I think this could be an interesting tool for vista user with Creative SB X-FI sound card.
http://preview.creativelabs.com/alchemy/default.aspx

In Windows Vista, Microsoft has decided to remove the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) for DirectSound and DirectSound3D. The HAL is the software layer that on previous Windows Operating Systems enabled an audio accelerator such as the SB X-Fi, to provide DirectSound3D applications with hardware accelerated audio. This enabled soundcards to perform tasks such as sample-rate conversion, mixing, 3D spatialization using HRTFs, filtering, and effects processing. Without the HAL, DirectSound on Windows Vista will be rendered in software with no advanced functionality such as EAX.

I read about it on OPENAL.org, I hadn't realised changes like this were afoot...

This is odd, I haven't seen anything from MS themselves to indicate the sound card no longer users the HAL in Vista. Interesting approach by Creative, and very useful to know for Vista, thanks Framaris - I'll report this on the front page.

I've moved this to the Vista forum since it involves something which is a practical solution for Vista/X-Fi users right now.

Yeah, i've heard about this on a recent note. So far they either have or working on a fix for X-FI. As far as other SB's they don't have anything yet until the future. This would be horrible, don't you guys think?

There is a logical reason for this. From what I've seen of most every other change in Vista, it is being done for specific and required reasons.

In this case it would make little sense for Microsoft to stifle their own format (DirectSound) and push developers towards using an open source alternative (OpenAL) unless it was absolutely necessary.

Creative's own "ALchemy Project" gets around Microsoft's audio limitations and enables hardware acceleration for DirectSound and EAX audio algorithms.

Are you reading this thread carefully? That was already announced and is the entire purpose of this thread - please read a topic before posting on it.

Im having some issues with Alchemy in some games. I havent really been able to find any specific solutions for these few games, and I will probably have to wait for a new version of alchemy to be released.

I cant seem to get alchemy to work in Source engine based games such as Half Life 2 or counter strike source. I place the two files (dsound.ini and dsound.dll) in the same folder as the hl2 .exe but the sound becomes choppy and distorted. However, alchemy should work with source based games because I have read about users saying it does work on the alchemy web site.

When I state my problem, however, no one seems to reply.

That trick works for me too. ALchemy doesn't (yet) detect source games so I just put the two files into the same folder as HL2.exe and I got working surround now with no problems.
What's your soundcard exactly? I heard that the X-fi Extreme Audio had some issues.

I have an X-Fi fatal1ty. I place the two files in the same folder as the hl2.exe (this is for all source games ex: dods css hl2 hl2ep1 etc) but the sound goes from sounding normal, to incredibly distorted. I think I might have to play around with the duration setting in the dsound.ini in order to get the sound just right.

Also, how do you know if it actually worked? Whenever I p[laced the file near the HL2 exe it created one more file after the game started. However, when I placed the two files in the same folder as the Company of Heroes exe, nothing was created so im not sure if it worked...

Open dsound.ini (for Half-Life 2) and change the duration to 15. That should do the trick.

As posted on the front page, I was surprised to be informed that ALchemy for Audigy (http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=Vista&message.id=15125) is being developed by Creative, but they've generously decided to charge a fee for it.

I can understand that it is a complex thing, and that Creative as a company has been severely undermined by what Microsoft has done in Vista, but ironically I feel that Microsoft's changes are better for the common person. That is, for the first time I've seen a major company (MS) do something which makes it easier for the average person who doesn't own high-end sound hardware to enjoy decent audio, rather than pushing them to upgrade their hardware.

I know I much prefer the audio playback on Vista than I do on XP, even for things like music, since I can actually change the sample rate for example, whereas in XP the sample rate on Audigy cards is locked to 44KHz.

So it actually bugs me that Creative are trying to get Audigy owners to pay for a software upgrade, almost a form of blackmail really: upgrade to X-Fi to get fully functionality for free in Vista, or stick with your Audigy card but pay us to make it work properly in games in Vista.

