Sound Blaster cards

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davking
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Sound Blaster cards

Post by davking »

Will a Sound Blaster AE-5 or AE-7 work with Mint? I know an AE-9 won't, but I'm told the other two have Linux drivers available. Is this true?
Last edited by LockBot on Sat Jul 08, 2023 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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sadman
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Re: Sound Blaster cards

Post by sadman »

I would make a live usb and boot with that to test the sound.
davking
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Re: Sound Blaster cards

Post by davking »

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I don't currently own either card. Just looking to see before I buy.
MonitorZero
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Re: Sound Blaster cards

Post by MonitorZero »

I have an AE-5 and it appears to be working with hiccups.

Seems the default sound does do what it's supposed to and switch between headphone and speaker profiles as it does on windows but there are some slight problems.

With mine it detects the 5.1 and my headphones but selecting the headphones does nothing.

However if I go into Alsamixer and switch the output of the AE-5 from speakers to headphones it works.

Only bad part being it doesn't change the profile like it does if you switch with the sound settings.
davking
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Re: Sound Blaster cards

Post by davking »

Interesting. I found a couple of articles online claiming that the AE-5 and AE-7 would be supported. I now have an AE-7. While basic two speaker sound works, I cannot get the surround sound to work. The breakout box doesn't work, either. The AE-9 is not currently supported. The engineer from Creative who provided support for the first two did them on his own time, and he says he does not have time to work on an AE-9 driver.
Centri_Fuge

Re: Sound Blaster cards

Post by Centri_Fuge »

Yes they will. I own both of them, and I am running LM 21.1 (Vera),
installed on bare bones Intel / Asus hardware. (no VM).
I do not use Windows so it is not installed on any of my Linux machines.

And for my ears, the AE-7 has much
better sound quality than the AE-5,
so long as you connect it to good speakers
and use good cabling. A cheap pair of speakers
and cheap audio cables will not do justice to your
AE-7 (AE-5) either.

Just make sure you have the latest
LTS kernel installed for Mint,
and use the latest version of Mint (21.1 - Vera)
for your installation.
As of time of writing, the current LTS kernel is 5.15.0.58.
This kernel version supports both the AE-7 and AE-5 (there is no
Linux driver for the AE-9, and it does not appear to be on the
horizon, so far as Creative Labs is concerned).
At time of O/S installation, Mint should easily discover your S/B card
and it will compile the driver for it, automatically into the kernel.
If your CPU has a built in sound chip, you likely want to
disable that sound chip via your BIOS setup, so it does not
compete with the S/B card.
After install is complete, navigate to the Linux sound Settings
(the musical note icon shown on the Panel bar),
which usually appears on the bottom right of your desktop,
depending on where you chose to install the Panel bar.
Then ensure (using Sound settings), that the correct output is selected (normally LineOut/Speaker
HDA Creative).
Then use the Test sound button on the same settings
screen to ensure your left and right channels are functioning.
I've used both PulseAudio, and Pipewire as my sound servers,
though I prefer Pipewire. (If you choose Pipewire, make sure you
also install the Wireplumber session manager package).
You also may want to install the free 'Audacious' audio player program as it
has a built-in equalizer.
***
davking
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Re: Sound Blaster cards

Post by davking »

I do have a nice set of speakers, and am running the latest Mint. I do dual boot with Windows, but am looking at Crossover/Wine, so I can get rid of it. Thanks for reminding me to disable the onboard sound. That enabled the surround sound to start working. Unfortunately, if I set Mint to use surround sound, it sounds muted compared to using analog stereo output. I will play around with Audacious and see what happens.
davking
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Re: Sound Blaster cards

Post by davking »

Well, after installing Audacious, the surround sound started functioning properly, with all controls available under sound settings, and the sound is no longer muted. Not sure if installing Audacious was responsible, or simply restarting Mint. But whatever, it looks like I'm good to go! :D

Edit: The AE-7 breakout box is working too, and Line Out/Headphones now shows up under sound properties.
Last edited by davking on Mon Feb 06, 2023 6:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
davking
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Re: Sound Blaster cards

Post by davking »

Audacious is pretty good. I've been playing around with it. I like the multitude of plugins. I also tried Rhythmbox. It managed to find my iTunes library on my Windows drive, and imported it. Very nice!
davking
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Re: Sound Blaster cards

Post by davking »

i Have reinstalled my system, for unrelated reasons. Of course, now I am having sound issues again. There seems to be a bug in the sound settings. If I set the device to Line Out/Speakers, the audio is instead routed to my monitor speakers (which is why the sound sounds muted). Also, I will have no device listed for Line Out/Headphones. The highlighted setting will change to the HDMI Display port. By randomly clicking on various output profiles, it will eventually work correctly. Sound will be routed to the correct device, and the headphones will show up as a device. Very odd behavior.
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