How-To: Creative X-Fi

[GalloGlas]

The update that I downloaded for 9.10 today really hosed my surround sound for my X-fi. I can't adjust panning and fade settings without each setting adjusting the other as if they are locked together. And there is a ton of ringing sound. To get rid of the ringing sound I'm forced to switch back to 2 ch stereo. Ubuntu has a ways to go for TRUE 5.1 support on Xfi cards. Not that its their fault. Creative can't hardly even get their own gear working with windows vista/7 let alone allow a third party attempt functionality on an unsupported OS such as linux.

And I'm not going to follow Nullheads help because many times in the past he has lead me down the path that created much hair pulling and teeth gritting to fix the mistakes he assured me to make. So take what he says with a grain of salt.

And the 5.1 with 9.10 isn't TRUE surround sound if you listen. Its stereo panned across 4 speakers.

[NullHead]

The update that I downloaded for 9.10 today really hosed my surround sound for my X-fi. I can't adjust panning and fade settings without each setting adjusting the other as if they are locked together. And there is a ton of ringing sound. To get rid of the ringing sound I'm forced to switch back to 2 ch stereo. Ubuntu has a ways to go for TRUE 5.1 support on Xfi cards. Not that its their fault. Creative can't hardly even get their own gear working with windows vista/7 let alone allow a third party attempt functionality on an unsupported OS such as linux.

And I'm not going to follow Nullheads help because many times in the past he has lead me down the path that created much hair pulling and teeth gritting to fix the mistakes he assured me to make. So take what he says with a grain of salt.

And the 5.1 with 9.10 isn't TRUE surround sound if you listen. Its stereo panned across 4 speakers.

I'm sorry to hear you haven't had success with my guide(s), but please keep in mind, they were written from the stand point of "This is how I got it working". Usually there is no "official" guide available that one must interpret. The guide on the first page of this thread was written to work for ubuntu 9.04 and I've since switched my main OS to windows 7; as I like to play lots of video games.

I have had close to no experience with Alsa's latest take on ctxfi, so I'm hardly qualified to help you.

If you like, I suggest you make a new thread concerning your specific issue.

[mhenriday]

Just a word to say how much help I - like so many others -have found NullHead's guide to be in our long struggle with Creative's Soundblaster X-Fi. As most of us know, the reigning motto of computer science - at least in its trouble-shooting aspect - is YMMV. Our setups vary in many particulars, and what works on one will, alas, not always work on another. Besides, given that our boxes make use of such quantum mechanical phenomena as electron tunnelling and giant magnetoresistance, which are governed by Werner Heisenberg's Unschärferelation, we should hardly be surprised by the fact that what works one time doesn't necessarily work another - and vice versa ! Many of us have experienced that a web page that refuses to load or an application that refuses to work becomes more docile after re-booting the box. Mysterious things, these computers !...

Henri

[JDorfler]

In 9.10, make sure you run alsamixer in your terminal so you can turn on your mic.

[The Bright Side]

GalloGlas, I had the very same problems as you! Ringing sound and sliders seeming to be locked to each other. I installed the GNOME ALSA Mixer (package "gnome-alsamixer") and set "Front Mic" to mute. My sound was all messed up when I installed 9.10, and this fixed it. With this mixer, you can also regulate all other devices independently and precisely.

I don't have the X-Fi box, but I was thinking of getting it for my laptop. I'm glad this thread exists, thanks for all the effort everybody put in here! I'm sure I will come back here a lot when setting up the X-Fi card on my laptop.

[XanII]

So no my X-fi card that is based on the earlier creative card in reality finaly shows in sound settings. it doesnt work though. any attempts to use it causes timers in lets say rhytmbox to stop, i.e. it doesnt work. playback doesnt work.

But i guess it's getting closer. havent been able to get even this far before with the instructions on this thread.

[aalega2]

im in the same boat at the moment dealing with Auzentech Forte issues in linux. I'm a happy clam with the card in windows as it works awesomely, but have had trouble with the card in linux. im not exactly a linux noob as ive tried everything i could possibly try before i consulted teh forums - basically my problem is that everything is detected, the latest alsa drivers are installed and seem to be working fine (1.0.22), however i dont get any playback.

im about to punch a wall with this problem

[aalega2]

has any X-Fi Forte users been able to get their sound working? I have absolutely no idea why it doesnt work, everything looks OK, I hear a pop at startup, but when i play a song in rhythmbox, the song will be playing but of course i cant hear anything.

i managed to get sound working through my TV from via HDMI, but wtf is the point of that

[NullHead]

has any X-Fi Forte users been able to get their sound working? I have absolutely no idea why it doesnt work, everything looks OK, I hear a pop at startup, but when i play a song in rhythmbox, the song will be playing but of course i cant hear anything.

i managed to get sound working through my TV from via HDMI, but wtf is the point of that

Check in alsamixer to see if the speakers are muted.

[aalega2]

Check in alsamixer to see if the speakers are muted.

oh believe me, they arent. ive even made sure several ways, using alsamixer from terminal, using gnomealsamixer. EVERYTHING