is a 24bit card only better for recording live

[jugalo180]

i'm sorry for the double post but i sort of asked this question earlier but did not recieve any responses. are the digital converters inside of 16bit and 24bit cards distinguishable only when recording through a live source like midi, mic, or any signal cable. if the music was ripped off of a cd with samples and then mixed down off of two different systems one with 16 and the other with 24bit, would there be a significant difference?

 

[Slackmaster2K]

First of all, MIDI has no sound.

Secondly, ripping music off a CD doesn't use the converters on your soundcard.

Thirdly, CD audio is 16bit. Simply increasing the bit depth to 24 bit will do absolutely nothing to the sound, and your software is already going to convert to 32bit internally so you can leave these original ripped tracks at 16bit.

Fourthly, "mixing down" doesn't use your soundcard's converters either.

Fifthly, if you're just doing DJ work like cutting up mixes and adding samples etc etc, then better converters probably aren't going to be all that beneficial. However, they will SOUND better on playback and might allow you to make better mixing decisions. Since any bump up to a "prosumer" soundcard is going to mean that you're bumping up to 24 bit almost by default, the issue then becomes one of "what's the best sounding soundcard for X dollars."

Sixthly, Good luck!

Slackmaster 2000

 

[jugalo180]

okay

so does this all mean that a track made from the sounds provided by a sample cd should sound the same if mixed and (recorded) to cd audio from either 16 or 24 bit sound card?

 

[Slackmaster2K]

Ok, you rip a bunch of stuff from a sample CD, and you use only these samples in your project...

There would be no benefit to having a 24bit soundcard at this point because a) you haven't used a soundcard yet and b) increasing the bit depth of your samples does not add sound that wasn't there to begin with.

Your mixing software will be working at 32bit internally, and most software will let you save 32bit files if you need to go back and forth between applications and want to preserve fidelity.

I think what's tripping you up is that yes, whenever you start apply effects to a sound or mixing sounds, higher bit depth becomes important. But at that stage it's all still in software, and has nothing to do with the converters in your soundcard.

A card with better quality converters in this case would only be beneficial for monitoring...that is, you'll literally hear a more accurate representation of what you're doing. This is definately important....but the software still works the same no matter what your soundcard is.

Slackmaster 2000

 

[jugalo180]

thanx slackmaster

that the type of answer i have been fishing for. i always wondered why people stated that the sounds from let's say a korg triton will sound better than anything fruity loops could make. my questio would be if i had a sample disk from a korg triton what would be the difference? by your clearing things up i now see the light. but would i have proved them to be wrong if i would have stated that the sounds were saved in 24bit and sent to me via ftp. and then used in fruityloops. i know that is hypothetical situation, but if fruityloops had access to pure 24bit sound wouldn't it be just as good as the triton? some may say this belongs in some sort of software forum, but it's still dealing with sound card bit rate. thanks again slackmaster for your excellent answer.

 

[Teacher]

it'll sound just like the triton the thing is u won't have access to the other function the triton has like envelope control, appregiator etc.

 

[Slackmaster2K]

Fruity has envelope control and an arpeggiator!

I think fruity sounds fine. Yes, it would be nice if it supported 24bit samples, but such is life. At least you can now save 32bit files for importing into other programs.

Slackmaster 2000

 

[TexRoadkill]

Re: thanx slackmaster

that the type of answer i have been fishing for. i always wondered why people stated that the sounds from let's say a korg triton will sound better than anything fruity loops could make. my questio would be if i had a sample disk from a korg triton what would be the difference? by your clearing things up i now see the light. but would i have proved them to be wrong if i would have stated that the sounds were saved in 24bit and sent to me via ftp. and then used in fruityloops. i know that is hypothetical situation, but if fruityloops had access to pure 24bit sound wouldn't it be just as good as the triton? some may say this belongs in some sort of software forum, but it's still dealing with sound card bit rate. thanks again slackmaster for your excellent answer.

You are talking about 2 different things. Bit depth and sampling rates are important but they don't guarantee that something will sound good. When comparing soft/hard synths there are also a whole bunch of other issues like latency, polyphony, arpeggiators, special controllers and edit functions, etc.

On paper, softsynths will beat any hardware synth if you are just looking at memory and processor specs but in the real world there is no beating the real thing when it comes to actual sound and performance.

 

[jugalo180]

damn tex

now i have to go back to the drawing board and study those terms you just shot @ me thanks for keeping me on my toes. everyone was a big help to me.