Buried and impossible Asus “Sound/Chipset/Bios/Memory” Problems

[kaylem]

I have a problem that I just can’t seem to fathom. After over 2 months of trying to fix it I still cannot get my second sound card to work with an application that I use daily (simvibe – for gaming tactile transducer feedback frequency software – see more below on simvibe). This to me seems to be an issue with the chipset, bios, memory or an incompatibility with hardware/software, the latter that I cannot do much more as I have tried everything already with my limited know how. So, hopefully somebody here may have similar issues or possibly give me some new ideas (and hope) as to what I can do next. I am at a point where I am seriously considering buying a new motherboard other than Asus as my fault finding and web info has directed me to believe that it may just be the asus sound/chipset/bios that just doesn’t work for what I want it for. I have other possibilities of fault causing, but first let’s start from the beginning.

PC SPEC:
Motherboard - Asus maximus hero VIII (Z170 chipset)
CPU - Intel Skylake 6700k cpu
Memory – 16GB Corsair DDR4
GPU – Asus Nvidia Titan Black
Cooling – Corsair H110i water cooling cpu, Nvidia Coolermaster HAF X PC Case (fans x 4)
Data/Storage – Intel EVO 850/840 (ssd’s), Raptor HDD, 2 x sp 250’s
OS – Window 10 Pro (clean install)


What problems are being created?

SOUND BLEEDING/MIXING (it seems to me) causing my application (simvibe by Simcommander 4 to not recognise one of my inputs which corresponds to a front/pedals (black output sound jack plug) transducer to not work via the amp that powers it, but I get a weaker signal coming through from the back/seat (green output sound jack plug) to the front signal when they should be separate. The back/seat/green output seems to be working as it should but the problem occurs when I try to use 2 output jacks at the back of the pc sound (black/green). The actual sound (music, film etc seem to sound fine too with all the soundcards I have tried). I have also have other minor driver issues that may be the same cause or just teething problems with windows 10 and I sometimes get a windows disconnect/connect sound/ping but cant seem to trace that issue.



[*** What is SimXperience SimVibe:

A brief summary of what I am attempting to do and the software used to accomplish this via an additional soundcard.

SimXperience SimVibe is an advanced, multi-dimensional audio based feedback software (for racing simulators and cockpits) that utilizes one to eight bass transducers (ButtKickers, Bass Shakers, etc..) to provide the correct physics based vibrations at each corner of your simulator and throughout the simulator. This greatly enhances immersion and drivability. It's a great companion to our already immersive motion simuators but can be applied to motionless simulators as well.
You'll feel every available detail of the road surface, engine and transmission in the correct placement on your simulator!



** I only use 2 amps/bass transducers – front (pedals vibration) and rear (Under seat vibration) – This/My config uses a 5:1/7:1 soundcard configuration whereas using 4 amps and transducers would use a quadraphonic config e.g. 1 transducer and amp channel for each wheel (one in each corner of sim rig/chassis) ***]


At first I assumed that this was a software or hardware conflict with simvibe or soundcards but I have the same results with windows sound test also – BLENDING/MIXING Sound signals between output (green and black jack plug = what simvibe uses for pedals and seat outputs). I have also used different sound cards with the same results.



What possible fixes have I already tried (I have put many days and hours into finding this problem and attempted fixes with no change or variation of the problem)

• Install win 7 ultimate and win 10 pro a number of times (UEFI and Legacy modes)
• new and older bios & chipset install
• Tried 3 different soundcards, asus stx, soundblaster audigy and realtek FX (onboard) – uninstalled all drivers and just used onboard sound, just used other soundcard with onboard disabled in bois – tried all combinations with all 3 sound issues and used latest drivers and older ones too. I have also tried all these soundcards in every possible configuration within the sound software and within windows sound config.
• Nvidia driver update (rollbacks), just used onboard graphics with Titan disconnected (not inside pc)
• Swapped out/replaced the new motherboard as I thought the first one may have been faulty
• Install/re-install all drivers, software etc many times.
• Booting with the bare minimum (1 ssd, onboard graphics and sound, all usb devices unplugged other than keyboard and mouse (both razer)
• Uninstalled all Asus things
• Used default/optimum (4.2 Ghz) and overclocked (4.7 Ghz stable) configurations
• Scanned the forums daily for solutions
• No Asus motherboard error codes (A0)
• Bios configuration changes – tried all related or what I thought may be related by reading info on web, tried most bios configs on/off and different combinations etc
• Different setting in task mgr and windows settings etc
• Updated latest bios today- same **** different day.



My Conclusions:

The issue occurs within windows and so it cant be the simvibe software. It cant be the soundcards themselves as the problem persists with any/all of them. So I assume (with my limited tech) that the mobo chipset, mobo design, bios or ddr4 memory just is not compatible with sound/output separation but hopefully someone may see a different outcome?

The Forums says there is problems with Asus sound and has been over the years with realtek but again I have disabled that too and used only windows sound?

From my tried solutions and fixes I seem to have traced the problem to the chipset, bios, ddr4 or cpu compatibility or just bad Asus design of the motherboard. The sound just doesn’t seem to separate completely from the output jacks within any soundcard tested showing that the problem is buried and is deeper.

