The original Live Drive (CT4860) had no optical and no RCA analog in jacks and no ir and no firewire but fullsize Midi. Example: https://mobile.twitter.com/nostalgicpchar1/st … 881622354251777
The Live Drive II (also CT4860) had optical and RCA analog in ports and no ir and no firewire with fullsize midi. Example : https://www.ixbt.com/multimedia/sbliveplatinum.html
The live Drive IR (SB0010) got the IR sensor and mini MIDI connectors. Example: http://ixbtlabs.com/articles/sbliveplatinum51/index.html
*The Audigy Drive (also SB0010)got the Firewire connector. Example https://www.electromyne.de/Sound-Cards-Creati … ront-Panel.html
*The Audigy II drive is the same as the original Audigy Drive just with another Text. Example : https://www.pc-experience.de/wbb2/thread.php?postid=7398
*The Audigy II ZS Drive is again the same as the original Audigy drive, just in Black. Example : https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Creative-Blaster- … o/dp/B000ST8TLK
The SB X-Fi Dirve is like the Live Drive IR (without Firewire) in glossy black. Example: https://www.newegg.com/creative-sound-blaster … N82E16829102189
The SB X-Fi Fatality Champoin Drive is again the same as the SB X-Fi Drive just with another Text. Example :https://bit-tech.net/reviews/tech/creative_xfi/1/

And yes. they work all the same exept of the features some have and others are missing.
For your Audigy Card i would suggest any of the Audigy Drives with firewire(marked with *).
You need adapter cables to use the mini MIDI ports and turn them to fullsize ports. Example : https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/midi-p … ive-mu-16502118

All Drives with IR came with the RM-900 remote. Example: https://www.olx.ro/d/oferta/telecomanda-creat … 00-IDdxiyf.html
The Audigy 2 ZS came with a identical but black remote RM-900B . Example : https://www.amazon.com/Creative-RM-900B-Syste … l/dp/B00R4Z8WT0
The SB X-Fi versions got new remotes RM-1800 : Example: https://www.amazon.ca/CREATIVE-Original-RM-18 … 1/dp/B008GP4B5G

DerBaum wrote on 2022-07-30, 23:23:

The original Live Drive (CT4860) had no optical and no RCA analog in jacks and no ir and no firewire but fullsize Midi. Example […]
Show full quote

The original Live Drive (CT4860) had no optical and no RCA analog in jacks and no ir and no firewire but fullsize Midi. Example: https://mobile.twitter.com/nostalgicpchar1/st … 881622354251777
The Live Drive II (also CT4860) had optical and RCA analog in ports and no ir and no firewire with fullsize midi. Example : https://www.ixbt.com/multimedia/sbliveplatinum.html
The live Drive IR (SB0010) got the IR sensor and mini MIDI connectors. Example: http://ixbtlabs.com/articles/sbliveplatinum51/index.html
*The Audigy Live Drive (also SB0010)got the Firewire connector. Example https://www.electromyne.de/Sound-Cards-Creati … ront-Panel.html
*The Audigy II Live drive is the same as the original Audigy Live Drive just with another Text. Example : https://www.pc-experience.de/wbb2/thread.php?postid=7398
*The Audigy II ZS Live Drive is again the same as the original Audigy Live drive, just in Black. Example : https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Creative-Blaster- … o/dp/B000ST8TLK
The SB X-Fi Live Dirve is like the Live Drive IR (without Firewire) in glossy black. Example: https://www.newegg.com/creative-sound-blaster … N82E16829102189
The SB X-Fi Fatality Champoin Live Drive is again the same as the SB X-Fi Live Drive just with another Text. Example :https://bit-tech.net/reviews/tech/creative_xfi/1/

And yes. they work all the same exept of the features some have and others are missing.
For your Audigy Card i would suggest any of the Audigy Drives with firewire(marked with *).
You need adapter cables to use the mini MIDI ports and turn them to fullsize ports. Example : https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/midi-p … ive-mu-16502118

