I feel like im clogging this forum with bad q's

[\/\/1|_|_]

What's the difference between bits. like 16bit and 24 bit..etc? what results will recording in different ones yield
thanks

 

[studiomaster]

www.tweakheadz.com

 

[sixways]

Bits in layman's term are how much information is contained in your recording...16 bits has less information than 24bits....you lose some quality the lower you go. 16 bit is what CD format music is. Not a whole helluva lot of people can actually hear the difference in 24 bit vs 16 bit.

Most folks record at 24bit and then dither down to 16 bit for CD's.

6

 

[daav]

The most basic end result of 16 vs 24 bit is in headroom. Kind of saying that the more bits, the, er, words fail me, complete the recording will be at that decible level. In 16 bit you have a narrow band of headroom, so that to get a nice strong clear signal you will be scraping the top of the digital recorders ability to handle the volume, so to speak. Too loud and you will get digital clipping, too quiet and it will be weak. With 24 I find i can get a nicer recording without having to worry about how loud it will be.

Go with 24 bit, no question.

 

[TragikRemix]

well if you use the search function, you will find most of your questions already answered..

 

[Massive Master]

Along with the headroom is the resolution - 16 bit has a dynamic range of 96dB. WAY more than anyone will ever need for the most part. There's plenty of headroom - if you use it - in 16 bit. Not that I wouldn't record in 24-bit anyway due to the additional resolution at normal levels.

As far as the resolution is concerned, 16 bit has around 65,000 possible values. A 24 bit signal has 16.7 million.

 

[TelePaul]

doesnt 24 bit take up more hard drive space?

 

[jonnyc]

doesnt 24 bit take up more hard drive space?

I think that's higher samplerates that whores all the hd space.

 

[irishfolker]

They both do.

 

[Farview]

doesnt 24 bit take up more hard drive space?

Yes, the more information you have, the mose space it takes up.

The sample rate is how many pieces the audio get chopped up into per second. The bit depths is how big the slices are.
44.1k/24bit = 44,100 24bit pieces per second
44.1k/16bit = 44,100 16bit pieces per second

 

[\/\/1|_|_]

got it, cool, thanks

 

[OhSh1rt]

It does take more, but harddrive's cost nothing nowadays. I've got a 200 for something like $50 after rebates. I always record at the highest sample rate possible just to get the lowest latency. 24-bit is definitely the only way to go.


-jeffrey

 

[Farview]

I always record at the highest sample rate possible just to get the lowest latency.-jeffrey

How does a high sample rate get you a lower latency?

 

[OhSh1rt]

How does a high sample rate get you a lower latency?

96KHz gives me 0ms latency with a low buffer unlike 44.1KHz which won't give 0ms at the same buffer.


-jeffrey

 

[Farview]

96KHz gives me 0ms latency with a low buffer unlike 44.1KHz which won't give 0ms at the same buffer.


-jeffrey

What are you using? I've never seen anything get 0ms latency without having a hardware bypass. Are you sure that you are monitoring through the computer?

 

[dementedchord]

$ .02

personally i think the bit depth buessiness is misunderstood..... while it does give more headroom with internal math(larger accumulator) in terms of gathering initial samples i have my doubts..... the front end you use has x amount of voltage swing its capable of and changing the bit depth wont give you more..... so bit depth here is how many discrete slices of that voltage can we create...hence the idea of resolution.... remember every time you ad a single bit you double the available resolution... so 8 bits more data ads 2-8th power or 256 x's the resolution....

 

[OhSh1rt]

What are you using? I've never seen anything get 0ms latency without having a hardware bypass. Are you sure that you are monitoring through the computer?

ProTools with a Delta 66, the drivers claim to have 0ms with my current settings, sounds impossible though

And yes, I drive the monitors through the out on the card which is fed from protools.


-jeffrey

 

[NYMorningstar]

ProTools with a Delta 66, the drivers claim to have 0ms with my current settings, sounds impossible though

And yes, I drive the monitors through the out on the card which is fed from protools.


-jeffrey

You are confused about this. You may be monitoring through your soundcard but you are bypassing the software which is what Farview is correctly calling direct monitoring using a hardware bypass.

Higher sample rates require a larger buffer size and cause more delay. The delay can range from almost unnoticeable to completely unacceptable. You need to understand that.

There are two ways to avoid the latency mess: external monitoring and ASIO 2. ASIO 2 is a software driver specification for sound cards, which allows them the pass the incoming signal directly to the outputs (without entering the recording software). Your Delta must support that if you're getting zero latency with a 96KHz sample rate.

 

[Farview]

personally i think the bit depth buessiness is misunderstood..... while it does give more headroom with internal math(larger accumulator) in terms of gathering initial samples i have my doubts..... the front end you use has x amount of voltage swing its capable of and changing the bit depth wont give you more..... so bit depth here is how many discrete slices of that voltage can we create...hence the idea of resolution.... remember every time you ad a single bit you double the available resolution... so 8 bits more data ads 2-8th power or 256 x's the resolution....

More bit depth gives you more headroom only because you can record at lower volumes while still having more resolution than the final product. At 24 bit, your recording levels can peak at -48dbfs and still have more resolution than the CD the music will eventually end up on.

 

[RAK]

A few numbers:

Dynamic Range
16 bit = 90 dB
24 bit = 138 dB

Hard Disk Space:
1 Minute of Stereo 44.1kHz/16 Bit = roughly 10 MB
1 Minute of Stereo 44.1kHz/24 Bit = roughly 16 MB

Transfer Rate:
Stereo 44.1kHz/16 Bit = 1.41 Mbps
Stereo 44.1kHz/24 Bit = 2.12 Mbps

I'm assuming you understand that Bit Depth equates to amplitude. Take a sine wave for example, the amplitude is measured on the vertical access (the higher the wave, the more amplitude (volume) it has). In the A/D process, converting amplitude to bit depth is known as quantization. This process involves taking points on the wave to recreate the analog signal into a digital signal (which can only have two states, of course).

So the point is, the higher the bit depth, the more points along the wave you take, the more accurate the represenation in the digital world.

Like I said, it's a lot easier to explain with a drawing. I hope this helped.