Waves L1 and CeP

[secretorchard]

Hi. I record using CEP 1.2 in 32-bit (float) mode. I use Waves L1 to dither to 16 bit. Now, once I apply the dithering, I notice in CEP that it is still a 32-bit file. As such, I cannot burn the file for regular CD listening. So, do I convert the sample type to 16 bit in CEP with dithering "enabled" or "disabled?" It would seem strange to dither it in L1 and then dither it again in CEP, but I am afraid of the truncation that CEP will do if I disable dithering. Thanks for your help.

secretorchard

[JuSumPilgrim]

Waves L1 doesnt convert the bitrate, it just adds dither. These are 2 separate processes which can be done simultaneously or separately. When you finish processing with the L1, convert to 16 bit with CEP with the dither DISABLED. Otherwise you will be needlessly dithering twice and screwing up the very quality dither Waves adds.
I was also confused by this when I started using the L1 so very long ago.

[dobro]

Huh? When you convert from 24 to 16-bit with CE, it automatically dithers, doesn't it?

And if you can disable CE when converting down, doesn't that defeat the purpose of dithering? I mean, isn't dithering a way of converting in order to avoid nasties in the sound?

[JuSumPilgrim]

Theres a little box in the "convert sample rate" menu that says dither, if its not checked it wont dither, itll just convert the sample rate. Waves dither is better than CEPs although CEPs is quite good and more than adequate.
There is also an option under options-->settings-->data to "dither transform results" which I believe is checked as the default setting. I leave this unchecked as adding dither every time you effect something adds a considerable amount of noise that isnt necessary and you may start to lose some definition.

[secretorchard]

Jusumpilgrim,

Thank you very much for clearing that up. I guess my follow up question is then: when CEP truncates those bits when I do the conversion from 32 to 16 bit (after I have used L1 to dither), what exactly is CEP truncating, sound-wise? In other words, if L1 is really dithering to 16 bit, what is left for CEP to truncate?

[VotaIdiota]

okay, I'm well aware that dithering and converting to 16-bit are two different things....
however, since L1 will only add dither, and CEP will take it down to 16-bit... what should I have the "quantize" control in L1 set to? 24 or 16?

[dobro]

"There is also an option under options-->settings-->data to "dither transform results" which I believe is checked as the default setting. I leave this unchecked as adding dither every time you effect something adds a considerable amount of noise that isnt necessary and you may start to lose some definition."

Damn. I assume you know what you're talking about. But why oes it say in brackets: "increases dynamic range". That sounds like good news, right?

Shall I check this out with Syntrillium, or should I just here and now award you the coveted Dobro Gold Award for the most useful tip in this forum I've seen for a while?