ALL-NEW SOUND BLASTER ROAR 2 NOW AVAILABLE FOR SALE! VIEW NOW »



Sound Blaster Live!

Solution ID: 3026

Pin Assignment of I/O Jacks and Connectors on Sound Blaster Devices

Summary:
  • This article describes functions and pin assignments of common internal and external connectors as well as jumper settings of ISA Sound Blaster audio cards.
  • The location of the connectors, jumpers or jacks described here may be different from your Sound Blaster.

 Internal connectors such as TAD, AUX, CD-IN etc

TAD (Telephone Answering Device) connector

The TAD (Telephone Answering Device) connector is for connecting voice modems and audio cards for speakerphone operations. With proper communication software and mixer setup, the TAD connection allows speakers and microphone connected to an audio card be used for modem's speakerphone functions. 

If both your audio card and your voice modem have the TAD connector, you can connect them together via an internal TAD cable, which is a 4-pin cable. If the TAD cable is not included with your audio card or modem,  a standard ATAPI CD Audio cable can be used in its place.

The location and orientation of TAD connectors vary from one modem to modem, and from audio card to audio card. In addition, the TAD connectors on certain modems may need to be enabled by jumper settings. Before connecting the modem to your audio card, locate and verify the pin orientation of the TAD connectors. The following is the TAD pin definition, the pin 1 is typically designated by a little arrow or the number 1.

Note: The TAD connector on some revisions of Modem Blaster DI5631 is not marked. The TAD connector on DI5631 can be located by finding a 4-pin connector next to the line and phone jacks.  The pins run vertically from the top of the card to the bottom of the card.  Pin 1 is the pin furthest away from the PCI bus, and pin 4 is the pin at the bottom, closest to the PCI bus.

Pin Definition Description
1 Mono In

Modem Speaker output
to audio card PC speaker output
2 Ground Ground
3 Ground Ground
4 Microphone Out Microphone output from audio card to modem

The following is a complete procedure on the TAD connection and function:

  • Connect your modem to audio card via the TAD cable, and connect speakers and microphone to your audio card.
  • Click on Start, Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, Volume Control.
  • Click on Options, then Properties. Ensure that the Mixer Device is set to your audio card. Make sure that there is a check in boxes next to TAD_In and Microphone. Click on OK.
  • In the Play Control, mute the Microphone and Line_In, locate the TAD slider and make sure that TAD is NOT muted.
  • Click on Options, then Properties, click on Recording, then select Microphone. Click on OK.
  • In the Recording Control, increase volume under Microphone, and check the Select box below to select it as the recording source. If your audio card has a microphone gain control feature, click on the Advanced button below the Microphone slider, and enable Microphone Boost.
  • Start your communications software.

CD-IN, CD SPDIF and AUX-In

It is no longer necessary to connect a CD-ROM drive directly to your Sound Blaster to enjoy CD-Audio since most new CD-ROM drives support digital audio extraction. If your CD-ROM drive does not support digital audio extraction, it is necessary to connect your CD-ROM to one of these connectors on your sound card. Depending on your card, you can connect up to 3 CD-Rom drives to your sound card as follows:

  • Connect one audio cable from the analog audio connector on the rear of the CD-Rom drive to the CD-In connector on the sound card.
  • Connect a second cable (digital) from the digital connector on the rear of the second drive to the CD-SPDIF connector on the sound card.
  • Connect a third audio cable from the analog audio connector on the rear of the third drive to the Aux-In connector on the sound card.

Note that sound plays from only one source at a time as Windows and the CD software do not allow access to more than one device simultaneously.

The AUX-In connector can be used to connected to AUX connectors on a TV tuner, MPEG or similar cards.

Depending on your hardware, you may have a second auxiliary input. However, you can use only either Auxiliary 2 or Coaxial/Optical SPDIF-In, at one time. If you enable Auxiliary 2, the SPDIF-In icon will change to the Auxiliary 2 icon. You can enable Auxiliary 2 if you want to connect to consumer equipment such as a video recorder, television or CD player.

 Internal connectors

 TAD


  1. Line In from modem
  2. Ground
  3. Ground
  4. Microphone output to modem (Amplified Level)

 ATAPI/Aux


  1. Left
  2. Ground
  3. Ground
  4. Right

 CD SPDIF

0 Digital Out
1 Digital Ground

 4 pin Mic_Conn

  1. Mic In
  2. Analog Ground
  3. Mic Power/BIAS
  4. Not Used

 3 pin Mic_Conn

  1. Mic In
  2. Analog Ground
  3. Mic Power/BIAS

 MBPro

  1. AGND
  2. Key
  3. Line-In
  4. AGND
  5. Line-Left
  6. ANGD
  7. Line-Right
  8. Modem-Spk
  9. AGND
  10. Mic-In

 Firewire

(Found on Sound Blaster Audigy & Sound Blaster Audigy 2 series of soundcards)

External Connector:


 Mating Face of 6 pin male SB1394
  1. Power
  2. GND
  3. TPB
  4. TPB+
  5. TPA-
  6. TPA+

