I recently read a really nice explanation of the reasoning behind always using 24 bit or higher to work with. I believe it was somewhere in this forum but darned if I can find it. Anyone know where it is?
Or I could tell you:
During tracking it doesn't matter much, but as soon as you start using effects it matters a lot. Imagine an effect that from each sample subtracts the previous sample. (out=in - in(n-1) Which would in essence be a high pass filter.) Can you think of a reason that you would want this calculation to be done using as many bits as possible?