[JCLW]

Anything enclosed in question marks is not confirmed.
If anyone can help with any pins it would be great.

Audigy 1 & Live! AD_EXT:

                        VCC +5V power supply    1 X X 2    VCC +5V power supply
                                  GND Ground    3 X X 4    AC97CLK 24.5 MHz clock output
                                  GND Ground    5 X X 6    GP_SPDIFIN#2 SPDIF input signal
                                  GND Ground    7 X X 8    GND Ground
                   SPDIFO#3 SPDIF Out signal    9 X X 10   GPO1 General Purpose Output #1
              GPO2 General Purpose Output #2   11 X X 12   GND Ground
              GPO0 General Purpose Output #0   13 X X 14   GND Ground
              GP_SPDIFIN1 SPDIF Input signal   15 X X 16   GND Ground
                   SPDIFO#0 SPDIF Out signal   17 X X 18   GND Ground
                   SPDIFO#1 SPDIF Out signal   19 X X 20   GND Ground
                                  GND Ground   21 X X 22   SPDIFO#2 SPDIF Out signal
   GPI0 Digital Input (GP Input 0; Reserved)   23 X X 24   GPI1 Digital Input, (GP Input 1; Reserved)
                         OUTMIDI MIDI Output   25 X X 26   GND Ground
                           INMIDI MIDI Input   27 X X 28   GND Ground
                                      No pin   29     30   No pin 
                ADCSDO2 I2S audio data input   31 X X 32   GND Ground
                ADCSDO1 I2S audio data input   33 X X 34   GND Ground
                ADCSDO0 I2S audio data input   35 X X 36   GND Ground
                 I2SCLK I2S serial bit clock   37 X X 38   GND Ground
                            I2SFS Frame sync   39 X X 40   GND Ground

Audigy 2 AD_EXT:

                                         +5V    1 X   2    No pin 
                                      Ground    3 X X 4    Ground
                                    SPDIF in    5 X X 6    Ground
                                      Ground    7 X X 8    Ground
                                   SPDIF out    9 X   10   No pin 
                                   No header   11     12   No header 
                                  SPDIF out    13 X X 14   Ground
                                  SPDIF out    15 X X 16   Ground
                                  SPDIF out    17 X X 18   Ground
                                               19 X X 20   Ground
                                               21 X X 22   Ground
                                               23 X X 24
                                               25 X X 26   Ground
                                               27 X X 28   Ground
                                               29 X X 30   Ground
                                               31 X X 32   Ground
                                               33 X X 34
                                               35 X X 36
                                               37 X X 38   Ground
                                               39 X   40   No pin

Live!, Audigy 1 & 2 SB1394 (useful for connecting front case FireWire port):

                                       ?TPB-?   1 X X 2    ?TPA+? 
                                         ?NC?   3 X X 4    ?TPA-?
                                         ?NC?   5 X X 6    ?VG?
                                         ?VP?   7 X X 8    ?NC?
                                       No pin   9   X 10   ?TPB+?

Live!, Audigy 1 & ?2? VOL_CTRL (useful for connecting front case or remote volume control):

                                  Volume down   1 X
                                       No pin   2
                                    Volume up   3 X
                                       Common   4 X

[JCLW]

! ! ! Do these mods at your own risk ! ! !


Audigy 1:

#1) To enable AC3 decoding on SPDIF input

To enable AC3 decoding on SPDIF input connect pin 1 (VCC) to pin 23 (GPI0 Digital Input) using a 4.7k resistor. This fools the card into thinking a LiveDrive is connected and should enable the "Digital Input" tab in the Audio HQ Device Controls. Choose "AC3 SPDIF-in decode" from the pull down menu. You must use pin 15 (GP_SPDIFIN1) and pin 16 (GND) to connect the signal. Unfortunately the card will not decode AC3 from the CD_SPDIF input.

