No other way to put it- This card is simply the best.
Written: Apr 28 '00 (Updated Apr 28 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Flexibility, features, front digital input, incredible sound quality
Cons: Some of the bundled software is useless
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| djthedj's Full Review: Creative Sound Blaster Live! Platinum |
WOW!!! What else can you say? Never in my whole 10+ years with computers have I been this excited about a $170 part before.
Two weeks ago, I installed the SoundBlaster Live! Platinum card, which comes with what Creative Labs calls a ‘Live! Drive’, which is a front interface that fits in a standard 5 ¼” drive bay on the front of your computer. This feature alone is what sold me on this card, because it includes SPDIF Digital in and out right up front, in addition to the headphone and adjustable, second Microphone/line input- right up front of the computer; as well as full MIDI implementation without giving up your joystick port on the back.
Sound Production Features
OK, DJ… So What? You are saying, right?
Well, most users would have no use for this, I admit. But I am not most users. I am using this card to create my fourth CD release- the great thing about it is that with this card, I just plug into the front panel and connect to my Roland multitrack recorder- and I have the ability to make a full-fledged professional CD that is ALL DIGITAL!!! In other words, $170 made the difference between what I used to do, which is mix digital down to analog and then back, causing a severe loss in sound quality. But now the sound is digital from the preamp all the way to the CD. So my only analog link is the Microphone or guitar itself. Sweet!
In addition, SoundBlaster has made this to be a card that can be updated with software quite easily for anyone with the desire to do so. All you do is go to their website and grab the update. Simple. And of course, this card is just flat out impressive with it’s MIDI capability. In fact, in the MIDI arena, you simply can’t get better without spending at least $1000. Creative Labs are still using their EMU systems chips, which have supported SoundFont technology for some time now. For the Platinum, they upped the ante by increasing the memory capacity so you can have up to 1024 instruments playing simultaneously. And the sound quality is fantastic.
For production, the card comes bundled with a few somewhat useful programs- like SoundForge XP, MixMan and Cakewalk Express… not the greatest of software packages, but for a quick fix like I need this week, they do just fine. Besides, most of my effects processing is done outboard anyway.
Game and Sound Features
The best thing you can do for yourself is to get four speakers, or better yet Creative/Cambridge Sound Works digital theater system- and hook them up to this card. You really don’t know what you’ve been missing in your games with only stereo and a subwoofer. Its something better experienced than described, but I will try. This card has a separate processor that supports the Environmental Audio standard- games like X-Wing Alliance, StarCraft, Tomb Raider, and Descent3 (which comes packaged with the card along with Need For Speed- High Stakes and Thief) use a special code to make the experience a literal digital surround sound in real time. Bullets whizz by your head. Sounds come from behind you and you find yourself turning to look. Your shields are about to go out and you know it without looking at your indicator. Imagine being there- because it sure feels like you are.
In addition, you can force the EA engine to interpret regular sound input and output, such as system sounds and WAV files. With Four speakers, the surround sound is automatic regardless. I personally love listening to songs like Peter Gabriel’s Steam on my computer because it puts you so much in the center of the action.
The card’s stereo separation is fantastic, to say the least. Far and away the best I’ve heard. There is no channel bleed like some other cards have- where the signal gets crossed between channels.
Bundled Software
We all know that components are only as good as the software that it runs on.
CreativeLabs has bundled a ton of applications with this sound card, so much it takes two full CDs to get to it all, not counting the bundled games. They pretty much cover the bases, everything from MP3 jukebox programs to Speech Recognition and even an updated version of… you guessed it… Dr. Sbaitso!!!! (old school 8bit soundblaster fans, stand up and be recognized). The good doctor is joined by the annoyingly cute Prody Parrot. My gripe about this is that the dictation output software (i.e. software that reads text to you) cannot be installed without installing the annoying and resource-hogging parrot. But hey, the parrot sings and tells jokes. Perfect for being alone on a Saturday night. Not that any of us would be alone on a… never mind.
Less useful software bundled includes more of Creative’s famous mixer utilities and the poorly-coded resource-hogging ‘Lava’ 3D color organ thing. Not worth installing unless you are really bored.
But as you might guess, this is a very complex card that would be hard to manage without a good software interface, and Creative has done a fantastic job in providing several different interfaces to manage the card.
Connect This…
The connections to this card go way beyond the Live! Drive front panel interface. All the connectors and some of the cards internal circuitry is gold-plated, which explains the card’s fantastic dynamic range and stereo separation. There are three sound output jacks on the rear of the card, one of which is a digital-out specifically designed for the Cambridge Audio speaker system. The other two are for front and rear speaker pairs. You cannot use all three at the same time. There are also line in and microphone in on the rear. A note on the front connector for mic or line in- it has a gain control knob that when clicked to 0 sets it to line, then when clicked from 1-infitiy adjusts the mic gain… that feature is going to come in very handy when we start our next project- the SGC Starcraft campaign. I have a lot of voice talent that will be doing annotation- this will come in handy because I can just plug in my mic and run with it. Nice.
As far as on board connectors (those ones inside the computer on the card) this is another one of those big sellers for this card. Aside from the usual CD, TAD (telephone) and AUX inputs, the Live! card has a SPDIF digital input that you can use to link your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM directly to the card. This means that instead of the CD drive doing the Digital to Audio (D/A) conversion, it is done by the much higher quality D/A on the sound card. Some people won’t ever know the difference… but people like me notice right away and have already started listening to CDs on their computer again. I shouldn't even need to tell you what it does for DVD.
Summary
This card is the best consumer card on the market, hands down. To get any better, you have to spend at least $600, and those cards aren’t built for games. I have a lot of experience in computer multimedia, and I know a value when I see one. This is the best value out there for the cash. If you are in it for just the games, you may want to go with one of the other Live! versions; but if mega-sound quality, flexibility and gold-plated goodness are your thing- this is your baby.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
djthedj
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Member: DJ Eshelman
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Reviews written: 51
Trusted by: 39 members
About Me:
DJ is an IT Contractor as well as a Producer for Starving Guitarist Records.
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