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  #1  
Old 08-02-2007, 09:15 AM
syed syed is offline
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Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Default Bitrate question

I have 002R with LE 7.3.1 running on MAC dual 2GHz PowerPC.

My brother uses Sonar. I wanted to get an Audio file from him and import into one of the songs I am working on. I was unable to import, because PT could not read it. He then gave me 3 versions of the same file, one 24-bit, one 16-bit, and the original, which is more than 24-bits. PT was able to import the 24-bit and 16-bit without any problem, but could not read the higher bit file.

My concern:

Is 32-bit or higher file better sounding than a 24-bit file?
How come Sonar is able to create higher bit files than PT? I thought PT is much much better in quality and technology than others out there.
Is Digidesign planning to come up with an updated version of PT LE which could work with higher bit rates? ( I know PT HD works at 48-bit).

Thank you
Syed
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  #2  
Old 08-02-2007, 09:41 AM
stoneinapond stoneinapond is offline
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Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: ny
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Default Re: Bitrate question

Quote:
I have 002R with LE 7.3.1 running on MAC dual 2GHz PowerPC.

My brother uses Sonar. I wanted to get an Audio file from him and import into one of the songs I am working on. I was unable to import, because PT could not read it. He then gave me 3 versions of the same file, one 24-bit, one 16-bit, and the original, which is more than 24-bits. PT was able to import the 24-bit and 16-bit without any problem, but could not read the higher bit file.

My concern:

Is 32-bit or higher file better sounding than a 24-bit file?
How come Sonar is able to create higher bit files than PT? I thought PT is much much better in quality and technology than others out there.
Is Digidesign planning to come up with an updated version of PT LE which could work with higher bit rates? ( I know PT HD works at 48-bit).

Thank you
Syed
It's impossible to know if the 32-bit file sounds better. As far as I know, there are no 32-bit digital to analog converters on the market. Without such a converter, the issue is moot.

Digidesign, along with other native based software manufacturers, utilize 32-bit floating point processing inside their software to increase performance. And there are endless threads on the web as to whether fixed-point or floating-point processing is better or worst. But that's another topic.

Sonar and several other software manufactures do allow exporting files that are in the internal 32-bit state, for what reason, I do not know. There may be some future proof reason. But I would absolutely not concern yourself with this issue. The dynamic range that 24-bit audio provides is well below the noise floor of any pieces of equipment out there.

And Pro Tools HD utilizes 48-bit fixed point processing inside the software, but still outputs at 24-bit.
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  #3  
Old 08-02-2007, 10:11 AM
Slim Shady Slim Shady is offline
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Default Re: Bitrate question

Probably one of those things added just so Sonar can say "and ProTools doesn't do this!" even though you'd never need to do it since nothing can work with those files other than Sonar.
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Old 08-02-2007, 11:11 AM
cabuford cabuford is offline
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Default Re: Bitrate question

Reminds me of things like this

"frequency response 2 - 100,000 Hz" describing a $6,500 Marantz CD player.

Damn, my CD player only does 20Hz - 20KHz!
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  #5  
Old 08-03-2007, 09:35 PM
syed syed is offline
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Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Default Re: Bitrate question

Thank you for the information and clarification.




-Syed
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  #6  
Old 08-04-2007, 02:21 AM
Roey Roey is offline
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Default Re: Bitrate question

Syd,

Both Pro Tools and Sonar use 32-bit float internally. The only difference is that Sonar lets you export files using the 32-bit float format, while Pro Tools only support the 24 bit integer format.

In terms of quality, we can say that 32-bit float has 25 bits (151 dB) of Signal-To-Noise while 24-bit integer has 24 Singal-To-Noise (144 dB). Transferring from Sonar to Pro Tools via 24 bit integer files results in a loss of one bit, the addition of distortion or dither noise. Had Pro Tools supported the 32-bit float file, that bit would be kept and no distortion or dither noise would be added. However, this lost bit, the distortion, and the dither noise are introduced below what we human can perceive. Thus, it is not such a big deal.

It would be nice if future versions of Pro Tools would support 32-bit float files. In that respect it lags behind Sonar, Cubase and Logic, to name a few...

Thanks,
Roey
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