Sound Blaster Live!
PCI sound card with EMU10K1 processor and system memory wavetable.
The Sound Blaster Live! is a PCI add-on sound card from Creative Technology Limited for PCs, introduced on August 11, 1998. It is notable for moving from ISA to PCI, which allowed the card to dispense with onboard memory by storing digital samples in the computer's main memory and accessing them in real time over the bus, enabling a much wider selection of longer-playing samples. The card introduced the EMU10K1 audio processor, a 2.44 million transistor ASIC rated at 1000 MIPS, which included hardware acceleration for DirectSound and EAX 1.0 and 2.0, a high-quality 64-voice MIDI sample-based synthesizer, and an integrated FX8010 DSP chip for real-time digital audio effects.
- Introduced
- August 11, 1998
- Processor
- EMU10K1 (2.44 million transistors, 0.35 μm CMOS, 1000 MIPS)
- Midi voices
- 64 sampled voices
- Sample rate
- Internal fixed 48 kHz (AC'97 clock)
- Output channels
- Initially up to 4 speakers (4.1 setup); later 5.1-channel support
- Bus
- PCI
Lore & Background
The Sound Blaster Live! represented a major design change from the EMU8000 of the Sound Blaster AWE32 and AWE64 by using system memory accessed over the PCI bus for wavetable samples, rather than expensive onboard memory. This was possible because systems were being equipped with far more RAM and PCI offered faster data transfer than the ISA bus. The integrated FX8010 was a 32-bit programmable processor with 1 kilobyte of instruction memory, providing real-time postprocessing effects such as reverb, flanging, or chorus, and hardware acceleration for EAX. The card processed sound digitally at every stage, offering higher audio quality than previous Sound Blasters, but the DSP's internal fixed 48 kHz sample rate meant that sample rate conversion to other rates introduced intermodulation distortion when the audio signal passed through the effects engine. Creative recommended recording exclusively at 48 kHz and using third-party software for sample rate conversion to avoid the EMU10K1's conversion.
Reader's Guide
The Sound Blaster Live! was the first sound card from Creative with the 'What U Hear' recording input source, supported in Windows drivers, allowing users to mix all available inputs and the MIDI synth into one stereo signal and capture streaming sound from any source. The card implemented MS-DOS legacy support via Ensoniq's AudioPCI DOS TSR program, using .ecw files for wavetable emulation in DOS. A design shortcoming affected quadraphonic audio: the front and rear speaker channels used different DAC pipelines and amplifier Op-Amps, resulting in a 'thin and quiet' rear channel that was also out of phase with the front. Despite these issues, the original SB Live! could still be used as a S/PDIF input/output and MIDI input/output device for network-connected digital audio workstation environments. Variations on the design remained Creative's primary sound card line into the early 2000s.
Did You Know?
- The EMU10K1 processor was manufactured in a 0.35 μm 3-metal-layer CMOS process.
- The FX8010 DSP had 1 kilobyte of instruction memory and effects were written in a language similar to C.
- The Live! used Ensoniq's AudioPCI DOS TSR program for MS-DOS legacy support.
- The original SB Live! had a proprietary 9-pin mini-DIN connector for digital output that allowed simultaneous use of a microphone and digital speakers.
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