I just got off the phone with Tyler in tech support (excellent service as always)

However, I must say that I’m slightly dissapointed to learn that even with the Audiophile version of BIAB, the resolution tops out at 16 bit/ 44.1k.

I have an RME and Focusrite interface that can both work at up to 24bit/192k.

For me, 24/96k would be awesome, I can get that when I’m using Pro Tools 12/Reason 10, Even Sampletank 3 allows this.

Is this related to BIAB being a 32 bit program? Wouldn’t it make sense to Update the program to 64bit? I’m just curious.....I do hear a difference with higher bit/sample rates. Does this mean that the RTs are recorded at 16/44.1 as well? Even for the Audiophile version?

Thoughts?
Edward

As I understand it, all the RT's are recorded at 16-bit/44.1Khz. This has nothing to do with a 32-bit versus 64-bit application.

By the way, if RealTracks were recorded at 24-bit/192Khz, it would take more than 6 times the hard disk space to accommodate that.

Here’s a guide to figure out how much disk space is required for audio recording at various resolutions:

(in approximate sizes)

– 16 bit / 44.1 kHz –
1 minute of 1 mono track – 5 MB (Megabytes)
1 minute of 1 stereo track – 10 MB

– 16-bit / 48 kHz –
1 minute of 1 mono track – 5.5 MB
1 minute of 1 stereo track – 11 MB

– 24-bit / 44.1 kHz –
1 minute of 1 mono track – 7.5 MB
1 minute of 1 stereo track – 15 MB

– 24-bit / 48 kHz –
1 minute of 1 mono track – 8.2 MB
1 minute of 1 stereo track – 16.4 MB

– 16-bit / 88.2 kHz
1 minute of 1 mono track – 10 MB
1 minute of 1 stereo track – 20 MB

– 16-bit / 96 kHz –
1 minute of 1 mono track – 11 MB
1 minute of 1 stereo track – 22 MB

– 24-bit / 88.2 kHz –
1 minute of 1 mono track – 15 MB
1 minute of 1 stereo track – 30 MB

– 24-bit / 96 kHz –
1 minute of 1 mono track – 16.4 MB
1 minute of 1 stereo track – 32.8 MB

– 16-bit / 176.4 kHz
1 minute of 1 mono track – 20 MB
1 minute of 1 stereo track – 40 MB

– 16-bit / 192 kHz –
1 minute of 1 mono track – 22 MB
1 minute of 1 stereo track – 44 MB

– 24-bit / 176.4 kHz –
1 minute of 1 mono track – 30MB
1 minute of 1 stereo track – 60 MB

– 24-bit / 192 kHz –
1 minute of 1 mono track – 32.8 MB
1 minute of 1 stereo track – 65.6 MB

Hi Edward,

It's been mentioned many, many times on the forums over the years that 16 bit and 44.1 kHz are the recorded and playback characteristics of the Audiophile wav files. This is audio CD quality.

If you're interested in gaining a little more insight, the below link compares different bit rates and sampling frequencies.

http://tweakheadz.com/16-bit-vs-24-bit-audio/

What I find particularly interesting is that as bit rates and sampling frequencies increase, files become significantly larger. For example, as the above site shows, a 3 minute single stereo wav file at 16/44.1 is around 30 MB. The same 3 minute wav at 24/96 is around 99 MB.

Thus, in my DAW if I use 10 wavs at 16/44.1 to create a mix (I often use more than this), I will need 300 MB of hard disk space for my song's storage.

By comparison, at 24/96, I would need just under 1 GB (1,000 MB) of hard disk space. While the above site doesn't mention 24/192, I anticipate that it could be 1.5 - 2.0 times as large as 24/96. This would mean that within a DAW, a 3 minute song with a 10 track mix could possibly take around 1.5-2.0 GB of disk space.

The above article is a very interesting read.

Regards,
Noel

EDIT: I see John Ford was typing at the same time I was. I also see he has the calculations for 24 bit and 192 kHz. It seems that a 10 track mix, with all audio at 24/192, would require nearly 2.0 GB of hard disk space.

• one of my songs: Tomorrow I'll Be Fine

Funny story: On a location live recording in 2010 or about, for a live CD of a local 40 people large classical orchestra, we used an iLive Allen & Heath digital mixing desk doing 94kHz/24bit, 3 tracks, into a laptop. For the 'just in case' backup i brought along my old AKAI DR8 recorder, 44,1 KHz/16bit, recording the same 3 way (analogue) signal independently, but slaved to a proper external WordClock signal. After the job we had a listening session with quality playback stuff. There both the conductor and the composer of the piece found the AKAI's recording sounding better and they used that for the CD. -F

Ed, your point about bit and sample rates is well taken. Despite the additional storage requirement, some users here over the years have said they would be willing to pay more for higher rate files. This shows up in the Wishlist every so often.

When you take a CD-quality audio file into a DAW (those you mentioned above) it can be upsampled. Some DAWs require this, while others can deal with files of different rates in the same project. If you put your BIAB files into the same sample and bit rate of your project, which includes files from other sources, the BIAB files do not gain any additional quality. What you do gain is what is inherent in a 24-bit recording: higher bandwidth when mixing. As far as 44.1 sampling, that's more than high enough to accommodate any frequency you can hear unless you have a tiny child at the mixing board, or your producer is a dog or dolphin.

Other than more mixing headroom, since it all has to be dithered down to 44.1/16 to make a CD anyway, it really doesn't gain you a lot to work with the higher quality files.

One other thing about the audiophile version if you want to find out more about it: look at the short essay I wrote in the Tips and Tricks Forum. It's the first sticky.