[iarwain]

I replaced my Soundblaster Live with the 2496. Seems to be working
fine, however:
My Soundblaster Live had a cable running to the cd-rom (I believe).
This cable is attached to that soundcard and does not seem to be
removeable. Should I buy a new cable and attach the cd-rom to the
2496? Is there even a spot on the 2496 to attach it to a a cable for
the cd-rom? There was no mention of having to do this in the manual
or installation instructions. I can open the computer back up and
look but I thought maybe some of you who have installed these would
know.

If there is no spot for a cable on the 2496, does that mean I can't
use my cd-rom anymore? I have an external USB DVD writer so it's not
really a big issue but still. Should I put my Soundblaster Live back
in and try to run both cards? I read somewhere that Windows doesn't
like to have two soundcards? Someone here must have some experience
with this.

[Steve King]

"iarwain" wrote in message
...
|I replaced my Soundblaster Live with the 2496. Seems to be working
| fine, however:
| My Soundblaster Live had a cable running to the cd-rom (I believe).
| This cable is attached to that soundcard and does not seem to be
| removeable. Should I buy a new cable and attach the cd-rom to the
| 2496? Is there even a spot on the 2496 to attach it to a a cable for
| the cd-rom? There was no mention of having to do this in the manual
| or installation instructions. I can open the computer back up and
| look but I thought maybe some of you who have installed these would
| know.
|
| If there is no spot for a cable on the 2496, does that mean I can't
| use my cd-rom anymore? I have an external USB DVD writer so it's not
| really a big issue but still. Should I put my Soundblaster Live back
| in and try to run both cards? I read somewhere that Windows doesn't
| like to have two soundcards? Someone here must have some experience
| with this.

Sorry. Can't answer your question about running the audio out of your
cd-rom to the Audiophile card; however, I can tell you that I have two
computers here running WinXP that are very happy with two sound cards
installed. One has a DAL 2 in/2 out plus a Soundblaster. The other has a
MIA along with the on-board audio. The (semi) pro cards use line in/line
out through a patch-bay and into/out of a mixer. The other cards feed
desktop computer speakers. I route serious audio to and from the better
cards. The other cards are used (on one computer) to feed Internet audio,
Windows Media Player, etc. to the little speakers. On the other, the
primary audio/video computer, the Soundblaster is there as a last resort
spare that I've never had to use.

Steve King

[Peter Larsen[_3_]]

iarwain wrote:

I replaced my Soundblaster Live with the 2496. Seems to be working
fine, however:
My Soundblaster Live had a cable running to the cd-rom (I believe).

Legacy technology option.

This cable is attached to that soundcard and does not seem to be
removeable. Should I buy a new cable and attach the cd-rom to the
2496?

No.

If there is no spot for a cable on the 2496, does that mean I can't
use my cd-rom anymore?

No. Playback will be digital via the disk interface.

I have an external USB DVD writer so it's not
really a big issue but still. Should I put my Soundblaster Live back
in and try to run both cards?

I wouldn't, but may not be a problem. However DO learn to thing along the
lines of "what problem will I solve with this" .... on a production machine
you need a reason to change its setup, you do not just do it to see what
happens. Have a toy machine for such experiments ...

I read somewhere that Windows doesn't
like to have two soundcards? Someone here must have some experience
with this.

Windows doesn't mind two soundcards, but soundblasters are not the first
candidate for a second card, another Midiman card is because the delta
series cards can have their clocks synced. Other than that I can tell you
that I have stopped botbering with disabling mobo sound cards and just let
them co-exist with my delta cards.


Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Laurence Payne[_2_]]

On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:41:29 -0700 (PDT), iarwain
wrote:

fine, however:
My Soundblaster Live had a cable running to the cd-rom (I believe).
This cable is attached to that soundcard and does not seem to be
removeable. Should I buy a new cable and attach the cd-rom to the
2496? Is there even a spot on the 2496 to attach it to a a cable for
the cd-rom? There was no mention of having to do this in the manual
or installation instructions. I can open the computer back up and
look but I thought maybe some of you who have installed these would
know.

