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A/D converters (audiosport & Omni Studio)?

Discussion in 'Recording Gear and Equipment [BG]' started by top028, Sep 27, 2001.

  1. Sep 27, 2001 #1
    top028

    top028

    Dec 14, 1999
    Lancaster, PA
    I was wondering if any one have used the audiosport Quattro. This thing seems excelent cheep way to get into home recording. I wouldnt have to get any thing other than a USB card for my puter. I am wondering how it sounds though. I didnt really look for sampling speed...perhaps I should. I can pick one up for 300$$

    Also wondering about the OMNI STUDIO by M audio. this thing has bunches of inputs, and comes with a very respectable Sound card that it plugs into. THe sampling is 24bit at 96khz. in my opinion that is kinda slow, but I dont know...whats a CD's clock speed? I could pick this up for 600$$

    I could run my 20 track 4 bus analog mixer into either one, but for the money anyone know wich is better. THey both seem to work with acid pro, from what they say (my only worthwhile audio software).
     
  2. Sep 27, 2001 #2
    Oysterman

    Oysterman

    Mar 30, 2000
    Sweden
    I think you're confusing the matters here. 24 bit / 96 kHz isn't "slow", it has nothing to do with speed whatsoever! It stands for the highest resolution you can record and play audio in. Like having more pixels in a bitmap.

    If you process digital audio, with effects or whatever, the sound will degrade, dither, distort, call it what you will. This is fortunately not really noticeable with 24-bit files, which is why you should record in 24 bits if you can. I can honestly not hear any difference between a 44.1 kHz processed 24-bit file and a 96 kHz one, though - but it sure eats more disk space.

    There's nothing like "clock speed" with CD's, but CD audio's resolution is 16 bit at 44.1 kHz.

    USB interfaces are rather infamous for causing various performance and compatibility issues when used, so I would definitely look at the Omni package. Any multitrack software should work with it (well, maybe with the exception of ProTools).

    I recommend that you visit www.homerecording.com/bbs and ask away in the forums there, where you're more likely to get good responses!
     
  3. Sep 27, 2001 #3
    JMX

    JMX Vorsprung durch Technik

    Sep 4, 2000
    Cologne, Germany
    The sampling rate determines the highest frequency that a system can record.

    There's a law (forgot the name) that states that this frequency is around half the frequency of the sampling rate.

    A CD is recorded with 44,1 kHz, that means that the recording can get frequencies up to 22 kHz.
    With 96kHz sampling rate you can record frequencies up to 48kHz.

    More important is the bitrate.
    Think of it as the 'resolution' of your recording.
    16 bit means that the resolution is 65,536 possible volume levels.
    With 24 bit it's 16,777,216 possible levels!

    You can see a similar thing when you look at a 16 bit picture on your computer and compare the colors to a 24 bit picture.

    This becomes important when you apply digital audio effects, which are basically calculations with data - and the higher the resolution the less noise and artefacts will occur.
    So this is an advantage even if you convert it back to 16 bit afterwards for a cd.

    More info here:

    http://www.24bitfaq.org/#Q0_1_1


    BTW: I have a Midiman Audiophile 2496 - and I LOVE it!!!
     
  4. Sep 28, 2001 #4
    top028

    top028

    Dec 14, 1999
    Lancaster, PA
    I am an electronics major. The sampling rate is how many times a second (kHz means 1000 times a second) the wave of the analog signal gets a "picture taken"...so the higher the sampling rate is the closer the recorded digital "picture" is to the original analog signal. its hard to describe the system with out drawings. That would explain the highest frequency possible. Thanks for the info.
     
  5. Sep 28, 2001 #5
    Oysterman

    Oysterman

    Mar 30, 2000
    Sweden
    Ah, you were simply too "techy" for me to understand. I've never seen the terms you used in that context before. Sorry if I was being an ass.

    ...

    What is an "electronics major" anyway?