Original Message 1/10                 Date: 17-Jan-05  @  03:44 AM     Edit: 17-Jan-05  |  04:15 AM   -   16 Bit And 32 Bit Recording

Garuna

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Message 2/10                 Date: 17-Jan-05  @  03:46 AM   -   16 Bit And 32 Bit Recording

Garuna

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I am currently working with 16 bit on an older PC using Sonar 4. For electronic music that seems fine. The question: What if I record vocals or guitar in another studio and that is recorded as 32 bit wav's and want to edit them at home? Will the wav's become 16 bit or possibly 24 bit and is there any way to keep the clips in their 32 bit format after editing? Finally, does it matter as to the sound quality?

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Message 3/10                 Date: 17-Jan-05  @  07:26 AM   -   RE: 16 Bit And 32 Bit Recording

D.L.Spang

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if your editor supports 32bit...then...they stay.

most do 24, I thought...

argument would be that it sounds better, yes

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Message 4/10                 Date: 17-Jan-05  @  07:30 AM   -   RE: 16 Bit And 32 Bit Recording

welder

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Well, I'd say you convert the 32bit wav's to your favourite format (16 bit / 24 bit), and edit that (in sonar, am I right?). If sonar can open the file, then it probably does the conversion automatically by discarding the 8 least significant bits, leaving the original intact.

About the 16/24/32 question, I don't think there's audible difference between 24 and 32 bit (even if there IS a huge mathematical difference between a 32 bit range and a 24 bit range). These days I usually work in 24 bit, because I think I can hear the difference between 16 bit and 24 bit, but probably I'm just fooling myself

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Message 5/10                 Date: 17-Jan-05  @  04:03 PM     Edit: 17-Jan-05  |  04:04 PM   -   RE: 16 Bit And 32 Bit Recording

psylichon

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I believe the newer versions of Sonar support mulitple sampling rates per session, so you're smiling. I don't really know of any DAWs that, by default, cut at 32 bit. Processing will be 32-bit float or 48-bit fixed (the latter for Pro-Tools TDM systems), but the files generated will be 24-bit. Don't even know of any 32-bit converters offhand.

24-bit becomes important if you're cutting very dynamic material (i.e. a voice or acoustic instrument) and when you're processing that signal. Some Pro-Tools plugins convert 24-bit audio to 48-bit interpolated resolution because processing sounds better the more bits you have to work with. Same goes for sample rate. All goes back to 24-bit when bounced to disk, though.

But fret not, your vox will be captured at 24-bit, imported into sonar at 24-bit, and processed at 32-bit float, so you will lose no resolution. Have fun!

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Message 6/10                 Date: 17-Jan-05  @  05:30 PM   -   RE: 16 Bit And 32 Bit Recording

D.L.Spang

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yeah...I sounded like I was trippin. all my projects are at 24 bit. Cubase allows you to record internally at 32, but the load increases dramatically.

as for the sound...thats what I meant, too...mathematically it "sounds" better, but...CDs have always sounded "good enough" to me, so...

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Message 7/10                 Date: 18-Jan-05  @  02:12 AM   -   RE: 16 Bit And 32 Bit Recording

Garuna

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Well that's good news, psy. Thanks. I thought I was working in 16 bit. But 24 bit on a Pentium 3 no problem? Wow.

Yeah, the studio guy uses Cubase too, and says he can record 32 bit, but if export is only at 24, well then that settles it.

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Message 8/10                 Date: 18-Jan-05  @  02:37 AM   -   RE: 16 Bit And 32 Bit Recording

psylichon

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24-bit files don't really add that much processing overhead, since, as mentioned, DAWs usually run 32-bit float regardless of input file bit depth. So processing will be unaffected... disk throughput is what is hampered by 50% more data, but most home recordists rarely run into disk throughput problems... more than enough with today's fast EIDE drives.

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Message 9/10                 Date: 18-Jan-05  @  02:38 AM   -   RE: 16 Bit And 32 Bit Recording

psylichon

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now, high sampling ratees (88.2k, 96k)... THOSE put a hurtin' on your CPU. My DSP at work gets cut into quarters, basically, when we work at 96k (which is all our projects nowadays)

That's why we just put two more DSP cards in there... woo hoo!

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Message 10/10                 Date: 18-Jan-05  @  07:31 AM   -   RE: 16 Bit And 32 Bit Recording

Influx

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I stand corrected yet again. thanks psy...and here I was thinking I knew everything!

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