If there is no spot for a cable on the 2496, does that mean I can't
use my cd-rom anymore? I have an external USB DVD writer so it's not
really a big issue but still. Should I put my Soundblaster Live back
in and try to run both cards? I read somewhere that Windows doesn't
like to have two soundcards? Someone here must have some experience
with this.

That cable is an obsolete way of getting audio out of the CD drive
when it's playing an audio disk. Modern systems send audio digitally
down the ribbon cable, just like any other data. There might be an
"Enable Digital Audio" setting in Properties for the CD drive. It's
probably on already. Try playing an audio CD. If sound happens,leave
it alone. If not, look for that setting.

You don't need two soundcards.

[Philipp Wachtel[_5_]]

iarwain:

I replaced my Soundblaster Live with the 2496. Seems to be working
fine,

Congrats! ;-)

My Soundblaster Live had a cable running to the cd-rom (I believe).
This cable is attached to that soundcard and does not seem to be
removeable. Should I buy a new cable and attach the cd-rom to the
2496?

No, this cable is only required for analog signal transfer from
CD-/DVD-drive to the soundcard. That was a relevant technique until about 10
years ago. It´s better (and also cheaper!) to simply use the digital
transfer through the CD-drive´s normal ribbon datacable.
In Windows, you can either set this in the properties for the CD-/DVD-drive
(it should actually be set to "Digital playback" or similar by default)
globally, which works for programs like WinMediaplayer. In WinAmp, you´ll
have to check "Nullsoft CD Plug-In..." for the correct setting. This is
because, WinAmp does not use/care about the global Windows settings. The
same goes for the output settings.

Is there even a spot on the 2496 to attach it to a a cable for
the cd-rom?

I could look for it, but I don´t really see a reason to do so. Digital
transfer means better sound quality and one cable less in the PC case...

If there is no spot for a cable on the 2496, does that mean I can't
use my cd-rom anymore?

Why that? Of course, you can still use the cd-rom drive, for reading data,
as well as audio!

I have an external USB DVD writer so it's not
really a big issue but still.

So, try to put an audio cd into this external drive, that has no direct
analog connection to any soundcard and hear, what happens. If you´re using
Win2k, XP or Vista, I´ll bet, you´ll still hear the cd sound coming out of
the soundcard. ;-)

Should I put my Soundblaster Live back
in and try to run both cards? I read somewhere that Windows doesn't
like to have two soundcards? Someone here must have some experience
with this.

Once you´ve become familiar to the sound of the DAC on the Delta 2496, you
won´t want to go back to a SB live.
In other words: NO, do NOT put the SB live back onto the mainboard!


Phil

[Geoff]

iarwain wrote:
I replaced my Soundblaster Live with the 2496. Seems to be working
fine, however:
My Soundblaster Live had a cable running to the cd-rom (I believe).
This cable is attached to that soundcard and does not seem to be
removeable. Should I buy a new cable and attach the cd-rom to the
2496? Is there even a spot on the 2496 to attach it to a a cable for
the cd-rom?

Those are an aboniation. Click the little box that says 'play audio CDs
digitally' and you'll bypass the crappy littel converter oin the
CD/DVD-ROM/RW?whatever...


geoff

[Jay Ts]

iarwain wrote:
I replaced my Soundblaster Live with the 2496. Seems to be working
fine, however:
My Soundblaster Live had a cable running to the cd-rom (I believe). This
cable is attached to that soundcard and does not seem to be removeable.
Should I buy a new cable and attach the cd-rom to the 2496? Is there
even a spot on the 2496 to attach it to a a cable for the cd-rom? There
was no mention of having to do this in the manual or installation
instructions. I can open the computer back up and look but I thought
maybe some of you who have installed these would know.

