Sound Blaster Audigy Manual

[Dunstan Jomphe]

Irecently upgraded from my Sound Blaster Live to the Audigy ZS in my Windows 98 Machine. I am currently having alot of issues getting the card to run, so far i have installed the WDM drivers manually from a Driver CD i found on Vogans, but the sound keeps cutting out.

The computer with the Audigy-2 card hasn't been used in a while. I had to locate the hard drive. I must have had a hard time with the sound card because I have a folder called "Audigy drivers" with a bunch of files in them that I must have been mixing and matching, seeing what works. This is what's in that folder:

MIDI is an acronym for MusicalInstrument Digital Interface. The MIDI specification is maintained by the MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA). We havewritten a couple of short starter tutorials on MIDI:

This involves sending specific MIDI channels to specific MIDI ports. If you have Windows 95 or 98 you can use the MIDI Mapper, and we've written a tutorial explaining how to use it:Using Multiple MIDI Output Devices with Windows 95/98.

Unfortunately, Microsoft removed much of the functionality of the MIDI Mapper in later versions of Windows, and Band-in-a-Box itself cannot output to more than one port at a time. One thing you can do is save your song as a MIDI file and play it with PowerTracks Pro Audio, which does allow you to assign each track to a different MIDI port.

Download and install the Band-in-a-Box Font Update for Versions 12 and earlier. Important: You need to restart your computer before and after installing the font update, or else it will not work properly.

The fonts may not be installed on your computer at all. This may be the case if Band-in-a-Box was copied/moved from one machine to another, you installed an upgrade without installing the previous full version, or system security software running on your computer (such as an anti-virus or firewall program) prevented the fonts from being installed properly. The solution is to reinstall Band-in-a-Box from the original CD(s). If you suspect that the issue may have been caused by an anti-virus or firewall program, disable these programs while reinstalling. It isn't necessary to uninstall/remove Band-in-a-Box first; simply install into your existing Band-in-a-Box folder. You need to start with a full "Pro" version or "MegaPAK", then install subsequent regular upgrades. After you have done that, you should install the latest update patch available for your version. If you have a 64-bit version of Windows, or you are using Version 12 or earlier on Windows 2000/XP, you may need to install the font update.

Band-in-a-Box and PowerTracks Pro Audio offer one of the quickest methods of notation input. Remember though, they were never developed to be a dedicated notation software package, so some of the problems you may run into will have to do with that limitation. For typical leadsheets though, this notation is more than adequate.

When inputting notation, all you do is place your mouse arrow where you want a note and press the left mouse button. This will place a dotted whole note at that position. If it is in the second half of the bar, you will get an automatic 1/2 note rest in the first half. You will still get a dotted whole note in the second half of the bar. Don't worry if the first note you enter isn't the type of note you want it to be. The next note you place will determine the value of the first. Remember that the subsequent note placed always determines the value of the previous note. If you want to shorten a previous note, you can select the rest box and place a rest between the notes at the value you want the previous note to be. Notes inserted between other notes will automatically set the value for the previous note as well.

If you are in 'staff edit' mode, you can change the duration of a note by clicking on it with the right mouse button and then dragging the cursor to the desired end location. Click the [N] button twice to toggle into staff edit (or 'piano roll') mode.

While inserting a note on the staff, holding down the [Shift] key will make the note 1 half-step sharper. Holding down the [Ctrl] key will make the note 1 half-step flatter. Holding down the [Alt] key forces the note to be a natural. To delete a note from the Notation, hold down the delete key and left-mouse click on the note. Or you could right mouse click on the note (to edit it), then press the Delete button.

You can change the beat resolution (the number of intervals in one beat) by right-clicking in the time indicator bar above the beat that you want to change. This will allow you to enter triplets in an even feel style, or sixteenth notes in a triplet feel style. The time indicator bar is the narrow space containing the black cursor that moves across the screen as your song is playing.

In Band-in-a-Box 2005, you can now use the "Piano Roll Window". This window allows you to edit notation in the Melody or Soloist tracks using a window similar in style to the type found in many sequencer programs. It enables precise graphic editing of note timing and duration, and you can also graphically edit Note Velocity, Controllers, Program Changes, Channel Aftertouch, or Pitch Bend. To open the Piano Roll Window, click on the piano roll icon in the toolbar, or go to Window Piano roll window. Click on the [Help] button on the right-hand side of the window for a complete tutorial.

