Broken Sound or Heavy Reverberation Playing .WAV File

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Windows 95

SYMPTOMS

When you play a .WAV file on a Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 card, the playback may sound broken and have a heavy reverberation.

CAUSE

You have installed the Windows 3.1 drivers for the Sound Blaster 16 card. There is a known problem with the mono compressor/decompressor (codec) included with the Windows 3.1 Sound Blaster 16 drivers.

RESOLUTION

You may be able to resolve this problem by installing the updated audio codecs included with Windows 95. To install the updated codecs, follow these steps:

1. In Control Panel, double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon.

2. Click the Windows Setup tab.

3. In the Components box, click Multimedia.

4. Click the Details button.

5. Click the Audio Compression check box to select it.

6. Click the OK button.

7. Insert the appropriate Windows 95 disks as requested.

After you have removed these drivers and restarted your computer, you can use the Add New Hardware Wizard to detect the Sound Blaster 16 card and automatically install the Windows 95 drivers.

MORE INFORMATION

This problem is specific to the IMA ADPCM mono codec. All the other codecs work properly. You can play a stereo IMA ADPCM .WAV file without problems.

Creative Labs has released updated drivers for their Sound Blaster 16 sound card. Windows 95-compatible drivers from Creative Labs are available on the Creative Labs World Wide Web site. The updated drivers are available as a file named Sbw95up.exe dated 6/4/96. These drivers may resolve the issue described in this article.