Echo AUDIOFIRE 8 Owner's Manual

Also see for AUDIOFIRE 12: Owner's manual

Appendix B: An Introduction to Digital RecordingAppendix B: An Introduction to Digital RecordingConverting Sound into NumbersIn a digital recording system, sound is represented as a series of numbers, witheach number representing the voltage, or amplitude, of a sound wave at a particularmoment in time. The numbers are generated by an analog-to-digital converter, orADC, which converts the signal from an analog audio source (such as a guitar or amicrophone) connected to its input into numbers. The ADC reads the input signalseveral thousand times a second, and outputs a number based on the input that isread. This number is called a sample. The number of samples taken per second iscalled the sample rate.On playback, the process happens in reverse: The series of numbers is played backthrough a digital-to-analog converter, or DAC, which converts the numbers backinto an analog signal. This signal can then be sent to an amplifier and speakers forlistening.In computers, binary numbers are used to store the values that make up thesamples. Only two characters, 1 and 0, are used. The value of a character dependson its place in the number, just as in the familiar decimal system. Here are a fewbinary/decimal equivalents:BINARY DECIMAL0000000000000000 00000000000000001 10000000000000011 30000000000000111 70000000000001111 150000000000011111 311111111111111111 65,535Figure A. Binary numbers and their decimal equivalents42Appendix B: An Introduction to Digital Recording