M A G I X   M U S I C   S T U D I O

Music studio is a program to record and edit audio on your PC. To record audio on a computer it first has to be converted to digital information. This task is usually handled with a sound card which is equipped with Analog-to-Digital converters. When you playbacks the digital information, the information will have to be converted back to an analog signal, which are audible signals.
A sound card also contains Digital-to-Analog converters. The quality of those converters greatly influences the results of the work you can achieve with music studio.
Music studio only supports 16-bit converters (CD quality). The more simple 8-bit converters today are mostly used for sound background for games.
In the Pro-Audio industry soundcards are often used which do not contain AD/DA-converters (Analog-to-Digital/Digital-to-Analog). Instead they offer digital interfaces such as the SP/DIF or AES-EBU standard. These cards are also supported with music studio if they contain Windows Drivers. By connecting a DAT recorder or a CD player direct to the input of such a card the highest audio quality can be obtained.
One of the most often asked question is concerning the optimal sample rates. Basically during the audio-digitizing process the analog signal is measured several thousand times per second to see which values the signal produces. The more often this happens the more exact the wave form can be reproduced digitally. A simple comparison is the difference between 256 colors of a graphic card and 16 million colors. Both are recognizable... However, the higher number gives a clearer picture and more color variations.
When working with digital audio, using a CD compatible quality of 44,100 samples per second (44,1 kHz) is the way to go. Some sound cards even support 48 kHz, which is used in high end DAT recorders. However, fidelity wise they don't pose a significant difference.
Lower sample rates such as 32 kHz are still perfect sounding. Keep in mind that many digital broadcasting stations work with this format. If you want to video/audio editing, using a sample rate of 22 kHz will still be sufficient. A great advantage of using this format is, that it only takes up half the storage needed compared with 44 kHz.
You need to remember that digital audio signals at a sample rate of 32 kHz can only reproduce half of that frequency rate (16 kHz). 

For more information on memory requirements see the table in the chapter 'Hardware Needed'. To have a first look at the most important functions of music studio refer to the chapter 'Quickstart'. Below are a few suggestions for applications with music studio.

Publisher: Magix Software
Contact: +49 (0) 89-74358-0
Minimum System: 486, 8Mb RAM, Windows 3.1/95