JAN 2018
VB-Audio Software
V.Burel
MT128 Reference Manual
MT128 Version 1.2.1.1
MT128 Reference Manual
Non Contractual Document
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DEFINITION OF USED TERMS
source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
AD Converter
An analog-to-digital converter (abbreviated ADC, A/D or A to D) is a device which converts continuous
signals to discrete digital numbers. The reverse operation is performed by a digital-to-analog converter
(DAC).
Typically, an ADC is an electronic device that converts an input analog voltage (or current) to a digital
number proportional to the magnitude of the voltage or current. However, some non-electronic or only
partially electronic devices, such as rotary encoders, can also be considered ADCs. The digital output
may use different coding schemes, such as binary, Gray code or two's complement binary.
ADAT
Alesis Digital Audio Tape or ADAT, first introduced in 1991, was used for simultaneously recording eight
tracks of digital audio at once, onto Super VHS magnetic tape - a tape format similar to that used by
consumer VCRs. Greater numbers of audio tracks could be recorded by synchronizing several ADAT
machines together. While this had been available in earlier machines, ADAT machines were the first to do
so with sample-accurate timing - which in effect allowed a studio owner to purchase a 24-track tape
machine eight tracks at a time. This capability and its comparatively low cost were largely responsible for
the rise of project studios in the 1990s.
"ADAT" is also used as an abbreviation for the ADAT Lightpipe protocol, which transfers 8 tracks in a
single fiber optic cable. The ADAT cable standard is no longer strictly tied to ADAT tape machines, and is
now utilized by analog-to-digital converters, input cards for digital audio workstations, effects machines,
etc. One of the original benefits of utilizing ADAT versus S/PDIF or AES/EBU was that a single cable
could carry up to eight channels of audio. (AES10 (MADI) can now carry up to 64 channels.)
AES / EBU
The digital audio standard frequently called AES/EBU, officially known as AES3, is used for carrying
digital audio signals between various devices. It was developed by the Audio Engineering Society (AES)
and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and first published in 1985, later revised in 1992 and 2003.
Both AES and EBU versions of the standard exist. Several different physical connectors are also defined
as part of the overall group of standards. A related system, S/PDIF, was developed essentially as a
consumer version of AES/EBU, using connectors more commonly found in the consumer market.
AIFF
Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is an audio file format standard used for storing sound data for
personal computers and other electronic audio devices. The format was co-developed by Apple
Computer in 1988 [1] based on Electronic Arts' Interchange File Format (IFF, widely used on Amiga
systems) and is most commonly used on Apple Macintosh computer systems.
The audio data in a standard AIFF file is uncompressed pulse-code modulation (PCM). There is also a
compressed variant of AIFF known as AIFF-C or AIFC, with various defined compression codecs.
Standard AIFF is a leading format (along with SDII and WAV) used by professional-level audio and video
applications, and unlike the better-known lossy MP3 format, it is non-compressed (which aids rapid
streaming of multiple audio files from disk to the application), and lossless. Like any non-compressed,
lossless format, it uses much more disk space than MP3—about 10MB for one minute of stereo audio at