Please let me know if you have any ideas, fixes and solutions or have had any similar weird, whacky and not so wonderful problems and issues like this with asus or other brands.

This board cost me nearly £200 and I don’t want to buy another one yet until I am 100% sure I have done everything within my power to rectify this very annoying and depressing problem.

[Bahz]

I read through the entire post and I believe it's not the chipset that's causing the problem nor it is due to faulty design of the board since you've tried other sound cards and the results are the same.

It would be very helpful if you used a software like OBS (https://obsproject.com) to record the issue then post a link to it and I'm sure that will give everyone a better idea of the issue and might be able to help you.

[kaylem]

Thanks for the super fast reply and for the input, I may do that, but first I will put it in a nutshell as I probably should have done in the original post - Output signals
are blending from different jack ports on any of the sound cards (3 of) I have used, that to me must be the the issue as to why my application (simvibe) wont work
correctly as simvibe uses sound signals. So I suppose the question I should have asked directly would be:

What could cause signals to be crossed/mixed and or blended like this with any sound card, on different OS's?

Surly signals are supposed to be separated with different jack ouputs e.g. green and black sound jack plugs should be separate for separate
signals? I have also been into realtek sound manager and tried to change what the inputs do (within realtek sound settings options). But as already stated, this problem
goes beyond realtek, OS's, windows sound and sound hardware as the problem persists throughout any changes made to these possible (and tried) changes.

I really hope it is not Asus, but from what I have written here on this thread and from my experience with this stubborn issue, it all sure does seem to point to the Asus
motherboard or a conflict with Asus. . . . . I really hope I am wrong.

This problem seems to go beyond the OS, and further than the sound issue itself - hence chip set, motherboard and/or conflicts (ddr4, Asus motherboard)?

any input would gladly be appreciated.

Cheers

[kaylem]

**** SOLVED - FIXED - DE-STRESSED ****

The problem was nothing to do with Asus or anything PC really, it was a simple Audio issue in the end.

This FIX is probably only for anyone using simvibe with mono amp/'s, as amps used with more than one input (stereo +) would easily find the issue I had for so
long by simply swapping the amp cables over by trial and error.

There is also NO REFERENCE TO SIMVIBE USING A MONO AMP CONFIGURED IN THE WAY I WANTED so hopefully this will help other folks who are using a mono amp
and cant get simvibe to work with the pedals/black jack plug (especially the PEARL THMP1 BUTKICKER KIT)


The problem was simply fixed by using a 3.5mm "Y" Cable from the black jack/pedals/future use output and running one of the "Y" ends into the amp. Only one
end will work with the amp because what seems to be happening is that the output from my sound or input from the amp (as single mono cable) is set up as
"future use" e.g will will not work when you connect it up the same as the green/seat/shifter (single mono or stereo cable). So simvibe will not see anything unless
the correct channel of the jack plug is seen, what I mean is the channels in a stereo jack plugs are separated by the little black bands at the end of the jack plug
and with a mono jack plug (what would be thought as the correct cable to use on a mono amp) it is prescribes by one or the other, but simvibe needs the correct
channel (pedals not future use) so either the correct mono cable (tried many that all seem to be the wrong channel) or as I used a "Y"/SPLITTER CABLE must be
used.
THIS WILL NOW WORK SIMVIBE IN EXTENSIONS MODE WITH FULL SIMVIBE CONTROL AND FUNCTION.


There is nothing else out there explaining this issue so I really hope that this post will save some people of their frustrations and save them some time into getting
simvibe extensions using mono amplifiers working as sweeeeeeeet as mine is now.



*** There are no real problems out there, just un-solved solutions ***

[Thamahn]

I am sorry to say that you did not fix your issue, what you did was rigged a lesser work around. SimVibe is meant to work in a "quadrophonic" mode. Therefore, either you can run it with a 4-channel amplifier, or you can run it with 4 separate mono-amplifiers, per sound card. Using a 3.5mm "Y" cable did not really fix your "quadrophonic" mode issue.

As far as your second sound card issue goes, here is what worked for me.

I have discovered a problem with using two Asus soundcards together. The driver control software is not setup to handle two soundcards simultaneously. When I open the software, it just acts as if there is only one card present. This is a problem because even when setting the Windows properties to "quadrophonic", the driver default for these soundcards is 2-speaker stereo...so it takes the Windows commands to send sound to the rear speakers and redirects it to the front speakers.

Therefore, I was able to get one card working properly in quadrophonic mode, but the second card was only out-putting sound to the front two channels. To solve the problem, I performed the following steps:

1) In the Asus DGX control software, set the 1st soundcard output to 4-speakers
2) In Windows sound output properties, set the 1st card to "quadrophonic"
3) Manually close the Asus DGX control software
4) Go into the Windows device manager and disabled the 1st DGX soundcard
5) Manually open the Asus DGX control software again (this time it takes control of the second soundcard since the 1st one is disabled).
6) In the Asus DGX control software, set the 2nd soundcard output to 4-speakers
7) In Windows sound output properties, set the 2nd card to "quadrophonic"
😎 Manually close the Asus DGX control software
9) Go into the device manager and enable the 1st soundcard
10) Now open and setup SimVibe as desired.

www overclock net/t/1354257/project-log-my-diy-simvibe-racing-rig