Questions for an ACID Expert! -ACID Product Family

Subject:Questions for an ACID Expert! Posted by: djnicknice Date:5/24/2003 8:33:23 AM I am fairly new to using ACID and have a few questions. 1. I seem to notice some loss in sound quality when beat-mapping a track. Is this normal? The sound file is too large to be a loop, but I need it to stay in sync with my project. 2. If you are not using ACID to record and bringing in sound files recorded in Sound Forge, does the sample rate and bitrate in the project properties matter or is this just for playback? If I render my project to CD, will the CD be burnt using the original sample and bitrates of the audio or the sample and bitrate set in the project properties? If it uses the project properties, does it do all the sample and bit rate conversion for you? If so, what is the quality of the conversion? 3. If your project is going to ultimately end up at 16 bit / 44k to burn to CD, what would be the benefit (if any) of recording your original wav files at a higher rate (say 24 bit / 48k) when they will just get converted down in the end? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Subject:RE: Questions for an ACID Expert! Reply by: Iacobus Date:5/24/2003 1:26:16 PM 1. Since Beatmapped tracks follow the same principle as Loop type tracks, there's always the possibility of artifacting going on due to extreme tempo changes depending on the source material. If you're concerned about this, you can change the Beatmapped track to a One-shot track, which will not be altered by ACID in any way. 2. Depends. Of course, recording at 24-bit will yield that bit-depth's perks. (Better noise floor, etc.) Using effects processing at 24-bit will also yield better results, but if done in real time such as in ACID, it could hamper performance due to the calculatiing going on. You can, of course, render the effects with the track to save processing cycles once you get the track with effects the way you want it. If you burn straight to CD, ACID will downsample the project to 16-bit/44.1 kHz if it's not already, as that's the standard for CD audio. You might be better off setting the project to 16-bit/44.1 kHz before burning, because ACID will not only have to burn the project to CD (an already taxing task) but also will have to downsample on the fly. Today's systems are probably more up to this task, but lesser systems might choke. 3. A 24-bit recording dithered down to 16-bit always sounds better than a recording that was done at 16-bit straight through, acoustic recordings especially. Remember that bit-depth conversion should be done properly in an editor such as Sound Forge. Recording at a certain sample rate is not as important as bit-depth, but is beneficial as a higher sample rate will more closely represent the original sound. Of course, there's that whole Nyquist Frequency thing, which means that if a recording is done at 44.1 kHz, frequencies are accurately recorded up to about 20 kHz, the full range of human hearing. Of course, along with the sample rate comes controversy. There are those who say to use higher than 44.1 kHz, such as 88.2 or 96 kHz, and there are those who say stick with 44.1 kHz. As always, you be the judge as to what sounds best to you. HTH, Iacobus
Subject:RE: Questions for an ACID Expert! Reply by: djnicknice Date:5/24/2003 3:03:19 PM Thanks for the input bro! Much appreciated... Nick
Subject:RE: Questions for an ACID Expert! Reply by: pwppch Date:5/24/2003 9:25:16 PM One additional comment: If all of your material is at 44.1/16, and you set your project to work at 48 kHz, you will take a CPU hit because ACID must resample on the fly in some cases. In the end, the sample rate of any loops you use should determine your project setting. Increasing the bit depth on output is not that big of a deal because ACID does all of its processing internally in 32 bit floating point. The only point that the internal bit depth is converted is when ACID must send the audio to the hardware or to a disk file. Note also that the sample rate of your rendering settings determines the sample rate used during rendering, not the sample rate you select for normal project settings. Peter

Subject:Questions for an ACID Expert!

Posted by: djnicknice

Date:5/24/2003 8:33:23 AM

I am fairly new to using ACID and have a few questions.

1. I seem to notice some loss in sound quality when beat-mapping a track. Is this normal? The sound file is too large to be a loop, but I need it to stay in sync with my project.

2. If you are not using ACID to record and bringing in sound files recorded in Sound Forge, does the sample rate and bitrate in the project properties matter or is this just for playback? If I render my project to CD, will the CD be burnt using the original sample and bitrates of the audio or the sample and bitrate set in the project properties? If it uses the project properties, does it do all the sample and bit rate conversion for you? If so, what is the quality of the conversion?

3. If your project is going to ultimately end up at 16 bit / 44k to burn to CD, what would be the benefit (if any) of recording your original wav files at a higher rate (say 24 bit / 48k) when they will just get converted down in the end?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Subject:RE: Questions for an ACID Expert!

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:5/24/2003 1:26:16 PM

1. Since Beatmapped tracks follow the same principle as Loop type tracks, there's always the possibility of artifacting going on due to extreme tempo changes depending on the source material.

If you're concerned about this, you can change the Beatmapped track to a One-shot track, which will not be altered by ACID in any way.

2. Depends. Of course, recording at 24-bit will yield that bit-depth's perks. (Better noise floor, etc.) Using effects processing at 24-bit will also yield better results, but if done in real time such as in ACID, it could hamper performance due to the calculatiing going on. You can, of course, render the effects with the track to save processing cycles once you get the track with effects the way you want it.

If you burn straight to CD, ACID will downsample the project to 16-bit/44.1 kHz if it's not already, as that's the standard for CD audio. You might be better off setting the project to 16-bit/44.1 kHz before burning, because ACID will not only have to burn the project to CD (an already taxing task) but also will have to downsample on the fly.

Today's systems are probably more up to this task, but lesser systems might choke.

3. A 24-bit recording dithered down to 16-bit always sounds better than a recording that was done at 16-bit straight through, acoustic recordings especially. Remember that bit-depth conversion should be done properly in an editor such as Sound Forge.

Recording at a certain sample rate is not as important as bit-depth, but is beneficial as a higher sample rate will more closely represent the original sound. Of course, there's that whole Nyquist Frequency thing, which means that if a recording is done at 44.1 kHz, frequencies are accurately recorded up to about 20 kHz, the full range of human hearing.

Of course, along with the sample rate comes controversy. There are those who say to use higher than 44.1 kHz, such as 88.2 or 96 kHz, and there are those who say stick with 44.1 kHz. As always, you be the judge as to what sounds best to you.

HTH,
Iacobus

Subject:RE: Questions for an ACID Expert!

Reply by: djnicknice

Date:5/24/2003 3:03:19 PM

Thanks for the input bro! Much appreciated...

Nick

Subject:RE: Questions for an ACID Expert!

Reply by: pwppch

Date:5/24/2003 9:25:16 PM

One additional comment:

If all of your material is at 44.1/16, and you set your project to work at 48 kHz, you will take a CPU hit because ACID must resample on the fly in some cases.

In the end, the sample rate of any loops you use should determine your project setting. Increasing the bit depth on output is not that big of a deal because ACID does all of its processing internally in 32 bit floating point. The only point that the internal bit depth is converted is when ACID must send the audio to the hardware or to a disk file.

Note also that the sample rate of your rendering settings determines the sample rate used during rendering, not the sample rate you select for normal project settings.

Peter