#2) Live! & Audigy 1 -> Audigy 2 softmod

Why? Better sound, more features The only difference between the softmid and a real Audigy 2 is no 6.1, no DVD-Audio, and the physical DACs don't change.[list=1][*]Download the full Audigy 2 drivers. Warning: ~120MB! (borrow an Audigy 2 install CD from a friend if you're on dialup) Link #1
[*]Download the Creative Compatibility Patch ~125kb Link #1
[*]Extract the contents of the downloaded Audigy 2 driver to a temp directory (ie: C:\AUD_TEMP) using WinRAR (or whatever file compression utility you use). If you have an Audigy 2 install CD copy it onto your hard drive
[*]Run the Creative Compatibility Patch and point it to the SB_INSTALL\AUDIO\SETUP\ directory where you extracted the Audigy 2 driver (ie: C:\AUD_TEMP\SB_INSTALL\AUDIO\SETUP).
[*]Uninstall all your current Audigy drivers software and reboot your computer.
[*]If you get "Found New Hardware Wizzard"s then cancel them.
[*]After restarting run SETUP.EXE from the AUDIO\SETUP\ directory. Click "Yes" when prompted to reboot. IF INSTALLING ON A LIVE! DO NOT INSTALL THE EAX CONSOLE OR THE CREATIVE SPEAKER CALIBRATION APPLICATIONS.
[*]Enjoy [/list=1]
You can get updates from here. Get the updates for the Audigy 2. ***IF YOU GET A DRIVER UPDATE YOU MUST EXTRACT IT AND RUN Creative Compatibilty Patch TO PATCH IT BEFORE INSTALLATION***


Audigy 2:

[voodoomelon]

Yeah, very useful, thanks JCLW.

Also, everyone double check before you make a connection, I fried my gool old SB Live! Value trying to connect an optical connector to my Audigy 1 AD_EXT about a year ago.

[JCLW]

The Audigy 2 LiveDrive is exactly the same as the Audigy 1 & Live! LiveDrive isn't it? (In terms of connectivity and exterior appearance)

So it should have the same basic connections shouldn't it?

They've obviously been switched around, but we should be able to figure out which is which.

The Live! & Audigy LiveDrive have the following connections:

4x SPDIF out
1x SPDIF in
5 x IS2 data (3x IS2 data input, 1x IS2 frame sync, 1x IS2 clock)
3x General purpose output
2x General purpose input
2x MIDI (1x in, 1x out)

If we knew the locations of the 2x general purpose inputs we could do the same trick with the 4.7k resistor as on the Audigy 1 cards and enable AC3 decoding on the digital input(s)

From taking volt/ohm readings and comparing between the Audigy 1 header and the Audigy 2 header I currently suspect:
19, 21 = General purpose input
23, 24, 25 = General purpose output
27, 29, 31, 33, 35 = IS2 data (27, 29, 31 = input?; 33 = IS2 clock?; 35 = IS2 frame sync?)
37, 39 = MIDI (37 = MIDI out?; 39 = MIDI in?)

Any thoughts? Any suggestions on how to confirm?

[12am]

Has anyone succesfully done the softmod? and does the sound quality actually improve?

[JCLW]

I've done it on a few different Audigys (and a Live! 5.1). It's worked every time.

I think they make the sound a bit brighter (using my FPS2000 digital speakers), but I've never been able to compare side by side so I can't really say how different the new drivers are.

It certainly doesn't make the sound any worse, and you get all the newer software and features like EAX4.

[12am]

Well I guess I'll give it a shot, I'll report back with results.

[12am]

How do you get rid of your previous audigy drivers? I'm not seeing anything in my add/remove sofware. Also does it matter that I'm using winME?

[JCLW]

I've never tried it on 98/ME. Did you install the Audigy drivers or are you using the default windows drivers?

edit: The driver download is pretty much the same as my Audigy 2 install CD, which means ME drivers should be included.

[12am]

I installed the Audigy drivers off the cd.

[JCLW]

It's always been listed as SoundBlaster Audigy in my add/remove progs. You could always try installing over top.