Great post 👍 https://youtu.be/NDe13n_WpQA

For completeness I'll also mention the X-Fi Titanium Fatality Champion, although the drive only pairs with the matching PCI-e card, so it's probably not useful to the topic. These ones could be installed in a 3.5 or 5.25 drive bay. http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/multimedia/crea … fi-pcie-p1.html

I would just add that the pinouts for the various LiveDrives are not the same. From my understanding (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) the original LiveDrive up to (and including) the Audigy1 version all use the same pinout and are compatible with both SBLive and Audigy1 cards.

Starting from the Audigy2, the LiveDrive pinout changed, and that version is no longer compatible with older cards. I think the Audigy2 and the Audigy2 ZS LiveDrives are interchangeable.Not sure if they also work with X-Fi cards (PCI versions only), but it might be possible.

It would be cool to find the pinouts of these various cards and maybe make adapters for them between different drives and different cards

At Derbaum, may wanna host images and info here. Those links will go dead and someone reading in 10 years won’t be able to get important infos. Great reply btw! 😀

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-07-31, 01:39:

At Derbaum, may wanna host images and info here. Those links will go dead and someone reading in 10 years won’t be able to get important infos...

I have some of them...

And i think i should have around 5 without Boxes.
In theory i should have one of every generation except the first Live Drive without Optical...
I can take photos and measure stuff (as soon i have moved into my new flat).

Do you think you could figure out the pintouts and make a guide for how to adapt them to different cards?

I may wanna try and put a x-fi drive on a 2zs

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-07-31, 02:37:

Do you think you could figure out the pintouts and make a guide for how to adapt them to different cards?

They are already documented: SBLive pinout vs. Audigy2 ZS pinout.

I may wanna try and put a x-fi drive on a 2zs

I think that should work fine, assuming we're talking about the PCI version of X-Fi. I've never tried this personally though, so you might want to take some measurements beforehand, just to be on the safe side.

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-07-31, 02:37:

Do you think you could figure out the pintouts and make a guide for how to adapt them to different cards?

I may wanna try and put a x-fi drive on a 2zs

I thought all SB0010 drives are the same, just the Live Drive IR and the X-Fi ones missing the Firewire components on the Board.
I have never thought about seeking for differences. We can figure it out and make a list of whats compatible with what.
In theory even the external Breakoutbox of the Audigy Platinum EX should be compatible ,because it just pipes the same connector into a card to make it external and then to the external box (wich is also a SB0010 in an enclosure).
I also have one of those...
Example: https://tweaker.ch/board/thread/16114-creativ … gy-platinum-ex/

External module is for Audigy 2 Platinum EX, Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro and Audigy 4 Pro. And indeed they use the same data wires. The module have a proprietary connector for data link and a Firewire connector to the audio card.
The addition of the external module is the control of CMSS, speaker volume+mute and x2 Firewire ports.

Datadrainer wrote on 2022-07-31, 20:15:

External module is for Audigy 2 Platinum EX, Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro and Audigy 4 Pro.

I was talking about the SB0110 External box for Audigy 1 .
Its using a DB44 connector and a Firewire cable.

I found the Box with some of my Live Drives.
In the next days i can make some measurements.

Top left : Audigy (1) Drive (SB0010D)
Bottom left : Live Drive IR (SB0010)
Bottom right : Live Drive II (CT4860)

DerBaum wrote on 2022-07-31, 20:49:

Datadrainer wrote on 2022-07-31, 20:15:

External module is for Audigy 2 Platinum EX, Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro and Audigy 4 Pro.

I was talking about the SB0110 External box for Audigy 1 .
Its using a DB44 connector and a Firewire cable.

Ah yes! Indeed. Thank you for your photos 😀 I totally forgot the existence of this one.

ps. Its a nice collection your have 😁

Just to make it a little bit simpler for everyone doing research and finding this thread:
I will try to find all available Information regarding Drives and Cards and collect them here in a single thread.

