DOS Days

Sound Blaster Live!

The Live! range was the successor to the ViBRA range of Creative's sound cards. The first Live! card launched in August 1998, and was the first to sport the E-Mu EMU10K1 audio processor.

With the EMU10K1, the Live! supported DirectSound and EAX (Environmental Audio Extensions) 1.0 and 2.0 3D positional audio in addition to having an onboard 64-voice wavetable synthesizer that used main memory for its sample storage instead of a dedicated ROM.

All Sound Blaster Live! cards were on the PCI bus, which allowed much faster data transfer rates between the card and system RAM to retrieve audio samples. The first cards supported up to 4 speakers plus a subwoofer, also referred to as 4.1 or quadraphonic sound, but in 2000 the Live! 5.1 was released.

DOS support on Live! cards was provided through the use of Ensoniq-developed AudioPCI and its TSR utility, who Creative had acquired that same year. This emulated legacy Ad Lib/OPL 3 and Sound Blaster 16 cards in addition to General MIDI.

Live! cards with the EMU10K1 have a special PCI game port, which, though it doesn't provide "Enhanced Game Port" features like the 4DWave or Aureal Vortex/Vortex 2 chips, is quite a bit faster than traditional game ports running on the ISA bus. It does require its own driver though.

Creative Labs produced several cards specifically for Dell to OEM with their desktop computers. These are best avoided, as their specs can be slightly different and their drivers for Windows are different.

CT2260

Launched: 1994
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Mixer Chip: integrated in CT2501 ViBRA-16
DSP Chip: integrated in CT2501 ViBRA-16
Bus I/F Chip: integrated in CT2501 ViBRA-16
Known DSP Versions: 4.13 (hanging note bug)
Known Board Revisions: 29438
FCC ID: IBACT-SBV16MCD

The CT2260 was an OEM version of the CT2230, though with some major differences. The CT2330's integrated CT1747 (FM synth chip) was replaced with Creative's new ViBRA-16 chip - CT2501. This was Creative's answer for the OEM market for Sound Blaster 16 - a cheap and cheerful solution that integrated the bus controller interface, DSP, mixer and codec into a single chip. This same chip would go on to be used on the Sound Blaster 32 range and many more budget ("Value edition") cards.

Since the ViBRA-16 chip did not have an FM synthesizer built-in, Creative also reverted back to using a discrete Yamaha YMF262 OPL3 chip, just like the 1st-generation Sound Blaster 16 cards.

Several versions of the CT2501 ViBRA-16 chip exist, including CT2501-TBQ, CT2501-TCQ and CT2501-TDQ.

Despite having the exact same model number and even board revision, some CT2260 cards have a Line Out socket in addition to the Speaker Out socket where others don't have a Line Out - for these ones other components around the right side of the board are also missing.

The CT2260 appeared to be pretty good compatibility-wise, working well for every game I tried. It has a wavetable connector which I tried and it worked well with my NEC XR385 daughterboard, however I can confirm the presence of the "hanging note" bug with this card.

It has a pretty good output signal but I experienced bad noise issues with my card. It should be verified with another card in case my card has a problem - it did not seem normal. The card had a rather loud background noise but moreover there seems to be some glitch that appears in some games at totally random times and it produces a severe high pitched hiss or ring - Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and Descent all produce this background noise to different degrees. I have not yet found a pattern to it but it is audible.

CT2260 driver (same as for CT4180), ViBRA 16 Floppy Disks

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CT2800

Launched: 1995
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
Plug & Play: Yes?
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Known DSP Versions: 4.13 (hanging notes bug)
Known Board Revisions: 29809, 49517
FCC ID: IBACT-SBV16S

Following the success of the CT2260 and its first ViBRA-16 card, the CT2800 or Sound Blaster Vibra 16S, uses an updated chip - the ViBRA 16S (CT2504). Early ViBRA 16S models still had the Yamaha OPL3 FM synthesizer chip onboard as in the image above, whereas later ViBRA 16S, ViBRA 16C and ViBRA 16XV cards all have the CQM (Creative Quadrature Modulation) chips instead. These were Creative's own take on the Yamaha OPL and are generally considered to be sub-par compared to the Yamaha.

The CT2800 got an IDE CD-ROM interface and a wavetable connector.

Some boards with revision 49517 removed the Line Out socket on the backplate as well as the IDE interface connector. This must have been an unknown submodel of the CT2800, e.g. CT2801 or CT2809, though still kept the base model CT2800 code on the silkscreen (which was standard behaviour with Creative's sound cards).

A later board revision, 49517, was found on Dell OEM versions of the CT2800. This removed the IDE interface connector but kept the Line Out socket.

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CT2810

Launched: 1994
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
Plug & Play: Yes?
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Known DSP Versions: (unknown)
Known Board Revisions: 019449
FCC ID: IBACT-SBV16IDE

The CT2810 is another strange card in that it shares its FCC ID with the CT2290 range, but has the ViBRA-16 chip the same as the CT2260. But unlike the CT2260, the CT2810 gets an IDE CD-ROM interface.

