Audio Devices

Audio Devices
 Not long ago, the only sounds coming from a PC, aside
from a noisy fan or hard drive, emanated from its tiny,
tinny system speaker mounted somewhere inside the
case.
 This PC speaker was intended primarily to emit beeps,
squawks, and whistles to alert the user of diagnostic
Power-On Self-Test (POST) messages and error and
other operating system alerts.
 Today’s sound systems, which have expanded the audio
world of the PC near high fidelity, are standard equipment
on new PCs.
Audio Devices
 The audio or sound system of today’s PC range in
complexity from simple playback devices for games and
system sounds all the way to full-fledged Digital Audio
Workstations (DAW), which are used in professional
audio and video production and post-production work.
 WITH THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE SOUND
RECORDING and reproduction capabilities of the
PC, along with the advancement of its video and multiple
media playback capabilities, the PC is finally beginning to
fulfill the promise of a true multimedia device.
Examining the PC Sound System
 Just like that fancy component stereo system that you’ve
always wanted, the PC’s sound system is made up of a
number of different pieces.
 Each of the sound system components performs a certain
function in the sound capture and playback abilities of the
PC.
 The primary components of a PC sound system are the
following:
 Amplifier:
 After digital audio has been converted into an audible
signal, it has to be amplified before it can be played back
on speakers.
Examining the PC Sound System
 Most sound cards include a weak amplifier capable of
driving a set of headphones or small passive (unpowered)
PC speakers.
 Many PC speaker systems integrate an amplifier into one
or both of the speaker enclosures, taking the burden of
amplification off the sound card.
 With the correct cabling, the signal from a sound card can
be routed to any stereo or home theater system, creating
the possibility of true audiophile-quality sound from a PC.
 In a DAW configuration, the signal is often routed
through a mixing console before it’s amplified.
Examining the PC Sound System
 Audio software:
 With the exception of the basic playback controls on the
front of some CD-ROM drives, most PC audio operations
are controlled by software.
 Microsoft’s Windows family of operating systems, as well
as many distributions of Linux, include basic tools for
recording, playing, and mixing audio from different
sources.
 Advanced tools for recording and manipulating digital
audio are available from a variety of vendors.
Examining the PC Sound System
 Magnetic shielding:
 Dedicated PC speaker systems differ from conventional
home-stereo speakers in an important way: Because they
are typically placed fairly close to the computer monitor,
PC speakers must be magnetically shielded to avoid
distorting the image on the screen and ultimately
damaging the monitor.
 Therefore, caution should be used when configuring a PC
audio system with components not specifically designed
for PC audio.
Examining the PC Sound System
 Sound card:
 The sound card combines into a single unit all of the
inputs, outputs, and signal processors (digital-to-analog
converter [DAC] and analog-to-digital converter [ADC])
required to convert audio information to and from digital
form.
 Traditionally packaged as an Industry Standard
Architecture (ISA) or Peripheral Component
Interconnect (PCI) adapter card, there has been a recent
trend toward mounting an integrated audio chip directly
on the motherboard, thus eliminating the need for a
separate device to handle audio.
Examining the PC Sound System
 Speakers:
 PC speakers come in a wide range of configurations, from
small passive systems powered by the sound card’s headphone
output to active (amplified) 3-way and surround systems that
would rival many home theatres.
 Some computer monitors have integrated speakers either
incorporated into the bezel or designed to snap on and off the
sides of the monitor.
 A recent development in PC audio is the Universal Serial Bus
(USB) speaker system.
 Digital audio is sent directly to the speakers via the USB cable,
and all signal processing is done within the speaker enclosure
itself, external to the PC.
Examining the PC Sound System
Taking a Closer Listen to Sound
Cards
 The sound card combines the components required to
transfer sound into and out of a PC, including the
following:
 Analog inputs:
 Most sound cards have separate line-level and mic-level
inputs.
