ben m
Joined: 15 Sep 2002
Posts: 337
Location: UK |
| Week 3 - Computers 2 |
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Ok, lots of questions for you this week, good luck with them all!
 Define the following terms:
Latency
Duplex
Define the following Sound Card driver types and their advantages/disadvantages;
MME
Direct X
ASIO
WDM
How may latency be reduced with ASIO/WDM drivers?
Name the primary differences between 'consumer' and 'professional' soundcards.
Define the following hard drive features/specifications and explain their usefulness in a DAW:
Cache
Speed in RPM
ATA Type
Why have many people tended not to use AMD processors in DAWs? Is this down to the processor or the relevant motherboard chipsets?
How may an external 'breakout' box be connected to the host PC? Name 3 different ways and describe the benefits and drawbacks of each protocol.
What is the importance of cluster size for PC based recordings?
Define the Von Neumann model of PC architecture.
In a system with a PCI soundcard, is it more desirable to have the graphics card on the AGP or PCI bus?
Name 2 examples of an optical storage format, and their respective capacities.
Explain the importance of each of the following factors in a DAW, and what each factor contributes to a DAW;
Amount of RAM
Hard Drive Space
Processor Speed
Explain the following file systems, their associated OSs' and the capabilities of each File System;
FAT
FAT32
NTFS
How does a virtual/soft sampler such as Halion utilise the host computers resources?
How many minutes of stereo CD-quality digital audio can be stored in a 1 Gigabyte hard disk partition, approximately?
For a hard disk of 20 Gigabytes capacity or more, what is the most likely backup device, other than another hard disk?
Describe four different areas of application in widespread use and give an example of a popular piece of software in each area.
Describe the main advantages of Firewire compared to SCSI
In relation to computer software;
What is a driver?
What is an extension?
Excluding the host device, what is the maximum number of devices that may be attached to a SCSI bus?
If it is necessary to reconnect or reconfigure the devices on a SCSI bus what precaution should be taken?
How many terminators would there normally be on a SCSI bus? Where would they be situated?
A system incorporating two devices in addition to the host on a SCSI bus isnt working correctly. What would you check on the SCSI devices themselves, assuming they are all switched on?
Macintosh computers running system version 9.0.4 and lower are not very good at playing audio while word processing, whereas IBM PC compatible computers running Microsoft operating systems are. What is lacking from the Macintosh's operating system?
In a hard disk recording system, which type of disk drive would you expect to allow the most simultaneous tracks to be replayed, a magnetic hard disk or a magneto-optical disk?
Which is usually thought to offer the most reliable long-term storage, removable magnetic hard disk cartridge or magneto-optical disk?
Compared to digital tape, what is the principal disadvantage of disks for long-term storage?
_________________
ben@audiocourses.com |
Mon Sep 15, 2003 6:56 pm |
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Albow
Joined: 02 Sep 2003
Posts: 27
Location: Spain |
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Define the following terms:
Latency
Latency is the length of time it takes to respond to an event. This is of
particular relevance for data on hard disks. When data accessed from the
OS, there is a latency between the mouse click and the time it takes for
the sector containing the data to rotate to the read head of the hard disk.
Also, in audio based applications, there nay be latency between a note
played and it being heard. When playing a musical note, the latency will
the time between playing the note and hearing it reproduced.
Duplex
Duplex describes whether channels of communication can process data in one
or two directions. Half duplex data tarnsmission gives one-directional
data traffic, whereas full duplex means that data can flow bi-directionally
down the communications channel simultaneously.
Define the following Sound Card driver types and their
advantages/disadvantages;
MME Multimedia Extension Standard driver that is not optimized for
low-latency audio performance. It can carry a latency of 3/4 of a second,
which makes playing an instrument out of the question and makes mundane
features such as play and record sluggish. It is also restricted to stereo
operation. However, its advantages are that MME components are cheap, may
be installed on board on the system, which would also mean that the effort
of buying and installing a new card may be unnecessary.
Direct X Microsoft's universal graphics driver software for Windows 95/98
and Windows NT PCs is an improvement on MME in terms of latency. Tracks
can also be played concurrently with DirectX drivers. The problem is that
you cannot duplex recording and playing at the same time, thus losing a
vital feature for sound production.
ASIO Audio Stream Input/Output. Developed by Steinberg. It allows system
software to have access to a wide range of powerful soundcards. It is a
cross-platform multi-channel transfer protocol. This gives a lot more
features to standard PCI soundcards This driver allows the host audio/MIDI
application to "see" all of the inputs and outputs available on the sound
card. The user can then assign these I/O ports as needed for recording or
playback when using an ASIO-compatible software program. This allows the
users to record more tracks simultaneously than the previous limitation of
two channels imposed by a standard sound card. It can reduce latency from
500ms to 100ms or less.
WDM WDM Windows Driver Model. This is a newer, lower latency driver that
allows the application direct access to the kernel without going through
the Windows OS. As the system has less to do to process commands, the
latency is low like ASIO.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec98/articles/pcnotes.779.htm
How may latency be reduced with ASIO/WDM drivers?
ASIO processes multiple streams of sound data simultaneously and as such
the latency is reduced. The MME drivers were part of the OS and as such
had further wait times while requests are sent out through the OS to
components, then back again. Furthermore the sample rates can be manually
changed from 44.1K to 96K, reducing latency to the point where it may not
be noticeable. The input signal can also be sent directly via the
soundcard hardware with some cards, so that there will be no audible delay.
Name the primary differences between 'consumer' and 'professional'
soundcards.
Basically the quality is the difference between these soundcards.
Professional quality sound is achieved by the type of IO streams that
professional cards support. These match the protocols of the instruments
which will be midi or XLR, and can be equipped with quarter inch jack
inputs. Consumer cards will have RCA and SPDIF inputs. These are designed
to give the system only basic sound functionality.
The recording that can be done with a sound card depends on the sampling
rate. The higher the sampling rate per second, the better the quality of
recorded sound. Professional soundcards benefit from higher bit-rate bus
architecture and as such higher sampling rates are possible.
Define the following hard drive features/specifications and explain their
usefulness in a DAW: (Digital Audio Workstation)
Cache
The cache is a small fast memory holding recently-accessed data. If the
data is requested again it is therefore accessed far quicker, as the
request has to go through less components and skips the file structure of
the OS. Cache is useful therefore as it will reduce the latency in a DAW.
Speed in RPM
Once again, latency is the key issue here. If a disk has a faster RPM, its
disk platters spin more quickly and subsequently requested data can be read
by the heads more quickly. The disk is by far the slowest element in the
system, so other components wait for it to complete its tasks. Measures
taken to make the disk function quicker will always reap benefits for the
user.
ATA Type
The ATA type concerns the interfaces between system components and as such
determines the data transfer rate between devices in the system. If an
earlier ATA type is used the transfer rate will be slower and the
performance poorer.
Why have many people tended not to use AMD processors in DAWs? Is this
down to the processor or the relevant motherboard chipsets?
This is down to potential compatibility issues, although the AMD processor
is perfectly good in its own right. With DAWs, users would perfer Intel
processor chipsets due to the issue with PCI latency with the VIA
motherboard chipset that accompanied the AMD processors.
How may an external 'breakout' box be connected to the host PC? Name 3
different ways and describe the benefits and drawbacks of each protocol.
