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Operation
When first installed, SONAR is configured to create 16-bit audio sampled at
44.1kHz. Nearly all sound cards support this kind of audio data. A growing
number of "professional" cards are capable of recording and playing back audio at
higher bit depths (18-bit, 20-bit, and 24-bit) and sampling rates (48 kHz and 96
kHz). SONAR allows you to take advantage of these higher bit depths and
sampling rates. In order to get the best results, do the following:
• Set the desired audio driver bit depth and sampling rate before recording or
importing audio.
It is important to set the audio driver bit depth and sampling rate before you
import or record any audio. Lowering the audio driver bit depth from 24 bit to
16 bit degrades the quality of your project’s existing audio. Also, a project's
sampling rate can only be altered before you add any audio. To set the audio
driver bit depth and sampling rate, open the Audio Options dialog box
(Options-Audio command), click the General tab, and choose values from the
Audio Driver Bit Depth and Sampling Rate fields.
• Choose a file bit depth of 24 if you intend to use your sound card at an audio
driver bit depth of 18, 20 or 24.
SONAR allocates memory in bytes (8-bits each). If you do not choose a 24-bit
file depth (3 bytes), SONAR truncates your 18-, 20- or 24-bit data down to 16
bits (2 bytes), defeating the benefits of your sound card's higher bit depth
capability. Set the file bit depth by opening the Audio Options dialog box
(Options-Audio command), clicking the General tab, and choosing a value
from the File Bit Depth field.
• Pick a bit format for your data on the Driver Profiles tab of the Audio Options
dialog box in the Stream > 16 Bit Data As field. You may need to consult your
sound card’s documentation to find the optimum setting.
• Check the Cakewalk Website for the latest information about sound
cards
• Keep in mind that using 24-bit depth and/or a high sampling rate
needs a lot of disk space and a fast CPU.
24-bit projects use 50% more disk space than 16-bit projects. If you have a
large number of audio tracks, the amount of disk space needed for your project
could become quite large. Also, a powerful CPU may be required to play back
the large 24-bit tracks, particularly if you use real-time effects.
Note: Some audio devices, especially USB devices that use WDM drivers, can not
operate in 24-bit mode unless a variable in SONAR’s
AUD.INI file is set to 1. The
variable is Use24BitExtensible=<0 or 1>, which goes in the [name of your audio
device (‘n’ in, ‘n’ out)] section or the
AUD.INI file. For more information, see the
initialization file topics in the online help.
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