TgamesFR wrote on 2026-01-14, 22:05:

@Joseph_Joestar,
Btw i've noticed the DOS Driver for Sound Blaster 16 emulation is stereo-reverted by default like old Sound Blaster Pro cards.
It is possible to change that ?

I don't think I've ever encountered that issue.

In which game are you seeing this exactly? And have you tested other games and gotten the same result?

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-01-14, 22:39:

I don't think I've ever encountered that issue.

In which game are you seeing this exactly? And have you tested other games and gotten the same result?

You can test the Duke Nukem 3D Sound test in setup it gonna be in stereo-reversed when the SoundFX Card is in "Sound Blaster Pro 1" backward compatibility.
Not happen with Sound Blaster 16 or Pro2 modes (but many games only support Sound Blaster 1 mode).

All thoses DOS games in SBPro 1 are stereo reversed but it's noticeable only when the game output stereo in one side at time.

I know the original Sound Blaster Pro 1 was stereo reversed but normally it's emulation so it should be not reversed as it was a hardware flaws and here it's software.

Strange nobody ever talked about that issue yet.

TgamesFR wrote on 2026-01-16, 23:04:

All thoses DOS games in SB1 are stereo reversed but it's noticeable only when the game output stereo in one side at time.

Ah, so you meant SB1 compatibility. I don't think I ever tested that on an Audigy card. Honestly, I would be surprised if many DOS games which only support SB1 (CT1310) even work with Creative's emulation. For reference, those would mostly be pre-1991 titles.

TgamesFR wrote on 2026-01-16, 23:04:

I know the original Sound Blaster 1 was stereo reversed but normally it's emulation so it should be not reversed as it was a hardware flaws and here it's software.

I'm not all that familiar with the SB1, but from what I've read online, it wasn't capable of stereo sound for digital audio playback (e.g. speech and sound effects). It might have been able to do stereo for FM synth and CMS though. As I understand it, the SBPro1 (CT1330) was the first card from Creative which actually supported digital stereo sound. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-01-17, 07:48:

Ah, so you meant SB1 compatibility. I don't think I ever tested that on an Audigy card. Honestly, I would be surprised if many D […]
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TgamesFR wrote on 2026-01-16, 23:04:

All thoses DOS games in SB1 are stereo reversed but it's noticeable only when the game output stereo in one side at time.

Ah, so you meant SB1 compatibility. I don't think I ever tested that on an Audigy card. Honestly, I would be surprised if many DOS games which only support SB1 (CT1310) even work with Creative's emulation. For reference, those would mostly be pre-1991 titles.

TgamesFR wrote on 2026-01-16, 23:04:

I know the original Sound Blaster 1 was stereo reversed but normally it's emulation so it should be not reversed as it was a hardware flaws and here it's software.

I'm not all that familiar with the SB1, but from what I've read online, it wasn't capable of stereo sound for digital audio playback (e.g. speech and sound effects). It might have been able to do stereo for FM synth and CMS though. As I understand it, the SBPro1 (CT1330) was the first card from Creative which actually supported digital stereo sound. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

Yes, the Sound Blaster Pro CT1330 (SB Pro 1)was their first stereo card. All of the original pre-Pro Sound Blasters were mono only.

He must be talking about SB Pro 1.

There are several threads about the whole reversed stereo debacle related to those. Like this one for example:
SBPro1 CT1330A, lets solve the Reversed Stereo myth!

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-01-17, 07:48:

I'm not all that familiar with the SB1, but from what I've read online, it wasn't capable of stereo sound for digital audio playback (e.g. speech and sound effects). It might have been able to do stereo for FM synth and CMS though. As I understand it, the SBPro1 (CT1330) was the first card from Creative which actually supported digital stereo sound. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

For Duke Nukem 3D i was talking about the SB Pro 1.
And even if the SB Pro 1 had a hardware flaws with stereo beeing reverted many later Sound Blaster cards fixed that issue in SB Pro 1 mode so the stereo was good on thoses ISA cards.
Even clones like ESS Audiodrive or Yamaha YMF cards also fixed the stereo issue for SBPro 1.
However, it's strange it's bugged on PCI emulation cards like the Live and Audigy cards.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-01-17, 08:11:

Yes, the Sound Blaster Pro CT1330 (SB Pro 1)was their first stereo card. All of the original pre-Pro Sound Blasters were mono on […]
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Yes, the Sound Blaster Pro CT1330 (SB Pro 1)was their first stereo card. All of the original pre-Pro Sound Blasters were mono only.