 Line-level inputs are designed to either accept a signal from an
electronic source (such as a CD player or tape deck) or
direct input from a musical instrument (like a
synthesizer).
Taking a Closer Listen to Sound
Cards
 Mic-level inputs are designed to accept the much lower voltage
signal generated by a microphone or an unamplified electric
guitar.
 Professional sound cards for DAW applications often have one
or more stereo pairs of analog inputs for recording multiple
channels simultaneously.
 The most common type of connector for analog input is a
standard 1⁄8" phone jack identical to those found on a
portable stereo.
 More specialized sound cards might include left and right
stereo RCA (you know, RCA as in RCA-Victor) jacks or 1⁄4"
phone jacks in order to be more compatible with professional
studio gear.
Taking a Closer Listen to Sound
Cards
 Analog outputs:
 Two analog outputs are frequently found on a sound card.
 One’s a small amplifier, capable of driving a pair of
headphones or passive speakers, powers one that’s often
identified as Phones Out/Speaker Out.
 Another, usually called Line Out, is designed to send a line-
level signal to an input such as that found on a home
stereo receiver.
 Professional sound cards for DAW applications
commonly have one or more stereo pairs of analog
outputs for playing back multiple channels simultaneously.
Taking a Closer Listen to Sound
Cards
Taking a Closer Listen to Sound
Cards
 Analog-to-digital converter (ADC):
 The ADC converts analog audio information, such as a voice
or a musical instrument, into digital data that can be
stored and edited on a PC.
 Digital input/output (I/O):
 Once found only on high-end professional sound cards,
digital interfaces are beginning to show up on consumer
sound cards as well.
 Digital I/O makes it possible to transfer data to and from
digital devices such as MiniDisc and Digital Audio Tape
(DAT) machines without ever leaving the digital domain.
Taking a Closer Listen to Sound
Cards
 The most common types of digital interfaces found on
sound cards are Sony/Philips Digital Interface (S/P-DIF)
and Audio Engineering Society/European Broadcasting
Union (AES/EBU).
 Digital Signal Processor (DSP):
 Another feature formerly found only on high-end sound
cards, DSPs are finding their way to less expensive cards
as well.
 DSPs can serve a variety of functions, but the goal is
always the same: to reduce the burden on the computer’s
CPU when processing audio.
Taking a Closer Listen to Sound
Cards
 Among the tasks performed by DSP chips are resampling
(which reduces the size of the audio file without reducing the
sound quality) and digital effects (such as reverb and echo).
 Digital-to-analog converter (DAC):
 The DAC converts audio data stored on a hard drive or other
medium into audible information that can be played back on
speakers or headphones.
 Game/Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) port:
 This versatile connector found on many sound cards is most
often used for game controllers such as joysticks or gamepads.
Taking a Closer Listen to Sound
Cards
 With a special cable, this port can be connected to any
external MIDI device in order to send and receive MIDI
data.
 Most sound card MIDI interfaces are designed to emulate
the MPU-401 interface developed by Roland.
 Synthesizer:
 Some of the sounds produced by a sound card are
generated by the card itself using a synthesizer chip.
Taking a Closer Listen to Sound
Cards
 Unlike digital audio, which resides on a hard drive or
other storage medium until it’s sent through the DAC,
the sound card’s synthesizer responds to MIDI messages,
which tell it what sounds to play, at what frequency, and
for what duration.
 An external MIDI device, as well as the PC, can control
the synthesizer.
 Synthesizer chips vary widely in capabilities and sound
quality.
 Many newer sound cards incorporate a process called
Wavetable Synthesis to produce a higher quality sound.
Capturing Sound
 The sound card input used to capture audio differs
depending upon the source.
 If the source is an electronic device like a CD player,
stereo receiver, or synthesizer, a line level input is used.
 Although most sound cards use 1⁄8" phone jacks for their
inputs, very few other devices use these jacks, so a special
cable or adapter is usually required (readily available at
any electronics supply store).