It was produced for the OEM market.

CT2860

Launched: 1995
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Known DSP Versions: ?
Known Board Revisions: 19518, 29528
FCC ID: IBACT-MENUET

Value edition. Vibra 16S chipset. OEM version of CT2291 for the HP Menuet.
No CD-ROM interface.

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CT2890

Launched: 1995
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Bus I/F Chip: CT1705-DCQ
Known DSP Versions: (unknown)
Known Board Revisions: 19518, 29610
FCC ID: IBACT-V16SPNP

This is a Value edition card and is the OEM version of a CT2959. It has the ViBRA 16S chipset and a real full-size Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3) chip. This was the first Creative card to use their new CT1705 bus interface chip which provided it with full Plug & Play capability. Most other 2nd-generation SB16s had the bus interface logic embedded in the CT1747 chip or in the ViBRA chip (CT2501 or CT2504) on ViBRA cards.

No clicking noises in Prince of Persia.
Ringing in Tyrian, Descent, MPXPlay, all in SBPro Stereo (high-speed) mode. Distortion in high volumes which can NOT be fixed with the mixer. OPL3 sounds good. Good balance between FM and PCM. 75 SNR (great). Buggy MPU-401, hanging notes and stuttering Duke3D.

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CT2940

Launched: 1995
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF289B (OPL3) or Creative CT1978-BAP
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Known DSP Versions: 4.13
Known Board Revisions: 19529
FCC ID: IBACT-V16FPNP

Value edition. ViBRA Pro chipset.
The CT2940 was an OEM version of the CT2959. Some have the real Yamaha YMF289-B OPL3 chip, but most have an undesirable FM chip instead (Creative's own CT1978 CQM chip). Check if it has a Creative CT1978 chip above the big chip. If so, it has the poorer-quality FM chip. If this spot is empty, look for a small OPL3-L chip elsewhere.
IDE CD-ROM interface.

Audio from a CT2940 can be listened to on the following game pages:

You can also compare this card's audio output side-by-side to numerous other cards in my Sound Blaster CT2770 Retro Review!

 

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CT2960

Introduced: 1995
Plug & Play: Yes
FM Synth Chip: CT2505 with integrated Creative CT1978 (CQM)
DSP Versions: 4.16
Known Board Revisions: 19547
FCC ID: IBACT-SBPRELUDE

Value edition. OEM version.
The ViBRA 16C chip was more commonly used on motherboards to provide embedded audio.

This card has been reported to have the hanging note bug, but the only cards I have seen have DSP v4.16 which does not suffer this.

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CT2961

Basic edition.
PnP.

CT2970

Introduced: 1996
FM Synth: Creative CT1978-TAP (CQM)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Known DSP Versions: (unknown)
Known Board Revisions: 19606
FCC ID: IBACT-SONATE

The CT2970 was an OEM version for Hewlett-Packard. These have the CT2502 (ViBRA) chips and are Plug & Play.

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CT4100

Launched: 1996
FM Synth: Creative ViBRA 16CL chipset (CT2508)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: No
CSP/ASP Chip: No
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16C6
Known DSP Versions: 4.13
Known Board Revisions: 19631

CT4150

Launched: 1996
FM Synth: Creative ViBRA 16C chipset (CQM)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: No
CSP/ASP Chip: No
FCC ID: ?
Known DSP Versions: 4.13
Known Board Revisions: 19640

CT4170

Launched: 1997
FM Synth: Creative ViBRA 16XV chipset (CQM)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: No
CSP/ASP Chip: No
FCC ID: ?
Known DSP Versions: ?
Known Board Revisions: 19720, 49730

Called the Sound Blaster 16 WavEffects edition, or Sound Blaster 16 Value PnP. It has the Vibra-16XV chip with CQM.

The CT4170 was sold as a bundle with a pair of SBS10 speakers and a 32x CD-ROM drive, called the Sound Blaster Value 16/32X.

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CT4670

Introduced in 1998.
FM Synthesizer: Embedded AudioPCI in EMU10K1
CD-ROM Headers: None
Known Board Revisions: 19831
FCC ID:

The CT4670 was the initial budget offering, so was called the Sound Blaster Live! Value but was sometimes sold as Sound Blaster Live! 1024. It came with a header for S/PDIF external digital audio output.

CT4760

Introduced in 1999.
FM Synthesizer: Embedded AudioPCI in EMU10K1
CD-ROM Headers: None
Known Board Revisions: 29931
FCC ID:

Several variants of CT4760 exist: Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer, Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer 5.1, Sound Blaster Live! Platinum and Sound Blaster Live! MP3+.

The X-Gamer 5.1 variant supports 5.1 surround sound via a combined analog / digital-out jack on the faceplate (yellow, at the very top). For analog purposes, the jack is used to provide the front centre and subwoofer channels. For digital purposes it's a compressed AC-3 S/PDIF output. The X-Gamer variant does not have this jack.