Anyway as I've advised on the front page, really for most purposes the money would be better spent on a high-end motherboard, as onboard audio has come a long way, and there are a lot of new audio features in Vista which onboard audio can use just as well as a sound card.

I've been a creative fan for as long as I can remember, in fact since the first soundblaster cards were released, I've had one of every card probably, including most of the external stuff, and I use one of the EMU desktop samplers too.... The fact that they have decided to charge for the Alchemy project for the Audigy cards is, I think, pretty disgusting. They've always done as they please in my eyes, it just so happens that I like their products, but I've come to expect them to decide to stop supporting or change a product line as they please.

I guess the flipside is, you can pick up a lower end X-FI for a very reasonable price now, and while that will cost more than buying the Alchemy software, it might be well worth it. Ok, its pandering to Creative's designs a little, but I know which route I'd choose. Albeit rather grumpily.

Heh, this brings up an interesting topic. When I built my "gaming" rig back in 2005, I wanted just as good an audio experience as visual. So along with my 5.1 speakers I went for an Audigy2 ZS to get the "full" experience from my games. I have 3d positional audio (when games support it), I always check the EAX box, and my explosions sound good.

But I have to wonder: Exactly how much of this is a result of the Audigy, and would I really be able to notice the difference if I didn't have the card? Is it *really* making that much of a difference?

Admittedly I just went along with the crowd and common conception, that if you want to be a serious gamer, you need the high end (at the time) sound card. But in the back of my mind I've always wondered, if it really was doing that much to make the experience better?

With Vista and the audio changes, that question has gotten a lot louder in my mind.

Aggies

This article (http://techreport.com/etc/2006q4/onboard-eax/index.x?pg=1) sheds some light on more recent onboard audio solutions. EAX 2.0 is available on onboard audio, so you don't have to sacrifice EAX if you go for onboard. It appears to be buggy in some games, though the article is 6 months old so driver updates may have resolved this.

These charts (http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2465&p=27) show the performance of my 2 year-old DFI NF4's onboard Karajan audio module - it doesn't use much more than around 5% of CPU time which I suspect most other sound cards do as well. In other words my Audigy 2ZS is probably not that much more useful in Vista than my onboard sound module.

In short onboard audio on a high-end motherboard should give clear multi-channel sound with minimal CPU impact and even comes with moderately decent EAX implemented. You just might miss out on some of the more realistic EAX 5.0 effects, but if you save several hundred dollars and don't constantly have to upgrade your sound card when Creative drop support for it, it might be worth it.

You are of course right that onboard audio on recent motherboards gives very good results but there are still many games supporting EAX 3.0 and higher (including such games like F.E.A.R., Call Of Duty 2, NWN 2 etc...) Thief: Deadly Shadows is probably the best game to try if you want to hear what is possible to achieve with full EAX 4.0 support. This is unfortunately supported only by Audigy & X-Fi and I agree that it's not fair to charge for Audigy version of ALchemy.

I think it's clear that all future games will use OpenAL (already used by games like Battlefield 2, Doom 3, Call Of Juarez and many others) so ALchemy is - and it is already written on front page - just a way to get full audio experience from "older" games under Vista for those who are interested.

Like you said - it's all about personal preference and whether you can miss more realistic effects or not.

Heh, this brings up an interesting topic. When I built my "gaming" rig back in 2005, I wanted just as good an audio experience as visual. So along with my 5.1 speakers I went for an Audigy2 ZS to get the "full" experience from my games. I have 3d positional audio (when games support it), I always check the EAX box, and my explosions sound good.

But I have to wonder: Exactly how much of this is a result of the Audigy, and would I really be able to notice the difference if I didn't have the card? Is it *really* making that much of a difference?

Admittedly I just went along with the crowd and common conception, that if you want to be a serious gamer, you need the high end (at the time) sound card. But in the back of my mind I've always wondered, if it really was doing that much to make the experience better?

With Vista and the audio changes, that question has gotten a lot louder in my mind.

