Glossary of terms: (from Cakewalk)
To make life a little easier and to help
you wade through the jargon, we have provided you with a handy list of defined audio hardware terms.
ADAT®Sync
A 9-pin serial connection used to synchronize
ADAT® decks with other devices such as professional soundcards.
ADAT®Lightpipe
A fiber optic port for connection to an ADAT
or ADAT-compatible deck. It allows for the transfer of 8 channels via an optical/TOSLINK cable and is a common interface on
professional sounds and digital mixers.
AES/EBU
A two-channel digital interface standard
adopted by the Audio Engineering Society and the European Broadcast Union. This connection can be found on digital tape recorders,
hard disk recorders, digital audio workstations, and some professional soundcards. The connection uses balanced cables with
XLR connectors.
Analog I/O
Inputs and outputs designed for use with
an analog signal. Analog signals are comprised of voltages as opposed to digital signals which encode these signals using
a fixed series of samples at a given bit depth.
AudioX
AudioX is an open standard developed by Cakewalk
in cooperation with leading hardware and software developers. AudioX provides access to a soundcard's onboard real-time Digital
Signal Processing, and other advanced on-board capabilities.
Bit Depths
The number of bits which represent each byte
of audio data. Higher bit depths mean a higher resolution of each sample equating to greater overall dynamics. CD quality
audio is currently 16-bit while DVDs utilize 24-bit recordings
Digital I/O
Inputs and outputs designed for use with
a digital signal, thus eliminating the need for Analog-to-Digital or Digital-to-Analog Converters. Examples of digital I/O
formats include AES/EBU, S/PDIF, and ADAT® Lightpipe
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface. A means
by which computers and musical instruments can communicate. It's a language that allows you to give instructions to a computer
that it will then send to the synthesizer on your sound card, or to any other MIDI devices that you may have available.
MTC
MIDI Time Code. SMPTE timecode data connected
to a MIDI data stream. Pro Audio and Guitar Studio read SMPTE/MTC for film and video synchronization.
PCI
Peripheral Component Interconnect. A newer
and faster bus developed by Intel which is faster than an ISA bus. Almost all current desktop soundcards, professional and
consumer, utilize this format.
PCMCIA
Personal Computer Memory Card International
Association. This is a standard format for laptop peripherals such as modems or soundcards, which fit into a slot in the side
or back of the computer.
RCA
A type of connector and jack developed by
the Radio Corporation of America. RCA connectors are unbalanced. They are often used in pairs for connecting home stereo components.
Sample Rates
Digital representations of analog signals
are created by sampling an analog voltage a fixed number of times per second. The higher the sampling rate the more accurate
the digital representation of audio. The Nyquist Theorem statest that the uppermost frequency range of a recording is equal
to half of its sample rate (ie the upper limit of a 44.1 khz recording is 22 kHz). Compact Disks use a sampling rate of 44.1
kHz while DVD-Audio can use sampling rates of up to 192 kHz.
SMPTE
Society of Motion Picture and Television
Engineers. A popular time code standard used for synchronization.
S/PDIF
Sony/Phillips Digital InterFace. An interface
(input/output) that allows you to connect two digital audio devices using an RCA connector (Coaxial) or a TOSLINK (Optical).
TDIF
Teac Digital Interface Format. An 8-channel
digital audio interface for Tascam's multitrack hardware recorders.
USB
Universal Serial Bus. This is an external
interface for peripherals which support plug-and-play and hot plugging. USB allows for transfer rates from 1 to 12 Mbps.
WDM
Windows Driver Model. A driver model based
on the Windows NT driver model that is designed to provide a common architecture of I/O services for Windows operating systems
for specific classes of drivers. This driver model is currently supported under Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millenium
Edition, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. SONAR, Home Studio 2002, and Music Creator 2002 support the use of WDM drivers by providing
enhanced features such as ultra-low latency monitoring of effects and DirectX Instruments (DXi).
Word clock
A signal that synchronizes digital audio by indicating the sampling
rate of sample words over a digital audio interface