If there is no spot for a cable on the 2496, does that mean I can't use
my cd-rom anymore? I have an external USB DVD writer so it's not
really a big issue but still. Should I put my Soundblaster Live back in
and try to run both cards? I read somewhere that Windows doesn't like
to have two soundcards? Someone here must have some experience with
this.

Although there are probably many exceptions, you can have more than
one sound card in your Windows system. But you shouldn't need that
Soundblaster any more.

You don't need to connect an audio cable to your CD-ROM. It's only
for passing analog signal from the CD-ROM to the soundcard. Nowadays,
Windows is able to handle digital audio from the CD-ROM, as follows:

(Assuming you are running Windows XP...)

Open the Sounds and Audio Devices control panel.

Control Panel-Sounds and Audio Devices-Hardware

Double-click on your CD-ROM in the Devices list, and
click on the Properties tab. Make sure the "enable
digital CD audio ..." checkbox is checked, and "OK"
out of that dialog box.

Then back at Control Panel-Sounds and Audio Devices,
click on the Audio tab, and in "Sound Playback", select
"Delta AP 1/2". That's channels 1 and 2 (right and left)
of the Audiophile 2496 card.

Click OK or Apply in the Audio control panel, and open the
M-Audio control panel. Make sure the software return
("sw 1/2 rtn") is selected (active, not muted).

Try playing an audio CD. (Start your CD playing app _after_
changing the Control Panel settings, or it may not recognize
the changes.) You should see the level meters responding in
the M-Audio control panel.

If you still can't hear anything, try turning your speakers on.

Jay Ts
http://www.indabamusic.com/people/JayTs
--
To contact me, use this web page:
http://www.jayts.com/contact.php

[iarwain]

Original poster here. Okay, my cd rom is working now. After
installing the soundcard I couldn't even read data with it. But it's
working now - I'm not sure if it's because of some of the adjustments
I made from the suggestions here or if I just forgot to reboot and
that had something to do with it.

I'm very impressed with the level of help and information I've
received in this group. In so many newsgroups there is either little
activity because of people leaving Usenet for message boards, or the
groups are populated with people who don't know what they're talking
about, or they're just not interested in helping out. Almost
everything I've heard here has been very informative, so I appreciate
that.

I didn't realize the 2496 didn't have a 1/8 output, so I guess my
computer speakers are out for now, or at least until I can buy an
adapter. I guess the best thing to do would be to use my powered
monitors, but these are only XLR in so again I would need an adapter.
Right now I'm having to go through my Tascam recorder to play my audio
card through the powered monitors but I don't want to do that
indefinitely. I could hook a stereo up to my computer but I'm likely
better with the powered monitors if I'm going to mixing on it. It's a
new world so I guess I need to say goodbye to the crummy desktop
speakers.

[Mike Rivers]

iarwain wrote:

I didn't realize the 2496 didn't have a 1/8 output, so I guess my
computer speakers are out for now, or at least until I can buy an
adapter.

One of the things that you'll find about this newsgroup is that people
will help beginners, but we expect that you'll do a certain amount of
research on your own, and be willing to accept modifications as
something that's expected, not a work-around because the manufacturer
was stoopid. Adapting connectors is one of those things. You can of
course adapt the connectors as long as they're the same "breed" - that
is, that you're connecting an analog output to an analog input.
Sometimes there are issues with mismatches in signal level, but they can
usually be dealt with pretty easily. The trick is that you can't always
find exactly the cable configuration or adapter that you need, and
you'll have to either put a couple of pieces together or make your own
cables. It's a pretty basic skill. Anyone drummer can do it. g

That being said, your analysis is correct - you can do better mixing on
accurate monitors than you can do on crummy desktop computer speakers.
It's not a simple decision, though, and you can learn a lot about how
your system works and how to to work with it with the speakers you have,
as long as you can get audio into them.

[iarwain]

The trick is that you can't always find exactly the cable configuration or adapter that you need

That's for sure, although I seem to be slowly amassing quite a
collection of cables and adapters! I've been able to find some of the
weirder stuff that isn't in the local stores online. I'm throwing
them all in one box so I can always find one when I need it.

