16 bit drums, 24 bit audio: Problem?

[natedizzy]

I decided to just record my drum machine's individual drum dounds onto my harddrive as samples with Sound Forge, so I can load them into Fruity Loops rather than use the actual drum machine. My Sound Forge manual says I should record the samples at 44.1/16-bit, which makes sense because the drum machine is 16-bit as well. However, when I drop the drum loops in to a sequencer (cakewalk), will I still be fine recording 24 bit audio on top of the 16-bit drum beats? Will a conversion be necessary? Should I sample the drum machine at 24-bits? Will I be encountering some problems down the way? Also, how do I "drop" beats from Fruity Loops to Cakewalk? Any advice on that front? Thanks,
Nate

 

[Slackmaster2K]

Sorta depends on the software really. For instance, n-Track can work with files of various bit depths, as long as all the sample rates are consistant. However, you can convert to 24bit in your wave editor, which isn't too big of a problem.

Whether you record your samples at 24 or 16 depends on how they sound better in the long run. Do some listening tests (full mix).

Personally I record samples at 24bit simply because I might use them in a 24bit application, and you can't recreate those extra bits....and converting from 24 to 16 in my limited experience hasn't posed any sound problems.

Slackmaster 2000

 

[Alchemist3k]

True mpost programs now are able to deal with multiple Bit depths and even sample rates. It really shouldn't be an issue. Check your software's website.

 

[TimOBrien]

I did the same thing.... recorded drum machine track at 16bit and then upgraded soundcard so I just converted it in Soundforge to 24bit and brought it into N-Track. Sounds great.

nate, from Fruity you just export the drumtrack as a wav file and then import it to your sequencer of choice.

 

[dobro]

Nate, I've been doing exactly that, using Fruity and Cool Edit. No problems.