He must be talking about SB Pro 1.

There are several threads about the whole reversed stereo debacle related to those. Like this one for example:
SBPro1 CT1330A, lets solve the Reversed Stereo myth!

Yes the original SB Pro 1 had that hardware issue.
Just i'm very surprised, as it's full emulation now, that Live/Audigy/Audigy 2 cards restored the bug when Creative switched to PCI and nobody noticed it yet xD.

TgamesFR wrote on 2026-01-17, 14:01:

For Duke Nukem 3D i was talking about the SB Pro 1, and even if the SB Pro 1 had a hardware flaws with stereo beeing reverted many later Sound Blaster cards fixed that issue in SB Pro 1 mode so the stereo was good on thoses ISA cards.
Even clones like ESS Audiodrive or Yamaha YMF cards also fixed the stereo issue.
So it's strange it's bugged on Live and Audigy cards.

A couple of notes here. First, the drivers specifically call this "Creative SB16 Emulation". So the fact that stereo sound works correctly in SBPro2 mode is an unexpected bonus, since a real SB16 can't do that.

Second, can you test this in some other game which offers SBPro1 as an option that you can select in setup? Just so that we can exclude Duke3D as the possible culprit. And I mean something that doesn't use the Build Engine, so Shadow Warrior and Blood aren't applicable, since they likely share the same audio code as Duke3D.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-01-17, 14:07:

A couple of notes here. First, the drivers specifically call this "Creative SB16 Emulation". So the fact that stereo sound works correctly in SBPro2 mode is an unexpected bonus, since a real SB16 can't do that.

Second, can you test this in some other game which offers SBPro1 as an option that you can select in setup? Just so that we can exclude Duke3D as the possible culprit. And I mean something that doesn't use the Build Engine, so Shadow Warrior and Blood aren't applicable, since they likely share the same audio code as Duke3D.

I did a couple of more tests, it seems the driver auto-revert the stereo when it's in Sound Blaster Pro and Pro 2 mode.
I've noticed it on Duke Nukem 3D, if i choose "AWE32" and set the Card Type to "Sound Blaster 16 / AWE 32" (cause by default it still detect it as Sound Blaster Pro 2) now the stereo is not reverted.

However for games like Doom 1 & 2 for example, stereo is reverted impossible to fix it (no way to change/enforce anything).
Same for Wolfenstein 3D who is same thing.

It seems every games who will try to use the Stereo mode of the Sound Blaster Pro & Pro 2 will have audio reverted.
If the game provide Sound Blaster 16 or AWE32 (and you enforce it), this time it's in correct stereo.

I thought Creative had at least learn from the AWE 32/64 cards and fixed his backward implementation of the Stereo with pro models but ye it seems you right.
It's working (it's kinda cool) but reverted, i was just surprised nobody reported the thing yet (probs people playing DOS games with Live/Audigy cards are kinda rare too).

As discussed in the thread I linked above, I think the issue is that once the issue first occurred on the original SB Pro it was then up to software developers to accommodate for it... meaning, no game with SBPro compatibility should have ever NOT had the ability to reverse the playback, since there would always be a possibility of needing it one way or the other. Whether a card's SB Pro implementation results in reversed digital audio playback (it doesn't apply to FM or MPU-401 playback) is less of a big deal overall (across all games in general) because every other game may assume it is or isn't reversed. Really, the "standard" could be seen as reversed or not reversed, so it was up to the maker of the card to determine which one they would go with by default.

It must have been really annoying to design SB Pro compatible sound chips. Do we go with the correct implementation and assume that games will be programmed right or at least give the option to switch? Or do we go with the incorrect implementation on purpose to maintain closer compatibility with the industry standard (broken) device?

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-01-17, 14:07:

A couple of notes here. First, the drivers specifically call this "Creative SB16 Emulation". So the fact that stereo sound works correctly in SBPro2 mode is an unexpected bonus, since a real SB16 can't do that.

