Reference Guide

848
Improving Audio Performance
System Configuration
To Rewrite Audio Files at Different Bit Depths
1. Use the Tools > Change Audio Format command to open the Change Audio Format dialog.
2. Choose a new bit depth in the New Bit Depth field.
3. If you’re changing to 16 bits, you can check or uncheck the Apply Dither check box. Dithering
means to add a certain audio signal to 16 bit audio to make it sound more like it did as a higher-bit
signal.
4. Click OK.
SONAR rewrites the audio tracks in your project at the new bit depth.
Bit Depths for Recording
You can choose the bit depth of newly-recorded files in SONAR, and you can change this value at
any time. The Status Bar shows the project sampling rate and the current record bit depth setting.
The choices for the recording bit depth setting are 16, 24, 32, and 64. At present, no devices can
record at 32-bit or 64-bit resolution, so you don’t need to choose these options yet. 24-bit files give
greater dynamic range than 16-bit files, so 24 is a good choice for music that gets very soft, as well
as loud. 16-bit recording is efficient for many recording projects, especially louder projects.
To Choose a Recording Bit Depth
1. Use the Options > Global command to open the Global Options dialog.
2. On the Audio Data tab, under File Bit Depths, change the Record Bit Depth field to the desired
number.
3. Click OK.
Bit Depths for Importing Audio
You can choose the bit depth of imported files in SONAR, and you can also import files at their
current bit depth. You can import files at bit depths as high as 64. Because SONAR can play projects
that contain files of different bit depths, you don’t have to convert 16-bit files to 24 bits to play them
with other 24-bit files, saving significant storage space.
See “Bit Depths, and Float Resolution” on page 846 for more information about 64-bit files.
To Choose an Importing Bit Depth
1. Use the Options > Global command to open the Global Options dialog.
Note: If you are playing back 32-bit or 64-bit audio at high sample rates (and high latency
sizes), the disk I/O buffer size in the Advanced tab of the Audio Options dialog (Options >
Audio command) may need to be increased to handle this extra disk streaming throughput. A
too small disk I/O buffer size can result in dropouts or clicks during audio playback of such
content. If so try a higher I/O buffer size like 256 or 512.