SB Live question

MJOMJO Denmark New
edited January 2007 in Hardware
I recently bought a NF7-S rev 2.0
And it has no midi/game port
Therefore I cannot connect my midi keyboard.
Hmm:confused:

But I have a SBLive Player 5.1. I could use the gameport on that couldn't I?
My question is then, how do I connect the SBLive card without using anything but the midi port?
I do not need the other functions.

I am tired of Creatives driver support therefore I will use the onboard sound.

It should be possible to use the keyboard through the SBLive card, right?

Comments

  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    Yes, the gameport on the SB LIVE also doubles as a MIDI interface. You will need to get yourself the appropriate lead thought. As far as just using the gameport and not the actual soundprocessor that may prove a problem.

    Because the gameport on the soundblaster live has it's own driver in addition to the actual sound processor, disabling everything but the gameport is easy. You simply go into device manager and disable the desired components.

    The problem you might encounter is getting the midi signals to route through the soundblaster lives midi sound processor to the one the other onboard sound processor on the motherboard.

    However if you are using a half descent program/sequencer for collecting the midi data, selecting the onboard sound processor as the primary sound source shouldn't be a problem.

    Let me know if you have any problems once you've set it all up.

    Also I might point out that the drivers for the SB LIVE series are pretty good now. Though I understand why you are sceptical, Creative are hardly the kings of driver support. But it might be worth considering using you SB LIVE in the event you can't get all this working.

    Cheers
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited June 2003
    I have used the midi keyboard together with the SB Live
    I have all the wires needed.
    I used it with my previous motherboard a KT7A-Raid that has "died" of leaking caps. (I hope it can be repaired)

    Can I get you to post a link to the working SB Live drivers?

    I remember earlier when I updated the drivers that either did the midi not work or some other feature of the card did not work.

    I think I will try hooking it up later then I will report back.

    Do you know of a utillity similar to Creatives keyboard utillity?
    A program letting you play live and not through a midi sequencer program.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    Here is a link to Creatives driver download site :

    http://uk.europe.creative.com/support/drivers/

    However I have a much better set of drivers than the ones which are available from Creative. I can never remember where I got them from but they are probably the best drivers for the live series of cards. So what I have done is I've uploaded them temporarily to my own website for you. So grab them quick.

    www.spinnershomepage.co.uk/3512.zip

    As for the a utility, well, I'm not quite sure what you're after. When ever I just want to have play on my midi keyboard I just load up Cubase (a sequencer) and play through that. What exactly do you want to do? Sorry if I'm being a bit slow today.

    Hope the above drivers help you out.

    Cheers
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited June 2003
    Thanks for hosting the file, I am downloading it right now

    I do not know if you have ever seen it but Creative bundles a keyboard program with the drivers.
    I think it is called Crative Keyboard.
    Something like that as a standalone utillity.
    I am not planning to use the creative drives unless I have to.

    I can remember when I was using two soundcards, it was a real hell to setup.

    It was a Gravis Ultrasound and a SB16 PnP.
    It worked fine most of the time.
    Still have the GUS somewhere.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    I'm not sure I can help you with finding the utility you are after. But if you need anymore help with getting the hardware up and running, don't hesitate to ask.

    Let me know how you get on.

    Cheers
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited June 2003
    It would be somthing like this that I am looking for

    Soundfont Player
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited June 2003
    Well now I have connected my SB Live card.

    And it works, after disabling the onboard sound though.

    I couldn't get it working when the onboard sound was enabled.

    The onboard soundcard has a big problem with Enter the matrix it goes crazy with its EAX and all you can hear is echo.

    Now the SB Live has problems in GTA:VC.

    I used a driverpackage from earlier, do not know how old it is.

    I could not get Spinners driver working.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    How did you go about trying to install the drivers I hosted for you? They don't have a setup program as such, you need to manually install them by going into device manager. You are using Windows XP right?

    Also try downloading the latest off Creatives site (I posted a link above), they will be easier to install as they will come intergrated with an install program.

    Also, EAX is always a bit funny to get working, if in doubt just disable it.