 AUX

  1. Left
  2. Analog Ground
  3. Analog Ground
  4. Right

 Speaker/Line

  1. Left - Line Out
  2. Right - Line Out
  3. Keyed
  4. Analog Ground
  5. Left - Spkr Out
  6. Right - Spkr Out

 SB 1394 Internal Connector


Pin Signal
1 TPA+
2 TPA-
3 GND
4 GND
5 TPB+
6 TPB-
7 *Power (+12VDC)
8 *Power (+12VDC)
9 KEY (Not Used)
10 PHY_GND

*Depopulated on some models

 Wave Blaster Header

  1. Digital Ground
  2. NC
  3. Digital Ground
  4. MIDI Output
  5. Digital Ground
  6. VCC
  7. Digital Ground
  8. MIDI Input
  9. Digital Ground 10 VCC
  10. Digital Ground
  11. NC
  12. NC
  13. VCC
  14. Anlg Ground
  15. NC
  16. Anlg Ground
  17. +12 V 19 Anlg Ground
  18. Line In: Right
  19. Anlg Ground
  20. -12V
  21. Anlg Ground
  22. Line In: Left
  23. An Ground
  24. ResetB

 I2_S


  1. SDATA in
  2. LRCLK in
  3. Ground
  4. BCLK in

 Goldfinch connector

  1. Right Channel
  2. Ground
  3. Left Channel
  4. Ground
  5. Key
  6. Ground
  7. Ground
  8. Ground

 PC Speaker

1 +5 Volts
2 PC Spkr Out

 AUD_EXT

This is for the Sound Blaster Live and Sound Blaster Audigy Series Only. Not the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Series.

 Line-In and Line-Out

 Line-Out 3 on Sound Blaster Audigy 2 series


 Digital Out Jack of Sound Blaster Live!  Series


 Digital Out Jack(Analog Subwoofer/Center jack) of SB Live! 5.1 and Audigy


 MIDI


MIDI In

  1. Reserved
  2. Ground (Shield of twisted Pair)
  3. Reserved
  4. RD+
  5. RD- (pins 4 and 6 in twisted pair)

MIDI Out or through

  1. Reserved
  2. Ground (Shield of twisted Pair)
  3. Reserved
  4. +5v
  5. Data- (pins 4 and 6 in twisted pair)

 Joystick/MIDI Port


 Gameport/Joystick Connector Pin Assignment
  1. +5 volts (supply voltage)
  2. Button1 (Push button 1 joystick A)
  3. Position 0 (x coordinate)
  4. Ground
  5. Ground
  6. Position 1 (Y coordinate)
  7. Button 2 (Push button 2 joystick A)
  8. +5 volts (supply voltage)
  9. +5 volts (supply voltage)
  10. Button 3 (Push button 1 joystick B)
  11. Position 2 (X coordinate)
  12. MIDI TXD
  13. Position 3 (Y coordinate)
  14. Button 4 (Push button 2 joystick B)
  15. MIDI RXD

 S/PDIF in Digital Din


 Jumper settings of Sound Blaster audio cards

Legacy computer expansion cards such as Sound Blaster 16, Sound Blaster Pro, etc often require physical change of jumpers on the card in order to for the changes in the computer resource assignment to take effect. The commonly changed resources are IRQ, DMA, and I/O ranges.

A jumper is a small plastic piece which fits over two pins on a card. If a jumper is covering both pins on a card, it is said to be "closed". If the jumper is only on one pin, or not present at all, it is said to be "open".

Groups of jumpers are used to create different settings. If one of the jumpers is open, while others are closed it creates one setting, and having different jumpers open or closed creates other settings.

Many cards do NOT have jumpers for IRQ and DMA. Instead they are set by software (DIAGNOSE) or by the Operating System.

IOS0 is closed

IOS0 is open

IOS0 is open
IOS1 is closed

IDE100 is open
IDE101 is closed

Sound Card Base Address

    

MIDI Port Address
 

220h
240h
260h
280h		  
330h
300h
 

Sound Card IRQ

      

MPU-401 Emulation
 

IRQ 2
IRQ 5
IRQ 7
IRQ 10		  
Enabled
Disabled
 

Sound Card Low DMA

    

CSP Chip
 

DMA 0
DMA 1
DMA 3
Don`t Use		  
No CSP
CSP
 

Sound Card High DMA

    

SCSI Port Address
 

HDMA 5
HDMA 6
HDMA 7
Use Low		  
140h
340h
 

IDE Port Address

      

IDE Port Enable
 

Disabled
1E8h
170h
168h		  
Disabled
Enabled
 

CT17xx Amplifier

      

CT4171 Amplifier
     

Enabled
Disabled		    
Line Out
Spkr Out

MIDI Port Enable

Enabled
Disabled
 

Joystick Enable

Enabled
Disabled
 

SIMM Sockets

RAM
No RAM
 

SCSI IRQ
 

IDE IRQ

Ignore 14 if present.
 

CT4181 Amplifier

Spkr Out
Line Out

Last Updated: January 19, 2015
If you require further assistance, please send an email to technical support.

Note: Product specification, technical or troubleshooting information are subjected to change. This is due to changes and/or updates in the new firmware/driver releases. Please refer to the web release notes in the download section for details.

     

Was this information helpful?

Your feedback is essential for us to constantly refine our Knowledgebase articles to better support you.
Please take a moment to rate our case.

Note:
- Your feedback is received anonymously, and thus cannot be responded to.
Excellent        Good        Average        Poor        Bad