I see. so basically I could use this sound card to seach for life across the universe but I cannot separate the ****** output channels. great. not sure I have time to get another card on time. grrr...
thanks!
I'm sorry if I discouraged you from looking further -- I suspect the hardware is doing the mixing in a way that's not under software control, but I don't know for sure that's the case.
I have a strong feeling about it, since Creative is restricting what the card is capable of. I suspect it's doing it's 5.1 mixing operations using the DSP.
It could be that some obscure driver option will bypass the DSP and take 6 channels from software.
I decided write the list because I also started to think that this mixing was "hardwired" in the card. I tested the sound blaster under linux and windows and it does exactly the same thing in both systems. I played around with all options in the windows sound blaster control panel and got all kinds of weird surround effects but no way to deactivate it.
I have a 12 euros unbranded 7.1 sound card that allows to do exactly what I am after but this is not mine so it cannot be used for a two months long installation. So I will visit few shops later and try to get some cards I can test.
thanks!