Firewire
The benefits of this is that you can filter digital or analogue streams at
very high speeds. The disadvantage would seem to be the price, which is
out of range for anyone but the professional user.
PCI onboard
It can be connected with analogue audio input and output jacks to the
corresponding sockets on the system's sound card and can connect to the
graphics head for video output.
The advantages of this is that there is nothing to stop the casual user
from plugging in without any further bother or expense. The disadvantage
is that the user is restricted to analogue only and the quality of recorded
sound will not be as clear, or as exact a reproduction as with digital.
PCI card
With more expensive sound cards the digital option would be available, and
the on-card processing power will prevent latency. The disadvantage would
be that the PCI bus could be saturated easily and other PCI devices on the
bus may take away from the card's performance.
What is the importance of cluster size for PC based recordings?
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/partSpecial-c.html
For working with large multimedia cluster files, larger is better. There
is less overhead when using larger clusters--doing a sequential read of a
10 MB file on a volume that uses 32 kB clusters means 319 "next cluster"
lookups in the File Allocation Table. Reading this entire file on a volume
with 2 kB clusters increases this to 5,119 lookups. Another issue is that
since every cluster is a contiguous block on the disk, having a larger
cluster size means a greater percentage of the file is in continuous
blocks, thus causing less fragmentation. This means better performance for
long sequential access.
Define the Von Neumann model of PC architecture.
The idea of the Von Neumann PC architecture is to use the same storage
device for instructions and data. He proposed that the computer consist of
an algrithm-calculating device, a control unit, a memory, Input and Output
devices and buses to ferry instructions between those devices. This is the
fundamental structure of the modern computer.
In a system with a PCI soundcard, is it more desirable to have the graphics
card on the AGP or PCI bus?
It is better to have the graphics card on the AGP bus. In the first
instance it is the Accelerated Graphic Port and it is built to deal with
graphics which requires the greatest processing power in the system.
Secondly, if it is put on the PCI bus, then this will be an additional load
on the PCI bus, which already will have to cope with any SCSI thtoughput
such as audio files.
Name 2 examples of an optical storage format, and their respective
capacities.
The searches I've been doing appear to suggest that these would be CDs and
DVDs! (I never knew that!) The CD has a storage capacity of typically
650MB, the DVD can have up to 9.4gb of storage.
Explain the importance of each of the following factors in a DAW, and what
each factor contributes to a DAW;
Amount of RAM The amount of RAM will determine how fast isntructions can be
fed to the processor from the OS and back to internal and peripheral
components. The more is genreally the better.
Hard Drive Space The space left on a Hard Drive will determine whether a
large application such as a virtual recording studio can fit on the disk
and whether the minimal space exists for the application and to add bulky
audio/visual files that the application is used for. There may be numerous
tracks created in the quest to produce an audio or audiovisual file and
these will add up to some considerable storage space. CPU Processor Speed
Recording and audio visual software requires considerable processing power
and teh CPU is at the heart of this. It will need to be fast enough to
handle the throughput that comes with large amount of data streams without
causing latency.
Explain the following file systems, their associated OSs' and the
capabilities of each File System;
FAT File Allocation Table - the structure that the OS maintains on a hard
disk which charts the clusters of data space (basic units of logical
storage) on the disk. The original FAT clusters were 16bits in length.
FAT32 This was the next progression in FAT which mapped clusters that were
32 bits in length. Although that meant that a cluster could address more
bits, FAT32 actually achieved a reduction in the size of the clusters.
This enabled the possibility of a much larger disk - 2 Tb, and also ensured
better storage efficiency.
NTFS
Brought in for Windows NT to enable files to be spread across several
disks.
How does a virtual/soft sampler such as Halion utilise the host computers
resources?
Halion uses the systems processing power to generate MIDI sounds on the fly
and has a separate audio-out in a sequencer for setting different effects.
It uses the system's ASIO as its drivers.
How many minutes of stereo CD-quality digital audio can be stored in a 1
Gigabyte hard disk partition, approximately?
For a hard disk of 20 Gigabytes capacity or more, what is the most likely
backup device, other than another hard disk?
A tape device external or internal - DAT, DLT or exobyte.
Describe four different areas of application in widespread use and give an
example of a popular piece of software in each area.
As the question mentions widespread use, I would imagine this would not
therefore be directed towards virtual studios or suchlike. Word processing
is one - examples being Lotus Notes or Word for Windows.
Another are virtual Jukeboxes such as Musicmatch.
Files played on such applications are usually retrieved from file-swapping
appliacations such as Kazaa or Morpheus, over which each user displays his
files for others to download.
Describe the main advantages of Firewire compared to SCSI
Firewire allows 63 devices to be connected simultaneously where SCSI only
allows 7 (plus the host device).
Firewire is hot swappable whereas SCSI is not.
Firewire uses a thinner, lighter cables.
The maximum length of an unbalanced SCSI bus is approximately 5 metres.
Firewire can be several tens of metres.
Firewire is faster than SCSI.
In relation to computer software; What is a driver?
What is an extension?
This is the note added to the end of a filename to describe what kind of
file that it is. For example the extension .doc tells us it is a document,
.wav tells us it is a wav fiel. And .swx is for a StarOffice with write
permissions that have been the bane of my life recently 
Excluding the host device, what is the maximum number of devices that may
be attached to a SCSI bus? 7
If it is necessary to reconnect or reconfigure the devices on a SCSI bus
what precaution should be taken?
I personally would take the system down first as simply disconnecting a
SCSI device if there is heavy activity, could cause the system to panic or
crash. I would also wait for the SCSI devices to be attached and switched
on if they have their own power, before booting the system, as the system
will then recognise the devices on boot up. This would depend on whether
the devices were hot-pluggable or hot. To swap one hot-pluggable device
for another can be done with the system running, with the previso that the
software governing the device is informed of the change before the change
takes place. This is not the same as hot-swappable devices which can be
swapped at any time without issues.
How many terminators would there normally be on a SCSI bus?
One at each end of the bus. Individual devices on the SCSI bus may need
terminators also, unless they are self-terminating. If those devices are
daisy chained, the terminator will be on the last device. Each individual
device will have input from the previous device and will output to the next
device via a short scsi cable.
Where would they be situated? Internally, one would be situated at each
end of the scsi ribbon cable. On external devices, they would be situated
next to or above the cable. The interface will consist of 2 female scsi
connectors, either of which can be used as the input connection or the scsi
terminator connection.
A system incorporating two devices in addition to the host on a SCSI bus
isn t working correctly. What would you check on the SCSI devices
themselves, assuming they are all switched on?
The leds on the SCSI devices, the SCSI terminators. I would also check the
SCSI target ID is what it should be and hasn't been changed to the same as
another device on the same bus. I would check that the connections are
tightened fast, both the cable connections and terminators. I would check
to see if there were bent pins on the interfaces of the cables and the
terminators, and would check that the cables were not damaged.
Macintosh computers running system version 9.0.4 and lower are not very
good at playing audio while word processing, whereas IBM PC compatible
computers running Microsoft operating systems are. What is lacking from
the Macintosh's operating system?
i really have tried to find this one out but I can't for the life of me.
A hint would be nice! 
In a hard disk recording system, which type of disk drive would you expect
to allow the most simultaneous tracks to be replayed, a magnetic hard disk
or a magneto-optical disk?
