Audiodg ?
ps: openal
http://support.focus-home.fr/oalinst.exe

So how much CPU time does it show ?

I'm currently running an X-Fi with Win 7 Pro, x64 and it has always shown zero percent CPU usage even with enhancements enabled.

Davros wrote:

Audiodg ?

The stupid %*)(%()*$#$)(&@))( audio stack thing in Windows Vista\7 that software mixes and provides "DSP enhancements" that are provided by audio vendors as "plugins"... Apparently it's possible for these things to get stuck on or just do stupid things in general and I damn the person responsible for this design. I wish I could permanently disable the POS. But apparently nobody at Microsoft thought it would be a good idea to provide that feature...

BigBodZod wrote:

So how much CPU time does it show ?

I'm currently running an X-Fi with Win 7 Pro, x64 and it has always shown zero percent CPU usage even with enhancements enabled.

I'm running a X-Fi Titanium HD PCIe 1x card. Audiodg is using like 4 to 12% CPU but as this is a quad core that's not a real proper measurement. I'm using the latest Daniel K's X-FI support pack I could find.

When i used my X Fi Xtreme Music PCI i got 0% on all of its services any time of operation.

Stojke wrote:

When i used my X Fi Xtreme Music PCI i got 0% on all of its services any time of operation.

Same here. All of the X-Fi's DSP features are done in hardware (stuff like EAX) as well; but that isn't directly related to what's being complained about here. It's probably pertinent to ask about the system running this X-Fi, as well as what's being done with the X-Fi too; you know, more information is always better and all that. 😀

As far as turning off enhancements, it is possible - see here:
http://technicallyeasy.net/2009/03/fix-audiod … high-cpu-usage/

You might also try this hotfix from Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/981013

This Microsoft Answers thread also seems to indicate the Dolby features in the card's software could be at fault:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/fo … 78-2e97e6377bee

I'd also add that you may want to try using the official Creative Labs drivers - I know there's a whole ideo-political "thing" surrounding using modded drivers, but given that you seem to be experiencing problems, reverting everything back to stock is generally the best place to start.

The official drivers do the same crap. I still get CPU usage in audiodg and the only way to avoid it is to disable Speakers and use OpenAL or ASIO.

I did EXACTLY what that "technically easy" article does, no effect.

The hot fix isn't the problem either. There's no memory resource leaks, only CPU usage whenever anything windows audio\dsound related is in use.

So what, am I SOL here? There's no like, registry keys I could delete, driver files I could hex? I just want everything "DSP Plugin" related out of that audiodg process, period... why is there NO easy solution for this? Let alone _*A*_ solution?

EDIT: I should mention I ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO USE DANIEL K'S DRIVERS!!! They're the ONLY ones that provide working Creative ASIO and 64-bit OpenAL support!

The problem is you are the only one here who has experience with this problem, apparently. I have 2 X-Fi cards and an Audigy 2 in my machines and have been using them forever. I run the Daniel K X-Fi and Audigy packs, but even Creative's own drivers have been ok on Win7-8 for me when I've used them. Back with older drivers and Vista, I did have some problems, but that was years ago.

I've never used ASIO though.

I suggest a fresh install of Windows and a step-by-step install of drivers and programs. Watch for weird audiodg behavior as you progress. It could be some program you have installed that's conflicting, a problem with your X-Fi maybe, or maybe even a problem with your motherboard. Who knows....

I'm going to be reinstalling Windows 7 when I get my new HDD. I read somewhere that it's strongly recommended to disable Windows' automatic installation of drivers for new hardware. I never figured out how to properly do that because it seems even disabling it through control panel doesn't prevent Win7 from installing the UAA driver for the sound card.

I get the feeling it's some left over UAA driver doing this but I just don't know. I've had this issue ever since first installing the X-Fi card with creative's official drivers of their website.

I just looked at mine again, running an 8 core AMD FX cpu with 16GB of RAM, audiodg is still at zero cpu time.

I will try playing some media files and see what occurs.

I'm running the X-Fi Platinum PCI model.

swaaye wrote:

The problem is you are the only one here who has experience with this problem, apparently.

