



## johnspack (Oct 17, 2017)

I'm actually being drawn to the darkside,  again...  going to probably do a Kubuntu install,  I really like the distro and what I can do with it so far in a vm.  Can I install something similar to my sbz control panel in it?  I probably should google more,  but what I came up with so far doesn't say much....

And mouse,  my mouse sucks under linux,  going to have to change that.  Other than that,  linux is faster, more responsive,  and safer than windows,  period.....

Sorry,  I broke the cardinal rule of linux...  you don't ask,  you just figure it out for yourself and shut up.  Sorry!


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## eidairaman1 (Oct 18, 2017)

Yeah CL doesn't have anything for Linux on their Site directly, and i know running stuff in an emulation layer causes additional resources to be used for adapting linux...

Only Win 10-7, XP, Vista...

Might have to do some web diving to find something, hopefully you do.


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## m0nt3 (Oct 20, 2017)

Soundblaster Z doesn't completely work in linux. I have heard it may in a 32bit OS. I may have gotten optical to work on mine at one point. Best to avoid creative all together for linux. Best solution, get a USB DAC. I ordered me the Schiit Stack and love it. DAC with Seperate headphone amp that has RCA preout for connecting to my receiver for my speakers. Something like the Fioo e10k might be good.


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## johnspack (Oct 21, 2017)

Heh,  yeah,  so far it completely doesn't work,  even though it detects the core3d chip.  Nvidia driver installed just fine,  everything works,  but no sound.  Hmmmm....

Seriously though, if any experienced linux users could give me some clues...  I learned how to make wine work in one night...  I can learn more....
Can I get my Z to work,  or should I just get another sound solution?


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## m0nt3 (Oct 23, 2017)

You need to find another sound card. Unless you want to write a functioning driver. I wasted many days trying to make this work. Realtek, CMedia (ASUS Xonar) and Via codec work fine.


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## Red_Machine (Oct 23, 2017)

I honestly think Creative have abandoned this card.  I bought mine because they'd abandoned the Audigy Rx, and I didn't want to keep using drivers from 2015.  Then they released the Sound BlasterX AE-5 a few days later and it seems that they've stopped providing driver updates for the Z.  Mine are dated January 2017.


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## johnspack (Oct 26, 2017)

Well after trying my onboard acl898,  I'm just going to buy a Xonar U7 mkii.  Problem solved I guess.


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## GoldenX (Oct 26, 2017)

Not only Creative doesn't provide their driver, the also don't give any information to help the kernel developers implement their own.
I have an old PCI Sound Blaster Live! 24 bits, the kernel has a perfectly functional driver for it.


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## johnspack (Oct 26, 2017)

Yes,  it is creatives fault,  nothing since the x-fi is supported.  I'll just get the xonar u7 instead.  Creative lost a 2 decade customer,  oh well.


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## EntropyZ (Oct 26, 2017)

Creative cards cost way too much IMO, because of their stance on drivers. I don't know any other company that abandons support completely just after a successor product releases. Their choice but what the hell.

I have an Audigy 2 that runs on unofficial drivers for Win 7. Something Creative can't put any effort in to. How are they not dead yet? It's like everybody and their mom buys their speakers. (I am guilty of that.)

I'd like to have a nice Sound Blaster AE-5, I really do. But with the way product support is. I'm afraid to take my wallet out.


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## johnspack (Oct 26, 2017)

Just get what I'm going to,  a Xonar U7 Mkii..  192khz 24bit...  should match easily a sbz or beat it,  and apparently works with alsa no issue....


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## RejZoR (Oct 26, 2017)

EntropyZ said:


> Creative cards cost way too much IMO, because of their stance on drivers. I don't know any other company that abandons support completely just after a successor product releases. Their choice but what the hell.
> 
> I have an Audigy 2 that runs on unofficial drivers for Win 7. Something Creative can't put any effort in to. How are they not dead yet? It's like everybody and their mom buys their speakers. (I am guilty of that.)
> 
> I'd like to have a nice Sound Blaster AE-5, I really do. But with the way product support is. I'm afraid to take my wallet out.