I would expect a hard disk to be better for this simply as it has an OS FS
installed and is far larger. It also has the assistance of the system's
processing power directly connected to it and can benefit from swap space,
cache memory and multiple buses.
Which is usually thought to offer the most reliable long-term storage,
removable magnetic hard disk cartridge or magneto-optical disk?
Magneto-optical disk is the more reliable storage as they are more robust.
Whereas a hard disk consists of a series of moving mechanical arms and
rotating disks, which can easily be damaged, for example by dropping the
disk, the optical disk consists of glass or plastic plates coated with a
compound, off which low intensity lasers are reflected. As it is a less
mechanical device the optical disk is not as easy to break.
Compared to digital tape, what is the principal disadvantage of disks for
long-term storage?
Disks are mechanical devices and ALL disks will fail sooner or later. For
long term storage, they cannot be relied upon because the day will come
when they do not start up again. It would then be very arduous and
expensive to attempt to recapture the data contained therein. For this
tape is preferable because it can be stored away in conditions that prevent
their deterioration as much as possible and can be retrieved decades later
with no worry of them having broken down. |
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Wed Sep 17, 2003 10:26 pm |
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ben m
Joined: 15 Sep 2002
Posts: 337
Location: UK |
| Excellent Work! |
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Well done Albow, this is really good stuff.
I won't give out too much information right now as no-one else has answered yet so it would give everyone else an advantage if they were given too many hints.
Your Halion answer is good but not quite what I was looking for - think more of the PCs resources and how Halion uses them for its main purpose which is as a sample playback tool.
However, I'll give you a slight hint for this as it is a tricky one;
quote:
Macintosh computers running system version 9.0.4 and lower are not very
good at playing audio while word processing, whereas IBM PC compatible
computers running Microsoft operating systems are. What is lacking from
the Macintosh's operating system?
i really have tried to find this one out but I can't for the life of me.
A hint would be nice!
This has been overcome in Mac OS X - its a feature that Windows has had in one form or another since Win 95.
Also, I'm afraid that there is one poorly worded question;
quote:
Describe four different areas of application in widespread use and give an example of a popular piece of software in each area.
We are talking specifically about the audio world here. Apologies for the ambiguity in this question.
Good Luck.
_________________
ben@audiocourses.com |
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Wed Sep 17, 2003 11:34 pm |
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ruiabreu
Joined: 15 Sep 2003
Posts: 12
Location: Portugal |
| music techology answers - week3 |
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Hello Ben,
Iīve just started the audiocourse yesterday and friday I'm busy so I donīt have the time to fine tune the answers. Here goes (my word was configured to portuguese and I couldnīt change to English in time to some spelling errors are unavoidable (next week itīs fixed).
Define the following terms:
Latency
We have latency when we have a difference in timing between the output of a audio soundcard (the tracks already recorded) and the input (the track or tracks being recorded). We also have latency when we play a virtual intrument and there is a delay between pressing the key and earing the sound.
Duplex
Duplex means that the soundcard you are working with as the ability to record and play music at the same time.
Define the following Sound Card driver types and their advantages/disadvantages;
MME
MME means Multimedia Extension and his a windows driver standard that can controll playback and recording off almost any soundcard. Because it is controlled by the operating system it usually as a latency problem. This driver is not much used is a pro recording enviroment.
Direct X
Direct X is a Microsoft package that includes the Direct Sound driver. This driver can handle various types of multimedia files and it was created to improve the performance of the soundcard for games and playing audio files. However you canīt record with this driver making it impossible to use in a pro record situation.
ASIO
This is a driver written by Steinberg that means Audio Streaming in/out and that as a much better performance than the last two drivers because it bypasses the operating system. The soundcard comunicates directly to the recording software. Itīs also a standard for pro recording systems used not only by Steinberg products.
WDM
This is another driver that has a reduced latency time and means windows driver model. This kind of driver as direct acess to the kernel bypassing most of the operating system. It is usually used with the Sonar Cakewalk software
How may latency be reduced with ASIO/WDM drivers?
We can reduce the number of buffers and the size of the buffers.
Name the primary differences between 'consumer' and 'professional' soundcards.
The professional soundcards offers higher sampling rates compared tj consumer soundcards. Nowadays the professional sampling rate can get up to 196,000 samples per second. Also the amount of memory alocated for a sample (bit) is higher in professional soundcards, up to 32 bits.
The inputs and outputs of a consumer soundcard are usually RCA or S/Pdif types. In a professional soundcard the inputs and outputs are usually XLR or ž jacks.
Define the following hard drive features/specifications and explain their usefulness in a DAW:
Cache
Cache is a small kind of RAM memory that holds recently acess files. When the files are acessed again the computer will recall then from the cache memory bypassing some computer components.
Speed in RPM
Speed in RPM (rotation per minute) is the velocity of the harddisk. The faster the speed of the hard disk the faster you acess your audio tracks, and the more tracks you can have on your DAW.
ATA Type
ATA type defines the interface between the hard disk and the processor. A more recent ATA type will give a faster transference rate thus allowing for better performance.
Why have many people tended not to use AMD processors in DAWs? Is this down to the processor or the relevant motherboard chipsets?
Although AMD and Intel processors are both powerfull processors, AMD are reported to have a latency PCI issue when they come with a Via motherboard.
How may an external 'breakout' box be connected to the host PC? Name 3 different ways and describe the benefits and drawbacks of each protocol.
Firewire, USB, LTP connection.
Firewire streams data faster but is more expensive.
USB is a standard (comes with all computers) and is less expensive.
LTP connection is not much used anymore.
What is the importance of cluster size for PC based recordings?
The bigger the cluster size the better. A large file uses less 32k clusters than 16k clusters allowing for a more continuous hard disk reading thus better peformance.
Define the Von Neumann model of PC architecture.
Canīt find this one! It sounds like a aviation pionner!
In a system with a PCI soundcard, is it more desirable to have the graphics card on the AGP or PCI bus?
In AGP (accelerated graphic port) bus because this is a dedicated bus for the graphic card and using it you donīt overload the PCI bus. PCI graphic card are hardly used nowadays.
Name 2 examples of an optical storage format, and their respective capacities.
CDR, 640 Mb per CDR. DVDR, 9400 Mb per DVDR.
Explain the importance of each of the following factors in a DAW, and what each factor contributes to a DAW;
Amount of RAM
The more RAM memory the better. RAM memory is where data sits between going from the operating system to the processor.
Hard Drive Space
You need a lot of space available in your hard drive when recording to a DAW because audio tracks are big files, and you can easily get 10 or 20 tracks in just a music project. I would go for a 80 Gb plus hard drive.
Processor Speed
The faster the processor the more tracks you can record and/or play in your system when using a DAW.
Explain the following file systems, their associated OSs' and the capabilities of each File System;
FAT
FAT stands for File Alocation Transfer and is a protocol for writting files to a hardrive. It is an early version that didnīt use harddisk space very efficiently. The files were allocated in 16k spaces so that when you had a small file it would waste a lot of space, also it only supports 2 Gb hard drives.
FAT32
FAT32 is an improved version of FAT that allowed files to be allocated in 4k clusters making better use of the hard drive space and supported hard drives with more than 2 Gb.
NTFS
Used for Windows NT and XP it enables a file to be spread across several hard drives.
