Does the Sound Card Affect Rendering Quality? -ACID Product Family

Subject:Does the Sound Card Affect Rendering Quality? Posted by: stuffedspacedog Date:4/29/2003 7:07:31 AM Sorry if this seems a stupid question, but does the quality of the soundcard affect WAV rendering quality in any way, or is the sound card only relevant for monitoring? Also, which audio option gives better quality - Microsoft Sound Mapper or Windows Classic Wave Driver? Thanks!
Subject:RE: Does the Sound Card Affect Rendering Quality? Reply by: ATP Date:4/29/2003 12:27:01 PM the sound card shouldn't determine the quality of rendered waves, as the rendering process is done entirely by the cpu. but note that if you have a rather cheap soundcard it's likely that the quality of the sound will not be very good to begin with, even in the ACID project file. and since garbage in equals garbage out you can be sure that the rendered wave file will sound different if you play it on another computer with a good soundcard. as for your second question, it depends on the sound card you've got. for instance, i have an Audiophile 2496 and the ASIO drivers for this card are located under the Windows Classic Wave driver section. if you have a very cheap low-end soundcard it might not matter which one you choose, but i'm not too sure about that.
Subject:RE: Does the Sound Card Affect Rendering Quality? Reply by: Iacobus Date:4/29/2003 1:58:10 PM Ditto what ATP said. In addition, if you have ACID Pro and multiple audio interfaces (like 2 soundcards, or 1 internal soundcard and an external USB audio device), your best bet is "Windows Classic Wave", as that will allow you to select your different audio interfaces and assign them to busses and such. Use ASIO if you're heavily into MIDI and don't have multiple audio interfaces. HTH, Iacobus
Subject:RE: Does the Sound Card Affect Rendering Quality? Reply by: stuffedspacedog Date:5/4/2003 12:39:03 PM thanks guys... got it

Subject:Does the Sound Card Affect Rendering Quality?

Date:4/29/2003 7:07:31 AM

Sorry if this seems a stupid question, but does the quality of the soundcard affect WAV rendering quality in any way, or is the sound card only relevant for monitoring?

Also, which audio option gives better quality - Microsoft Sound Mapper or Windows Classic Wave Driver? Thanks!

Subject:RE: Does the Sound Card Affect Rendering Quality?

Reply by: ATP

Date:4/29/2003 12:27:01 PM

the sound card shouldn't determine the quality of rendered waves, as the rendering process is done entirely by the cpu.

but note that if you have a rather cheap soundcard it's likely that the quality of the sound will not be very good to begin with, even in the ACID project file. and since garbage in equals garbage out you can be sure that the rendered wave file will sound different if you play it on another computer with a good soundcard.

as for your second question, it depends on the sound card you've got. for instance, i have an Audiophile 2496 and the ASIO drivers for this card are located under the Windows Classic Wave driver section. if you have a very cheap low-end soundcard it might not matter which one you choose, but i'm not too sure about that.

Subject:RE: Does the Sound Card Affect Rendering Quality?

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:4/29/2003 1:58:10 PM

Ditto what ATP said. In addition, if you have ACID Pro and multiple audio interfaces (like 2 soundcards, or 1 internal soundcard and an external USB audio device), your best bet is "Windows Classic Wave", as that will allow you to select your different audio interfaces and assign them to busses and such. Use ASIO if you're heavily into MIDI and don't have multiple audio interfaces.

HTH,
Iacobus

Subject:RE: Does the Sound Card Affect Rendering Quality?

Reply by: stuffedspacedog

Date:5/4/2003 12:39:03 PM

thanks guys... got it