API Drivers & Sound quality
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  1. #1
    Tech Convert
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    Default API Drivers & Sound quality

    Hi
    while trying to persuade a group of djs about wave files i realized traktor was sounding pretty bad in comparison to wavelab. Having done a bit of research it seems that the API or audio driver is the problem (maybe)
    Wavelab runs best on MME-WDM were as traktor recommends ASIO.
    I was wondering if anyone else has come across this and has any comments or suggestions.

    I am running
    Traktor 3
    Sony Vaio xp sp3
    focusrite saphire firewire soundcard
    VCi-100

  2. #2
    Jack Bastard
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    ASIO is the standard for low latency audio drivers on Windows, it's doubtful that the drivers are the problem.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jack Bastard View Post
    ASIO is the standard for low latency audio drivers on Windows, it's doubtful that the drivers are the problem.
    The sound quality between WDM and ASIO form,ats seems to indicat that they infuence quality

  4. #4
    Jack Bastard
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    These drivers are not exclusive to traktor; the ASIO standard was developed by Steinberg for Cubase originally and are found in every piece of high end audio software on Windows.
    Last edited by Jack Bastard; 09-04-2009 at 08:52 AM.

  5. #5
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    Hi
    Am quite aware of that being a very old sound engineer, what they say and what they do can be two different things, Traktor vip support tell me4 when everything is off ie timestretch pichshift etc there is no audio processing that could alter audio quality but there is still a huge deficit in the quality of the output with the same gear and the same file. Traktor are saying that it is the API and the same has been observed in major studios throughout the world.As you say the APIs from microsoft and stineberg have been around for a long time and are industry standard but ASIO seems to favour latencey over quality

  6. #6
    Jack Bastard
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    Is the difference in quality quantifiable?

  7. #7
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    I have not as yet measured the difference but in an AB test thlow end sounds almost as if filtered and the whole sound is a bit ragged round the edges(even my girlfriend noticed th difference) there is no reason that I I can find that would account for this on paper. my job is to provide the best quality audio to a number of clubs and djs, we are putting in stunning sound systems and hifi grade cable but I need to find a way to improve the sound from traktor as it is becoming one of the most popular formats along with serato which will be my next project.
    Cheers

  8. #8
    Jack Bastard
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    Get an A/B recording of the output from the soundcard and post it up here mate, it'd be good to see this proved one way or another.

  9. #9
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    You're making a bunch of assumptions based on a single theory. None of your argument is researched or convincing. Instead of arguing about your opinion, how about backing up your theory with facts?

    Traktor will run fine with WDM drivers (if your chosen interface has them), so why not run a series of tones through it and use whatever spectral analysis tools you prefer to do a spectrum analysis of the tones. The tones you create should cover from 20z-20khz (I would think 10-15 points would give you a decent idea of the frequency response if it's as audible as you claim). You should also capture a silent baseline graph so we can get an idea of your system, then run a series with WDM and ASIO, as well as a series using Wavelab as the source (instead of Traktor) using both ASIO and WDM. Put these graphs together and publish your results, and outline your procedure. Give others a link to your test tones and the settings you used for your spectrum analysis (hanning, blackman, FFT size, etc) so they can recreate your test on their machine.

    This should be pretty trivial to put together for a very old sound engineer since you already have the tools you need. I'm sitting here looking at a spectrum and spectrogram right now.


  10. #10
    Jack Bastard
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    What sound systems are you using btw?

    I have a lot of friends who work in pro audio, my mate who owns an extremely large Noise Control Audio system swears by T3 and an Audio 8 and wavs.

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