How does a virtual/soft sampler such as Halion utilise the host computers resources?
How many minutes of stereo CD-quality digital audio can be stored in a 1 Gigabyte hard disk partition, approximately?
Around 100 minutes (10 Mb per minute)
For a hard disk of 20 Gigabytes capacity or more, what is the most likely backup device, other than another hard disk?
I would use a DVDrecorder to store information on a DVDR.
Describe four different areas of application in widespread use and give an example of a popular piece of software in each area.
For processing images I would use a graphical application like Coredraw. For sending and receiving mails I would use an e-mail application such as Outlook. For exchanging files through the internet I would use a P2P (peer-to-peer) application being my favorite Soulseek (when itīs working!). For listening to audio files I would use a multimedia application. I use Windows Media Player.
Describe the main advantages of Firewire compared to SCSI
Firewire is faster and allows more devices to be connected than SCSI. Also Firewire uses longer and more manageable thinner cables.
In relation to computer software;
What is a driver?
A driver is a small application that enables the comunication between a piece of hardware and the operating system or a software.
What is an extension?
An extension is a termination placed after a file name that states the type of file you have. If it is a word document the extension is .doc if it is a mp3 audio file the extension is mp3.
Excluding the host device, what is the maximum number of devices that may be attached to a SCSI bus?
7
If it is necessary to reconnect or reconfigure the devices on a SCSI bus what precaution should be taken?
Turn of the computer before making the reconnection/reconfiguration. Ground the computer. Boot the system only when everything is done.
How many terminators would there normally be on a SCSI bus? Where would they be situated?
2. At the end of the SCSI bus.
A system incorporating two devices in addition to the host on a SCSI bus isnt working correctly. What would you check on the SCSI devices themselves, assuming they are all switched on?
I give up! I have never used SCSI! Ask me about IDA, please!
Macintosh computers running system version 9.0.4 and lower are not very good at playing audio while word processing, whereas IBM PC compatible computers running Microsoft operating systems are. What is lacking from the Macintosh's operating system?
The only two times I used a MAC they crashed. People say that MACs are more reliable but I like a computer I can open!
In a hard disk recording system, which type of disk drive would you expect to allow the most simultaneous tracks to be replayed, a magnetic hard disk or a magneto-optical disk?
A magnetic hard disk. It has the operating system installed on it and as faster acess to the files and to the computer processing power.
Which is usually thought to offer the most reliable long-term storage, removable magnetic hard disk cartridge or magneto-optical disk?
A magneto-optical disk. It has less mechanical parts operating so itīs less prone to malfuncions, itīs also more resistant to shocks because of that.
Compared to digital tape, what is the principal disadvantage of disks for long-term storage?
The mechanical parts of a hard drive will fail sonner or latter so we should not think of a hard drive as a log-term storage medium. It makes more sense to use digital tape because, when storage in good conditions it can last many years. |
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Fri Sep 19, 2003 3:35 am |
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mommi
Joined: 21 Apr 2003
Posts: 47
Location: Tallinn, Estonia |
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Hi all,
Following is what I was able to put togehter.
<P><FONT SIZE=2><B>Define the following terms:
Latency
</B>Latency is in general the time needed for a signal or data to pass through a device or communication channel. In case of disks it means the time it takes to position the needed sector under the disk’s head for reading/writing. Latency is usually caused by phase delay in analog devices and computational or data conversion delay in digital equipment.
<B>Duplex
</B>Duplex, sometimes redundantly said <I>full-duplex</I>, means a capability of a device or communication channel to simultaneously transmit signals/data independently in both directions. In case of <I>half-duplex</I>, signals/data can also be sent in either direction but only one direction at any given time.
<B>Define the following Sound Card driver types and their advantages/disadvantages;
MME
</B>MME stands for MultiMedia Extensions, this is the most common driver type. Being part of Microsoft Windows OS since MS windows 3.1, it has relatively high latency time (0.5 s and more). It also is restricted to stereo operation. The latter means that any soundcard with more than two inputs/outputs will be considered as consisting of a set of stereo tracks. The advantage of MME driver type is availability of drivers for most soundcards, so it can be considered a standard.
<B>Direct X
</B>Direct X is a set of drivers written to provide game developers with access to low level graphic and sound functions under Windows. It consists of several components, DirectDraw and Direct3D for graphics, DirectSound and DirectSound3D for sound. DirectSound was written to provide a low-latency way to mix together multiple audio streams for merging into stereo output. The disadvantage is, however, that you cannot record sound with that type of driver.
<B>ASIO
</B>ASIO, Audio Stream Input/Output, was developed by Steinberg North America for audio/MIDI sequencing applications. It was designed to allow for mixing multiple audio tracks in real time right from the start. Steinberg provides a general purpose, ASIO Multimedia driver that interacts with standard drivers. However, to get a maximum out from ASIO, the soundcard manufactures have started to provide their own product specific ASIO drivers. In the latter case the latency time is reduced down to 100 ms or less.
<B>WDM
</B>WDM stand for Windows Driver Model. It is a technology developed by Microsoft where some general low-level functions like memory buffer access are integrated into an OS (Windows) and other functions are carried out by a hardware-specific driver. As the roles are divided between an OS and a hardware-specific driver, the latter is more compact in code size and thus more effective. WDM drivers’ source code will remain the same under different versions of Windows and needs only compilation for the specific platform, making driver development much faster.
<B>Name the primary differences between ‘consumer’ and ‘professional’ soundcards.
</B>The primary difference is what you can do and with what quality. Professional soundcards will have more inputs/outputs, it’s interfaces will resemble that of a mixing console, so you can probably find _ inch or XLR jacks there while consumer models will restrict themselves to RCA and SPDIF. The maximum sampling rate would probably be different, so would the quality of AD and DA conversion and other design issues like noise floor.
<B>Define the following hard drive features/specifications and explain their usefulness in a DAW:
Cache</B>
Cache is a dedicated memory used to buffer disk read and write operations. Since a hard drive has inherent latency, which stems from time needed to position a disk sector under read/write head, buffering will improve performance of the drive. This is because when an application asks for data, the data could already be read into the buffer and delivered to the application (almost) immediately. The same way, an application doesn’t have to wait for actual disk write operation to take place – the data will be written into cache and, when appropriate, from here to the disk without the need for application’s participation.
<B>Speed in RPM
</B>Speed in RPM indicates how fast a drive is spinning. It is obvious that the faster the disk spins, the shorter it takes to bring a particular sector under read/write head and thus the lower the latency will be. It should be noted, however, that faster speeds are often accompanied with higher level of mechanical noise.
<B>ATA Type
</B>ATA type determines the data transfer rate to/from a hard disk. Obviously, higher transfer rates will result in lower latency and more fluent work. The rates can be something up to 66 MB/s (ATA/66) or 100 MB/s (ATA/100).
<B>Why have many people tended not to use AMD processors in DAWs? Is this down to the processor or the relevant motherboard chipsets?
</B>All right, made my life easier and glanced at what others have to say. And found there is a latency issue in PCI bus when using motherboards with VIA chipset as is the case with AMD processors. I really have no more to comment here.
<B>How may an external 'breakout' box be connected to the host PC? Name 3 different ways and describe the benefits and drawbacks of each protocol.
</B>My reading gave me some very faint idea of what the breakout box is used for. Nothing to say here, hint needed.