Indeed. I can't recreate this issue with my X-Fi Prelude, and I have had no issues with Audigy or SoundCore either. *shrug*

Out of curiosity - what are you using/needing ASIO for?

At this point, because of your seemingly obtuse configuration and needs, and that you're having this problem, you may as well just dump the X-Fi and try another audio adapter (perhaps something better geared for whatever you're doing). If the problem persists there, the issue is squarely with some other application running on your system.

As far as not letting Windows install drivers (there's absolutely nothing wrong with that by the way - in many cases it installs drivers from the hardware manufacturer, for example I've never had an issue with it finding and installing the correct version of ForceWare for GeForce cards; it usually isn't a generic driver (And installing any driver yourself will over-write/over-ride what Windows Update does)). If you don't like the computer doing these things for you, disable Windows Updates and response with a resounding "No" to the new hardware prompts - should nix it.

ASIO for OpenMPT and FLStudio 7, basically every other music making program. And Daniel K's drivers was the only thing that made the X-Fi show up under 64-bit OpenAL so that the few 64-bit stuff (mostly Java like Minecraft) can run with hardware mixed audio rather than this Windows crap.

I don't want to dump the X-Fi because ever since getting it, it did wonders for Doom 3, Soldier of Fortune 2, and anything that actually played nice with ALchemy. I seriously wished there was a simple fix to this retarded problem but soon enough I'm going to be installing Windows 7 fresh, I'm going to take the x-fi card out before installing Windows again though, try to make sure I disabled everything I can to it's automatic driver installation.

If the problem happens again after all this, then I'm going to scream.

I'm pretty confident that no Windows Update driver is the issue here. Ive never had trouble with what it downloads.

The PCI XFI doesn't even have a driver available on there, nor does it support the HDA standard for the generic HDA driver. PCIe XFi does support generic HDA but I've never had these audiodg problems with my XFi Titanium.

Back from reinstall after getting my SSD and SSHD in place, the audiodg problem still happens.

So it looks like I really am SOL.

Have you tried the onboard audio?

The motherboard's audio as well as the x-fi when Microsoft's driver takes over has 0% CPU for audiodg.

I want to beable to use hardware mixed OpenAL, with EFX and everything as well as have the lowest possible latency ASIO. The stupid Realtek HD Audio isn't going to cut it.

I have all "Soundblaster Enhancements" turned off, this is a FRESH INSTALL of Windows 7, what am I doing wrong here, seriously!?

I'm wondering what other software you install. Did you do the gradual step by step reinstall I suggested and observe audiodg behavior along the way?

Can you try the card in another system?

I don't have another system that has a 1x PCIe slot let alone another system at all to begin with for starters.

And yes I did a step by step reinstall, before I got rid of the Microsoft driver treating the x-fi as if it were a "HD Audio Device", audiodg was using 0% no matter what I played.

Then I installed the driver off of Windows Update, audiodg would use 2-5% CPU if ANYTHING that isn't hardware OpenAL is being played. And 12-15% if anything is using the microphone.

Uninstalled that driver (which was a pain in the ass to do!) and installed X-Fi support pack 2.5, same deal as before.

I also tried another set of drivers called "PAX", SAME EXACT ISSUE... So no matter what I install I'm always going to get plagued by this stupid problem... and it's unfortunate because this card is REALLY good for OpenAL and ASIO.

EDIT: Also the only other drivers I had to install was catalyst 13.1, Realtek PCI-E ethernet controller, and my USB 3.0 root hub driver. The latter two come from MSI's website as this is a MSI board. (970A-G46)

I should also note that my previous motherboard, which I have no way of testing since I have no processor for it, I had the same exact audiodg usage problem on that too. No matter what driver I did, if I didn't stick with Microsoft's generic HDA driver I'd get audiodg sapping CPU usage whenever non OpenAL programs did audio or I used my microphone.

Yeah I dunno.

I am using the X-Fi Support Pack 2.5 with a PCIe X-Fi Titanium on a Asrock Z77 motherboard. With Winamp outputting through "Directsound" (meaning it's going thru the Windows software layer), audiodg.exe sees 1-2% CPU. I loaded up Thief 3, a Directsound EAX3 game that I have setup with Alchemy OpenAL, and see 0% audiodg usage then.

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