Aggies

I can agree in this question. I think that to really use an expensive soundcard to its maximum, you would have to use a big expensive 5:1 or 7:1 surround set or a really good headset. Right now, I'm using a headset that set me back 20 and a cheap 5:1 set that cost me 35 and while it sounds much better than onboard, I don't feel that X-Fi card was worth the 75 euro it cost me. The main thing is, my onboard soundchip from 2 years back also had EAX 2.0 support and sound was already quite good. Music/MP3 playback has increased noticeably though, much fuller and clearer. Call of Duty and other FPS games are even more immersive now, but I think the main point of having X-Fi is bragging rights more than having the best sound available. The small CPU workout that is saved, doesn't really make much difference, especially on high-end dualcore CPU's. It barely increased FPS at all on my old P4 32-bit single core CPU.

I only use headphones, and I only play a couple of games (Oblivion and Call of Juarez). I decided to remove my Audigy 2ZS this morning and try out my on-board Realtek HD Audio.

Everything sounds great, and it seems to me that my boot time improved. Performance in games seemed the same, and the sound is just fine. I think I'll stick with it for awhile.

Being a music/experience buff, I can definately tell the difference between onboard audio and my X-Fi. While I don't condone what Creative is doing, I can vouch that for people who are truly interested in genuine audio performance, onboard audio simply won't cut it. Sounds are sharper, clearer, and more defined on my X-Fi than they ever were with the onboard audio. There are songs that I have played where I've heard things with the X-Fi that I'd never heard before and I went, "Wow."

And it doesn't take a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker set to realize the potential of an X-Fi. I have a 2.1 set and with the crystalizer turned on, I can shake the windows at about half volume.

The X-Fi is a truly great chipset and, as I said before, while I don't condone what Creative is doing, I think it's unfair to play down the quality or usefulness of an X-Fi as result.

Being a music/experience buff, I can definately tell the difference between onboard audio and my X-Fi. While I don't condone what Creative is doing, I can vouch that for people who are truly interested in genuine audio performance, onboard audio simply won't cut it. Sounds are sharper, clearer, and more defined on my X-Fi than they ever were with the onboard audio. There are songs that I have played where I've heard things with the X-Fi that I'd never heard before and I went, "Wow."

And it doesn't take a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker set to realize the potential of an X-Fi. I have a 2.1 set and with the crystalizer turned on, I can shake the windows at about half volume.

The X-Fi is a truly great chipset and, as I said before, while I don't condone what Creative is doing, I think it's unfair to play down the quality or usefulness of an X-Fi as result.

Maybe I am interpreting that wrong, but that sounds a little insulting. I don't have an X-Fi, which is why I was making the comparison to an Audigy. My ears aren't exactly stuffed with cotton - I've performed jazz and classical music with artists from Wynton Marsalis to the Lucasfilm orchestra, and my ears have always been able to discern sounds quite clearly.

It wasn't meant to be, sorry. From what I've read though, it sounds people are trying to convince people not to buy an X-Fi or Audigy because onboard audio can perform or sound the same, which isn't the case.

I apologize if I offended you. This wasn't my intention.

From what I've read though, it sounds people are trying to convince people not to buy an X-Fi or Audigy because onboard audio can perform or sound the same, which isn't the case.

I'm an X-Fi owner too and I also have experience with onboard sound. There's no doubt that sound quality of X-Fi is superior to that of onboard audio solutions. You already said it all in your previous post and I agree. The thing is that people who haven't tried X-Fi don't know what they're missing and there's also the fact that picture is more important than sound for most people...

I think we also have to look at it another way. The Audigy is an aging product. It's going on 7 years-old, which as we all know is a long time for a product to be out and still actively maintained. In my opinion, this is Creative finishing the final strings of permanently phasing the Audigy out of its product line.

