Possible Sonic Differences Between 7.2x and 8.1?

[buzzsmith]

This is probably me but...

...when you get a chance, will you open a fairly simple project in both 7.2x and 8.1 and see if you can hear any difference? Piano feature would be preferable for the "test".

The reason that I ask is that I'm noticing a difference in a previously recorded piano in 7.22 and then adding piano with 8.1. There's a definite difference which, admittedly, could be a slight variation of mic positions within the piano.

However, I shoot photos of the mic positions and I'm just almost certain that I'm within a half inch or so of being right where they have always been.

Using the same mic pre and there is no processing on the original piano track.

Just curious and thanks...

Buzzy

[bayswater]

This came up before, didn't it? I did a null test between 7.24 and 8.00 and got silence. Is this specific to 8.01?

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... 30#p437444

[stephentayler]

That's a tough one.... I frequently notice tonal differences in recording the same instrument on the same setup on different days - atmospheric changes frequently to blame, temperature, humidity etc. - but it would be tough to know what might be the cause without hearing the comparison. That half inch could make all the difference!!!

I've not noticed any difference between 7 and 8 - so far anyway!!! Is the project in DP8 at 64 bit?

Cheers

Stephen

Hey, if you have 7 and 8 why not try a quick test on both??

[buzzsmith]

Bayswater, as I said, it's probably me!

Stephen: Exactly what I was going to do when I got the studio up and running (which is now). I just thought I'd see if anyone else was noticing anything sonically different between the two to maybe confirm what I think I'm hearing.

I never would have moved the piano mics in the first place , except another particular session forced me to do so.

Other than this one project that requires the piano fixes, I'm very pleased with 8.01.

Buzzy

[FMiguelez]

Buzzy, the fact that you recognize beforehand that it might be "just you" speaks tons of your intelectual honesty, and I respect that.

A lot of people would've simply claimed it sounds different without even bothering to aknowledge there may be other factors in play.

Since humans don't have perfect auditory memory, we can never be sure about things sounding different. The other day I was reading someone claiming that even small differences in our daily blood-pressure could make us perceive sound a little differently every time.

I remain TOTALLY skeptic of these unfounded and unsupported "x sounds better than y claims".

[Radiogal]

Did the switch DP7.24 to DP8.01 two days ago. while I was editing a project with many audio tracks.
I experience DP8 (64bit) sounding more open and deeper.
I believe it´s cuz the CPU is not pressed as hard as it is in DP7.24 (32bit) and that the harddrives seem to work a lot faster.

The spinning "searching the harddrive" beachballs are gone..
DP also opens up superfast with big audio projects.
Seems like MOTU built in a new HD highway

[David Polich]

Projects sound the same in DP 7.24 and 8.01 here. No difference.

64-bit does not "sound" better. 64-bit is not an audio format. Faster
processing does not translate to an audible difference in audio quality,
that is impossible.

However, as I have stated before on other similar threads, if you "think"
it sounds better, it does. To you. And that may indeed make for a better
mix, because you feel more confident and also are more aware of sonic details.

[raffello]

David, you know this for sure? People just think they are hearing a difference??

[Radiogal]

FWIW. The difference in sound is subjective but as the Mac spins so much better and the hard dive is not overloaded and is not giving me hickups anymore, therefore I believe DP can run the audio better.
I worked with the same project in DP7.24 and DP8.01 from one day to the other.. Anyway, I´m totally happy in DP8.01

[Shooshie]

David, you know this for sure? People just think they are hearing a difference??

It's very unlikely that there are any differences in audio. Of course, we do not know what obstacles faced MOTU when they recoded DP into the Cocoa environment. If they had to change something, then maybe there COULD be a difference in sound, but my guess is that they did not change anything about their core audio interface and signal chain.

Still, what David said: the difference between 32 bit memory addressing and 64 bit memory addressing should have zero effect on the audio. We're talking about computers talking to their RAM, not listening to audio ports. "Bits," here, is not related to audio sampling, but the number of physical addresses that are possible to code for memory. Now that there are exponentially more addresses available, we can utilize smaller blocks of memory and therefore get a lot more storage out of any given chunk of RAM, as well as potentially utilizing more RAM than we'll probably be able to buy in our lifetimes. What we put in that RAM is not affected by where in RAM we put it, or how much we can store in a given segment of RAM.

Shooshie

[Killahurts]

The reason that I ask is that I'm noticing a difference in a previously recorded piano in 7.22 and then adding piano with 8.1. There's a definite difference which, admittedly, could be a slight variation of mic positions within the piano.

However, I shoot photos of the mic positions and I'm just almost certain that I'm within a half inch or so of being right where they have always been.

Hate to say it because it's so anal.. but a half inch could make a huge difference when recording any very large instrument, like piano.

I would try opening the same exact sound file in both, just to be sure.

btw, I'm one of those guys that think if you can actually hear a difference, there may be one.

[Shooshie]

I'm one of those guys that think if you can actually hear a difference, there may be one.

Sometimes it's true! Until someone does a null test, we won't know, will we?

[bayswater]

I did a null test and posted it a couple of weeks ago. Look up to yesterday's posts in this thread for the link.

[Shooshie]

I did a null test and posted it a couple of weeks ago. Look up to yesterday's posts in this thread for the link.

Totally missed that! Well, there's our answer. If it sounds better, it's because of the rush that 64 bit setup is giving you. The audio is the same, which shows that MOTU is dedicated to giving us sample-accurate recording, processing, and playback, no matter the version of DP.

Thanks, bayswater!

Shooshie

[Radiogal]

Yep, and for those like me working OTB and record back into DP, this is awesome, no mather what.