SBZ Switcher Reviews

Excellent utility that adds useful functionality to Sound Blaster's control panel.

Extremely useful little tool that saves me loads of time when mixing and mastering. Thank you applejack1!

Excellent Software which functionalities should be Standard in Creative Labs Products. But there is one downside to SBZ-Switcher: It utilizes AutoHotkey which is recognized as "Cheating-Tool" in Online Games, even if SBZ-Switcher does nothing more than changing Settings of your Sound Blaster, you can get banned, if the Anti-Cheat-Technology detects Autohotkey-Inputs while playing. Happened to me in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. It was a long Process to get unbanned, don't risk it by having SBZ-Switcher running or using it while Games are running.

Such a simple and incredibly useful tool. Plus, lots of ways to configure it to your needs.

Not much to write, literally cant imagine controlling my sound card without sbz. I recommend downloading it and test it for yourself.... (working on w10 x64 creators update)

I created a SourceForge account just to review this amazing little free program! The Sound Blaster Z is a great piece of hardware (I needed it to run some fairly high impedance Sennheiser headphones) but it is let down by its limited software, which lacks any kind of serious customization options. The main reason I looked for this in the first place (and probably others, too) was so that I could create a convenient keyboard shortcut to switch between speakers/headphones. I decided to use Scroll Lock as it never seems to get used for anything these days, so I don't need to use any function keys (Ctrl/Alt etc.) and can have a convenient one-key shortcut. This takes care of output switching (the keyboard shortcut and also double clicking the SBZ Switcher icon in the system tray both have the same effect) and also lets you choose between red/yellow/green/blue "SB" outlines for the system tray icons, to indicate which output is enabled. I have my speakers set to the red icon (the original color for the Sound Blaster Control Panel tray icon) and my headphone output set to the yellow version of the icon. So I hit Scroll Lock, the icon changes colour, and I can tell just from the colour of the icon which of my audio devices is active. How cool is that? I'd advise people to take their time and play around with the options. Even though this doesn't require any installation as it is a tiny standalone executable (the whole folder is just over 1 MB), I saved the files into an "SBZ Switcher" folder under "Program Files (x86)" to keep it organized, as that's where I feel it belongs as a 32-bit application. I also advise enabling "Do not close control panel after switch if started open" (if you already had it open before switching, it was open for a reason and if it closed by itself, it would be annoying) and also enabling "Hide mouse cursor while switching" (the cursor jumps to the input toggle button for a split second when switching and it looks better if SBZ Switcher just works, without seeing the cursor randomly appear somewhere else while you're switching input). The one remaining issue, which I'm sure I'll figure out soon, is what to do about the extra icon you get in the taskbar. You see, you'll want to set SBZ Switcher to "Launch at Windows startup", so it's listening out for your keyboard shortcut as soon as you turn on your PC (without needing to manually run it first). You'll want SBZ Switcher to be the icon you see in the system tray... but if you then set Sound Blaster Control Panel to startup type "disabled" in Windows (because you don't need its icon any more), it will still start and continue running as soon as you switch between devices using SBZ Switcher. Now you have two identical icons! One for the official Creative control panel (red outline) and the other for this (in one of four colours). When if they're both red? Which one's which now? I will see if I can figure out a way to prevent the original Sound Blaster Control Panel icon from appearing entirely. I'm sure there's a way to do it in the registry (not just hiding it behind the white arrow).

Problem with this tool: I will never be able to switch to another manufacturer than Creative Labs because I'd lose SBZ Switcher :) Great work, please continue!

Best sidekick for SBZ owners does everything else what creative didn't put it in their application recommended for all who have Sound blaster Z

It needs to be able to link microphones to speakers and headphones! So that it's easier for people with 2 microphones in the Sound Blaster Z to change between front or rear mic, when changing speakers and headphones. (1 mic for the headset, another for the speakers) Just like it's easy to change between speakers and headphones it should be just as easy to change between micophones. (there's a front panel header on the backside of the Sound Blaster Z so you can have 2 mics connected to the card. You can change between the mics in the Sound Blaster Control Panel) Thanks. The program has great potential.

This is a real gem! Thank you so much!

This piece of programm saves me so much time. I can't imagine to switch manually from headphone to speakers all the time, change the profile and tune the volume. Espacily when i swapped from speakers to headphone, while music was running, my headphones almost explode, because they can't handly 100% volume. 30% is absolut max. I never donated money to anything, but this thing was worth my first donation :)

This is seriously awesome. No more Sound Blaster stochastic audio switch pausing or hanging. Very fast speaker to headphone switcher. Another thing I really like is -- I've set the default volume upon switching to 30% speakers and 60% headphones. This works out great for me. Thanks!

A great addon that makes the Creative software significantly better

I really needed a way to switch from speakers to hearphones and this happened to be all I needed and more. The only problem I see is that the switching itself is done like a macro by opening the soundblaster controller and clicking on the button that actually switches speakers and headphones.

Excellent - fills a major need (keeping me from throwing the keyboard every time I want to switch to headphones). Thanks!

5/5 Would blast sound again

Keeps me sane while using my SBZ card. Has everything that should have been included by Creative.