<B>What is the importance of cluster size for PC based recordings?
</B>A cluster is the smallest amount of disk space that will be allocated for any data. If there is less data than the size of cluster, the whole cluster will be marked as occupied anyway. To save a 45 kB file in a filesystem with 32 kB cluster size, there will be two clusters, or 64 kB used. Generally, smaller cluster sizes will waste less disk space than larger ones. This can be an issue when dealing with lots of small files. As audio work is accompanied with relatively large files, it would probably be preferable to work on a system with larger clusters. Then the number of elementary read/write operations will be less and the performance better.
<B>Define the Von Neumann model of PC architecture.
</B>http://www.csupomona.edu/~hnriley/www/VonN.html
Von Neumann architecture is named after a Hungarian mathematician John von Neumann. He described a general-purpose computing machine consisting of four main parts, which related to arithmetic calculations, memory, control and interaction with the human operator. For von Neumann it was important that the device be able to store also instructions or orders along with computational data. So these instructions could as well be written in binary form, i.e. as numbers and both the data and instructions be stored in the same memory. Quote: “</FONT><FONT SIZE=2>the orders and data can reside in the same memory if the machine can in some fashion distinguish a number from an order.</FONT><FONT SIZE=2>”
Von Neumann model is often understood as a sequential model of computing, meaning that the processor reads and processes instructions one at a time.
<B>In a system with a PCI soundcard, is it more desirable to have the graphics card on the AGP or PCI bus?
</B>It is better to place it on the AGP bus, since it is faster and dedicated entirely to graphic works. The PCI bus is then free to deal with audio and there will be less chance for conflicts with regard to system resources.
<B>Name 2 examples of an optical storage format, and their respective capacities.
</B>CD (Compact Disk), normally 650 MB, can be 700 or even 800 MB. There are three categories of CD-s, CD-ROM (Read Only Memory, pre-recorded), CD-R (Recordable only once) and CD-RW (Rewritable).
DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), can hold from 4,7 to 17 GB. The above categories apply also to DVD-s.
<B>Explain the importance of each of the following factors in a DAW, and what each factor contributes to a DAW;
Amount of RAM
</B>RAM, Random Access Memory, is where all the operational data will be placed for manipulation. That data includes both program instructions and program data. Running short of RAM will considerably penalize performance, as the OS will start to swap portions of RAM to the hard disk, which always operates much slower than RAM. This can result in unwontedly high latency.
<B>Hard Drive Space
</B>Hard drive is used for storage of the OS itself, applications and their data. Given you already have all necessary applications installed, what needs to be taken into consideration is the need to store your production. Audio applications generate megabytes and gigabytes of data, so it is well worth to check the free space periodically to avoid any bad surprises.
<B>Processor Speed
</B>Processor speed indicates how fast the processor executes instructions. It is evident that the faster processor is preferred to the slower one, as there will less latency then.
<B>Explain the following file systems, their associated OSs' and the capabilities of each File System;
FAT
</B>FAT, short of File Allocation Table, indicates a file system used by DOS and earlier versions of Windows. Also called FAT16 to contrast it to FAT32. FAT itself is a table at the beginning of a disk, containing information about where parts of a file can be found on disk, i.e. what clusters it occupies. The number 16 means the cluster numbering uses 16 bits, allowing for addressing 65536 clusters. The cluster size in FAT16 is 32 kB, so in total 2 GB of data can be stored in FAT filesystem.
<B>FAT32
</B>FAT32 is an enhancement to FAT16 in that more bits (32) are used for cluster numbering. It allows for up to 2 TB of data to be stored in a FAT32 filesystem. FAT32 can be used in Windows OS-s starting from Windows 95 OSR2.
<B>NTFS
</B>NTFS, NT FileSystem, used in Windows NT family of OS-s. Designed from the ground up to be used in multiuser environments. As such, it has means for security regulations (who can access what files and what kind of access is allowed, e.g. can the user only read or also write the file) and is also more reliable because it logs the file operations in a transaction log which can be used to recover from disk failures. Another advantage is a possibility to combine different NTFS filesystems under a common name, so files and directories can be spread over several disks.
<B>How does a virtual/soft sampler such as Halion utilise the host computers resources?
</B>Have no experience here with samplers. Here’s what I found at http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct02/articles/halionworkshop.asp
Halion streams the samples directly from a hard disk, EXCEPT it keeps the first part of every sample permanently in RAM to avoid latency when a particular sample is played. That means having plenty of RAM is of help.
Does this make any sense with regard to the question?
<B>How many minutes of stereo CD-quality digital audio can be stored in a 1 Gigabyte hard disk partition, approximately?
</B>Stereo CD-quality means two channels of 16 bit each with a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. This gives 172 kB per second or 10 MB per minute. So approximately 100 minutes of CD-quality audio will fit into 1 GB.
<B>For a hard disk of 20 Gigabytes capacity or more, what is the most likely backup device, other than another hard disk?
</B>Some kind of tape device, as tapes are relatively cheap per storage unit. DAT can hold data from 2 to 24 GB, DLT from 20 to 40 GB.
<B>Describe four different areas of application in widespread use and give an example of a popular piece of software in each area.
</B>Alright, never used any software for audio yet. Supposing:
<OL>
<LI TYPE="1">recorders and playback/mixers - Pro Tools?
<LI TYPE="1">audio editors - Pro Tools, Cubase, Soundforge
<LI TYPE="1">sequencing software - Cubase, Cakewalk
<LI TYPE="1">samplers
</OL>
Waiting to read any general description of the field. Hints?
<B>Describe the main advantages of Firewire compared to SCSI
</B>Data transfer rate from 400 Mbps (IEEE 1394a) to 800 Mbps (IEEE 1394b) as compared to maximum of 80 MB per second on Wide Ultra2 SCSI.
Support for hot plugging and Plug & Play, providing power to peripherals
Up to 63 devices can be connected as opposed to 7 on SCSI
Compatibility – Firewire 2 supports Firewire 1, while SCSI has many variations whose interfaces may be incompatible
Isochronous data transfer – data can be delivered at a guaranteed rate.
Easier to use and possibly longer cables
<B>In relation to computer software;
What is a driver?
</B>Driver is a piece of software responsible for interacting with some specific hardware. When an application knows what to do, the driver translates it into how to do. Driver controls the piece of hardware under question.
<B>What is an extension?
</B>Some piece of software that extends capabilities of a system or application by adding a possibility to perform some function not available previously.
<B>Excluding the host device, what is the maximum number of devices that may be attached to a SCSI bus?
</B>Seven
<B>If it is necessary to reconnect or reconfigure the devices on a SCSI bus what precaution should be taken?
</B>SCSI devices sit very close to hardware, bypassing an OS to perform their I/O. So care must be taken to not to disrupt some low-level operation by removing a SCSI device without shutting the system down. Otherwise the system can get unresponsible. The system will not know about the change until restart anyway.
When connecting SCSI devices it should be ensured that there are no duplicated ID-s assigned to them. It is also necessary to check the presence of proper termination, terminator has to be attached to the last device in the chain.
<B>How many terminators would there normally be on a SCSI bus? Where would they be situated?
</B>Two, at both ends of the bus.
<B>A system incorporating two devices in addition to the host on a SCSI bus isn’t working correctly. What would you check on the SCSI devices themselves, assuming they are all switched on?
