Anyone tried Razer Surround software in TDM?

[Lux]

I've been looking for a solution to better positional audio cues for headphones and this may be a great stop-gap for those of us using onboard audio.

 

Check out this vid (its 37min but you can get the general idea prior to the end) -->

(make sure you have Dolby Headphone disabled for this video if you are using it via onboard)

 

Used to be $20 bones but now its free and doesn't require Razer headphones -->https://www.razerzone.com/surround

 

I'm going to be testing this over the weekend with TDM and Thi4f but it looks like it will be a great improvement.

 

Appears it will offer excellent positional audio in TDM and increase immersion but we'll see after I play through some FMs.

 

You do have to right click speaker in the tray > playback devices > select razer surround audio controller > click set default prior to playing.

It may be a software bug, but you can also accomplish this instead by pulling up the Razer Surround control panel and deselecting, then selecting "Auto select USB headphone when available".

This works for me even though I'm not using a USB headset. Its less clicks and menus if you do it this way.

 

The software does have bass boost and a separate eq so you can adjust the audio to taste.

 

EDIT: I played a bit of WS1 this morning and the positional accuracy is fantastic. Doors opening, footsteps, women crying, guards talking. I do need to either adjust the volume down just a tad or lower the top end of the eq just a tad but so far its pretty promising. The spatial and environmental sounds seem much more "airy" but further testing needs to be done to determine how much is just placebo from a new listening perspective. I'm testing this on pc350 headphones which already have a decent sound stage in default TDM audio.

 

EDIT2: This software functions on Windows 7/8 only.

Edited March 15, 2014 by Lux

[HMart]

I have both Rapture3D and Razer Surround, Rapture3D makes better positional audio then the razor software on Doom 3 and TDM, the last one uses HTRF's to simulate how a true head percebes audio, i can even ear sound in the vertical axis (below and above) but is not free and only works on OpenAL games (are becoming very rare by the minute) the later is free simulates more or less 5.1 or 7.1 horizontal axis directional sound and works on all sound API's.

[jtbalogh]

After installing, do you know what I might have to click on to get it to work? The computer's playback devices do not show a razer surround audio controller but the installation seemed to run okay. Opening razor shows only, "please connect a razor synapse 2.0 enabled device." I was just going to use my regular stereo headset/headphone.

 

Edit: Rebooting windows vista didn't help. Razorzone support does not have much about this problem. Google does not show much about a problem like this. I do not have a 'Razer Surround Audio Service' that forums are talking about so maybe my problem is worse than I thought.

Edited March 15, 2014 by jtbalogh

[Lux]

That's wierd as I don't have a razor synapse enabled device and it works fine here.

 

If I right click on the white Windows speaker in the Tray and select playback devices I get this:

 

 

And you are saying yours doesn't show this device? If the virtual device was not installed then maybe you should first uninstall the software from Control Panel and try reinstalling it as an administrator.

 

Make sure prior to uninstalling that when you right click in the above window, you have "Show Disabled Devices" checked. Maybe its just disabled.

 

EDIT: From the Razer Surround page --- Vista is not supported apparently.

 

Operating System:

Microsoft Windows 8 (32-bit and 64-bit)

Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit)

Edited March 15, 2014 by Lux

[Lux]

@jtbalogh -- You might try one of the suggestions that HMart made as they may be Vista compatible.

[Deadlove]

I am going to try this out!

[eigenface]

This sounded like a great idea to me too, so I installed razer surround. I regret it. First, understand that in order to use razer surround, you need to be running the other program bundled with it, razer synapse, and you need to be logged into a razer account for "game settings in the cloud" (that's already a red flag for me, but not the worst part.) At seemingly random moments, the sound would cut out altogether as stop working entirely until I restarted. Also, the price you pay for simulated surround sound is worse fidelity - the sounds seem flatter, and my system sounds would sometimes glitch and get cut off halfway through a "click' or "beep" (this is a separate problem from when all the sound would stop working entirely.) Also, razer synapse took over my mouse settings and "optimized" them so I could not control my mouse as effectively as before (when I had the settings I manually entered and actually wanted.) So I tried to uninstall razer surround and synapse. The uninstallations finished successfully. After I restarted my pc, I noticed my sound was still flat and glitchy, and my mouse controls were still fucked. A search of my hard drive found the razer driver files still installed, and msconfig told me a razer process was still running. Apparently, my control over my own drivers had been "optimized". After a system restore, I finally managed to get rid of the razer malware (I hope...) Install at your own risk.