The X-Fi is their actively maintained flagship Sound Blaster product, so it's perfectly natural that they're focusing much of their Vista efforts on the X-Fi and not the Audigy. You don't see Microsoft focusing all of their efforts on Office 2003 now that Office 2007 is out, do you? No. Because Office 2007 is the new flagship Office product.

As for having ALchemy pay only - this is in the same vein as premium support. With all of their support techs most likely actively taking calls and emails for X-Fi and digital media products, it becomes increasingly costly for their support division to continue to provide support for the Audigy. A little money has to be made somewhere. Does Microsoft provide free support for older operating systems once they've entered their transition phase? No. Because they're no longer the operating system that the majority uses.

A little question: While no doubt the discrete sound cards provide better *quality* audio, (crisper, clearer, higher fidelity etc), I myself was more concerned with specific functions/effects, things found in gaming.

To be fair, when I am playing Battlefield 2, I'm not able to devote that much attention to how crisp an explosition or gunshot sounds, as I am busy trying to stay alive. However if there are effects that are found with an Audigy that you don't get with surround sound, then thats something I'd notice.

At the moment, I've noticed that you get simple reverb effects, eg, when standing inside a hanger in BF2 for example. Thats something I've noticed, but I have to wonder: is that it for what the audigy is providing?

Aggies

No. There's lots of things the Audigy is providing. Hardware sound cards are able to provide clearer channels of sound by using a dedicated audio processor. Onboard solutions, however much they want to use fancy wording, are almost always software solutions. Hardware cards like the Audigy and X-Fi also provide more total channels, which allows the game to actually play more simultaneous sounds at any given time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_audio_extensions

This article explains what EAX is for. While it is true that that some onboard solutions support EAX 2, there's also the fact that EAX 2 is old. Most modern games support EAX 4 or higher.

I'm not here to convince you that the X-Fi is what you should purchase. What you buy is your call. But as I said in my previous post, I think trying to convince people that really want to buy an X-Fi otherwise by giving them false information - that the audio quality of onboard sound solutions can equal that of an X-Fi - is unfair to Creative.

Being a music/experience buff, I can definately tell the difference between onboard audio and my X-Fi. While I don't condone what Creative is doing, I can vouch that for people who are truly interested in genuine audio performance, onboard audio simply won't cut it. Sounds are sharper, clearer, and more defined on my X-Fi than they ever were with the onboard audio. There are songs that I have played where I've heard things with the X-Fi that I'd never heard before and I went, "Wow."

I had a similar experience when I upgraded from a SoundBlaster Live! to an Audigy 2 ZS. I played several songs that I thought I 'knew' well and discovered that I really didn't.

The debate in this thread is quite similar to the endless debates about mp3 bit rates. Some people swear that they can tell the difference between a 128kbps and a 320kbps mp3, and others can't tell the difference at all. In the end it depends on your ears. I have had a mix of good and bad experiences with both onboard and 'separate' sound cards, I simply prefer a dedicated audio processor.

As for the ALchemy issue, I must do some more research and discover exactly where things stand.

I have to say that the onboard audio on the 680i is quite decent but a dedicated solution like the Audigy 2 or XFi is still significantly better in terms of sound quality ( with the right speakers/headphones) and much more feature rich.

More on topic has anyone encountered any blue screens while using an Alchemy enabled game? I have found that if i have Alchemy enabled on Hitman Blood money i get a PROCESS_HAS_LOCKED blue screen of death. I have narrowed this
down to Alchemy as disabling alchemy's services and removing Blood money from the enabled list fixes the issues outright. All of my other Alchemy enabled titles appear to run properly.

I've poked around creative's forums but have yet to find anything regarding this.

Strangely enough though my friend is using the alchemy for audigy on his ZS 2 (he somehow acquired an early unfinished version) and is having the same issue. If anyone has Hitman Blood money and either a Xfi or Audigy 2 with alchemy if you'd be willing to test this or confirm that it does indeed work for you it would be much appreciated.

It is somewhat unfair that creative chose to charge for Alchemy on their past line of cards but i guess they just attempting to justify the purchase on an xfi.