FIRST: The physical connector.

There are 2 different Types of connection Creative cards using for the Drives.

Soundblaster Live! and Soundblaster Audigy (1) using AUD_EXT connecor.

Soundbalster Audigy2, Audigy2ZS and X-Fi using AD_EXT connector.

The "KEY" on the newer cards is on top (Pin11 Pin12) and the "KEY" on the older cards is on the bottom (Pin29 Pin30). The cable that comes with the drives fits both. but dont mix old (new) drives with new(old) cards.
The original creative cable is keyed (closed holes)... But you can use a regular 40pin IDE Cable as long as you keep pin 1 Card to pin1 Drive (because of the missing KEY)

Here is the first version of my spreadsheet where i try to find out if it is possible to create an adapter to make every drive work with every card.

Sweet!! Any conclusions yet?

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-08-01, 20:53:

Sweet!! Any conclusions yet?

Yes. it looks similar. 😁

Today is a beautyful day, the sun is shining, its not too hot and a slight wind is blowing.
Perfect day to stay indoors and take apart old stuff clean it and take photos.

Since i have not found any pics of the internals of the Drives... i took apart the ones i have access to in the moment.

Live! Drive II :

The base board is CT4860 and the daughterboard is CT4860A.
The daughterboard is basically empty and everything is on the base board.
All possible connectors are populated.

Live! Drive IR

Base board is SB0010 and daughterboard is SB0010B
They moved some components on the daughterboard and added the IR sensor.
In theory it can provide Firewire to the front, but its not populated.

Audigy (1) Drive

Base board is SB0010D and daughterboard is SB0010B
It is very similar to Live! Drive IR but you can see some things are in different places.

Audigy (1) Drive external

Base board is SB0110 and daughterboard is SB0110A
It is a completely different revision. They reduced the component count and not even used the fancy black PCBs.
After you remove the black top cover of the drive you get the same as an internal Drive.
It has all the right mounting positions for all screws and is exactly the dame stamping as an internal drive.
The black faceplate fits on SB0010 drives.

RM-900B Remote

This is the remote that came with all black Audigy Drives (Audigy (1) Platinum ex, Audigy 2 ZS Platinum...)

DerBaum wrote on 2022-08-02, 11:59:

Since i have not found any pics of the internals of the Drives... i took apart the ones i have access to in the moment.

Nice photos!

And in case anyone is wondering about all the connectors on the LiveDrive IR, here's a snippet from its manual:

A fully populated SBLive + LiveDrive + Optical I/O card + Digital DIN bracket connected to 5.1 digital speakers would be a grand sight to behold! 😀

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-08-02, 12:26:

A fully populated SBLive + LiveDrive + Optical I/O card + Digital DIN bracket connected to 5.1 digital speakers would be a grand sight to behold! 😀

i should have all other accessorys too.
I have a boxed Live! that came with the optical IO card.
Also i have the digital IO module (in 2 different versions) shown in the manuals.
One version i have imported from Japan because i have not found it for years here in europe.

here some examples (not my actual ones)

The yellow one has a "CT" prduct code and the white one the later "SB".
I think the yellow one looked too 90´s and got a refresh around 2000 in white. They should be the same.

Just another little side note:
If you want to use a IDE cable instead of the creative keyed cable you have to use one with all pins unblocked.
Some IDE cables have a closed PIN in the middle that will prevent you from plugging it in the Drive or Soundcard.

Here are some more accessories.
The cable on top is a original creative one. It has 2 blocked pins... But its a normal straight through cable.

On the left is a CT4660 Digital IO card for soundblaster LIVE!.

It just has 2 RCA jacks for SPDIF in and out, 2 Mini Din Midi connectors and DIGITAL DIN connector for creative speaker systems.

On the right is the SB0110B card for Audigy(1) platinum ex.

For the external box the internal signals are routet into a DB-44 connector.