Their support is excellent. They've released 3 drivers since release of Sound BlasterX AE-5 in late August. I've also reported them some microphone issue via e-mail and they responded next day with a solution and also later fixed it in driver released few days later. Either I'm that lucky or they are turning a new page when it comes to support and drivers. We'll see how it goes when they launch a new soundcard sometime in the future and how support will remain for "old" product. But so far, better than I've seen in years and their support was already decent with SB Z. Talking Windows of course, not sure how much they care about Linux...


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## Red_Machine (Oct 26, 2017)

That's likely because it's a new product.  In my experience, Creative stop supporting their products rather quickly.


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## Tatty_One (Oct 26, 2017)

When I went Windows 10 (finally) earlier this year I was surprised to find a Win 10 driver set for my old Xifi Elite Pro so I can't really complain, although I know that they will not add any further drivers for 10, it will be just the one.


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## RejZoR (Oct 27, 2017)

Red_Machine said:


> That's likely because it's a new product.  In my experience, Creative stop supporting their products rather quickly.



That was the case back in the day with SB Live! and early Audigy when they had those bloated driver packages. SB Z and SBX AE-5 have small and fast driver package using different framework. It's basically a single package. Which means they have it easier to maintain and if they release new one, they have to whole package (unlike wizth SB Live! where they just released drivers without any control panels, you had a working sound but no way to control it).


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## Ferrum Master (Oct 27, 2017)

RejZoR said:


> That was the case back in the day with SB Live! and early Audigy when they had those bloated driver packages. SB Z and SBX AE-5 have small and fast driver package using different framework. It's basically a single package. Which means they have it easier to maintain and if they release new one, they have to whole package (unlike wizth SB Live! where they just released drivers without any control panels, you had a working sound but no way to control it).



Well... the AE-5 uses same sound core3d bridge combo as Z's the CA0113 + CA0132...(at least what I see from the blurry images, you could help and confirm it) there is nothing really different driver wise from the api point of view, the old eeprom besides the bridge sets device ID and licensed magic keys, I've swapped them for fun on my ZxR while debugging and it changed model. The i2s controls further to the Sabre control are documented child play.

Creative just doesn't want to renew the older series.


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## RejZoR (Oct 27, 2017)

Ferrum Master said:


> Well... the AE-5 uses same sound core3d bridge combo as Z's the CA0113 + CA0132...(at least what I see from the blurry images, you could help and confirm it) there is nothing really different driver wise from the api point of view, the old eeprom besides the bridge sets device ID and licensed magic keys, I've swapped them for fun on my ZxR while debugging and it changed model. The i2s controls further to the Sabre control are documented child play.
> 
> Creative just doesn't want to renew the older series.



Actually, the Core3D chip in AE-5 is modified version. It's not the same as in SB Z models.


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## Ferrum Master (Oct 27, 2017)

RejZoR said:


> Actually, the Core3D chip in AE-5 is modified version. It's not the same as in SB Z models.



Proof? Is it the same number?


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## RejZoR (Oct 27, 2017)

Ferrum Master said:


> Proof? Is it the same number?



Currently I can't find where I read it, but it was Creative that confirmed they fiddled with the DSP unit. It's not a drastic change, but they tweaked it a bit between SB Z and SBX AE-5.


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## Ferrum Master (Oct 27, 2017)

RejZoR said:


> Currently I can't find where I read it, but it was Creative that confirmed they fiddled with the DSP unit. It's not a drastic change, but they tweaked it a bit between SB Z and SBX AE-5.



Silicon is silicon... if the number is the same it's same. Marketing mojos... It's all software anyways, HW just has gpios that communicate with other HW on the board, DAC and ADC and regulates optional things like relays or this time RGB strip via simple controllers...