[ungoliant]

wow, i'll be staying far away from that. And i'm getting pretty desperate for a good TDM surround sound solution.

[Lux]

This sounded like a great idea to me too, so I installed razer surround. I regret it. First, understand that in order to use razer surround, you need to be running the other program bundled with it, razer synapse, and you need to be logged into a razer account for "game settings in the cloud" (that's already a red flag for me, but not the worst part.)

 

Razer Synapse is what runs the audio software. Do you also have a Razer mouse? I do not.

 

Yes you do need to create a Razer account for login, and you can do that simply through the client using a spam email that I'm sure most of you have set up. Use an alternate account for the email obviously, not your main email. Don't most people have these?

 

At seemingly random moments, the sound would cut out altogether as stop working entirely until I restarted. Also, the price you pay for simulated surround sound is worse fidelity - the sounds seem flatter, and my system sounds would sometimes glitch and get cut off halfway through a "click' or "beep" (this is a separate problem from when all the sound would stop working entirely.)

 

I've not had a moments issue with it using onboard Realtek 889 audio. What sound card are you running? Do you have SBX/CMSS-3D/Dolby Headphone/THX Studio Surround turned off in your options so you're not processing the sound twice?

 

Also, razer synapse took over my mouse settings and "optimized" them so I could not control my mouse as effectively as before (when I had the settings I manually entered and actually wanted.) So I tried to uninstall razer surround and synapse. The uninstallations finished successfully. After I restarted my pc, I noticed my sound was still flat and glitchy, and my mouse controls were still fucked. A search of my hard drive found the razer driver files still installed, and msconfig told me a razer process was still running. Apparently, my control over my own drivers had been "optimized". After a system restore, I finally managed to get rid of the razer malware (I hope...) Install at your own risk.

 

Also, there is clearly something else going on here. System restore to remove a program? What OS are you running this on? Other than a background updater service, there is no "malware" involved here. Apologies if I think that's a bit of an over reaction.

 

This is all I installed:

 

Edited March 16, 2014 by Lux

[Lux]

Just to test your issue, I uninstalled Razer Surround this morning, then uninstalled Razer Synapse. I rebooted afterward.

 

I have no Razer processes running after reboot. No Razer anything in Services.msc. No Razer software installed in the Control Panel. This was on Windows 7 x64.

 

I'm not sure what your issue was, eigenface. Do you have a Razer mouse? I can't understand why software unrelated to your mouse would do anything to your mouse unless you have a Razer mouse.

 

I'm using a Func MS-3 and it didn't behave any differently.

 

EDIT: I also checked my install directories after uninstall and there aren't any Razer directories left after uninstall. In short, everything was removed.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Lux

[eigenface]

Yes, I have a razer mouse, but I did not have any other razer software installed before installing surround / synapse. I also have win7 64.

 

Apologies if I think that's a bit of an over reaction.

 

Whatever, do what you want, of course. I figure I would be doing everyone a disservice if I didn't warn you about what happened in my case. I hope razer surround does not cause you any problems.

[Lux]

Yes, I have a razer mouse, but I did not have any other razer software installed before installing surround / synapse. I also have win7 64.

 

This could be why you had remnants of software left after uninstall. Because Razer, seeing that you had a Razer product installed, left the Synapse service running. Synapse seems to be their software to tie all their products together so you have a single point of Razer administration.

 

Sure, everyone will always do what they want

 

Just curious also, what kind of onboard/separate sound card are you running?

 

Clicks and beeps are generally indicative of hardware that is unable to process things correctly. I'm curious if its an HD audio solution/add-in card or what the problem is there. When you said the audio sounded flatter that was not something I experienced in the least.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Lux