Creative Announces Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2 Software Suite

[btarunr]

Creative Technology Ltd. today announced the Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2 software suite - a powerful audio platform equipped with cutting-edge audio technologies designed to enhance ordinary PC systems limited by only basic onboard audio. The Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2 software suite builds on the success of the original Sound Blaster X-Fi MB, bringing enhancement of onboard PC audio to even greater echelons. Through THX TruStudio Pro audio technology and the latest Creative EAX Advanced HD 5.0, users get to enjoy premium audio quality, effects and features on their PC systems.

Gamers can anticipate being blown away by the amazing realism from the unrivalled headphone surround and gaming sound enhancement technologies delivered by the Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2. Creative EAX Advanced HD 5.0 features state-of-the-art multi-environment rendering and reverb modelling, delivering an ultra-realistic and incredibly immersive 3D gaming experience for powering the next generation of cutting-edge PC games. The additional audio cues provided by EAX can also give gamers a competitive advantage in early detection of enemies.

"We are extremely excited to see the Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2 software going into ASUS Republic of Gamers motherboards, with ASUS being the top manufacturer of motherboards in the world and constantly committed to delivering the most innovative and best performing PC solutions to enhance the gaming experience of power users. Our partnership will continue to push the boundaries of PC gaming audio, providing the much-needed realism and immersion in game-play that modern PC games demand," said Steve Erickson, Vice President and General Manager for Audio and Video at Creative.

Creative EAX Advanced HD 5.0 allows greater detail and speed in gaming audio and adds a dedicated bass feed for 128 voices, so gaming audio becomes more cinematic. Developers can also add interactive music to games, where the music can change based on actions during game-play.

Additional features of Creative EAX Advanced HD 5.0 include EAX Voice, EAX PurePath and EAX MacroFX. EAX Voice allows gamers to literally become part of the game by speaking and hearing their own voices with the same effects as the environment their character is in. EAX PurePath delivers the most accurate and cinematic surround sound ever experienced by allowing developers total control over Low Frequency Enhancement (LFE) and which speaker(s) gaming audio is played through, while EAX MacroFX recreates close-up audio so accurately that bullets would never have sounded more frightening as they zip past players' heads only centimetres away.
THX TruStudio Pro provides the latest groundbreaking technologies that are products of years of collective experience and research by Creative and THX. THX TruStudio Pro creates unprecedented levels of audio realism, adds dynamics and punch to every gunshot, explosion and gaming sound; and includes stunning surround effects, producing an incredibly realistic surround sound experience even from just a pair of stereo headphones. The THX TruStudio Pro suite of technologies features THX TruStudio Pro Surround, THX TruStudio Pro Crystalizer, THX TruStudio Pro Speaker, THX TruStudio Pro Dialog Plus and THX TruStudio Pro Smart Volume.

Other audio technologies such as EAX reverbs and a 10-band graphic equalizer allow users to enhance their music even more. These essential audio effects and controls are conveniently placed in a central and intuitive Sound Blaster Console. In addition, a suite of cool players are included to enhance the PC music listening experience, giving users full control over their music streaming and integrating seamlessly with iTunes and Windows Media libraries.

Key Features of Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2:

• THX TruStudio Pro audio technology creates unprecedented levels of audio realism, adds dynamics and punch to every gunshot, explosion and gaming sound; and includes stunning surround effects, producing an incredibly realistic surround sound experience even from just a pair of stereo headphones
• Creative EAX Advanced HD 5.0 features state-of-the-art multi-environment rendering and reverb modelling, delivering an amazingly realistic and immersive 3D gaming experience
• Creative VoiceFX technology allows users to morph their voices into other personas to help players stay in character and add flair to their online role-playing experiences
• Creative ALchemy is a powerful tool that restores EAX effects and 3D surround audio for legacy, DirectSound 3D game titles running on Windows Vista and Windows 7, re-enabling that same great gaming experience
• Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2 comes with native OpenAL support, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of PC games developed with OpenAL for an incredible 3D audio experience

For more information please visit this page.

[Mussels]

even more proof that all the fancy features creative claim are hardware driven on their cards, are really just software and driver tweaks.

strangely, the link given at the end of the post doesnt mention X-fi MB2 at all - just the original

[francis511]

You have to pay for this right ?

[Easo]

the latest Creative EAX Advanced HD 5.0 ;Creative EAX Advanced HD 5.0 features state-of-the-art
EAX 5.0, is how old?

[Sasqui]

Originally Posted by Mussels

even more proof that all the fancy features creative claim are hardware driven on their cards, are really just software and driver tweaks.

strangely, the link given at the end of the post doesnt mention X-fi MB2 at all - just the original

Originally Posted by francis511

You have to pay for this right ?

Interesting move. It certainly reeks of Creative trying to pry cash from customers who realise that onboard sound hardware is just as good as most of their products.

Being "Creative", is certainly going to cost money. How much is the question.

[RejZoR]

Originally Posted by Mussels

even more proof that all the fancy features creative claim are hardware driven on their cards, are really just software and driver tweaks.

strangely, the link given at the end of the post doesnt mention X-fi MB2 at all - just the original

I've used X-Fi MB on my rig and it felt sluggish. So, properly fast chip handling the acceleration is indeed a priority here. So all the bragging about X-Fi superiority is not just marketing BS. I really wonder what the CPU usage will be when using X-Fi MB2 with audio intensive games...