You mean with Vista right? I do have BloodMoney and an X-Fi, but I'd have to borrow Vista for a day then. No problem though. I'll see what I can do.

Yes i mean Vista and any help is much appreciated. It seems the best way to trouble shoot is to do it 'for' creative. Sure i can understand that developer can't catch all the errors in their products but something as shows toping as a blue screen of death would be quite high the the priority list in my eyes. Thanks for looking into that Whizzer.

I should be able to do this tomorrow. I already borrowed Vista from a friend, but I have to get up at 5:30AM to do my paper round and at 9AM I'll be assembling another friend's new system. The afternoon should do fine, so you know when to expect the answer.

I know maybe some wouldn't agree but i agree too that charging Alchemy for Audigy users is sorta bad. I use X-fi Xtreme Gamer Fatility Pro series on Vista 64 Ultra. When i bought the card it had the vista compatible sticker plastered on the box. Got home to put it in just to find the CD software wasn't vista compatible and could only use beta type drivers to get it to work w/vista. I've read Creatives side on "well it'll work w/vista with web release driver" so that gives them to right to put vista compatible on the box.
Technically i guess they're correct. But doesn't say anywhere on box that the software included isn't Vista compatible. Long story short just ordered my Vista -CD from creative for 9 dollar shipping charge.(which they just made available in the last couple weeks for north america). 9 dollars to ship a CD.. lol So, doesn't surprise me that they would charge in anyway they can. Some people are complaining about being charged over 30+ dollars to ship. Creative's reply was, the cd is shipped from california so is reason that shipping prices are different with everyone. My question is why not just make ISO of the cd officially on they're website for everyone to download for free. Why wouldn't they want to make they're customers happy and give the small program Alchemy free for Audigy users as well as Vista software for Xi fi users. That way the customers keep coming back and continue to by your products. If you try to nickel and dime your customers in every way you can, then your customers will know and eventually seek other ways to take their buisness elsewhere. Problem here is, they're isn't a Major SoundCard company out there that can compete the same way as "Nvidia vs ATI" or "Intel vs AMD" or "Apple vs PC" etc..etc.. Sure they're are other companys that make soundcards but nothing out they're today that is at the same level. Until another company steps up and gives Creative a run for their money, i believe they will continue to conduct buisness the way they do.

Just a side note on this ridiculously long post(sorry) ^^, I've been buying Creative Soundcards for many many years. Even if they charge, i'll still pay. I would just like to have a choice(besides onboard). And I understand people's difference with the ideal of creative charging for audigy users for this alchemy software, sure creative has the right to charge, but think about what they would gain in respect and in customers satisfaction by giving back to they're loyal customers.

I see you're not happy the way it is, but hope is always there. I recall Creative uploading that Vista compatible software CD somewhere on their site last week (I even think it was frontpage TweakGuides news). I doubt they will ever offer services better than the rest, like Valve does to gamers (other than Steam that is).

@Chickenfeed

Sorry I haven't posted my results yet, but some trouble always seems to find me sooner or later and this time, it's sooner. Vista won't install on either of my HDD's and the beta just expired 3 days ago (I tried to install it on July 1st, just 1 day late). I'll see what I can do and I'm quite eager to see what issues Vista still has with games and such, but for now I can only hope for the problems to go away.

I have to admit that the mess Creative got themselves into with Vista has left me very sceptical about them. I'm less concerned about the features that can't be supported in Vista, but I'm really disappointed by the poor implementation of the features than they can support. (For instance upmixing is terribly inconsistent).

I don't mind them charging for Alchemy on the Audigy, the it's an old product so it's a bonus that they're supporting it at all. The limit would be if they started charging for it on the X-Fi, which I suspect they might. It's bad enough that they're charging for their software now (and it's more than any nominal cost).

