Wasteland 2

Wasteland 2

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DeadJericho Sep 19, 2014 @ 7:25am
wtf is razer sound driver and why do i need it?
im just using bog standard stereo audio through hdmi.

why do i need to install this thing?
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Showing 1-13 of 13 comments
Secret Sep 19, 2014 @ 7:33am 
It can supposedly emulate surround sound effects. Never bothered with it personally.
Kiya Sep 19, 2014 @ 7:44am 
The Razer CEO paid for the highest kickstarter tier - $10k It got the kickstarter quite a lot of press at the time. So Razer and inXile have a good relationship going.

It's not something I need personally as I already have proper Roccat Kave surround sound headphones[www.overclockers.co.uk] (worth every penny) so I have no idea how good their driver is.
JimZiii Sep 19, 2014 @ 10:30am 
i don't know alot about surround sound and things like that but i'm using a pair of logitech g930 with its own drivers and software, so do i need this razer driver or what will it do for me?
Spike Sep 19, 2014 @ 10:50am 
I did'nt install it.
Toodeloot Sep 19, 2014 @ 11:01am 
Originally posted by JimZiii:
i don't know alot about surround sound and things like that but i'm using a pair of logitech g930 with its own drivers and software, so do i need this razer driver or what will it do for me?
Don't install it, it will conflict with your dolby headphone because you have 2 pieces of software that are trying to do the same thing
JimZiii Sep 19, 2014 @ 11:11am 
Originally posted by Vulgrim:
Originally posted by JimZiii:
i don't know alot about surround sound and things like that but i'm using a pair of logitech g930 with its own drivers and software, so do i need this razer driver or what will it do for me?
Don't install it, it will conflict with your dolby headphone because you have 2 pieces of software that are trying to do the same thing
ok thnx
i had my suspicions that they'd either conflict or that one would override the other since i already have surround. but like i said i don't know alot about surround so i didn't know what razer was or if it was something that was needed since it prompted you to install it when you started the game. but Kiya's post explained why the game wants you to install it
Caldrin Sep 19, 2014 @ 11:13am 
I installed it and have hardware 5.1 and had no conflicts and also ran it with myheadset that is also 5.1 with no conflicts.. sounds was pretty nice in game really.

Does this razor stuff make it better I could not say but I dont think it will course any issues and if it does you can just uninstall it.
JimZiii Sep 19, 2014 @ 11:20am 
Originally posted by PKCaldrin:
I installed it and have hardware 5.1 and had no conflicts and also ran it with myheadset that is also 5.1 with no conflicts.. sounds was pretty nice in game really.

Does this razor stuff make it better I could not say but I dont think it will course any issues and if it does you can just uninstall it.
deadbulbs said that it emulates surround sound, which got me thinking if its something i really want since i already have real surround. and if you don't know if it maked the sound any better or worse i don't think you can give anyone advice on what to do.

and if one doesn't override the other i think it still can conflict for you if you change the settings on one and both are trying to give you sound with different settings.

but i'm no tech support so i can't say for sure that thats going to happen :)
Last edited by JimZiii; Sep 19, 2014 @ 11:21am
XenoBrain Sep 19, 2014 @ 12:08pm 
OK quick explanation of what it's doing and why you may or may not want it.

The shape of your head and ears affects how you hear sound from different directions. Sounds coming from in front of you sound different than sounds coming from behind you, because your head and ear shape distorts it.

Your brain percieves these distortions along with relative loudness across each ear to tell you the direction of the sound.

If a sound is coming from, for example, headphones it generally sounds like it's coming from inside your head. But if you apply the right distortions to the sound, called an HRTF or Head-Releated Transfer Function, you can trick the brain into percieving the sound as coming from a different place than it really did ie: from behind you.

Razer surround, Dolby Headphone, CMSS-3D, and SBX Studio Surround all take a 5.1 or 7.1 sound, and mix it down to to stereo. But along the way they apply the HRTF to the surround channels, so the final mix sounds closer to a real 5.1 system where the HRTF is the real deal--your actual head and ears.

Different people have different heads of course, and each person's perception of locations is going to be a little different. These technologies attempt a one-size-fits-all HRTF function based on an "average" head, but each technology uses a different algorithm.

Depending on head, one algorithm may work better than another for you.


So finally, should you use Razer Surround or similar technologies? If you have a real 5.1 system, of course not! But if you have a stereo system or stereo headphones then you may like the simulated surround and the increased sense of positioning it provides, or it may sound overly artificial to you and annoying. It really depends on taste.

Personally I find Razer Surround seems to apply a stronger HRTF effect than most other technologies, with sounds coming from the rear to be quite distorted, though effective. I switched it off and am using my Sound Blaster Z's SBX surround which doesn't seem to alter the sound as strongly.
DeadJericho Sep 19, 2014 @ 12:44pm 
does it only work with headphones or will users with stereo speakers notice benefits?
Mansen Sep 19, 2014 @ 1:03pm 
Originally posted by TectonicRequiem:
does it only work with headphones or will users with stereo speakers notice benefits?

It won't have the same effect unless you place your speakers at your sides. Virtual Surround like this is designed specifically with headphones in mind.

And no - You should absolutely not install this software if you already have something that does it for you (Like Logitech's G35 headphones)
XenoBrain Sep 19, 2014 @ 2:19pm 
Razer Surround is designed for headphones only. If you turn it on with stereo speakers is sounds a bit strange.

There is other software that can get more accurate virtual surround out of stereo speakers using the same method though (5.1 Downmix with HRTF) such as SBX Studio Surround, Dolby Virtual Speaker, Rapture3D etc have modes for this. Same idea, but different math. They can work pretty well though!

Regarding the G35, it uses Dolby Headphone, which can be turned on or off. If you do that, you can use Razer Surround with it as an alternative virtual surround method. Some people will prefer one or the other.

There are also "real" surround headphones which actually cram multiple speaker drivers inside and use clever tuning of angles and such to actually project the sound from about the right place. Virtual surround should not be used with these. The G35 is not one of these.
Last edited by XenoBrain; Sep 19, 2014 @ 2:20pm
JimZiii Sep 19, 2014 @ 3:20pm 
@XenoBrain
you seem to know alot about surround sound and sound in general, this is a bit off topic but i've played 1 or 2 games where the sound becomes.. strange.. thats the only way i know to describe it, some of the sounds becomes higher and some lower than the rest, and the only way to fix this is by turning off the surround on my headphones, i'm using logitech G930 btw, do you know whats causing this or is there something wrong with my headphones? its not like its happening alot but its always at the same places
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Date Posted: Sep 19, 2014 @ 7:25am
Posts: 13