Cubase studio 4, stuck at 16 bits?

[The Flame]

Hey guys, I wanted to know if I could record at 24 bits and change the option on the program from 16 to 24. I am using two firepods, which support recording at 24 bits.

I know the program has 32 floating bit, w/e that means, I heard it makes a difference in sound. Plus, I need the headroom of the 24 bits to keep the bone crushing metal going! jk. In LE, this could easily be changed in preferences.

If anyone knows how I can change this, or knows if this is impossible, let me know. Thanks in advance,
Flame

[legionserial]

Project>Project setup?

I use SX3, so it might not be the same.

[The Flame]

Thanks man i'll give it a try!

[The Flame]

Thats it man, now hers another question. Because i am using two firepods the max i can get out of my hardware is 24 bit 48k. Will this floating 32 bit have any affect on what I am doing in terms of sound quality?

[Carter]

The answer to your question is no! I have a Firestudio and a Digimax FS and I have tried the 32 bit float and the 24 bit and I could not tell a difference.

[The Flame]

Right now i am trying a different sample rate, 48 instead of 44.1, who knows if there will be a difference. I seem to get a little more headroom with 32 bit, realizing this after first experimenting with it, and I heard it does make a difference in sound quality. I also went straight from 16 to 32 to give it a try, so thats a bit of a jump. From 24 to 32, dont know if it is noticable. When i used the firepod with le, the sound was not as good as it is now, and I pretty much just upgraded the program. Maybe the 32 bit does have a slight diff. I guess its all about experimenting, but I agree, its hard and sometimes impossible to tell suble differences in the audio world.

[legionserial]

Originally Posted by The Flame

Right now i am trying a different sample rate, 48 instead of 44.1, who knows if there will be a difference. I seem to get a little more headroom with 32 bit, realizing this after first experimenting with it, and I heard it does make a difference in sound quality. I also went straight from 16 to 32 to give it a try, so thats a bit of a jump. From 24 to 32, dont know if it is noticable. When i used the firepod with le, the sound was not as good as it is now, and I pretty much just upgraded the program. Maybe the 32 bit does have a slight diff. I guess its all about experimenting, but I agree, its hard and sometimes impossible to tell suble differences in the audio world.

I hear a lot of people tend to go for 48 over 44.1. I kind of know why but fear if I was to explain it I'd get it all wrong. Basically it's to do with the frequency range I think. There have ben some very indepth threads here about the sample rate issue, which have been participated in by some people who really know their stuff. I would recomend doing a quick search.

As for the bit depth. There have been threads about that too. A lot of it will depend on what your system can handle. some beleive that you are doing nothing but wasting processing power on anything aove 16bit. some swear they can hear the quality in difference between 16 and 24. Other swear that that is bullshit. I use 24 because...well I just do. I can't speak for 32bit, but it's probably the same deal.

[TimOBrien]

The ONLY reason to go 48k is if you work with video (all audio for video is 48k) or hardware that is native 48k (Soundblaster cards or some ADATs.)

Otherwise you'll have to convert down to 44.1 eventually and run the risk of errors/artifacts in the process.

Lock it down to 24bit/44.1khz and forgetaboutit...

[xstatic]

Personally, I feel that recording at 44.1khz and leaving there ends up better than recording at 48khz and then converting to 44.1khz later.

[rockinrocker]

some swear they can hear the quality in difference between 16 and 24. Other swear that that is bullshit. I use 24 because...well I just do. I can't speak for 32bit, but it's probably the same deal.

i think the 16 vs. 24 thing has to do with lowering the noise floor and make it easier to record transients w/ out distortion

[altitude909]

Originally Posted by rockinrocker

i think the 16 vs. 24 thing has to do with lowering the noise floor and make it easier to record transients w/ out distortion

Um, no. The noise floor is set by the circuit and A to D's. 24 bits gives you more headroom. And anyone who cannot hear a difference between 16 and 24 bit should have their hearing examined