</B>Assuming the cables are connected properly there is potentially either an ID conflict (two devices having the same SCSI ID) or improper termination. The terminator should be placed to the last device in chain.
<B>Macintosh computers running system version 9.0.4 and lower are not very good at playing audio while word processing, whereas IBM PC compatible computers running Microsoft operating systems are. What is lacking from the Macintosh’s operating system?
</B>Is it multitasking?
<B>In a hard disk recording system, which type of disk drive would you expect to allow the most simultaneous tracks to be replayed, a magnetic hard disk or a magneto-optical disk?
</B>Magnetic hard disk. It is faster and has greater storage capacity.
<B>Which is usually thought to offer the most reliable long-term storage, removable magnetic hard disk cartridge or magneto-optical disk?
</B>Optical technologies provide more reliable long-term storage media than purely magnetic ones. The latter are sensitive to magnetic fields and include sensitive mechanics.
<B>Compared to digital tape, what is the principal disadvantage of disks for long-term storage? </B>
Price. Prices per GB are much higher when considering disks.
Tapes are also more robust, compared to hard disks that have sensitive mechanic parts inside. |
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Fri Sep 19, 2003 7:37 pm |
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mrg4u
Joined: 08 Sep 2003
Posts: 7
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| IM learning soooooooooooooooo much |
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Define the following terms:
Latency
Duplex
Latency is normally thought of as the time delay between inputting a sound and hearing it emerge from the soundcard. The reason that the signal can get so delayed is that it has a long way to go. First, it gets converted from analogue to digital via the converter (about a millisecond, but a delay still ). Then it passes internally along a digital buss inside the soundcard, and emerges on to the PCI buss (the connector on the edge of every recent soundcard) From here it travels on the motherboard to the rest of the computer and meets the operating system which has its work cut out so does a little bit of everything in turn.
Duplex
The ability to send and receive data simultaneously which, in digital audio terms, translates to being able to play and record audio at the same time. Many sequencing and multi-track recording programs use a sound card's full-duplex capabilities to allow recording to a new track while playing back previously recorded tracks for reference.
Define the following Sound Card driver types and their advantages/disadvantages;
MME
Direct X
ASIO
WDM
mme MME stands for MultiMedia Extension that is a part of Windows that sets the rules for recording and playing back audio. It is typically used since the 1st Windows 3.0 systems as a default. It's slower because it is controlled by the operating system. Each soundcard maker had to write a .DLL file for the card to use the MME. These varied quite a bit in performance. Today, rule of thumb is not to us MME drivers in audio applications, unless the soundcard maker took the pains to develop and excellent driver.
ASIO is short for Audio Streaming Input/Output This is an "open standard" developed by Steinberg for minimizing latency with virtual studio applications. where multiple streams of audio are processed. It has been adopted by Emagic and other software makers. There are 2 versions. ASIO 1.0 and 2.0. 2.0 adds the ability to monitor several audio inputs at once.
WDM stands for Windows Driver Model with Kernal Streaming This is a newer, lower latency driver that allows the application direct access to the "kernal" without going through the Windows OS. This results in latency figure that is fast like ASIO. It was introduced in Cakewalk's Sonar. So if you want to run Sonar, a card with a good WDM driver helps.
DIRECT X
Microsoft's standard for Windows that provides direct access to hardware features instead of going via the Windows interface. DirectX has brought about many of the superb effects plug-ins now available for the PC, not to mention greatly increasing the quality of games and music software.
How may latency be reduced with ASIO/WDM drivers?
The Audio Stream Input/Output (ASIO) architecture forms the backbone of VST. ASIO addresses any needs a professional audio recording solution might have. It does this by supporting variable bit depths and sample rates, multi-channel operation and synchronization. As a result, the user gets low latency, high performance, easy set up and stable audio recording within VST.
For high performance low-latency streaming, the host application communicates directly with the adapter driver via the proposed open IOCTL extensions to WDM. Applications which need to talk to hardware the ASIO or EASI APIs can continue to do so by implementing a thin "wrapper layer" on top of the IOCTL interface.
Name the primary differences between 'consumer' and 'professional' soundcards.
Most consumer soundcards just support 16 bit output instead of the usual 24 bit. The I/Os are different. Consumer modes include RCA, S/PDIF and sometimes MIDI inputs. Professional models include ž, MIDI and sometimes XLR inputs. This is to match the recording equipment you will most likely be using.
Define the following hard drive features/specifications and explain their usefulness in a DAW:
DAW (digital audio workstation) Any of several software/hardware systems using a computer as the basis for creating, editing, storing, and playback of digital audio, using the computer's hard disk as the recording medium.
Cache
Speed in RPM
ATA Type
A cache is a temporary, fast storage area that holds data from a slower storage device for quick access as needed by an application. Access time is fast using a cache, because the needed information is stored in the SRAM instead of in the slower DRAM. Note that the cache is also much smaller than your regular memory: a typical cache size is 512KB, while you may have as much as 2GB of regular memory.Caching reduces the requirement to access the disk drive, because it's in memory. That means you'll move information more quickly, more safely.
Why have many people tended not to use AMD processors in DAWs? Is this down to the processor or the relevant motherboard chipsets?
Many desktop musicians have shied away from AMD chips due to the purported inferiority of the K6's floating-point unit (FPU).
How may an external 'breakout' box be connected to the host PC? Name 3 different ways and describe the benefits and drawbacks of each protocol.
An audio interface, commonly called a breakout box, is a separate hardware unit that connects to the soundcard, providing audio input and output connector jacks and other controls. USB, FireWire and PCI-based solutions. USB interfaces have become all the rage during the past few years and for good reason: USB is a cross-platform standard, it's built into just about every computer out there, and some USB devices even function without drivers. USB AIs are generally inexpensive and portable; many are even bus-powered, eliminating the need for an external power supply. This makes them the ideal partners for laptop musicians on the go and for live performance. The main disadvantage is the inherent bandwidth limitation of USB version 1, which most AIs use. This means that, at best, the maximum number of audio tracks that can be played back or recorded simultaneously is eight at 16-bit. This drops to six or fewer in 24-bit resolution.For the same reason, latency can be an issue, though latency also depends on the performance of the computer and the driver settings. FireWire, the other portable wonder, is plug-and-play like USB. Even the slower FireWire standard, at 40 Mbps, is 30 times faster than USB version 1, resulting in much better performance and more simultaneous tracks. PCI cards, capable of extremely large data-transfer rates, have the huge advantage of being undoubtedly the best performers. With PCI, you are essentially limitless in the number of simultaneous tracks you can record and play back with the least latency. Many of the breakout boxes are sturdy, rackmountable units that provide a plethora of input and output options; some you can even daisy-chain together. This makes them the obvious choice for permanent studio installations. The disadvantage, of course, is that they cannot be used with laptops, making for a much less portable package. PCI soundcards that do not utilize breakout boxes also carry two unique disadvantages: One, they contain the A/D/A converters on the card itself, where noise can potentially be introduced into the signal from the hard drive; two, all cable connections are made on the back of the computer. This means crawling around your computer every time you want to plug or unplug anything.
What is the importance of cluster size for PC based recordings?