    If you aren't familiar with installing drivers manually, let me know and I will walk you through it. Though like I said I was working on the assumption you were running Windows XP, the drivers I hosted where 2000/XP drivers. If you are running any other OS they obviously won't work. If you are using another OS then your best bet is to use the drivers from Creative, again download the latest off their website.

    Keep me posted.
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited June 2003
    I am running XP

    And there was no problems with the install it just didn't work out.
    Think I will give it another go.
    Maybe I was lacking some other files, as you said it is only the driver.

    Btw: Wierd question of the day, does a USB to midi/gameport adapter exist?
    And will it work.
    I think I saw one at a website once.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    Yes, USB to MIDI exists:

    I have a studio pro in my repetoire of experts:

    He recommends the following:

    http://www.midiman.com/products/midiman/usbmidi.php

    He also says that USB is the way to go, way better than the old style gameport-midi things.
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited June 2003
    Ahh brilliant.

    Now I have to find a retailer that sells those things.

    I was certain that I had heard about it.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    Yeah they are much better than regular gameport interfaces.
  • MERRICKMERRICK In the studio or on a stage
    edited June 2003
    I once tried to use an Asound card only for the midi port but if I recall it was using 2 IRQ's and I only needed one. I contacted tech support and they said this can't be split. I wound up getting a dedicated M-Audio 2x2 midi I/O card (ISA) for my KT-7 RAID. I found it to be incredibly stable. Perhaps the dedicated legacy IRQ(?) I'm not sure what I'm going to do for my next MIDI setup. USB or a sound card with built in MIDI or a dedicated MIDI PCI card.:scratch:

    The thing that I learned is that you can never have too many MIDI I/O ports. I think I would go for a 4x4 setup next time if budget allows. I hate tinkering back there to change cables etc.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    Yeah the studio customer guy who recommended those USB adapters bought the 8x8 for the very same reason: You can never have enough midi in/outs.
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited June 2003
    Yes why did they agree that every connection should be back there?
    Now everything is moving to the front but that looks equally foolish. Imagine your housing with a hundred wires lying in front of it. :p

    I am needing this on amateur basis I am not a pro.

    I have found this to be rather cheap here in Denmark.
    USB MIDISPORT 1x1

    I think I will puchase such a device when my budget allows it.

    Unfortunately it would be a bit down the list.
    Below a new PSU, a new gamecontroller, a dvd-rom (maybe)
    and then comes the midiman.
    This list could change though.

    Btw what cable would I need to connect the keyboard to the midiman? The only cable I have only is with a midi/gameport connector on it.
  • MERRICKMERRICK In the studio or on a stage
    edited June 2003
    While we're on the subject of joystick/MIDI port I have a question. As you may know I am on a lone quest to "strip windows98SE" to a near embedded system strictly for digital audio/video. I am stripping all files & registry references to joystick, games etc. under the assumption that I can use a dedicated MIDI PCI card or MIDI USB. Does anyone see a potential conflict? I am not touching any references to MIDI of course. Before anyone says "why don't you just try it?" I don't have the hardware to test this on yet.

    Oh and have I mentioned this 9.x o/s stripping crazy thread of mine?:

    http://www.prosoundreview.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=73
  • romanlutskromanlutsk
    edited January 2007
    Hello,
    I wonder what drivers were you using?
    Would standard drivers
    I'm struggling to get my SB Live 5.1 working with Roland D-50 for over 2 weeks without any success.

    Here's the newsgroups threat for details:
    (please search google groups for "zhovtulya roland" and pick the thread with over 15 replies - I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to post links here)

    Could you please make your drivers available for me to download?

    Thank you very much,
    Roman
    MJO wrote:
    Well now I have connected my SB Live card.

    And it works, after disabling the onboard sound though.

    I couldn't get it working when the onboard sound was enabled.

    The onboard soundcard has a big problem with Enter the matrix it goes crazy with its EAX and all you can hear is echo.

    Now the SB Live has problems in GTA:VC.

    I used a driverpackage from earlier, do not know how old it is.

    I could not get Spinners driver working.
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