Subject:Sound Cards, XP and Sound Forge

Posted by: havlicek

Date:6/1/2002 9:58:38 PM

Hello everybody. I have an Akai DPS24 digital multitrack recorder. This machine has been designed for future expansion via a host PC that will run Akai software and VST plugins. Besides that, I would like to run Sound Forge on the same PC for mastering/tweaking/file format conversion. I have been considering the Echo "MIA" soundcard to run the sp/dif outs from the recorder to the sp/dif ins on the card. I can also just physically burn CDs on the Akai, and open them in Sound Forge as I have done in the past. The recorder supports 24/96 recording, as does the card. Is there a benefit to running the digital out from the recorder to the PC ins over just physically placing a CD in the PC? Is the MIA card a good choice? How will I get the digital audio from the sp/dif ins at the sound card to Sound Forge? Normally, I just choose the "rip audio from CD" option under tools and bang...it's there. Sorry for the long question.

Subject:RE: Sound Cards, XP and Sound Forge

Reply by: dbarry

Date:6/2/2002 9:54:15 AM

I think it's a good question because it points out an issue with CDs. The common myth is that that CDs are perfect ways to transfer data. That is more or less true as a 'data' disk but not as an 'audio' disk. There are bit level and block level errors allowed on most CDs. A CD reader will ignore or correct up to a certain number of errors before complaining. Interestingly, CD-Rs are often much better than glass master CDs because of the write/read/verify operation that is done while burning. Glass mastered CDs are just stamped, with a hope that all comes out 'good enuf'.

An big gain in both frequency response and dynamic range is achieved if you use the 24/96 settings to transfer to your PC from the DSP24. Of course you must use much larger files to maintain the 24/96. I find using 24/48 to be a good compromise.
As far as getting the sp/difs into SF, there is nothing special to do, you just select SP/DIF (or What-U-Hear) as the source in your audio mixer panel.

A much bigger question is if you have multitracks on the DSP24, then how are you mixing to 2 channels for SF?. I would think what you really want is to xfer all tracks into a multitrack program such as Vegas, and do your track mixing at 24/96 in the PC.

Subject:RE: Sound Cards, XP and Sound Forge

Reply by: havlicek

Date:6/2/2002 3:00:04 PM

dbarry, thanks for the insightful reply. I'm sorry in advance if the questions seem basic, but I come from an analog recording background. The DPS24 is a fully self contained digital mixer, multieffects device (4x stereo processors), and 24/96 digital recorder. All mixdown is done on-board to a "virtual 2 track" (although external mixdown in Vegas is a choice). So I would be sending a stereo mix via sp/dif out on the DPS24 to the sp/dif ins on the soundcard. What I'm not clear on (and again I apologize for the basic nature of the question) is where in SF do I specify the sp/dif ins as the source for the audio data. It seems as though SF is set up to open either an existing file on the resident hard drive or to rip audio from a CD in the CDR/RW drive of that same PC. Is it that the sound card's software will be creating a .wav file from the audio input data it recieves, and that .wav file will later be opened by SF?, or will audio data coming in the sp/dif ins somehow be "read" and recorded directly by SF? Thanks for your patience.
John Havlicek

Subject:RE: Sound Cards, XP and Sound Forge

Reply by: doctorfish

Date:6/2/2002 5:20:09 PM

Sound Forge can indeed record audio quite well.
In the preferences dialog in the options menu you can set the recording
input. Once you install your soundcard, all of it's inputs
should be available for you to choose. After you choose one, just click on the
record button and the recording dialog box will appear. It's fairly straightforward.
Also your soundcard will have some sort of mixer or rounting panel but it should
come with documentation that will help you set it up correctly.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Subject:RE: Sound Cards, XP and Sound Forge

Reply by: dbarry

Date:6/3/2002 9:41:22 PM

Hi John
>>What I'm not clear on (and again I apologize for the basic nature of the question) is where in SF do I specify the sp/dif ins as the source for the audio data

Soundforge does not really choose where the audio is comming from. Just hit the RECORD button in SF and SF will record live audio from whatever source is set by your sound card control panel. If you have selected line in, you get analog, if you select sp/dif... well you get it. The data is not in "wav" format until you save as it a wav file. If you save it as a mp3 file you get mp3. At that point you would be converting to 16/44.1, and all kinds of choices as far as dither and truncation come up.

Again my main point from before was if you burn a cd, then pop it into your computer you loose a lot vs. doing the sp/dif at 24/96.

I really appreciate the need to mention basics. Everytime I try a new field I always wish someone could help me with the 101s.

db