loss of quality from one computer to the other?

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tonypham

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i've noticed a substantial increase in quality recording on one computer from the other (i believe because of the difference in graphics cards). if i recorded on one computer though and edited on the other would i see a loss in audio quality?
 
All the rest of the equipment is the same? Same mics, room, preamps, converters, monitors everything?
Same settings as far as the settings in your recording program, same bit depth and sample rate?
Cause I've never heard of that and tend not to believe it.
Unless the computer that sounds worse was being pushed well beyond it's comfortable limits by recording whatever you were recording (and so introducing pops, clicks and/or whatever else you get when you try and record onto a computer that can't handle it), I can't see why this would be.
 
The "audio" that the computer manipulates is data (ones and zeroes) the computer itself shouldn't affect the qulity of the data.

However if you are mixing/editing on a computer using poorer qulaity D/A conversion, poorer quality monitoring in a room with poorer room accoustics then you may end up with a product that could be less good than it could have been although "Quality" as a term related to audio is pretty subjective. But that is based on the peripherals and the effect they will have on the editing/mixing decisions you make, not on the way the computer handles the data which would be identical in either machine
 
Wait, you think you see a difference in the quality of the audio because of a difference in graphics cards. Wha!?
 
sorry i meant audio card.

and the computer i prefer to edit with is windows versus my linux laptop (which for some reason has better sounding recordings even though i use the same toneport gx and mic)
 
so even a difference in audio cards wouldn't affect recording quality?
 
tonypham said:
so even a difference in audio cards wouldn't affect recording quality?
Click to expand...

This will effect the quality of the conversion from analog to digital for recording and from digital to analog for moitoring.
So yes the sound card could impact the quality of a recording however as far as your original question of taking already recorded data and mixing/editing on a sepaarate machine, then aside from the possible differences in D/A conversion and the impact on the played back sound the soundcard doesn't make a difference to the manipulaton of the data, only the conversion A/D and D/A
 
Your audio card should be your interface.
That toneport should be the only thing actually affecting the sound of the audio.
Now the Linux vs. Windows drivers might have something to do with it, if the drivers for one aren't particularly good.
But no, it shouldn't affect your quality.

Ultimately though, it's you who has to decide whether doing it that way ends up affecting the quality of the final mixes you make in a positive way. Only you can do that.
 
Just a thought... are you listening through the same monitoring/playback chain on both computers?
 
sorry. i'm not sure what you mean by monitoring/playback chain. i have my headphones plugged into my laptop.
 
Your interface ought to have a headphone out or some sort of output.
Use that.
When you have an external interface you shouldn't need to use your computer's stock soundcard at all.
Then again, I don't know your interface, so I might be wrong about it's capabilities.
 
Are you using the same headphones on both computers? Are you plugging your headphones into the Toneport or the computer's headphone jack?

Try to be a little more specific when giving descriptions and we can help you better.
 
The Cancers said:
Your audio card should be your interface.
That toneport should be the only thing actually affecting the sound of the audio.
Now the Linux vs. Windows drivers might have something to do with it, if the drivers for one aren't particularly good.
But no, it shouldn't affect your quality.
.
Click to expand...

Huh?

If the audio card, aka A/D interface, is doing the conversion of audio to data, then it's very much a variable in sound quality. Otherwise, why are folks spending thousands on Apogee, Aurora and Cranesong equipment? the A/D conversion process involves analog signal processing technology, whose design and quality have an enormous influence on sound quality.
 
Todzilla said:
Huh?

If the audio card, aka A/D interface, is doing the conversion of audio to data, then it's very much a variable in sound quality. Otherwise, why are folks spending thousands on Apogee, Aurora and Cranesong equipment? the A/D conversion process involves analog signal processing technology, whose design and quality have an enormous influence on sound quality.
Click to expand...

There is a possibility that people are talking at cross-purposes here.

The soundcards that come with the laptop or PC are variable in quality, and most are not all that good for recording purposes. I could readily imagine a difference in quality were one to use these.

The Toneport is also a soundcard, but one that has been designed for recording purposes, and should deliver reasonable quality irrespective of the computer to which it is connected (subject to that computer being up to the task . . . and most are, these days).

If you are recording through the Toneport and likewise, monitoring through it, you should not experience noticeable quality differences. However, if you record through the Toneport, then monitor and listen through the on-board soundcard, then you might notice a difference.

The moral of the story is (as someone has already said), monitor and playback through the Toneport.
 
Todzilla said:
Huh?

If the audio card, aka A/D interface, is doing the conversion of audio to data, then it's very much a variable in sound quality. Otherwise, why are folks spending thousands on Apogee, Aurora and Cranesong equipment? the A/D conversion process involves analog signal processing technology, whose design and quality have an enormous influence on sound quality.
Click to expand...
My wording was wonky. I should have had "audio card" in quotes because that was his phrase. My implication being that the toneport should be the only thing affecting the sound (not the onboard soundcard).
And I said and meant that the drivers might affect the quality because if the toneport's drivers for one OS are significantly better than for the other, I could see it affecting the quality of the recorded sound and/or playback.
I'm perfectly willing to be wrong about that but, as Gecko said, you shouldn't experience noticeable differences if you're going in and out through the toneport. I'm just trying to figure out why, if he is going in and out through the toneport, he is experiencing noticeable differences.
 
My guess is that the OP is recording through the Toneport and monitoring with the onboard soundcard. If this is the case, it's also possible the audio settings for each laptop are different.
 
"if you record through the Toneport, then monitor and listen through the on-board soundcard, then you might notice a difference."

indeed i am monitoring through the sound card, so that my account for the difference in audio quality.

but on a related question, i notice a substantial drop in audio quality between listening to the tone port and listening through the laptop. is that just an inevitable result during analog to digital conversion?
 
This kind of thing is hard to discuss or diagnose because its not like you can post audio samples. So just to clear things up for all of us and make it easier to help you, please could you explicitly state exactly what setup you are using for each computer, and how the difference in quality manifests itself.

There will be sound difference between the soundcards, but if you're just playing back a music file it shouldn't be an extreme night-and-day difference (cheap onboard soundcards nowadays are still fairly adequate for most playback tasks, and not horrendous in quality)... at the most you would be expecting subtle, maybe barely perceivable (depending on the quality of the listening setup and environment, etc) differences. Some people might disagree with me on this, but I am happy to admit that modern onboard audio is (however rubbish for recording) fine for most normal playback. But are you hearing the difference when playing back music? Or are you recording through them? Playing back your mixes through them? What? I still can't deduce this from your posts so far.
 
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