Surround in Windows 7 with Soundmax

Question

I have a asus m2n motherboard with a Soundmax 1988 chip on it. I want to have surround sound in windows 7, but i cant get it to work.

I tried a lot of different drivers, including the latest beta for Win 7. The problem is that when I configure the speakers and i do a "Test" all speakers work. But whenever I want to play some video or mp3, only the front speakers work.

In vista there was this option called "Surround Fill" that would fix this problem, however, I cant seem to find that in windows 7. (The enhancements tab is completely gone for the speakers, other output devices do have that tab).

Anybody knows the fix?

Edit:

I got it now kind of working by using a trial version of SRS AudioSandbox. However, the quality is quite bad since the program tries to create a real 5.1 of stereo sound. I just want to have stereo over 4 speakers instead of fake 5.1 over 4 speakers.

Solution 1

I had the exact same problem in Windows 7, there are various drivers that sort of work with minor issues. But I eventually found the proper link with ASUS

SoundMAX Audio Driver v6.10.x.6585 for Windows 7 32/64bit released July 31, 2009 WHQL

Install that and you should have no problems like me (you will still have to tick 'Surround fill')

Solution 2

Sounds like it could be a problem with your codecs if Windows is able to work ok with surround sound, but your files are not. What player are you using? I recommend Shark007s codecs: http://shark007.net/

perhaps give them a try and see what happens?

Solution 3

If you right click on the speaker icon then click playback devices, you should see the speakers listed.

Double click them and then go to the tab enhancements and you should be able to see all the built ones that support your device, and you can click advanced to edit a few other settings.

If you can not find what you want here, try downloading and playing with different versions of drivers for your chip as the Windows Vista / 7 sound control panel hooks directly in to functions that the drivers provide - if you do not see a option that you previously had, it is likely that you are using the default driver and not one designed for the audio chip.

Comments

[alex]

Doesn't the mp3 have to contain info for all channels? It should play on all the speakers, but I don't know if you'll have more than 2 channels. Maybe I don't fully understand this concept...

[Henri]

I dont see the enhancements tab at all. I tried a lot of different versions. Basically, I tried every version available for vista x64. Im absolutely positive it's not the default drivers, since instead of the enhancement tab i have a tab called "System Effetcs" which contains logos of SoundMAX and Analog devices (chip manufacturere). When I remove this driver and install the default windows "High Def audio driver", the Enhancement tab is available, however there is no sound fill option since it only recognized 2.0.

[William Hilsum]

Can you right click on the speaker icon and go to playback devices then take a screenshot and put a link here?

[Michael Galos]

I got the link from here: vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20061223034227274

[Henri]

This helped, however, the trick was to eneable the "sonic features" since there is no soundfill option. Its not as good as in XP, but at least it sounds quite reasonable. Thnx a lot!