Second, can you test this in some other game which offers SBPro1 as an option that you can select in setup? Just so that we can exclude Duke3D as the possible culprit. And I mean something that doesn't use the Build Engine, so Shadow Warrior and Blood aren't applicable, since they likely share the same audio code as Duke3D.

@Joseph_Joestar, i've wired internally the SPDIF using the SPDIF pins on right of the joystick pins of the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS.

Under Windows and DOS within Windows, the SPDIF works fine and sound is crystal clear.
However it's completely silent under Pure DOS.

It's strange because on PhilComputerLabs video he have sounds out of the SPDIF under Pure DOS.

There is a setting to enable that ?

TgamesFR wrote on 2026-01-30, 11:24:

Under Windows and DOS within Windows, the SPDIF works fine and sound is crystal clear. However it's completely silent under Pure […]
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Under Windows and DOS within Windows, the SPDIF works fine and sound is crystal clear.
However it's completely silent under Pure DOS.

It's strange because on PhilComputerLabs video he have sounds out of the SPDIF under Pure DOS.

There is a setting to enable that ?

No idea, you'd have to ask Phil.

I could never get SPDIF to work reliably under pure DOS on Audigy/SBLive cards.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-01-30, 11:34:

No idea, you'd have to ask Phil.

I could never get SPDIF to work reliably under pure DOS on Audigy/SBLive cards.

@Joseph_Joestar,

I've found today by myself how to enable SPDIF under Pure DOS.

If you load SBEMU it manage to do like UniSound but for PCI Sound Cards.

Your PCI sound card will be initialized without any DOS driver (yes it's pretty insane).

So no longuer need load the Dos Driver you providing from Creative CD.
Just load SBEmu, it gonna find the Audigy 2 ZS and initialize by itself ! (i'm stunned it's even possible without anything loaded from Creative stuff).

Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro 1 & 2 and Sound Blaster 16 all are working fine (it even fixed the stereo inverted issue !!).

And OPL3 emulation is now 99.9% accurate (as it use DosBox code who is also very accurate).
Night and day for OPL3 compared to the one from Ensoniq.
However, by default it use the OPL3 from the Sound Card so you won't notice any difference (need use a modded version of SBEmu).

The only thing not working is General Midi, i've not managed yet to enable that part.
Games seems to find the 330 port and playing something but no General Midi music audible.

But it's very great we have Optical audio under pure dos on the Audigy 2 ZS and Sound Blaster Pro Stereo fixed.

Hi, I previously installed SB Live stuff using @Joseph_Joestar guide (Guide: Installing Windows 9x and DOS drivers on Sound Blaster Live! cards (version 3.1)). Now I want to put Audigy 2 ZS card into the same system. Should I first go through some SB Live driver/utils removal process or do you think I can just install of of this stuff and expect things to work?

Feallan wrote on 2026-02-12, 14:39:

Hi, I previously installed SB Live stuff using @Joseph_Joestar guide (Guide: Installing Windows 9x and DOS drivers on Sound Blaster Live! cards (version 3.1)). Now I want to put Audigy 2 ZS card into the same system. Should I first go through some SB Live driver/utils removal process or do you think I can just install of of this stuff and expect things to work?

Even when uninstalled, Creative's drivers often leave behind files that can potentially cause issues.

Your best bet is to do a clean install of Windows, as I outlined in step 1.4 of this guide.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-02-12, 14:47:

Feallan wrote on 2026-02-12, 14:39:

Hi, I previously installed SB Live stuff using @Joseph_Joestar guide (Guide: Installing Windows 9x and DOS drivers on Sound Blaster Live! cards (version 3.1)). Now I want to put Audigy 2 ZS card into the same system. Should I first go through some SB Live driver/utils removal process or do you think I can just install of of this stuff and expect things to work?

Even when uninstalled, Creative's drivers often leave behind files that can potentially cause issues.

Your best bet is to do a clean install of Windows, as I outlined in step 1.4 of this guide.

Will do, thanks 😀

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-02-12, 14:47:

Even when uninstalled, Creative's drivers often leave behind files that can potentially cause issues.

Your best bet is to do a clean install of Windows, as I outlined in step 1.4 of this guide.

@Joseph_Joestar, we can now load any .SF2 soundfont under Dos with the Audigy, Audigy 2 and Audigy 2 ZS.
Will do a tutorial soon, the method using VSBHDA, this program is golden.