Basically if I would be in a mood got the AE-5 by hand... I would swap the IC's for fun. Really a PC sound card is a simple thing hardware wise... I could design my own within few months using CM8888. Creative also doesn't experiment a lot, all they do is implement the default manufacturer example of DAC schematic... without any additional work really... it's been ages like that, not that it doesn't work, it's just boring a bit, just like putting a lego together.


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## RejZoR (Oct 27, 2017)

Actually, the way they talked it was about firmware changes, so, the chip is technically the same, but since it's a programmable DSP they can change the software (firmware) running it. It's not a flashable option like with motherboards though...


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## johnspack (Nov 4, 2017)

I take back what I said in the beginning...  I friggin love linux now.  Especially Ubuntu.  It can be as easy as you want,  or as hard.  If just getting an usb dac for sound is all it takes,  I'm getting one.
So easy to open term and issue:  sudo apt-get install whateveryouwant.  I've spent about 3 weeks in linux immersion so far,  wake up to my linux screen,  go to bed after seeing it.  You learn lots when
you force yourself to do that.  And the linux users are right,  pretty much any issue you have,  you can google it and solve it.  Oh yeah,  I started with computers using only dos,  so maybe that helps....
but Ubuntu,  especially Kubuntu,  is so beautifully configurable,  and should be familiar to any windows user,  that anyone should find it usable.  Sorry rambling..  but I've had a breakthrough!


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## GoldenX (Nov 5, 2017)

You are just starting your deep fall through the rabbit hole.


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## johnspack (Nov 5, 2017)

Heh!  After years of playing,  I'm finally loving it....


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## Vlada011 (Nov 5, 2017)

Red_Machine said:


> I honestly think Creative have abandoned this card.  I bought mine because they'd abandoned the Audigy Rx, and I didn't want to keep using drivers from 2015.  Then they released the Sound BlasterX AE-5 a few days later and it seems that they've stopped providing driver updates for the Z.  Mine are dated January 2017.



Up to 2017 I used driver for Sound Blaster Z from 2012 and I was satisfied.
Now I use for SBZxR driver from 2015 and I don't feel that I'm abandoned.
I talk about Windows 7 and Windows 10. They are used on Z77 and X99 systems.
I don't expect every 3 months new driver for sound card if everything works fine.

Same is with GPU, I update drivers when they show up, but I don't bother myself if driver is 1 or 2 months old, or if I miss some update. Important is stability of GPU or nice sound without issue. If everything is OK I think twice before I change something.


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## _UV_ (Nov 5, 2017)

EntropyZ said:


> Creative cards cost way too much IMO, because of their stance on drivers. I don't know any other company that abandons support completely just after a successor product releases.



Well, in first case Creative with SB Audigy 4 Pro, Elite Pro, E-MU 1820m/1616m and so on dropped market prices for "high end" sound 5-10 times, those 1 dollar DACs - CS4398 before them was used in ProTools studio hardware (cost 15-100k $) and audiophile grade receivers/external dacs (cost 5-15k $ each), for the rest of people DACs in even semiprofessional home studio hardware or 1k$ receivers was near the same AC97/HD Audio onboard, with a bit better surrounding electronics.

In second case agree completely, me waiting about 3-5 years for them to release proper Elite pro driver for W7...


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## RejZoR (Nov 5, 2017)

Creative has a lot less problems since they switched to Core3D. Lack of real hardware accelerated API is also a factor I think. But it also shows in 3D audio quality. The audio aspect of games has never been as underwhelming as it is lately.


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## m0nt3 (Nov 6, 2017)

johnspack said:


> I take back what I said in the beginning...  I friggin love linux now.  Especially Ubuntu.  It can be as easy as you want,  or as hard.  If just getting an usb dac for sound is all it takes,  I'm getting one.
> So easy to open term and issue:  sudo apt-get install whateveryouwant.  I've spent about 3 weeks in linux immersion so far,  wake up to my linux screen,  go to bed after seeing it.  You learn lots when
> you force yourself to do that.  And the linux users are right,  pretty much any issue you have,  you can google it and solve it.  Oh yeah,  I started with computers using only dos,  so maybe that helps....
> but Ubuntu,  especially Kubuntu,  is so beautifully configurable,  and should be familiar to any windows user,  that anyone should find it usable.  Sorry rambling..  but I've had a breakthrough!



