• Registered: 2010-05-18
  • Posts: 8

Topic: At what point does the AD/DA process take place?

This is probably such a noob and borderline dumb question to be asking but please forgive me as I just want to be sure I understand things and that I'm using my FF 400 properly.

I hear a lot about AD/DA converters, things like the apogee Mini-me, for example.  I would not need such a device since the FF400 does proper AD/DA conversion correct?  When does this process take place?  When I render out my project in Cubase to a wav file?  My setup is my PC connected to my FF400 via a firewire cable so this whole AD/DA process takes place over my firewire cable? 

I guess some confusion is arising in my mind about the outputs of the FF400.  Do I need to record the audio processed by the FF from its output to take advantage of the AD/DA converters in the FF unit, or does this all happen via the fireware cable alone?

Sorry if I sound completely confused.  I thank you all for your assistance.

-Frosty

  • laex
  • S/Mux specialist
  • Offline
  • From: Austria
  • Registered: 2007-07-17
  • Posts: 306

Re: At what point does the AD/DA process take place?

oh dear, but I guess it's Christmas time... wink

it's very simple: A stands for analogue, D for digital:
+ everything you hear with your physical ears is analogue sound - a car engine's sound, a saxophone, the human voice...
+ everything that is processed inside of a computer needs to be digital (0s and 1s) - or lets say a digital representation of the analogue sounds we can hear with our ears...

if you want to record e.g. your voice, you basically need a microphone and a soundcard, wich does the A/D conversion - to get the sound into your computer, so to speak. the FF400 does this conversion in very good quality!

if you want to listen to anything inside the computer, if you want to get the sound "out of the computer" in an audible way, you need a soundcard that does D/A conversion and speakers or headphones. and again the FF400 does this conversion in very good quality!

all A/D or D/A conversion is done exclusively by the soundcard, e.g. the FF400... the firewire cable does not have any important role at all in the whole process wink... all the mixing is done inside the computer - you usually don't rerecord the FF's outputs...

merry christmas,
laex

DC rules!

laex's Website

  • Registered: 2010-05-18
  • Posts: 8

Re: At what point does the AD/DA process take place?

Thank you laex for being so gentle with my ignorance!  smile  That really helps me.  Merry Christmas to you as well!