When differing files appear on your hard drive, they naturally take up space, this used space is called clusters. Recording takes up alot of space so in practice the smaller the cluster size the better. Nowadays most computers come with a 32 (FAT) (File Allocation Table), to store files the higher the FAT, the more efficient your computer will be, because small clusters are being used.
Define the Von Neumann model of PC architecture
virtually all modern computers have the same basic layout, known as the von Neumann architecture Named after the man who invented this type of pc system. This layout divides the hardware of a computer into three main components: memory, Central Processing Unit (CPU), and input/output devices. Memory provides storage for data and program instructions. The CPU is in charge of fetching instructions and data from memory, executing the instructions, and then storing the resulting values back in memory. Input devices (such as the keyboard, mouse, and microphone) and output devices (such as the screen, speakers, and printer) enable user interaction by allowing people to enter inputs and by displaying data, instructions, and the results of computations.
In a system with a PCI soundcard, is it more desirable to have the graphics card on the AGP or PCI bus?
The Bus allows different parts of the computer to talk to each other. External devices, memory, are all items that are channelled through the bus. AGP buses are a newer faster technology compared to PCI buses, it leaves all the processing power of the PCI bus to handle audio. By seperating the two audio will run quicker, with more stability and sufficiency. I would say the less u use the PCI bus Eg (graphics video cards) the better for suficient running of your daw . So in conclusion the AGP buses are faster and more efficient at processing video data so audio is allowed to run freely via the PCI bus.
Name 2 examples of an optical storage format, and their respective capacities.
Depending on the access times required by given applications, optical disk products come in two different formats: the compact disk (CD) format used for entertainment systems (audio, photo, or digital video disk applications), and the standard or banded format used for information processing or computing applications.
In the optical disk CD format, information is recorded in a spiral while the disk turns at a constant linear velocity. The standard disk diameter used is 12 cm, which offers a typical capacity of 650 MB with a seek time (access time) in the order of 300 ms and data rate of about 10 kB/s. A minidisk format is currently being adopted in some Sony products that use 6 cm disks providing 140 MB capacity. Various types of products belong to the CD family, including CD recordable (CD-R) products, which are the write-once, read-many (WORM) version of standard CDs; the CD-E erasable products, which are to appear shortly in the market; the Photo-CD systems, which were first marketed by Kodak for storing images; and video CDs, which may become available over the next two years. Several standards for video disk systems are presently being put forward, including the double-sided video disk (DVD) standard proposed by Toshiba and the double-layer format proposed by Sony. Major improvements in CD technology are expected to take place within the next few years.
Standard Format
The access time achieved by the CD format is too slow for use in computing applications. To shorten access times, a standard format is commonly used in magnetic as well as optical disk systems, where the disk turns at a constant angular velocity and data is recorded on concentric tracks. Whether the inner or outer tracks are read, the disk's speed of rotation remains constant, allowing for faster access times; however, this format wastes valuable disk space on the outer tracks, because it requires a constant number of bits per track, limited by the number of bits that can be supported by the innermost track. To eliminate this waste, a "banded" format is now used where tracks of similar length are grouped in bands, allowing the outer bands to support a much larger number of bits than the inner bands. This, however, requires different channel codes for the different bands in order to achieve similar bit error rates over the bands.
Explain the importance of each of the following factors in a DAW, and what each factor contributes to a DAW;
Amount of RAM
Hard Drive Space
Processor Speed
Processor speed
The Processor speed is a very important factor to consider as this is the deciding part that affects the overall speed and performance of the DAW. Latency is a major factor on pcs and the speed of the processor is what determines, how quickly or slowly it takes the computer to capture the recorded information and playing it through the outputs. Also nowadays software is dependent on your processors speed. Will it run smoothly ? Why does it have glitches and sometimes stop all together ? these are all important questions which your processor speed can determine the answer to. Some software wont even run without a certain processors spec being met.
Amount of RAM
Ram speed and the closely related FSB (front side bus) directly effects the speed of the machine and the amount of plug ins a machine can run. The ram is important as the cpu and motherboard for the speed of the machine
The more RAM you have in the system, the larger buffer you can have for buffering data to and from the hard drive. It also increases the amount of VSI's (Virtual Studio Instruments) you can use.
Hard Drive Space
The hard drive is responsible for not only storing your audio files and programs, but its the key part of your computer that allows it to record and playback large track counts. With 2 fast hard drives in a system, one for audio and one for programs u will help prevent data corruption such as different files combining and getting confused, also speed will also be allowed to reach its maximum capability ! Another factor would be, it will decrease head movement therefore lengthening the life of each drive. The more free space you have, the less the drive becomes fragmented.
Explain the following file systems, their associated OSs' and the capabilities of each File System;
FAT
FAT32
NTFS
FAT FAT 32
A table that the operating system uses to locate files on a disk Due to Fragmentation. Fragmentation is the name given when you use a disk frequently, creating, deleting, and modifying files) the file may be divided into many sections that are scattered around the disk. The FAT keeps track of all these pieces. The FAT system for older versions of windows 95 is called FAT16, and the one for new versions of Windows 95 and windows 98 is called FAT 32.The change will mean that less disk space will be wasted for PCs with 2GB-plus hard drives.It organizes data into units on the disk called "clusters," and each cluster can store no more than one file. If a file doesn't fill a whole cluster, the rest of that space is wasted. For example, the existing FAT system can waste as much as 156MB on a 2GB drive.The current FAT version organizes files in 32K clusters, while FAT32 will use a minimum cluster size of 4K. This means that a 3K file wastes only 1K of disk space, instead of 29K.
NTFS is a new file system for Windows NT.NTFS provides everything. It supports long file names, large volumes, data security, and universal file sharing. A departmental NT file server will probably have all its partitions formatted for NTFS. Because the other operating systems cannot use it, NTFS is less attractive on personal desktop workstations or portables.
How does a virtual/soft sampler such as Halion utilise the host computers resources
Most samplers, be they built in software or hardware, work by storing sample data in RAM, so that sounds can be instantaneously triggered from a MIDI controller and played in 'real time'. HALion, like Nemesys' Gigasampler, adopts a different approach. Rather than loading active samples into RAM, and thereby limiting the maximum sample length to the amount of free memory available, HALion works by 'streaming' sample data directly from your hard drive whenever it's required.
In this way, the plug-in uses up remarkably little RAM, and the maximum sample length is theoretically only limited by the amount of free space you have on your hard drive. The supplied sound libraries take full advantage of this freedom, offering (for example) extremely detailed Acoustic Piano and Electric Bass multisamples which weigh in at 250 and 370Mb respectively.
In actual fact, however, HALion does not work entirely by hard disk streaming alone. To do so would be impractical, since it would almost inevitably result in an unacceptable delay between a MIDI note-on and the beginning of sample playback. To prevent this from happening, HALion pre-loads a small section from the start of each active sample into RAM, providing a kind of safe 'lead-in' to the streaming process, and ensuring reliable, responsive performance.
A slider control on the Options page allows you to dictate how much of each active sample will be pre-loaded into RAM (one second is the minimum, 'Always' the maximum), and this can be used to reduce the load on your hard drive. Streaming samples inevitably involves a fair amount of disk activity and, since recording audio tracks in Cubase also makes considerable demands of the hard disk, there's always the danger that problems may arise when attempting to do both simultaneously. By pre-loading more of each sample into RAM, you should be able to reduce the frequency with which HALion has to read from the hard drive -- an aid to stability when recording.