Fortunately the competition is really starting to improve. I'm dodgy about the Auzentech Prelude, but that's because it's lumbered with Creative's drivers. On the other hand the X-Meridian is very tempting (though OpenAL support would be nice). I'm waiting to see what the Asus Xonar D2 turns out previews (http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=5082&s=1) are promising, so it might just be the first non-creative soundcard I've used that wasn't onboard.

I don't mind them charging for Alchemy on the Audigy, the it's an old product so it's a bonus that they're supporting it at all. The limit would be if they started charging for it on the X-Fi, which I suspect they might. It's bad enough that they're charging for their software now (and it's more than any nominal cost).

If that's the case, then the illegal way would suddenly become much more attractive. That wouldn't work for Creative. X-Fi products are dropping in price still, so if they keep on selling more, ALchemy would have to remain free to ensure users can use it in Vista. They don't want to purchase the soundcard itself for less and then having to pay an additional $10 for EAX support in Vista. They might well stay with onboard sound then.

Creative didn't upload software in there forums. I'm a registered member on there forums and have kept up to date on the situation for a few months now. The Vista Cd was first released in Europe. A few people that are also forum members over there ordered the CD. When they recieved the CD they made an ISO of it. I was working with them that day, we started really early in the morning. Some of us were help seeding it on Bit torrent, then we got it up on a couple other sites for others. Thats why i was a bit surprised to see the ISO link on tweakguides front page. It wasn't official from Creative that link to the download is like i said above actually software from England. Creative just released the North America version of the CD about a week and half ago, it was up for pre-order a bit over 2 weeks ago. I just recieved mine from UPS yesterday. ^^

I don't have any hate for Creative please don't misunderstand me, I've always been a semi-fan of Creative products over the years. I was mainly mentioning in other post that I wish there was another really big company to give em a run for there money competition wise. ^^

As an Audigy 2 user I wasn't thrilled with Creative's decision to charge $10 for ALchemy. I would consider it a gesture of good will for them to provide it for free, and a smarter move for maintaining their customers. The fact that people have to pay - even though it's not a huge amount - has left a sour taste in a lot of peoples' mouths as it's not something we've had to do before.

I believe the changes in Vista's handling of audio, combined with the current general level of dissatisfaction with Creative by long-term customers, is going to lead to more competition, as many people are now genuinely going to consider what other sound cards they can purchase or audio solutions they can use rather than automatically buying a Creative sound card.

Onboard audio is also a viable choice in Vista. Yes, it's not as good as an X-Fi or any high-end dedicated sound card, but most onboard audio is multi-channel these days and good enough for many gamers. All it takes is for someone to incorporate genuinely good quality onboard audio onto their motherboards and the dedicated sound card may even be relegated to being a niche product. There is plenty of CPU power now to drive audio, it needn't be a standalone add-on.

You make some good points there. Creative need to do everything they can to keep their customer base. Over the years I've bought 5 Creative soundcards, 4 sets of speakers and 2 mp3 players (plus accessories) from them. I shudder to think what that adds up to (for all my issues with them, I've just ordered a Zen Stone Plus).

They're great for MP3 players, and my speakers are incredible, but to be honest I've been a bit disappointed with my X-Fi. It's a good soundcard, but for the price I'd hoped for more. Features like the crystallizer and cmss3d headphone are finicky, and the sound quality isn't that much better than the Audigy 2 ZS. X-ram has been about as useful as the red led on the top of the card. And don't get me started on the amount of utter crap they put in the box as merchandising material. Factor in the Vista support, and it's pretty obvious why I'm looking elsewhere next time. (Let's face it, Realtek saw the changes MS made to sound in Vista, so the redesigned their drivers from the ground up. Creative on the other simply kept tweaking their driver model to make it fit (and are still dealing with the consequences of that).

The competition is certainly heating up, particularly since companies like C-Media are happily churning out high end chips for the competition. They're not just competing on features (Creative can't even deliver DTS decoding in Vista, let alone have an answer to DTS Live!), they're competing on sound quality (analogue sound from Azuentech, and presumably Asus is much better than the X-Fi). What can I say, competition is great!

