ASIO and Soundblaster Z series

This is just a tip to pass on that took me quite a while to figure out due to incomplete info from Creative. If you are using a Sound Blaster Z or Zx (what I actually have), but when you try in Sonar to choose ASIO in edit>preferences>playback and recording under Driver Settings you see no choices for either timing master, and under Devices no drivers show: go into the Sound Blaster Z-Series Control Panel and make sure in the Speakers/Headphones screen you have NOT selected Stereo Direct. I had it set to Direct, and the SB ASIO drivers didn't show up; switching it to Stereo they then showed up fine. Note: the 5.1 Surround or Headphones selections also let the ASIO drivers be recognized. The Stereo Direct selection is documented as an option for direct playback to stereo speaker channel that bypasses the SBX Pro Studio suite of audio enhancements, DTS Connect, Dolby Digital Live, and Equalizer; but you can simply choose not to use any of those. Apparently using Direct also bypasses the ability to use ASIO, and at least in my system it also degrades WDM and WASAPI - only MME works well. So just don't choose Stereo Direct!