So far this card sounds a lot better than the old Soundblaster, but to
be fair I'm not sure how much is the card and how much is the better
speakers.

[Scott Dorsey]

iarwain wrote:

So far this card sounds a lot better than the old Soundblaster, but to
be fair I'm not sure how much is the card and how much is the better
speakers.

For the most part, better speakers will always make more of a difference
than anything else in the signal chain. Except maybe the room.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Ben Bradley]

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:00:25 -0700 (PDT), iarwain
wrote:

The trick is that you can't always find exactly the cable configuration or adapter that you need

That's for sure, although I seem to be slowly amassing quite a
collection of cables and adapters! I've been able to find some of the
weirder stuff that isn't in the local stores online. I'm throwing
them all in one box so I can always find one when I need it.

Can you make a good solder connection? You might not always be able
to buy a pre-made cable or adapter with the connectors you need, and
making your own cables can be a valuable skill. You might find this
webpage useful (I hope you don't find it overwhelming):

http://rane.com/note110.html


So far this card sounds a lot better than the old Soundblaster, but to
be fair I'm not sure how much is the card and how much is the better
speakers.

[iarwain]

One more thing I'd like to add about the 2496, The manual it came
with was apparently last updated for Windows 98. When it came time to
install the drivers I received a warning from Windows saying the
software did not have the XP Logo and recommended against installing
it. There was a link to download supposedly updated drivers but it
wouldn't allow me to do that either (not sure why), so I went ahead
and installed it against recommendations. Probably not a smart thing
to do, but it seemed to work out okay because I haven't had any
problems.

[Peter Larsen[_3_]]

iarwain wrote:

One more thing I'd like to add about the 2496, The manual it came
with was apparently last updated for Windows 98. When it came time to
install the drivers I received a warning from Windows saying the
software did not have the XP Logo and recommended against installing
it. There was a link to download supposedly updated drivers but it
wouldn't allow me to do that either (not sure why), so I went ahead
and installed it against recommendations. Probably not a smart thing
to do, but it seemed to work out okay because I haven't had any
problems.

NOT using the newest driver version is a good idea, as I recall this it does
not allow you to route the monitor mixer to wav-in, and being able to do
that - as possible in older driver versions - can be extremely practical.

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Mike Rivers]

iarwain wrote:

When it came time to
install the drivers I received a warning from Windows saying the
software did not have the XP Logo and recommended against installing
it.

This is pretty standard for modern audio devices. Microsoft extracts
money from manufacturers to certify their drivers for Windows, and the
small companies like M-Audio can't afford to pay the certification fee
every time the update a driver, so they don't. As long as it comes from
a reputable company and you obtained it through a legitimate channel
(the supplied CD or the company web site) and not from some off-brand
"helpful" web site or from another user, it's perfectly safe to install.

The usual procedure when installing off-the-shelf hardware that comes
with a driver disk is to leave the disk in its package (unless it has
some application programs or manuals on it) and just go directly to the
manufacturer's web site to download the latest version of the driver.
Often off-the-shelf packages have been on the shelf too long and the
software that comes with them has been superseded by newer (and
presumably more bug-free) versions.



--
If you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring and reach
me he
double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo -- I'm really Mike Rivers
)

[Laurence Payne[_2_]]

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:56:44 -0700 (PDT), iarwain
wrote:

One more thing I'd like to add about the 2496, The manual it came
with was apparently last updated for Windows 98. When it came time to
install the drivers I received a warning from Windows saying the
software did not have the XP Logo and recommended against installing
it. There was a link to download supposedly updated drivers but it
wouldn't allow me to do that either (not sure why), so I went ahead
and installed it against recommendations. Probably not a smart thing
to do, but it seemed to work out okay because I haven't had any
problems.

Don't worry. It just means M-Audio haven't paid for a Microsoft
certificate of approval. You'll see this warning a lot when
installing non mass-market devices.