A common cause of this problem is in conjunction with a Virtual Synth such as the Roland VSC. Since all software synthesizers rely on the digital audio portion of the sound card, playing MIDI and digital audio together can sometimes be a problem.

Go to the Control Panel Multimedia -or- Sounds and Audio Devices Audio. Select the same audio playback device as is showing in the recording preferences. Click the MIDI tab (Windows XP: Look in the MIDI Playback area) and select your sound card's synth, rather than the VSC88/3 (or other software synth). This will give a lesser quality for Windows playback but the VSC can be selected internally by the software rather than allowing Windows to be the default.

Download and install the latest drivers available for your sound card. You should be able to download the latest drivers from the card manufacturer's website, usually in either the "Support" or "Downloads" section.

Video cards can be a major cause of DMA Conflicts. Many video cards can monopolize the bus and interfere with DMA operations. One of the first things you should do is make sure you have the latest drivers for your card. Many new drivers provide applets, which allow you to disable or modify certain settings for the card. If there is an option for PCI bus retries and/or DMA bus mastering or a similar option, you should try disabling these.

If the problem remains, repeat the above process until the problem issolved or the slider is all the way to the left. If this did not solve your problem, you should probably reset the slider to the highest setting (to the right).

You can uninstall the application by using Control Panel Add/Remove Programs, or by going to Start Programs Band-in-a-Box Uninstall Band-in-a-Box. To remove the rest of the Band-in-a-Box files, you can delete the Band-in-a-Box folder (usually C:\BB). Make sure to make backups of any personal files you have saved in that folder.

USB: There are many MIDI interfaces available that connect to this port on your computer. MIDI In and Out cables connect from the interface to your synth, and you may have to purchase the cables separately.

Sound card (Joystick port): The joystick port (game port) on your sound card has a built-in MIDI interface. The cable that connects to the joystick port is commonly called a Universal MIDI Sound Card Connector. Some sound cards have MIDI in and out ports so you don't need to use the joystick port. In either case, MIDI cables connect to your synth's MIDI In and Out.

MPU-401 or other internal MIDI Interface: An interface (computer card) with MIDI In(s) and MIDI Out(s). This is a small interface card that plugs into a slot inside your computer. MIDI cables are still required to connect to your external module.

The manufacturer is referring to the number of sounds the module can play at the same time. A 64 voice module can play 64 sounds all at the same time. Some synths use more than one sound/voice to create a fuller sound for some patches. The number of partials (combinations of sounds) a patch uses will determine how many voices will be used for a single note. For example, if you press one note on a patch that has 3 sounds in it (like a layer of piano, strings and brass), you would use up 3 voices of your 64 available. Add a Bass track, (1 note, 1 voice) Drums (4 notes in some places) Guitar (3 notes) ..... well, you get the picture. You are using up the available voices as you add layers to your MIDI song. Remember, this is fluid; as notes are released, more voices become available. It is really only an issue when all tracks play all notes all at the same time. A 64 voice module has a fair number of voices to use so running out of sound is not really an issue.

Polyphony refers to the number of notes the unit can play simultaneously. A trumpet is monophonic, while a guitar can have up to 6 note polyphony (six strings). Your synthesizer might be 16, 32, or 64-note polyphonic. Sometimes, in a complex MIDI file, there are more than 64 notes sounding at a time. In this case, a smart synth will use an algorithm to determine which note to suspend playing so that it might continue.

A synthesizer is Multitimbral if it can produce more than one type of sound at a time. This is usually set to the number of channels the unit has. For example, on a 16 channel unit with 64 note polyphony, the synth can play 64 notes at a time, spread out over 16 different instruments.

First, close Band-in-a-Box and try deleting a file called 'intrface.bbw' from the C;\bb folder. This will restore the program's factory settings. When you next launch Band-in-a-Box, the MIDI Driver Setup dialog should come up automatically. If there are still no drivers there, this suggests that (for whatever reason) there are no MIDI drivers installed on your computer. You can verify this by checking the Windows Control Panel. On Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000, go to Start Settings Control Panel Multimedia -or- Sounds and Multimedia MIDI. On Windows XP, go to Start Control Panel Sounds and Audio Devices Audio, and look under MIDI Playback.

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