Strange issue with Sound Blaster. Can't hear voices. Solution.

[Sqrly]

This is really just an FYI for others who may be having the same problem with the voices.

I have a Sound Blaster Audigy FX card (because windows 10 broke my excellent onboard sound). I also have a Logitech Z-5500 5.1 sound system. If you don't know what that is, suffice it to say, it's a monster surround sound system that can shake the entire house.

Anyways, I usually have the SBX Pro Studio software enabled and I mainly use 3 different profiles, gaming, music, and movies.

When I started playing ME I could barely hear any of the voices.

I turned up the Dialogue Plus on the SBX Control panel and it made the voices louder but I had to be looking directly at the character talking to hear them. I few degrees left or right and the sound level fell of insanely fast.

I finally figured out I had to turn off SBX Pro Studio all together. Now the voices sound correct though I'm missing the Crystalizer effects. The direction sounds come from was and still is correct.

EDIT: Only the "Surround" needs to be switched off, the rest of the SBX Pro Studio can still be used

This is the only software I've ever had to disable it with.

[Sean8102]

Just curious but dose enabling or disabling the Dolby Atmos option in the games sound options menu make a difference for better or worse?

[Sqrly]

Originally posted by Sean8102:

Just curious but dose enabling or disabling the Dolby Atmos option in the games sound options menu make a difference for better or worse?

Before disabling the SBX Pro Studio I tried it out of curiosity and it totally disabled the surround or positional qualities of the game sounds. Like switching the sound to mono, all sounds came from every speaker at the same level. I didn't try it after disabling SBX Pro Studio because, if it works, don't fix it. (I'm a mechanic not an engineer LOL)

This is pretty irrelevant though as I my speaker system isn't made to use atmos. To work as intended, Atmos requires either the addition of down firing ceiling mounted speakers or special front speakers that have an added top firing element to bounce the sound off the ceiling.

Atmos is really theatre software designed to support up to 128 speakers. Unless your gaming on a nice 5.1.2 home theatre system, ( https://www.dolby.com/us/en/guide/dolby-atmos-speaker-setup/5-1-2-setups.html ) it's really of no use to you.

[Sean8102]

Ah, well as long as you got things working that's all that counts :)

I thought the Atmos option in Exodus is just Dolby Atmos for Headphones (it may have the ability to support a full Atmos setup IDK). According to the Dolby Developers site Atmos for headphones works with any pair of headphones. That maybe why it didn't work for you because it’s not meant to be enabled when using a 5.1 system. Because Atmos works fine for me when using a regular pair of earbuds and makes a noticeable difference in being able to tell where sound is coming from in the game world. I'm just using integrated Realtek ALC 1220 motherboard audio though, no extra processing effects or anything. It also works fine with my 2.1 speakers (old reliable Logitech Z 2300 speaker system that has lasted me like 13 years!) but I do feel the effect works better when using my earbuds.

"Dolby Atmos for Headphones allows you to experience Dolby Atmos (for Xbox and Windows 10) through any set of headphones. ANY set of headphones, so no need to replace your favorites."

"Try out Dolby Atmos for free by downloading the Dolby Access app from the Xbox Box One or Windows 10 Store. If you're a game studio and would like to enable Dolby Atmos for Headphones for your team, let us know. "

https://developer.dolby.com/blog/dolby-atmos-for-headphones/

You can buy Dolby Atmos for headphones as a app in Windows 10 and enable it system wide to try it out in any game regardless if it natively supports it, but game developers can license it from Dolby and integrate it directly into their game if they want. Overwatch off the top of my head is one other PC game I can think of that has Atmos for headphones support built in.
It's similar to the "3D audio" option or whatever it’s called in RE 2 which actually uses Windows Sonic (you can tell by looking at the games .dll files) which aims for a similar effect, but it’s Microsoft developed and free/built into Windows 10.

[Sqrly]

Sounds good to me (pun intended?) but I wouldn't know about that. The control pod for my sound system has a headphone jack in the side of it that I use. It provides 360 degree positional headphone sound with any headset plugged into it.

[Raayna]

i got one last week and i have the same problem.... with creative app.... changing surround doesn't do anything...

[a-whitehead]

I had this issue as well then noticed even through the sbx app when testing that the center channel wasn't working with my speakers. I kept it at 5.1 surround, disabled both rear speakers and center speaker. Sound seems much better. Voices are clear in games I am playing now instead of being extremely low like they were in background.