[LAU] About Algorithms

Dale Powell dj_kaza at hotmail.com
Sun Jul 17 11:25:49 UTC 2011


Agree on the whole that summing is summing is summing. Most DAWs these 
days will use floating point (either 32bit or double precision) and 
A+B=C no matter what.



There may be dithering at the end but you are talking a single bit 
possible difference between renders at points, which I don't believe 
anybody is going to hear. I personally find claims that one dither 
algorythm sounds better than another, especially at 24bits, can be 
nothing but salesman talk.



Now how the DAW loads and converts your samples (eg mixing 44.1kHz and 
48kHz samples within the same project, or using a different project same
 rate to all your samples) or if you are using an internal sampler to 
play at different frequencies, does make a difference.  For example 
compare Cubic vs Sinc (SinX/X) Interpolation and you very well might 
start to hear differences (there are more methods but these are a couple
 of the most common.) You may also find that one software uses Cubic on 
play and Sinc on rendering (as cubic is less processor intensive) and 
thus there are subtle difference between them whereas another may use 
Sinc at all times. While a lot of people disregard this as it's not part
 of the summing itself I argue it is part of the audio engine.



But every time I have ever come across the X sounds great, Y sounds 
pants claims by people and then requests for examples to illustrate this
 they have either never materialised or the protagonist has ended up 
backing down from their claim. Especially on the rendered waveforms, due
 to the fact I mentioned above of some DAWs only using the better 
quality interpolation at that point.



As mentioned the characteristics of the internal effects and DSPs used 
are going to have a lot more affect on your sound than any of this ever 
will!



On the whole any differences that do exist are so small I really wouldn't worry about them.



Dale.


 		 	   		  
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