3 Replies Latest reply: Feb 7, 2010 4:25 PM by SteveG(AudioMasters) RSS

    SPDIF cable transfer question

    Ned43 Community Member

      I want to transfer files from Audition to a sampling keyboard which samples in 16 bit.

      My Adobe files are 32 bit, will this be a problem?

      I was thinking use the digital out of my soundcard which is spdif to the digital in of my sampler, since this would preserve the signal better then analog, correct?  Or is their a greater chance of distortion using the digital cable?

      Is the 32bit of Audition to 16bit of the sampler going to be an issue?

        • 1. Re: SPDIF cable transfer question
          SteveG(AudioMasters) Community Member

          It probably wouldn't cause any difficulties - the 32-bit FP signal is internal to Audition and by the time it gets to whatever is transmitting it out of your PC, it's become a 24-bit integer signal anyway - and SPDIF can cope with that. But whether that's the right way to do it is another matter anyway. My inclination would be to convert the file in Audition to the correct sample rate/bit depth in the first place, and send that. This way, you can listen to the conversion result first, and you'll know that what you transfer will be exactly what you sent.

           

          Digital signals don't get distorted in transfers at all unless something goes seriously wrong - they are just a string of 1's and 0's, and if reconstructed correctly are identical to what was sent.

          • 2. Re: SPDIF cable transfer question
            Ned43 Community Member

            Hello, I appreciate the response.  I don't quite understand something though, If I convert it to 16bit 44k I would have to dither it down correct? Then I will want to send it to the sampling keyboard, which is going to play the sample in a sequence which is going to be recorded back into audition at 32 bit...so then that sample will at some point be dithered down again...is this adding unnecassary noise to the sample?

             

            These are samples already on my harddrive as well as ones that were played live into Audition via Guitar. In this case, Should I first record it into the sampler rather then into Audition?  I like to do the adjusting and editing of the sound first in audition?   This will be a workaround, but hmmm

            • 3. Re: SPDIF cable transfer question
              SteveG(AudioMasters) Community Member

              You aren't absolutely obliged to dither a 16-bit file - but almost certainly the original files in the sampler will be. And if you gave me the alternative of file where the reverb tail (or just the noise floor) cuts off with a sort of 'clonking' noise at -96dB or a dithered one that didn't do this, I'd go for the dithered one every time.

               

              And if you are recording guitar samples, the noise floor will be higher anyway, so I wouldn't have thought this would be an issue. Anyway, I'd do the editing in Audition, dither the results and load them into the sampler like that, because the small potential increase in the noise floor will be nowhere in it compared to the other potential problems you'd have with undithered samples.

               

              The main one of these would be that for each sample, the noise floor would be slightly different anyway - so when you re-recorded them you'd have undithered sounds at loads of different levels, and the resultant grunge would be pretty unpleasant. If noise really is an issue with any of the resultant tracks, I'd be more inclined to use Audition NR on the finished result than play about with the individual files. If it's just one group of files, then do a stem mix of them, and treat that separately, then reintroduce the result back into the mix.