EMU(4)

💖 EMU(4) — Creative Labs SBLive!, PCI 512, and Audigy audio device 💖

okay so this is the manual page for emu, like the fourth section, and it's genuinely kinda iconic for sound-card girlies. let's get into it bestie 🎀

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

emu* at pci?
audio* at emu?

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

The emu device driver supports Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live!, Sound Blaster PCI 512, and SoundBlaster Audigy cards. yes bestie, all three. we love a versatile queen 💅

These Environmental Audio cards are based upon the programmable EMU10K1 digital-processing chip. it's giving main character energy, no cap.

Hardware features — and honestly the way this list goes off, periodt:

• E-mu Systems, Inc. EMU10K1 music synthesis engine ⭐
• 64-voice hardware polyphony with E-mu's patented 8-point interpolation technology — fancy fancy
• Up to 1024-voice polyphony with multi-timbre capability 👑
• Support for real-time digital effects like reverb, chorus, flanger, pitch shifter, or distortion across any audio source — literally the whole vibe
• User-selectable settings are optimized for headphones, two or four speakers 🎧
• Processes sample rates from 5kHz to 48kHz
• Creative Multi Speaker Surround (CMSS) places any mono or stereo sound source in a 360 degree audio space 🌈
• Hardware full-duplex support enables simultaneous record and playback at 8 standard sample rates — multitasking icon
• Allows multiple audio sources playback on the same speaker system 🫶

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

ac97(4), audio(4), intro(4), joy(4), pci(4)

🎀 HISTORY 🎀

The emu device driver appeared in OpenBSD 3.1. a true vintage moment, honestly.

💜 AUTHORS 💜

The emu driver was written by Yannick Montulet <yannick.montulet@epitech.net> and ported to OpenBSD 3.1 by Michael Shalayeff <mickey@openbsd.org>. respect the founders fr fr 🫡

🔥 CAVEATS 🔥

ATTENTION! 🚨

The hardware interface of this card contains registers not used for normal operation, but potentially dangerous and not possible to disable. Potential damage ranges from frying the card to frying motherboard or external equipment connected to its outputs.

okay so real talk bestie: this is the part where you do not play around. like, do not mess with those registers. it can literally fry your card, your motherboard, or whatever external equipment is connected to its outputs. i'm not being dramatic, this is just the facts 😭💀

💀 BUGS 💀

Currently this driver does not support MIDI, joystick input, or the multi-voice capability. sad but true 🙈

There is currently no way to control the volume of the DAC for SoundBlaster Audigy cards. annoying, we know.

S-PDIF digital output does not work for SoundBlaster Live! and SoundBlaster Audigy cards. rip.

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and that's the whole page, bestie ✨ this version is from July 16, 2013, coming out of Debian — so if you see that date and source floating around in your manpage footer, now you know what's up 💖