If you like Kubuntu (when I tried it 3 years ago it was unstable and bloated) then you really should be using KDE Neon, it is ubuntu base but is maintained by KDE developors and has the newest KDE Plasma packages. It would be the best experience for KDE Plasma.

https://neon.kde.org/


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## johnspack (Nov 7, 2017)

Dude,  you should try Kubuntu now...  it's very fast,  and has features up the ying yang....  on my hardware install it would boot in less than 10 secs.  It's rock solid,  admining it is a breeze,  software is plentiful and
easy to find.  With a ton of stuff running,  I still haven't been able to make it use more than 2gbs ram,  or even that.  You can install it fully in less than 10 mins including updates.  Multimedia support is out of the box.
I'm sorry,  but I could go on and on...  quite frankly beats the sh*t out of windows.  I will be trying neon...  I have at least 2 dozen distros in vms right now,  but I always come back to Kubuntu 17.10.


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## m0nt3 (Nov 7, 2017)

johnspack said:


> Dude,  you should try Kubuntu now...  it's very fast,  and has features up the ying yang....  on my hardware install it would boot in less than 10 secs.  It's rock solid,  admining it is a breeze,  software is plentiful and
> easy to find.  With a ton of stuff running,  I still haven't been able to make it use more than 2gbs ram,  or even that.  You can install it fully in less than 10 mins including updates.  Multimedia support is out of the box.
> I'm sorry,  but I could go on and on...  quite frankly beats the sh*t out of windows.  I will be trying neon...  I have at least 2 dozen distros in vms right now,  but I always come back to Kubuntu 17.10.



Kubuntu just uses older versions of Plasma and QT, other than that they both use an ubuntu base, however neon uses Ubuntu LTS (currently 16.04). I stick to rolling release because I need newer kernels and mesa (amd open source drivers, which are quite amazing now).  Currently I am using solus a very nice and user friendly rolling release distro. It is also great because I can hop into IRC and speak to the devs directly for issues or questions, they are very helpful


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## johnspack (Nov 7, 2017)

Incorrect..  Kubuntu comes in both LTS and rolling flavors.  I use the rolling which is Ubuntu 17.10 based.  LTS doesn't have enough for what I need.  17.10 has the newest plasma interface,  and all the newest goodies.
Edit:  Check out the 2 versions:  https://kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/


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## johnspack (Nov 7, 2017)

Plasma enough for ya?


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## m0nt3 (Nov 7, 2017)

johnspack said:


> Incorrect..  Kubuntu comes in both LTS and rolling flavors.  I use the rolling which is Ubuntu 17.10 based.  LTS doesn't have enough for what I need.  17.10 has the newest plasma interface,  and all the newest goodies.
> Edit:  Check out the 2 versions:  https://kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/



I am familiar with Kubuntu, KDE neon gets the newest version of KDE Plasma in a rolling release manor (not the base system, just Plasma and QT), so it is typically at a newer version. Kubuntu is unlikely to do a Plasma update till the next release. The ubuntu periodic releases is not considered a rolling release. Rolling release distros are OpenSUSE Tubleweed, Arch Linux, Gentoo, Debian testing/unstable, and solus to name a few. For instance, 17.10 will end support in 9 months at which point you have to do a do-release-upgrade to move to the newest Ubuntu release for support. With a rolling release there is no need to do a "system upgrade" because the release is rolling a normal upgrade gets you up to date and never loses support. With the Ubuntu releases they loose support LTS is for 5 years (with a new LTS every 2 years) and the periodic release for up to 9months. With Ubuntu method the xserver, kernel, mesa, and DE versions stay the same with the exception of minor version updates. Typically with a rolling release packages are pushed shortly after they hit upstream.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_distribution


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