 In most cases, the appropriate cable for recording from
home stereo sources is one with left and right male RCA
plugs on one end and a single stereo male 1⁄8" phone plug
on the other end.
Capturing Sound
 Many synthesizers use 1⁄4" phone jacks, so the
appropriate cable would have left and right male 1⁄4“
phone plugs on one end and a single stereo male 1⁄8"
phone plug on the other end.
 If the source is a live sound like a voice or an acoustic
musical instrument, a microphone needs to be connected
to a mic-level input on the sound card.
 If the source is a device with digital I/O (such as a
MiniDisc or DAT machine) and the sound card also has
digital I/O, the proper cabling varies depending upon what
type of ports are available
Capturing Sound
 After the connections are made, the rest of the operation
takes place within the software.
 A wide variation in the capabilities and controls is found
in audio software.
 But here are a number of considerations to address when
capturing audio to a PC:
 Input level:
 If a sound is recorded at too quiet of a level, playing it
back at an adequate volume can produce a noisy result.
Capturing Sound
 Conversely, recording a sound at too high of a level can
result in clipping, which means literally cutting off the peaks
of the digital audio waveform, thus producing distortion.
 File size:
 One of the first things that many people notice when
they start capturing audio is how quickly the hard drive
fills up.
 Audio files can be enormous, particularly if the sound is
captured at a CD-quality sample rate and resolution.
 For instance, just ten seconds of stereo sound recorded
at 44.1 kilohertz (kHz) and 16 bits (referred to as CD-
quality) will use approximately 2MB of hard disk space.
Capturing Sound
 File type:
 Although you can choose from a bewildering array of
audio file types, the most common audio capture format
in Windows systems is the WAV file.
 Sample rate:
 Expressed in kHz, the sample rate refers to the number of
samples taken from the audio input per second.
 Lower sample rates use less disk space at the cost of
audio quality.
 Sample resolution:
 Expressed in bits, sample resolution refers to the size of the
samples taken.
Differentiating Sound File Formats
 A variety of audio file types can be recorded or played
back through a PC sound system.
 Typically, a different type of audio file is indicated by each
of the various file extensions, which is how most audio
file formats are known.
 The most common PC audio file formats are
 AIFF: Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is the
Macintosh equivalent of Windows’ WAV format and can
be played back on newer versions of the Windows Media
Player.
Differentiating Sound File Formats
 AAC: The MPEG compression standard expected to
succeed MP3, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is another
name for MPEG-2, not to be confused with MP2.
 AU: AU (short for audio) is the audio file standard on
Unix systems. PC users might encounter AU files on
Internet sites.
 MID: Files with the MID extension are not digital audio
files at all but instead contain MIDI data.
 MIDI can be thought of as a language or a standard for
sharing information about musical events, such as the
pitch and duration of a note, between multiple devices.
Differentiating Sound File Formats
 MP2: Also known as MPEG-1 Layer 2 (an earlier MPEG
compression format that produces lower quality results than
MP3), these files can be played back with any MP3 player.
 MP3: Short for MPEG-1 Layer 3, MP3 is an audio compression
standard developed by the Motion Picture Experts Group
(MPEG).
 Audio compression is a means of reducing the size of WAV
files to make them more portable and to take up less storage
space.
 For example, a 50MB WAV file stored at 44.1 kHz and 16 bits
can be reduced to around 5MB and maintain a sound quality
comparable with that of a CD.
Differentiating Sound File Formats
 RA or RAM: Both abbreviations refer to Real Audio files,
which is a streaming audio format developed by Real
Networks.
 The quality of Real Audio files varies with the speed of
the Internet connection.
 WAV: WAV (Windows Audio/Video) is the Windows
audio standard. Recording and playback support is built
into the operating system.
 WMF: Windows Media File is Microsoft’s answer to Real
Audio. Like Real Audio, WMF sound quality is bandwidth
dependent.
 WMF files can be played back on Windows Media Player.