Not getting the full 5.1 effect in tasks such as winamp

C

_cashel

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 9, 2002
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I switched from my Audigy Gamer to the onboard sound on the a7n8x dlx after I was getting some strange distortion in ut2k3. I can get 5.1 surround sound in movies and games, but in normal tasks such as winamp, and programs such as aim, I don't get sound in all of my speakers, only the front left and right as well as the center. I've got the latest chipset drivers, I have everything set to 5.1, etc. I've switched speaker channels and I get sound in the rear but not the front and vice versa. I don't know what else I'm missing, but that seems to be it. Any ideas?

Edit: BTW, the winamp I'm running is version 5.
 
This is normal behaviour. Applications such as Winamp and other media players, that includes normal Windows System Audio, only output stereo audio.

A few sound cards offer an up-mix or psuedo-surround which takes stereo audio and distributes it to 5.1 (or which ever speaker configuration you have). The Audigy series has CMSS, the Revolution has Circle Surround II, and there may be a few others.

You may also want to check if there's a plug-in for Winamp that does the same thing.
 
In Winamp's preferences, under Plugins/Output. Double click on "DirectSound Output" On the first tab enable the option for "Enable Hardware Accleration". Click Apply and then OK.

Restart Winamp.

In many cases this will cause audio to output to both the front and rear. Your center channel will NOT work, but thats normal because mp3s are a 2 channel source. Your center channel will only work with a 5.1 source.
 
Originally posted by stevewm
In Winamp's preferences, under Plugins/Output. Double click on "DirectSound Output" On the first tab enable the option for "Enable Hardware Accleration". Click Apply and then OK.

Restart Winamp.

In many cases this will cause audio to output to both the front and rear. Your center channel will NOT work, but thats normal because mp3s are a 2 channel source. Your center channel will only work with a 5.1 source.
Click to expand...

thanks for that info.

now my recently Klipsch 5.1 Ultras are really screamin' to me. :p
 
Yeah, thanks for the info. At first it didn't work, but after selecting the correct sound driver, it did work.
 
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