Some observations if you will. As stated here on Tweak Guides, an enthusiastic member (Creative forums) has some how altered the drivers from the XF-i ALchemy drivers and made them work for Live/Audigy series cards in Vista. These were v 1.00.03. However, since the new paid drivers, v 1.00.04 do have a protection on them, it seems like an additional slap in the face for Live/Audigy users. To me the 10 dollars itself isn't an issue, but a question of company ethics. In other words, why would I want to pay for drivers that are now protected with Macrovision, when I can get virtual the same drivers for free?--without protection.

I've been watching the thread on Creative's forums and noticed some moderation, but no mention of the freely available drivers. I find this to be very curious.

In other words, why would I want to pay for drivers that are now protected with Macrovision, when I can get virtual the same drivers for free?--without protection. I'm fairly sure that Creative have seen the free version (since that thread has been edited by a moderator), so if I were to speculate, they're probably not acting to remove the free version for two reasons:

1. To reduce complaints, since there is a free version available for those who look hard enough;

2. While the current 1.00.04 driver likely has the copy protection as the only change from 1.00.03, in future it's probable that newer versions with bug fixes and other possible features will be released, making the free patch look somewhat less of a good choice to audio enthusiasts.

Still, I do find it odd though that Creative have allowed the free version to remain posted on their own forums. It's one thing to turn a blind eye if the free version is doing the rounds elsewhere, but it's another to have it on their own forums when they're trying to sell pretty much the same thing. Again I think the main reason is to blunt the complaints from customers a bit.

I won't say I've had much experiences with Creative in the past, but I do hope they can get better at their drivers. For €75, I expected all the features I could get, both in XP and Vista. Bugs are fine as long as they are fixed, but I don't really understand why ALchemy isn't yet incorporated into the X-Fi drivers for Vista. Anyone have a shot?

@adrichardson

Is Asus' Azalia HD really better than X-Fi in Vista? If so, I might well get rid of my X-Fi. At least I could enjoy some proper drivers and it came with my motherboard for free!

I think Alchemy isn't included w/drivers, because Creative keeps emphasizing that it isn't a driver. A program only. I understand your point though, would be easier just to have it all in one package. I've heard some good things about the Asus card. I know a few people on Creatives site say theyre moving to the Asus, and they're patience have run out with Creative. I'm using the vista cd that i ordered a few weeks ago and the software and card runs very well. Using Vista 64 ultra full edition with the Xfi Xtreme Gamer Fatality. So, i'm not ready to abandon ship just yet w/ Creative^^

There's a "Creative ALchemy (X-Fi Edition) 1.00.07" setup file available from Creative's driver page, unsure what's changed but it's dated "8 Aug 07" so I thought I report it here as a heads up that a new version was available. :)

EDIT: http://uk.europe.creative.com/support/downloads/
(Website, might differ depending on location, the above is the UK europe mirror.)

EDIT:


Fixes:

Enables the DirectSound3D game audio to be processed by your Sound Blaster X-Fi to deliver EAX effects, 3D audio spatialization, sample rate conversion and hardware audio mixing. Without this, most DirectSound3D games will be reduced to stereo output without any EAX effects.

(EDIT: Seems the above is the purpose of ALchemy and not the changelog of this new version.)

Thanks for the update. I was finally planning to install Vista for a trial of 30 days sometime this weekend so this should fix some issues I might face. I'll try Hitman Blood Money with both the old and new ALchemy.

Thanks for the update Jonas. It looks like just a normal update for the ALchemy for X-Fi, and specifically from the Creative Forums (http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=Vista&message.id=22792) an admin says that:As far as I know, there isn't any difference between this version(1.00.07) and the previous version. The main addition was to add support for the Xtreme Audio and Xtreme Audio Notebook. If you have the previous version there isn't a need to install this new ALchemy but if you want to install it you can still proceed with it.

I am very happy about this update as I have an Xtreme Audio. I can finally get it all working correctly. Cheers for posting it on the news page ;)