[KainXS]

all it is . . . . . is trustudio, . . . . . . creative must be doing bad about now.

[NdMk2o1o]

Screw creative and their S-Fi MB you lose the serial for the software that comes with the mobo and you have to pay for it, bunch of idiots, wouldn't touch them again.

[RejZoR]

Well, to be honest, it's not their fault that you lost it...

Really? these fools still targeting consumers with dat gaming crap?

Trust me ever since port-ritis Xram, EAX and all the other mumble jumble crap just seems pointless, developers are hard pressed to jump on that bandwagon, but who knows...

[mdsx1950]

Originally Posted by RejZoR

Well, to be honest, it's not their fault that you lost it...

It's not just that. You can only use their key 3 or 4 times. I'm not sure. And afterwards you gotta pay. So their service does suck.

[WarEagleAU]

So this will work with the Supreme FX Xfi card that comes with some mobos like Asus right?

[Batou1986]

And what game released in the last year used eax or any of creatives so called features ?

Creative might as well stop making soundcards there stuff is junk, i bought the X-Fi- plat a while ago i have yet to see any game that it works properly in more less any games that support it.

In fact BF2 and BF 2142 touted xfi as a feature for the best sound which is why i bought it yet when enabled in game it sound great for the first 5 min then sounds start looping i can hear grenades blowing up from miles away and then it just turns into one big screeching cacophony of sound and crashes.

the only thing i do like is being able to upmix 2.0 to 5.1 when listing to music.

[VulkanBros]

Originally Posted by WarEagleAU

So this will work with the Supreme FX Xfi card that comes with some mobos like Asus right?

Well it comes with all Intel and AMD ASUS ROG mobo´s: http://rog.asus.com/
and can free of charge be downloaded from either http://vip.asus.com/ or http://support.asus.com/download/Dow...Language=en-us - remember to select a ROG motherboard ex. Crosshair IV Formula and select Utilitys......

[WarEagleAU]

I looked at that Vulkan, but I didn't see the new one they were talking about. I will look at your links. Thanks bud.

[LAN_deRf_HA]

The hardware makes a big difference, this software solution eats up at least 10% of your cpu. It's the same as when you buy their usb soundcard. It's just adding connectors, the processing is done on your cpu. Though I'm sure those who need to justify their lack of expenditure on a soundcard would love to believe it can all be done with software. Even with this and an ssd + 6 GHz cpu to blow past the performance hit you'll still be limited in quality. People don't swap out their opamps for shits and giggles.

[Perseid]

I almost feel bad for Creative. Way back in the day the Soundblaster was THE card to get. The only other card you even considered was maybe the Gravis Ultrasound. Now that motherboards are coming with onboard audio that already does everything most of us need, they're kinda stuck.

[Meizuman]

I would like to see Creative going bankrupt OR starting to make products with real features.

[RejZoR]

I've used X-Fi MB many more times than only 4 times... no problems. Also, MB version only supports 64 sounds while real X-Fi offers 128 simultaneous sounds.

[craigo]

Is this software Realtek specific?

[KainXS]

Originally Posted by WarEagleAU

So this will work with the Supreme FX Xfi card that comes with some mobos like Asus right?

Originally Posted by craigo

Is this software Realtek specific?

with the first version of X-Fi MB not many codecs were supported besides realtek and ADI's(not many ADI's were supported) HD codecs

The Supreme FX 1 an 2 are ADI codecs on risers and use X-Fi MB,

with Trustudio(kinda like X-Fi MB 1.5) though the X-Fi Xtreme Audio is also supported but the drivers are only given to specific vendors and are hard to find even for the version that supports the codecs.

with X-Fi MB and Trustudio any codec that supports software host(IE:Creative Host Program) is supported but creative has to add them in(it was easier to add it in yourself with X-Fi MB but creative blocked it out and coded it into the dll's instead of an ini in the very first version of Trustudio).

[hat]

Between the audiodg memory leak and cpu usage problems, the driver butchering for the Audigy series on Vista and later, and the recording problems (such as my microphone input sounding like I'm talking through a fan, this is a common problem too), I wouldn't even think about touching Creative with a 10 foot pole.

To Creative: GJ on releasing stuff that already existed. Next time you release something, I hope it's a fix for all the problems everyone's been having with your hardware.

[Sasqui]

Originally Posted by hat

Between the audiodg memory leak and cpu usage problems, the driver butchering for the Audigy series on Vista and later, and the recording problems (such as my microphone input sounding like I'm talking through a fan, this is a common problem too), I wouldn't even think about touching Creative with a 10 foot pole.

To Creative: GJ on releasing stuff that already existed. Next time you release something, I hope it's a fix for all the problems everyone's been having with your hardware.

Tell us how you really feel!

Took me 1 month to get XP drivers for the SB Live... they ended up coming on a nice neat drivers disk from the UK (they simply never realesed them in the US). WTF?

[naoan]

Huh... So what happened to zii? thought it was pretty nifty...

[D4S4]