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My greatest anticipation failed me! The happiest frustration ever.....
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Alex Roudos
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
33
Posts :
411
Posted : May 1, 2008 14:33:33
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My DAW is Acid Pro 6.0 and i'm extremely happy with it. I was never planning to change unless Sonar would provide preview at project tempo, which was implemented on version 7. I was planning to test Sonar against Acid Pro because i wanted to check if there's going to be any difference in sound quality since Sonar is the only native 64bit DAW.
So i installed it and the preview at project tempo works(not 100%) but close enough to consider switching if i would hear what i wanted to hear.
I made a very fast and totally unscientific experiment.
I created a 2 minutes track in Acid Pro using only samples.
I mixed this sample track without any processing on the tracks. Then i exported it in 32bit and mastered it in Wavelab using my usual chain :
LoCut Eq > Fairchild 670 > Helios 69 > Precision Enhancer Khz > Precision Limiter.
After that i bounced all individual tracks from Acid Pro in 32bit and imported them to Sonar to mix them.
I bounced the Sonar mix at 64bit with all settings to the highest quality(64bit dual engine etc.) I imported the bounced mix back to Sonar to master it with the same chain as above. I bounced again the stereo mix as previously stated without dithering. I re-import the 64bit master file and this time i only dither it to 16bit and bounce it for the final time.
Then i open both masters to Wavelab for some A/B comparison. After half an hour on the monitors and another half an hour on the headphones, i couldn't hear any difference.
Next thing i did, was to master the Acid Pro bounced mix into Sonar following the exact same procedure. No difference again.
Finally i also compared in Sonar the 16bit Wavelab master with the non dithered 64bit master file from Sonar.
After struggling a lot i think that i heard some very slight increase in detail in high freq in the 64bit non dithered master. Everything else though sounded exactly the same.
I was very frustrated and very happy at the same since i don't have to switch.
I don't know if there would be any notable difference if i was using vst instruments only or in combination with what i used. Maybe i'm gonna test it as well when time allows.
There's absolutely no way that any serious or definite conclusion can come up from my testing. I just wanted to share what i heard or not heard.
I'm only wondering if the 64bit and it's higher quality is a myth or reality but only if everything is 64bit native(OS, DAW, VSTi's & VST FX)?
And PLEASE let's not turn this into a "What's the best DAW?" war. We've already had too much of it.  A friend told me once that the biggest mistake we make is that we believe we live, when in reality we are sleeping in the waiting room of life. |
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Dharma Lab
Started Topics :
8
Posts :
342
Posted : May 1, 2008 19:52
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All those extra bits are gonna provide extra headroom & clearer definition at low levels. As always, your signal chain tends to only be as strong as the weakest links, which can occur in both the VST & your dilligence while working.
In the end, I doubt that most folks, like you, will not find much advantage to 64 bit, but other features in DAW might warrant switching...only you can tell.
Keep The Faith,
Christian K. |
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