Reference Guide

853
Improving Performance with Digital Audio
Improving Audio Performance
Digital Audio Files and Storage
Digital audio requires a large amount of disk storage. The table below shows the disk space
requirements in megabytes for a single minute of digital audio in mono and stereo at various
sampling rates:
For more information, consult, Dropouts and Other Audio Problems.
See:
Mixing Latency
Queue Buffers
Status Bar/CPU Meter/Disk Meter
Mixing Latency
SONAR has a slider in the Audio Options dialog box, on the General tab, to set mixing latency.
Mixing latency is the amount of time SONAR allocates to prepare a buffer full of audio data for
playback. Lower latency settings add processing time because of the need to refill the smaller data
buffers more often. You may need to use the slider to increase mixing latency under the following
conditions:
• You use lots of real-time effects, and you hear dropouts. Check the CPU meter for high readings;
try increasing the latency.
• Your sound card does not function well at lower latency. Some sound cards just do not function
well at lower latency settings. Even though SONAR’s CPU meter and Dropout indicator report no
Sampling rate 16 bit 24 bit
11 kHz Mono 1.3 MB per minute 1.9 MB per minute
11 kHz Stereo 2.5 MB per minute 3.8 MB per minute
22 kHz Mono 2.8 MB per minute 3.8 MB per minute
22 kHz Stereo 5.0 MB per minute 7.6 MB per minute
44.1 kHz Mono 5.0 MB per minute 7.6 MB per minute
44.1 kHz Stereo 10.1 MB per minute 15.1 MB per minute
48 kHz Mono 5.5 MB per minute 7.6 MB per minute
48 kHz Stereo 11.0 MB per minute 16.5 MB per minute
96 kHz Mono 11.2 MB per minute 16.5 MB per minute
96 kHz Stereo 22.0 MB per minute 33.0 MB per minute
Table 178.