How many minutes of stereo CD-quality digital audio can be stored in a 1 Gigabyte hard disk partition, approximately?
When recording at 44.1 khz cd quality about 26 mins of audio could be achieved on a 1 gb partitioned drive. How i worked this out is shown below
1074 MB = 1 GB 40 MB per minute of audio so 1074/40 = 26.8
For a hard disk of 20 Gigabytes capacity or more, what is the most likely backup device, other than another hard disk?
DVD stands for digital versatile disk. They look like CDs but can store up to17Gb of data. DVD's can store up to four feature films worth of information and will eventually take over CD-ROMs. DVD writers are also available which enables data to be written on special blank DVD disks.
Describe four different areas of application in widespread use and give an example of a popular piece of software in each area.
There is loads of stuff available for turning your computer into a music making machine. The following list is merely a small selection but contains the more popular software types for each application.
Audio and Midi sequencers. - Cubase VST - Industry Standard sequencing and 32 tracks of hard disk recording realtime effects processing with direct x compatibility.
Wave/sample editing.- Sonic Foundry, used for stereo wave editing for professionals and project studios. Realtime and direct x. Can master to cd from within the program.
Notation Software - Sibelius - Top end creative score writing software. One for the professionals, composers and music schools.
Soft synths and Soft samplers - Replicating the use and functions of famous synths and samplers in a software format-eg Generator - intense and powerful modular analogue synth - Transformator - modular sampler.
Describe the main advantages of Firewire compared to SCSI
Firewire allows 63 devices to be connected simultaneously where SCSI only allows 7 (plus the host device).
Firewire is hot swappable whereas SCSI is not.
Each SCSI device requires a unique ID to be assigned manually on the device itself whereas Firewire does not.
SCSI requires thick heavy cables. Firewire uses a thin cable.
The maximum length of an unbalanced SCSI bus is approximately 5 metres. Firewire can be several tens of metres. (The candidate is not expected to recall the exact distance, which anyway depends on cable type).
Firewire is faster than SCSI.
In relation to computer software;
What is a driver?
What is an extension?
An extension is a software application or driver used to enhance the operating system or access different pieces of hardware. Many of these extensions are used to control hard drives and other types of removable media, including Zip and Jaz drives. An extension conflict occurs when an extension is placed in the extensions folder that over writes the softwares driver.
Excluding the host device, what is the maximum number of devices that may be attached to a SCSI bus?
The maximum number of devices that can be attached to the scsi bus excluding the host device is 7.
If it is necessary to reconnect or reconfigure the devices on a SCSI bus what precaution should be taken.
Always turn the computer off care must be taken to ground the computer properly failure to do so could result in damage to the scsi device being used.
Check for the proper termination. The Terminator has to be attatched to the last device in the chain
Each device has a unique target ID. You can select the ID to which a device must respond using a set of jumpers, or a dip switch, or something similar. If the ids are conflicting the computer wont recognise the device.
How many terminators would there normally be on a SCSI bus? Where would they be situated?
There are several different kinds of termination used on SCSI buses. They differ in the electrical circuitry that is used to terminate the bus. Better forms of termination make for more reliable SCSI chains; the better the termination, the fewer problems (all else being equal) with the bus, though cost is generally higher as well. In general terms, slower buses are less particular about the kind of termination used, while faster ones have more demanding requirements. In addition, buses using differential signaling (either HVD or LVD) require special termination.
Terminators must be at the very ends of the bus, after all of the actual devices on the chain. This includes any devices that may be powered off or temporarily disconnected. Therefore, there are always exactly two terminators per bus or bus segment. Many devices contain internal terminators that can be used if the device is at one of the ends of the SCSI bus.
A system incorporating two devices in addition to the host on a SCSI bus isnt working correctly. What would you check on the SCSI devices themselves, assuming they are all switched on
You could check connections between SCSI device and PC, ensuring drivers are correctly installed. Also check no IRQ conflicts are present, also checking the BIOS is set to accept scsi devices is essential. Also that the operating system is set to accept scsi
Macintosh computers running system version 9.0.4 and lower are not very good at playing audio while word processing, whereas IBM PC compatible computers running Microsoft operating systems are. What is lacking from the Macintosh's operating system?
Well id say due to the differences in RISC and CISC chips, but also MS products all work using the same libraries and are more capable of working together. Also the advent of Direct X offers better multimedia capabilites, and also with MMX on chip technology multimedia applications run better.
In a hard disk recording system, which type of disk drive would you expect to allow the most simultaneous tracks to be replayed, a magnetic hard disk or a magneto-optical disk?
The magnetic hard disk, due to its higher access times and faster seek performance. Magneto optical disks are more for a back up device than an everyday storage access device.
Which is usually thought to offer the most reliable long-term storage, removable magnetic hard disk cartridge or magneto-optical disk?
The magneto-optical disk because its protected against UV, magnetic fields, liquids (coffee etc.) its slower and usually smaller in capacity, than a HDD, but its solidity makes it perfect for backup off data
Compared to digital tape, what is the principal disadvantage of disks for long-term storage?
Principal disadvantage is being sequential and relatively slow. Disadvantages of optical disks are that their contents cannot easily be erased and written over and that the access speed is slower than that of magnetic disks
regards
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Fri Sep 19, 2003 8:38 pm |
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ben m
Joined: 15 Sep 2002
Posts: 337
Location: UK |
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mrg4u - your calculation for how many mins of audio can fit into 1GB is incorrect.
To work it out use this formula;
((frequency rate x bits per sample)/8 ) = bytes per second
bytes per second x 60 = mono file size per minute in megabytes
2 x mono file size per minute in megabytes = stereo file size per minute in megabytes.
Remember CD quality audio is 16 Bit/44.1KHz Stereo.
Ok, the question about Mac OS 9 and Windows seems to be a tricky one. Mommi, you are the nearest to the correct answer here.
It is to do with multitasking, but there are 2 types of multitasking commonly used. Anyone think they can crack it?
Cheers,
ben m
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ben@audiocourses.com |
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Fri Sep 19, 2003 9:22 pm |
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mommi
Joined: 21 Apr 2003
Posts: 47
Location: Tallinn, Estonia |
There are two types of multitasking.
Preemptive multitasking
relies on an OS to distribute timeslices between programs, while in case of
cooperative multitasking
the programs regulate the processor use themselves.
In cooperative multitasking, a program keeps using processor time for however long it needs. If finished it's current job, it can allow other programs to take their turn. Cooperative multitasking is a tricky business in that when a program doesn't want to give away the processor resources it has been using, then there is nothing you can do about it.
Windows systems have been using preemptive multitasking since Windows 95. I now wonder whether it was cooperative multitasking used in Mac OS 9? It makes sense then to assume that the word processor and an audio program didn't behave well enough and didn't give away processor time easily, making it impossible to use them together.
Was this the case?
mommi |
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Fri Sep 19, 2003 11:05 pm |
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ben m
Joined: 15 Sep 2002
Posts: 337
Location: UK |
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Well done Mommi, thats the answer we were looking for!
Mac OS 9 did not utilise pre-emptive multitasking making it much more unusable in situations where more than one application needed to be open at once.
Windows on the other hand has utilised this since the days of Win 95 in one form or another.
Well Done.
ben m
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Sat Sep 20, 2003 12:31 am |
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