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[lise]

RE: DSP Studio, Output Format.

Bitdepth, Channels, Sample Rate...

I'm at a loss on these things.  Way too advanced for me. Any gurus out there willing to try explaining this stuff with examples, or perhaps point me to a web site where I can read up on it?

I will not go into much detail in the help file, I think.  I figure if you know what these things are, then you already know what they are for.  But I would like to provide a little blurb about each one.

[bspachman]

RE: DSP Studio, Output Format.

Bitdepth, Channels, Sample Rate...

I'm at a loss on these things.  Way to advanced for me. Any gurus out there willing to try explaining this stuff with examples, or perhaps point me to a web site where I can read up on it?

I'll take a whack at this...there are lots of sites where there is extremely advanced information about this sort of thing. AVSForum and HydrogenAudio forums come to mind.

Example:
Normal CD Audio is encoded on a CD at 16bits, 2 Channels (Stereo), and 44,100 Samples/sec.

My understanding is that the waveform of the music is checked (sampled) 44,100 times every second, and the amplitude of the waveform is given with 16 bit precision. Because most CDs are in stereo, there are actually 2 channels of information.

MC9 lets you "upsample" and "upbit" and simulate various multi-channel setups with the DSP options. Some folks claim to hear a difference if they upsample their audio (to 88.2kHz, for example). Others claim to hear a difference if they upbit the audio. The general idea is that using the computer to interpolate additional bits & samples, you can make the digital information match the analog waveform even more closely.

The multi-channel options allows folks with surround sound setups to simulate more discrete channels to send to their various speakers. MC9 is taking the 2-channel information (Stereo) and matrixing the channels together to simulate 4, 5, or 6 discrete channels (for example, 4.0; 5.0 or 4.1; and 5.1--the ".1" usually means a "Low Frequency Effects" channel (LFE). Normally, the LFE contains bass sounds lower than 80Hz and is sent to a subwoofer). It is only a simulation, however. True discrete channel information (like AC3/Dolby Digital or DTS) can only be passed out of MC9 via a digital interface and decoded with a surround sound decoder or receiver. MC9 doesn't include the appropriate decoders for those proprietary formats...yet

I'm sure I've made some mistakes above, and that folks will correct me, but that should give you enough to get started.

Best,
Brad

[phelt]

Since it's for a help file, maybe the best tack to take is to address why someone might want to change the default settings. My initial thoughts point to 2 reasons:

-Because I can
-Because I can't

Because I can would relate to bspachman's point about upsampling - for example, using a bitdepth of 24 even with content that has only a bitdepth of 16 for possible improvements to the sound. It might also be a good way to find out if your audio card manufacturer's claims of capability are actually true  

Because I can't would relate to possible limitations of playback hardware. If I get some source material with a bitdepth or sampling rate higher than my card (or other playback equipment) can handle, I could try lowering settings.

Or maybe it's all bunk  
(Please note that I am not trying to start a flamewar about the validity of using alternate sampling rates or any other schemes for audio - thank you)