
            SOUND BLASTER 16 ASP COMMON QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
            ===============================================

This file contains  some  common  questions  that  are  asked and the
answers to them.  Please go through all  the sections below when  you
encounter a problem before calling Technical Support.

This file contains the following sections:

   1. Installing Windows 3.1 Drivers for Sound Blaster 16
      1.1 Using WINSETUP.EXE
      1.2 Using DRIVER applet in Control Panel (OEMSETUP.INF)
      1.3 General

   2. Sound Blaster 16 Windows Applications

   3. Voice Editor II

   4. General
      4.1 Eliminating Unwanted Noises
      4.2 No Sound from Audio Sources


1. INSTALLING WINDOWS 3.1 DRIVERS FOR SOUND BLASTER 16

   1.1 USING WINSETUP.EXE

   Q1. The BLASTER environment is not set OR Sound Blaster 16 drivers
       are not loaded when starting Windows.

   A1. The  BLASTER  environment  is  not  set or is incorrectly set.
       This program reads the  BLASTER  environment  setting of  your
       hardware configuration to set up your  Windows  system  files.
       Check  that  your  BLASTER  environment  is  set correctly and
       tallies  with  your  Sound  Blaster 16 card.  Otherwise, wrong
       values may be set up in your  Windows  system files.  You  can
       enter "SET"  at  DOS prompt to check the environment settings.
       For  more  details  on the BLASTER environment, refer to  your
       Sound Blaster 16 User Reference Manual.


   Q2. Duplicate icon items in the "Sound Blaster 16" program group.

   A2. If you run the WINSETUP program a second time, it will  create
       another  set  of  Sound  Blaster 16  applications icons in the
       "Sound Blaster 16"  program  group.  Delete  any  unneccessary
       items in this program group.  Refer to your Windows manual for
       instructions.


   1.2 USING DRIVER APPLET IN CONTROL PANEL (OEMSETUP.INF)

   Q1. Sound  Blaster  16  drivers  are  not  installed when starting
       Windows.

   A1. Before you  choose to  add  any  Sound Blaster 16 drivers, you
       should  first  remove all existing Sound Blaster drivers shown
       in  the "Installed Drivers List", and  then  restart  Windows.
       Chances  are existing versions  of  Sound  Blaster drivers are
       installed when you startup Windows and cannot be over-written.
       You must also restart Windows after adding all the drivers for
       these new drivers to take effect.  Refer to your Windows  User
       Reference Manual for more detail on the Driver applet.


   1.3 GENERAL

   Q1. Somehow the Sound Blaster 16  drivers  cannot be  installed or
       problems are still encountered when installing the drivers.

   A1. Here are some points you  can check  before calling  Technical
       Support.

   a. If you installed  Windows 3.1 using the "Express Installation",
      Windows scanned your  hard  disk for  programs to be installed.
      As a result, older  versions  of the Sound Blaster applications
      may have been installed if they were on  your hard  disk at the
      time of installation.  Please remove these  icons.  To do this,
      click on the icon once to select it, then press the delete key.
      Windows
      will ask you for confirmation.  Repeat for each icon.

   b. Open the  Driver applet in Control panel.  You should at least
      have the following driver names in the Installed Drivers list:

        Voyetra / Sound Blaster SuperSAPI FM Driver
        Creative Sound Blaster *** Auxiliary Audio
        Creative Sound Blaster *** Wave and MIDI
        MIDI Mapper
        Timer
        [MCI] CD Audio    ;this is only for owners of CD-ROM drives
        [MCI] MIDI Sequencer
        [MCI] Sound

      where *** correspond to the type of card you are haveing.

