Yeah, let me guess I shouldn't have that installed?

I'm running DanielK's AuzenForte Pack 2.0 (based on the 2.20.0000.33 driver) on my PCI Platinum Fatality X-Fi card without any problems. audiodg.exe uses 0% during sound playback. It does have annoying bugs with regards to EAX effects and hardware MIDI synth playback though. In testing, Creative seems to have given up on any EAX effects with MIDI in the latest beta drivers (2.30.0004). Its completely disabled in all modes, even Audio Creation.

obobskivich wrote:

You mention Catalyst 13.1; do you have the AMD High Definition Audio Driver loaded by chance?

Makes no difference for me, I have an AMD Motherboard Chipset along with an older AMD HD 6900 Series GPU with this installed and my X-Fi Platinum too and don't have this issue.

Now a couple of things that are different, I have a Gigabyte motherboard and I installed my X-Fi card into the second x16 slot.

Maybe this MSI board has issues with the x1 slot ?

But that doesn't make any sense. If you go enable just a few enhancements on generic HDA driver audiodg will use some CPU. From what I've read everywhere on this subject audiodg CPU usage implies there is some software level DSP going on in the Windows Audio Service during playback of anything that is routed through the Windows Audio Service. (DSound, MME, WaveOut, etc)

Now why is this persistent even if I check "Disable SoundBlaster Enhacnements"? What *EXACTLY* is stuck on? I've had the same issue happen on two different boards, my previous board was part of a Gateway OEM (the case is long gone too as is the stupid microsoft sticker) and it had a 1x PCIe slot. I've had the same issues with audiodg with it on three different drivers and the SoundFont synth is still broken as it is on here. (Loud clicking sounds playing if you load a soundfont GREATER THAN 1 MB)

I cannot test my gateway board because:

• I would have to go through the trouble of getting Windows activated on it
• I have to go through the trouble of taking the MASSIVE CoolerMaster heatsink I am using in this system which was a complete pain in the ass to assemble in the first place
• I don't even think my previous harddrive will even boot on that board properly anymore because of all the driver changes I went though.

DracoNihil wrote:

Yeah, let me guess I shouldn't have that installed?

Personally I've never had any issues with the AMD driver, but have observed (and read about) issues with the nVidia HD audio driver; figured it might be worth trying in the event that it's conflicting (and if you don't need HDMI Audio, you can live without that driver ever being loaded). Shouldn't be terribly hard to remove either - just open the Catalyst Uninstall Manager and remove that component.

NJRoadfan:

EAX beyond either 2 or 3 (I forget which) is disabled on X-Fi outside of Gaming Mode; if you're using EAX 4/5 you need to be in Gaming Mode.

Disable what you don't use in playback devices, see if that makes any difference...also, what kind of setup do you have? Stereo? 2.1? 5.1? 7.1? That might have something to do with it. I have seen audiodg sometimes keeps using CPU, but haven't been able to pinpoint the cause (and it doesn't use that much, so I don't mind, in the end...), and hasn't happened (I believe) since I updated my drivers to the latest ones from Creative (they were released this year, not long ago). Never had problems with soundfonts...no matter the drivers. Maybe *something* that is auto loading on your system keeps a sound buffer all to itself, hence the audiodg use.

obobskivich wrote:

NJRoadfan:

EAX beyond either 2 or 3 (I forget which) is disabled on X-Fi outside of Gaming Mode; if you're using EAX 4/5 you need to be in Gaming Mode.

I was referring to the generic reverb audio effects you can globally apply to the sound output from the EAX Effects section of the console launcher (in Entertainment mode). It works fine with wave output, but screws up with MIDI output (dropped notes) unless you set it to the 'none' preset (adds some reverb, but nothing special).

I disabled everything except Speakers and Microphone, in the audio devices. Basically only the x-fi is in use.

My setup is odd though (again why would speaker setup even matter?) I'm using a old creative inSPIRE 5.1 surround sound speaker system but since the speakers kept getting knocked down by my parents years ago, I ended up just using the system as 2.1; left right and subwoofer. I usually use headphones though as there is a headphone connector to the speaker's volume control unit. The sound card is NOT AWARE of the speaker's capabilities as it's only hooked up via the usual cord that goes into the green hole.

NJRoadfan wrote:

I was referring to the generic reverb audio effects you can globally apply to the sound output from the EAX Effects section of the console launcher (in Entertainment mode). It works fine with wave output, but screws up with MIDI output (dropped notes) unless you set it to the 'none' preset (adds some reverb, but nothing special).

Oh, gotcha! 😊

DracoNihil wrote:

I disabled everything except Speakers and Microphone, in the audio devices. Basically only the x-fi is in use.

