Reference Guide

1539

Missing Plug-ins dialog

This dialog appears if you open a project that references plug-ins that are not installed on your

machine. If you save the project after you have opened it with missing plug-ins, all references

to missing plug-ins are lost. To retain the missing plug-ins in your project, exit SONAR without

saving, reinstall the missing plug-ins and then re-open the project.

MP3 Export Options dialog

The following is a description of the options in the MP3 Export Options dialog:

Bit Rate

Choose a bit rate from the drop-down list. A higher bit rate creates larger, higher quality files. The Bit

Rate allows you to select the trade-off between the size and the sound quality of the compressed

file. Compressing to higher bit rates will provide better sound quality, but will also create larger files.

Bit rate is specified in bits per second. As a rule of thumb, bit rates of 120,000 bits per second or

higher offer near CD quality sound. Lower bit rates can be used, with a corresponding decrease in

quality. If you are preparing your project for distribution on the web, lower bit rates will create smaller

files, and therefore faster downloading time.

The maximum bit rate that you can select depends on the sampling rate of the project. The encoder

supports bit rates up to 320000 bit per second, providing extremely high quality compression.

Selection of 320000 bits per second or lower requires that your project was created using at least a

32 kHz sampling rate. If your project was created using a lower sampling rate, your selection of bit

rates will also be limited.

Stereo Mode

Select one of the following from the drop-down list:

• Joint Stereo. In Joint Stereo mode, the encoder optimizes the stereo encoding by comparing

the two stereo channels. If similar information is found in the left and right channels, the

encoder uses the similar information to minimize the data it stores in the MP3 file. While this

encoding technique may result in better compression, it may result in a loss of stereo quality.

An additional option when using Joint Stereo compression is the selection of Intensity Stereo.

Selection of Intensity Stereo instructs the encoder to further optimize the encoding by

minimizing the data encoded for higher frequency sounds. This can also improve the

compression of the MP3 file, however in some cases the optimization of high frequency

sounds may result in a loss of sound quality.

• Mono. Create a Mono file