[comp.sys.next] Is NeXT's audio sampler only eight-bit?

karl@sugar.uu.net (Karl Lehenbauer) (01/08/89)

I have heard that the Next's built-in audio sampler only samples at eight bits
of resolution.  Can anyone verfiy this?  Eight bits is fine for voice mail,
but it has long been unacceptable for pro and semipro audio.
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flynn@pixel.cps.msu.edu (Patrick J. Flynn) (01/09/89)

In article <3244@sugar.uu.net> karl@sugar.uu.net (Karl Lehenbauer) writes:
>I have heard that the Next's built-in audio sampler only samples at eight bits
>of resolution.  Can anyone verfiy this?  Eight bits is fine for voice mail,
>but it has long been unacceptable for pro and semipro audio.

We recently heard (at a campus-wide demo)that a third-party hardware
vendor has come out with an external A/D box, for $800 (!!).  Sorry, I
didn't get any other information (like the interface, sampling rates,
resolution).  Maybe somebody else has heard something.

Cheers,
Pat
--
Patrick Flynn, Dept. of Computer Science, Michigan State University
flynn@cpsvax.cps.msu.edu uunet!frith!flynn FLYNN@MSUEGR.BITNET

desnoyer@Apple.COM (Peter Desnoyers) (01/10/89)

In article <1468@cps3xx.UUCP> flynn@pixel.cps.msu.edu (Patrick J. Flynn) writes:
>In article <3244@sugar.uu.net> karl@sugar.uu.net (Karl Lehenbauer) writes:
>>I have heard that the Next's built-in audio sampler only samples at eight bits
>>of resolution.  Can anyone verfiy this?  Eight bits is fine for voice mail,
>>but it has long been unacceptable for pro and semipro audio.
>
Of course. 16-bit A-D is expensive, and very hard to do inside an
incredibly noisy box like the Next or any other computer. 

>We recently heard (at a campus-wide demo)that a third-party hardware
>vendor has come out with an external A/D box, for $800 (!!).  Sorry, I
>didn't get any other information (like the interface, sampling rates,
>resolution).  Maybe somebody else has heard something.
>
Seems like a fair price to me. You'll spend more on the microphones
than that. Of course, once you get serious and upgrade a room to match
the noise characteristics of your mikes and sampling box, you're
talking about an order of magnitude more money.

				Peter Desnoyers