The CT4760 came bundled with what Creative called Live!Ware 3.0 CD-ROM, in addition to a number of full release games.

The Platinum and MP3+ variants were similar to other Live! cards, but came bundled with Live! Drive IR, a 5.25" drive bay module and infra-red remote control featuring inputs and control dials for the front of your desktop PC (see pic below). These two variants did not support 5.1 surround sound, but did support a 4-speaker (quadraphonic) setup: 2 front and 2 rear.

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CT4780

Introduced in 2000.
FM Synthesizer: Embedded AudioPCI in EMU10K1
CD-ROM Headers: None
Known Board Revisions: 30024, 40151
FCC ID:

The CT4780 was designed for the Dell Computers OEM market.

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CT4810

Introduced: 2000
Interface: PCI
FM Synthesizer: Embedded AudioPCI in ES1373
CD-ROM Headers: None
Known Board Revisions: -
FCC ID: -

The CT4810, or to give it its full title, Sound Blaster ViBRA 128, was based around the Ensoniq AudioPCI chip, ES1373. ES1373 was a slightly updated version of their earlier ES1371, adding I2S In or S/PDIF Output (the blue Line-In and green Line-Out sockets double up to support these respectively).

User Manual

CT4830

Introduced in 1999.
FM Synthesizer: Embedded AudioPCI in EMU10K1
CD-ROM Headers: None
Known Board Revisions: 19928, 20111
FCC ID:

The CT4830 is a "Value" card, and like the CT4670 was also sold with the moniker of Sound Blaster Live! 1024. All "Value" cards including this one got plastic-covered 3.5mm jacks instead of gold ones seen on the non-Value cards.

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SB0060

Introduced in 2000
FM Synthesizer: Embedded AudioPCI in EMU10K1
CD-ROM Headers: None
Known Board Revisions: 10032
FCC ID:

The SB0060, also known as Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 was the first card from Creative Labs to support 5.1 surround sound comprising 2 left & right front speakers, a centre front speaker, 2 rear left & right speakers, and a subwoofer.

Similar to the CT4760, several variants of SB0060 were released, entitled Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Platinum, Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 X-Gamer, and Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 MP3+. The only difference between these variants was what else was bundled with the same sound card.

On cards with the designation SB0060, the subwoofer channel output doubles up as the S/PDIF coaxial digital out. Other designations do not support this feature.

The Live! 5.1 competed with the Philips Acoustic Edge and Turtle Beach Santa Cruz.

SB0090

Introduced in 2000
FM Synthesizer: Creative Audigy
CD-ROM Headers: None
Known Board Revisions: 10032
FCC ID:

The SB0090 was also known as Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum. It boasted 24-bit multi-channel audio and a 100 dB signal-to-noise ratio.

Like the SB0060 and SB0100 it featured 5.1 surround sound support but incorporated the newer Creative EAX Advanced HD technology.

It also included a fully-integrated SB1395 (IEEE1394) port for connectivity to a DV camcorder, digital audio player, high-speed CD/RW drives and other home entertainment devices.

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SB0100

Introduced in 2002
FM Synthesizer: Embedded AudioPCI in EMU10K1
CD-ROM Headers: None
Known Board Revisions: 20112, 40213
FCC ID:

The oddly named SB0100, aka Sound Blaster Live! 5.1, was similar to the SB0060 in that it featured 5.1 surround sound support. It got the full EMU10K1 chip.

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SB0200 / SB0203

Introduced in 2003
FM Synthesizer: Embedded AudioPCI in EMU10K1X
CD-ROM Headers: None
Known Board Revisions: 30232, 40331
FCC ID:

Also oddly named cards SB0200 and SB0203, these were specifically manufactured for Dell Computers to install into their PCs. Unlike other Sound Blaster Live! cards, these got a cut-down version of the EMU10K1, called EMU10K1X. This omitted the DirectSound and EAX hardware acceleration features of the EMU10K1.

The cards were criticised for not being overtly marketed as inferior to the former Live! cards.

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SB0220

Introduced in 2001
FM Synthesizer: Embedded AudioPCI in EMU10K1
CD-ROM Headers: None
Known Board Revisions: 10225, 30333
FCC ID:

A hastily-released successor to the SB0200 and SB0203, the SB0220, aka Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital, got the Live! cards' full EMU10K1 chip, meaning it fully supported hardware accelerated DirectSound, DirectSound 3D and EAX.

The later board revision 30333 arrived in 2003.

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SB0410

Introduced in 2004
FM Synthesizer: Embedded AudioPCI in EMU10K1
CD-ROM Headers: None
Known Board Revisions:
FCC ID:

The SB0410 also sold as the Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit, and was actually based on Creative's Audigy Value card, and was even a cut-down version of that. It did not come with hardware-accelerated DirectSound or EAX.

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