      If one or more of these drivers do not exist, you must  install
      the  driver(s)  using  the  Driver applet in Control Panel (See
      your Windows manual for more details).

   c. Check your SYSTEM.INI by choosing RUN from the File menu of the
      Program Manager, and typing SYSEDIT in  the  command  line box.
      Examine the [drivers] and  [sndblst.drv] sections.  They should
      look something like this:

        [drivers]
        Timer=timer.drv
        Midimapper=midimap.drv
        Aux=sb16aux.drv
        MIDI=sb16fm.drv
        Wave=sb16snd.drv
        MIDI1=sb16snd.drv

        [sndblst.drv]
        port=220
        int=5
        dmachannel=1
        hdmachannel = 5
        MIDIport = 330

   d. If Windows refuses to install a device driver or if you get the
      error message "Device not found" when  playing a  Wave or  MIDI
      file or a CD, be sure  that  you have the following settings in
      the [mci] section of SYSTEM.INI.

        [mci]
        WaveAudio=mciwave.drv
        Sequencer=mciseq.drv
        CDAudio=mcicda.drv  ;this is only for owners of CD-ROM drives

      If one or more  of  these  do  not  exist, you must install the
      driver(s)  using  the  Driver applet in Control Panel (See your
      Windows  manual  for instructions).  Do not type in the entries
      into the SYSTEM.INI because the files have to be installed into
      your SYSTEM directory by Windows.


2. SOUND BLASTER 16 WINDOWS APPLICATIONS

   Q1. The playback sounds jerky.

   A1. This  may be due to fragmentation of your Windows  swap  file.
       A temporary  swap file tends  to be  fragmented.  If possible,
       use a permanent swap  file  for Windows.  Make sure  that your
       permanent swap  file is not fragmented.  Refer to your Windows
       manual for instructions on creating a permanent swap file.

   Q2. The playback of a wave file from CTWAVE Studio sounds jerky.

   A2. When you finish any recording or editing, save your waven file
       to the disk before playing it back.  When you  save your  wave
       file to the disk, CTWAVE Studio  will  be  able  to  play them
       directly off the disk.  This is more  efficient  and  playback
       will be smooth.

   Q3. Not getting an output during recording in Talking Scheduler.

   A3. Make sure that the recording source in Windows Mixer is set up
       properly.  To correct  the  error, select  both  the  left and
       right audio source of the left input channel.


3. VOICE EDITOR II

   Q1. "Block  Type  Not Recognized" error is encountered when  using
       the program VEDIT2.EXE in Sound Blaster Pro  package  with the
       Sound Blaster 16 card.

   A1. VEDIT2.EXE  Version 2.10 or earlier  does  not  support 16 bit
       ("block type 9")  data  when  using the Sound Blaster 16 card.
       You can still perform  recording  provided  you select "Record
       to Disk" option instead of "Record to Memory".


4. GENERAL

   4.1 ELIMINATING UNWANTED NOISES

   Q1. Your recording has unwanted noises during playback.

   A1. Using  the mixer, adjust the recording volume for  your  input
       source to the optimal level.  Bringing the record level  close
       to maximum will help  to produce noise-free recordings.  Also,
       set the  record  level for other  input sources to zero.  This
       ensures that  the only recording is from sources that you want
       to record.

   Q2. Unwanted  "hissing sound"  is heard when 8-bit digitized sound
       is played in some games or application software.
                                        
   A2. The  high quality 16-bit CODEC plays back every detail of  the  
       8-bit sample including the coarse resolution of the  staircase 
       waveform.  Hearing the "hissing sound" is like seeing all  the  
       sharp  edges of a 320x240 picture on  a  very  sharp 1200x1024  
       monitor.  SB16  has a Treble control  to  suit  your needs  on 
       different  sound  quality.  To eliminate the unwanted "hissing
       sound", you can set the Treble level to zero. 


   4.2 AUDIO SOURCES SETTINGS

   Q1. Settings for various audio sources (MIC, Line-in, etc.) is not
       audible.

   A1. Check  the  mixer settings for the various  sources.  Use  the
       programs SB16SET.EXE or SB16MIX.EXE in DOS or SB16WMIX.EXE  in
       Windows to adjust the settings to a higher level.

   Q2. Recording from microphone is very soft.

   A2. Check  the mixer setting for the MIC source.  Use the programs
       SB16SET.EXE  or SB16MIX.EXE in DOS or SB16WMIX.EXE in  Windows
       to adjust the MIC setting to a higher level before recording.


                *********  End of SB16CQA.TXT  *********
