ADVANCED SIGNAL PROCESSOR UPGRADE LATEST INFORMATION ==================================================== This file contains information not available during the printing of the manual. Please read them before you proceed with any installation procedure. This file contains the following sections: 1. Software Installation 2. Advanced Signal Processor 3. Introducing QSound 1. SOFTWARE INSTALLATION The installation program, INSTALL.EXE will modify your CONFIG.SYS file. The original file will be renamed with a B~K extension. The original file WINSETUP.INF in your \SB16 directory will be renamed with a I~F extension. The procedure for installation is as follows : a. Run the program INSTALL.EXE from DOS prompt and follow the instructions on the screen. b. REBOOT YOUR SYSTEM. You will now be able to make use of the Advanced Signal Processor chip to perform various digital signal processing functions like data compression and decompression in real-time without making heavy demands on your system's CPU. Note : For those files that are being updated, the original copies can be found in the \SB16\BACKUP directory. 2. ADVANCED SIGNAL PROCESSOR All the CSP files (*.CSP) MUST be located in the Sound Blaster 16 \CSP sub directory (example C:\SB16\CSP) when using any compression technology. 3. INTRODUCING QSOUND QSound is a revolutionary sound placement technology that generates realistic and accurate sound spatial distribution. With QSound, you can generate a 180-degree soundscape. It is incorporated into the SB 16-Advanced Signal Processor audio card without any hardware addition or modification. QSound requires only a traditional stereo playback system for reproduction. Setting Up Your Speakers for QSound To achieve optimum QSound imaging, you must take note of the following setup instruction. 1. Place the speakers on the same plane. They must be placed at the same height and face you at the same angle. 2. Make sure that the speakers separation is between 16" and 72". When the speaker separation is 16", the listener should be at the center, about 20" away from the speaker plane. As the speaker separation increases, the listener's distance from the speaker plane should also be increased proportionally. You may run QSALIGN.EXE to locate the optimum distance. If you are setting up your system in a small enclosed room, make sure that you place the speakers 3 feet away from side walls. 3. If you are using a hi-fi system, make sure that for both speakers you connect the red (positive) and black (negative) speaker wires to the respective positive and negative connectors of your amplifier. 4. If the speakers have separate volume control, set the left and right speakers volume level as equally as possible. If your system has a single balance control, set it to the center or balanced position. 5. Adjust the speaker volume to a reasonable level. If the volume is too high or loud, the reflected signal may neutralize the QSound effect. QSALIGN QSALIGN helps you align your speakers correctly. To execute this program, - go to the QSOUND sub-directory (eg. C:\SB16\QSOUND ). - type QSALIGN, then press [ENTER]. This program pans a sound source at the extreme left and the extreme right. To listen to the left playback, press the left arrow key. To listen to the right playback, press the right arrow key. After pressing each key, you should hear the sound source coming from a position outside the range of the two speakers. With the speakers separation within the range of 16" to 72", you can continue to press the left or right arrow key, and adjust your distance from the speaker plane to find the sweet spot to achieve an optimum QSound image. Press the [ESC] key to quit from the alignment program. Note: If you have set up QSound properly but are not able to hear the QSound effect, your speakers may be receiving out-of-phase signals. Try again with another pair of speakers. If you are using a hi-fi system, make sure you have connected the speakers correctly. (see Setting Up Your Speakers for QSound step 3) QSound in DOS Within the DOS environment, we have provided an auto running demo - QSDEMO.EXE. To execute this demo program, - go to the QSOUND sub-directory. - type QSDEMO, the press [ENTER]. The demo program will first introduce QSound and then display a background picture. Next, you will see an object appear randomly at different positions on the screen. As the object appears at each position, you will hear the sound coming from that position. When the sound source is at the extreme left and right position, you will not see the object on your screen. Press [ESC] to end the demo. QSound in Windows In the Windows environment, we have provided a QSound Control Panel which allows you to use and experiment with QSound effects. To activate the QSound Control panel, - double click the QSound icon in the Sound Blaster 16 group. By default, the QSound effect is on (enabled) as indicated by a x in the QSound On check box. Click on the check box to disable QSound. The x will disappear indicating that QSound is off or disabled. Note: The QSound effect cannot be enabled or disabled during a wave playback. Then enabling or disabling of QSound effect will only affect the next wave playback. The QSound Control panel is divided into two sections: - Left Output Channel to control QSound settings for the Left channel. - Right Output Channel to control QSound settings for the Right channel. Note: For mono sound sources, use the Left Output Channel only. When using QSound Control Panel, you have the choice of manually setting the position of the sound source by dragging the respective Position Slider to the desired position. Or, you can also use the Automatic Panning feature. To use Automatic Pan - click on the Automatic Pan drop-down list box. You have the choice of panning from Left to Right (L -> R), Right to Left (L <- R), sweep between Left and Right ( L <-> R) or switch off the automatic panning (click on None). You may change the automatic pan duration by clicking on the secs spin-button to increase or decrease the time. Pan duration is the time taken to move from one end to the other. If the time set for the automatic pan is less than the playback time of the sound source, the sound source will be at the final position of the automatic pan for the remaining time. Click the Quit button to close the QSound Control window. The QSound Control panel has a set of factory default settings when you first activate it. All subsequent changes to the QSound Control panel will be saved as the new default upon your exiting the QSound Control panel. The QSound Control panel works in low priority mode. When an application such as Creative Mosaic uses QSound, the control panel becomes inactive. When you quit the application that uses QSound, the control panel will become active again. Experiencing QSound in Creative Mosaic Our latest version of Creative Mosaic has been modified to support QSound. As you move a tile to the left or right, the sound source will be coming from the extreme left or right respectively. Observing Some Tips When Using QSound Creative's QSound implementation supports PCM wave playback of 8kHz, 11kHz, 22kHz and 44.1kHz only. Please take note that a normal stereo file having similar signals at the left and right channels, fully panned left or right, will not produce good QSound effect. Note : QSound effect only applies to digitized sound (*.WAV file) but not MIDI output (*.MID files) or CD output. ********** End of README.TXT **********