My setup is odd though (again why would speaker setup even matter?) I'm using a old creative inSPIRE 5.1 surround sound speaker system but since the speakers kept getting knocked down by my parents years ago, I ended up just using the system as 2.1; left right and subwoofer. I usually use headphones though as there is a headphone connector to the speaker's volume control unit. The sound card is NOT AWARE of the speaker's capabilities as it's only hooked up via the usual cord that goes into the green hole.

So removing the HD Audio Driver didn't help? 😢

As far as speaker setup - it isn't aware of 2.0 vs 2.1 or whatever, but does change processing features/modes as you switch between different multi-channel maps.

I've always had the speaker settings set to 2.1 ever since my first Live! card... Setting it to headphones makes it sound muffled and dull as hell for some reason.

And removing the HD Audio Driver just makes microsoft's driver step in, though even still.. shouldn't this be a moot point if the HDMI is disabled? Hell disabling the "Speakers" of the x-fi obviously makes audiodg stop using CPU but then only ASIO, Kernel Streaming and OpenAL will function.

I hate to double post, but it seems a majority of the CPU usage in audiodg comes from just using the microphone on the X-Fi.

Disabling "Microphone" makes the audiodg process stop using CPU time but then obviously I have no way of using my damn microphone now.

Since I'm on windows 7, is it plausible to enable the onboard audio controller and just use my microphone through that instead? Because this problem is %*)*#ing stupid and I'm getting frustrated every day by it. Why the hell can't it just use the microphone with 0% CPU usage like EVERY OTHER NORMAL DEVICE!?

DracoNihil wrote:

I hate to double post, but it seems a majority of the CPU usage in audiodg comes from just using the microphone on the X-Fi.

Disabling "Microphone" makes the audiodg process stop using CPU time but then obviously I have no way of using my damn microphone now.

Since I'm on windows 7, is it plausible to enable the onboard audio controller and just use my microphone through that instead? Because this problem is %*)*#ing stupid and I'm getting frustrated every day by it. Why the hell can't it just use the microphone with 0% CPU usage like EVERY OTHER NORMAL DEVICE!?

Might I suggest either a USB Mic like what I have, a cheap Logitech brand/model or a Headset.

I have never used any kind of analog mic attached to the sound card.

The problem with using a USB audio device is the fact that I have a ton of stuff plugged into USB anyways, and the audio latency is terrible.

Also a USB headset wont work with this simple DSP project I've been working out so that I have a small hobby board processing my microphone input (noise filtering and modulation) and sending a proper signal through a lineout cord. (Though I'm sure once I set FlexiJack back to Line-In I'll still get the same audiodg crap)

DracoNihil wrote:

The problem with using a USB audio device is the fact that I have a ton of stuff plugged into USB anyways, and the audio latency is terrible.

Also a USB headset wont work with this simple DSP project I've been working out so that I have a small hobby board processing my microphone input (noise filtering and modulation) and sending a proper signal through a lineout cord. (Though I'm sure once I set FlexiJack back to Line-In I'll still get the same audiodg crap)

Not sure what to tell you, my USB Logitech Mic is just fine, no latency at all.

DracoNihil wrote:

I hate to double post, but it seems a majority of the CPU usage in audiodg comes from just using the microphone on the X-Fi.

Disabling "Microphone" makes the audiodg process stop using CPU time but then obviously I have no way of using my damn microphone now.

Since I'm on windows 7, is it plausible to enable the onboard audio controller and just use my microphone through that instead? Because this problem is %*)*#ing stupid and I'm getting frustrated every day by it. Why the hell can't it just use the microphone with 0% CPU usage like EVERY OTHER NORMAL DEVICE!?

Is it running some "effect" on the mic that's giving you the issue, or what? This is nothing I've ever encountered with Audigy/X-Fi/SoundCore (Even with SoundCore's array mic feature) but this issue seems kind of odd to begin with. 😵

As far as using the onboard - yes you can enable the controller, install drivers for it, etc but it may be application dependent as to whether or not you can set input separate from output. Worth a try though. And keep in mind the onboard may be noisy or have grounding problems.

Out of curiosity about your setup - it sounds like you're trying to run a hobby studio or similar on this computer. Have you looked at getting a pro interface in lieu of the X-Fi?

Evidently it must be running SOMETHING, but I have the checkbox "Disable Soundblaster Enhancements" checked, I have VoiceFX unchecked in Audio Control panel.

I went through all this trouble to freshly install Windows 7 and still be plagued by the same issue that nobody around here is getting but when I google my issue, other people are having the same problem as me, and they too even say disabling enhancements does nothing.

At that point the "solutions" are so bad it's not even funny, times like these I wish Microsoft didn't even introduce this mother(*%#@ing third-party DSP support and audiodg for that matter too.

Just to stoke the fire further, I too never had any problems with the X-FI drivers, fully installed. Either in x86 or x64 OSs. I have installed in two different systems.

I was surprised you had so many problems.

X-Fi Titanium HD, i7-920@ 3.8GHz, Audiodg @ 0% always. With standard Creative drivers.