[Trent]

I noticed a drastic decrease in static when I softmodded a while ago playing through my reciever... so it is definately worth it. The sound is also much move vibrant.

[seamadan000]

so you can use the softmod to change the live 5.1 to a A2?

also, I think this ought to be a sticky....

[JCLW]

I don't know if it works on just the Live! 5.1 or any Live!

EDIT: updated to include Live! information

[JCLW]

The Audigy 2 ZS drivers are really nice. Good features as well - like "Stereo Surround (stereo signal is played over each speaker pair)" is back in CMSS, as well as CMSS & CMSS 2.

Plus you get all the THX speaker setup stuff.

If anyone wants a modded copy let me know, but it's a big download: ~400mb. I'm working on shrinking it.

edit: Don't install the Graphics equalizer on the Audigy 1.

edit2: I got it down to ~200mb, english only install.

[y0da900]

With the Audigy1 and Live! pin-outs being the same, does that mean that the live drive from a SB Live! Platinum 5.1 would work with an Audigy 1 card, or is there some other difference preventing this from working?

[JCLW]

It should. I don't have a LiveDrive so I can't test the theory, but maybe someone else here has tried it.

[seamadan000]

big bump, lots of good info here

thanks for the compilation JCLW

[y0da900]

After more research, i found a thread at the amdmb.com forums with people asking whether or not the Live Drive IR from the SB Live! Platinum 5.1 would work with the Audigy. Looks like it works all but flawlessly. Good news for anybody who wants to maintain their live drive functionality and upgrade to an audigy, without shelling out the money for a platinum kit all over again. The thread this is discussed in is here . The thread also has several links to discussions in the creative europe forums with recommendations and results from doing this. Apparently the only thing that needs to be dealt with is that the drivers used must be from an audigy platinum to get it to work.

[Kosmic]

I'm trying to hook up an audigy 2 to my case's built in mic & headphone jacks on the front. Looking at the chart above has me a bit confused, though. There are 7 individual plugs on the audio leads from the mobo with these labels:

MIC
MIC_BIAS
FP0UT_R
FPOUT_L
AUD GND
RET_R
RET_L

Can anybody tell me where to hook these into my audigy 2 zs?

Thanks!

[JCLW]

Unfortunately, all the connections on the card are digital so you cannot plug your case's front jacks into it.

[Kosmic]

Thanks for the fast reply. That really sucks, though. So if I want to use the front connections, I'd have to use the onboard motherboard sound, eh?

[tshuas]

JCLW, may I have a copy of the modded Audigy 2 ZS drivers ? How, where do I go to fetch that file ? Would really appreciate the help.....got bare bone Audigy 2 ZS off Newegg with no install CD, manual, or documentation...

[JCLW]

Originally posted by tshuas
JCLW, may I have a copy of the modded Audigy 2 ZS drivers ? How, where do I go to fetch that file ? Would really appreciate the help.....got bare bone Audigy 2 ZS off Newegg with no install CD, manual, or documentation...

PM sent

[tshuas]

JCLW, did you get my reply ? Can you zip the 200 mb file and email it to me?

[JCLW]

Hey I'm not nucturnal

[12am]

For anyone looking to do the audigy to audigy2 softmod that jclw was so kind to share with us I want you all to know that it actually does work! I've succesfully completed it a week ago and it added a little more punch in the bass and a little more brightness to the highs. Also it fixed my crashing problems in ut2k4!. Thanks JCLW.

[JCLW]

Google is what we should really thank, as that's how I (accidentally) found it. I was looking for Audigy pinouts to connect my satellite receiver to the Audigy so I could get Dolby Digital while watching movies.

[invisible hand]

How do you extract the contents of the Audigy 2 driver (the sb_install_multilang.rar) that was downloaded from link #1?

If I double click on the downloaded desktop icon then widows says it cannot open the file, if I right click on the icon there is no option to extract.

Thanks for your help!

[VaTechHokies]

are you using winrar?