- My session is set up at 24/44.1
- DP works at 32 bit floating point, so any audio and processed files get upconverted to that bit depth by DP
- Then I print a submix of my drums in real time via an audio track with input monitoring enabled (or via an aux track)
If the resulting printed file has a 24 bit depth, then what happened to the missing information from when it was 32 bits FP??? Is it simply discarded, introducing that level of quantisation error?
Or is it masked by the dither command and the resulting printed file is dithered automatically??? I would expect this to be the case...
This way, the apparent resolution of the file, with dither, would be closer to the original 32 bit signal than to the reduced 24 bit one (if this dither works anything like Waves'... they brag that with their L3s, the true resolution of a 16 bit audio bounce –down from 32 FP or 24– is actually 18 bits or 19 bits with their dither). Something about an extra 12 or 18 dB improvement of the dynamic range (6 dB for each extra bit, IIRC) than without it.
I would like to know this because... a) I'm a geek, b) I like to be technically-correct, and c) to be able to make INFORMED choices (perhaps I could, based on this info, decide if I want to record my projects with a 32 bit depth instead).
I wonder if recording an internal submix is a MAS function or a DP function? And, whatever it is, does it include dither when going from 32 FP to 24 or even 16 bits?
I would expect the quantisation errors to be more obvious going to 16 bits just like that... But I don't remember hearing anything particularly obvious when I used to work at 16 bits with my old G5 years ago.
MagicD?
MOTU?
Invoking the unicorns, so we can finally have THE definitive answer once and for all?
