CAKEWALK PRO AUDIO, User Manual

Page: 439 / 604

13-7
Audio P
erformance
Sampling Rate The Sampling Rate drop-down list allows
you to specify the audio sampling rate for
a new .WRK file. Once any audio has
been added to a .WRK file—either by
recording audio or by using
Insert-Wave
File—you can’t change the sampling rate
for that .WRK file. Therefore, you should
choose the sampling rate immediately
after choosing
File-New to start a new
song.
You can choose one of the following
sampling rates: 11025 Hz, 22050 Hz,
44100 Hz, 48000 Hz, and 96000 Hz. The
default used by Cakewalk is 44100 Hz,
the same rate as audio CDs. However,
you may choose a lower rate if your PC
is slow or has a slow hard disk.
Note: For most sound cards, all digital
audio in the same song must be at the
same sampling rate. Some dedicated
audio systems let you mix different
sampling rates in the same song;
Cakewalk only lets you do this if the
audio system supports it. This feature is
meant primarily for sound cards that use
different Windows drivers for input and
output; Cakewalk treats such cards as
two different programs.
File Bit Depth This value sets the number of bits
Cakewalk uses to store each sample of
recorded or imported audio data. The
issue here is that memory is allocated in
bytes, which are 8 bits each, but some
sound cards create audio data in 18-, 20-
, or even 13-bit formats. If your project’s
audio driver is operating at 16 bits or
lower, set the File Bit Depth to 16. If your
project’s audio driver is operating at a
higher bit depth than 16, set the File Bit
Depth to 24.
Buffers in Playback Queue The Buffers in Playback Queue values
determine the buffer characteristics for
transfers to and from the audio drivers.
Lowering either of these values improves
audio latency, though making them too
low makes your system more susceptible
to stuttering or dropouts