Instruction Manual

869
Improving Performance with Digital Audio
Improving Audio Performance
16-bits, try selecting the highest value possible in the Audio Driver Bit
Depth setting, and work downward from there if you have to.
(If your sound card’s maximum bit-depth is 20-bits and you specify an
Audio Driver Bit Depth of 24 as advised above, audio data will still be
sampled by your sound card in 20-bit samples, but each sample will
automatically be padded with extra 0’s to produce a 24-bit sample,
which will be stored at full 24-bit resolution in your project file.
• Some 24-bit cards require you to configure the order in which data is
streamed:
If necessary, open the Audio Options dialog, click on the Advanced tab.
In the Stream > 16-bit data as option, select one of the following:
•3 bytes
• 4 bytes, right justified
• 4 bytes, left justified
• 32-bit PCM, right justified
• 32-bit PCM, left justfied
These settings affect how 24-bit audio samples are transferred from the
sound card into the SONAR software, and affect the efficiency of the
transfer. You’ll get the best performance from this card when working at
24-bits if you use the correct setting for your sound card. If you’re not
sure whether your particular sound card requires these settings, consult
the documentation that came with your sound card. You should also
check the web page http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Docs/sound
cardTips.html to see if any information is available there regarding
configuration of your particular sound card in Cakewalk. When in doubt,
leave these settings disabled.
(These settings are only relevant when working with sound cards at >16
bits-per-sample. You can ignore them when operating at normal 16-bit
depth.)
• Using 24-bit depth and/or high sampling rate can be costly:
While using 24-bit audio can improve the sound quality of your
recordings, there are some important drawbacks to keep in mind.
Projects stored at 24-bit depth will require 50% more disk space than
those stored at 16-bits; if you have a large number of audio tracks (and
keep in mind that stereo tracks require twice as much data as mono
tracks!), your audio project file can grow very large and use up lots of
disk space. Also note that recording, playing, and processing 24-bit