 |
 |
Mike Hirst writes: >To be blunt, >a good soundcard can be let down by poor software. Bingo! Even very expensive and "industry standard" software may not be handling all the bits properly depending on what process within the software is being used. One doesn't know who did all the coding, how careful he/she was handling the data (double-precision? dither rounding? truncation?) or which subroutines are so badly written that they undo all the good work and careful data handling that some other fine programmer took great care to maintain. It's especially dangerous to capture through the OS's "mixing console." Even if you have all other sources muted, there will likely be noise, dithering, level changes or outright truncation occurring with your input. As an example, a client once sent me the "digitized" file of a precious analogue source which he would not let out of his hands for me or anyone else to transfer for him. He just wanted me to clean up the resulting transfer for archive and potential release. I offered advice on good, clean cards, A-D converters, etc. and my advice was used to put together what should have been a nice transfer. Unfortunately, the capture was done using the "mixing console" of the OS and the first file I was sent had lots of noise, digital hash, peak distortion and occasional "system sounds" mixed in with it. I tried to talk the client through the process of eliminating the trouble and we made some progress, but the final file still had lots of problems that I know from experience were not caused by the hardware but were added by the software used to capture the file. Definitely do NOT take anything for granted in this realm. Run your own listening tests. Compare the analogue source with your digital capture. If you hear a significant (noticeable?) difference, try another input signal path to see if it makes a an improvement. Try other software! You may be very surprised by what you find. Just be sure to keep your monitoring setup constant so that you don't introduce additional variables into your informal testing. Good luck and tell us what you discover. -- Charles Lawson <[log in to unmask]> Professional Audio for CD, DVD, Broadcast & Internet