It's like Unisound for ISA soundcard but for the PCI cards.
No longuer need any driver, no longuer need any additionnal program like Audigy123 or even thoses from Creative.

Allow on the Audigy 2 ZS:

- 1:1 authentic Yamaha OPL3 (very very very close to it) (it's so close that most won't notice any difference, huge step from the one from Ensoniq).
- General Midi / Sound canvas support for all .SF2 (no longuer need .ECW bad soundfonts), we can now load any .SF2 file including big ones (require at minimum a Pentium III 1Ghz - Pentium IV for that).
- No longuer need any Creative/Ensoniq drivers or program
- Support volume levels adjustement for the Audigy 1/2/ZS cards !
- SPDIF Digital output support under DOS ! Yes now we hear sound from the SPDIF =)
- Reverse Stereo fixed for Sound Blaster Pro (was a flaws in the Creative driver)
- No longuer need EMS to be loaded ! (huge step too)

I've compared to a real Sound Blaster 16 we are really close now. Minus the ISA support ofc but it sounds great !

So since VDMSound for Windows 98 full support of MPU401 and VSBHDA for pure MS-DOS the Audigy 2 ZS show fully shows his capabilities for DOS.
It's strange nobody ever did a tutorial or a video about that, because it's really a huge step forward for DOS support on this card.

TgamesFR wrote on 2026-03-18, 09:14:

@Joseph_Joestar, we can now load any .SF2 soundfont under Dos with the Audigy, Audigy 2 and Audigy 2 ZS.
Will do a tutorial soon, the method using VSBHDA, this program is golden.

That sounds like a much better solution than what can be achieved by shoehorning Audigy 1 DOS drivers onto Audigy 2 and ZS cards. Nice to hear that the retro community has made such good progress there. I don't really follow the development of SBEMU and its forks/derivatives, so I wasn't aware of this.

Feel free to open a new thread for your tutorial. I don't use Audigy cards for DOS gaming these days, aside from the basic SB16 Emulation under Win9x, so I don't think I'll be updating this guide anymore. It's been six years since I originally posted the SBLive/Audigy guide threads, and a lot of things have changed during that time. While they still work, there are now better options out there, so I'm pretty much ready to retire both of my guides.

You have SAVED my sanity, thanks to these modded drivers. I could not for the life of me get this card to play nice under Windows 98SE. I was using the driver CD and updated VXD Drivers from Phil's Computer Lab, which while they worked for me, I kept on getting some weird errors with CTDProxy when my PC restarted, and it would just not work right. No issues at all with these, and your guide. You are legit my savior. Thank you.

Sidenote, as someone who has used these cards for a long while on different computers and OSes, is there no way to add effects to the MIDI? Is it just dry, no matter what?

EDIT: Can these be used without Direct X 9? It's known that versions newer than 7.0a cause issues with Windows 98SE and gaming, so it would be nice if it's possible to be able to just use that version of Direct X, unless the way they are made, requires it.

Shadic95 wrote on 2026-03-25, 17:34:

Sidenote, as someone who has used these cards for a long while on different computers and OSes, is there no way to add effects to the MIDI? Is it just dry, no matter what?

Not sure if this is possible on SBLive/Audigy cards, but you could apply reverb/chorus effects to FM synth and MIDI playback on the older AWE32/64 cards in pure DOS.

Shadic95 wrote on 2026-03-25, 17:34:

Can these be used without Direct X 9? It's known that versions newer than 7.0a cause issues with Windows 98SE and gaming, so it would be nice if it's possible to be able to just use that version of Direct X, unless the way they are made, requires it.

Creative shipped DirectX 9.0a on their official Audigy 2 ZS installation CD, which is what this guide uses as a basis. Whether the drivers actually need this functionality or not is difficult to say for certain. All I know is that DX9 is a required component if you install the drivers the regular way, which is why I used it in this guide as well.

Big thanks for putting this guide together.

SB0350 installed and working on Win 98SE without issue.

Shadic95 wrote on 2026-03-25, 17:34:

Sidenote, as someone who has used these cards for a long while on different computers and OSes, is there no way to add effects to the MIDI? Is it just dry, no matter what?

You sould be able to do it in the EAX panel that was installed with the drivers.