Features

Many audio interfaces and music-production applications can record at up to 192kHz and 24-bit. These figures refer to how often and how precisely the analogue audio is measured or 'sampled' as it is converted to digital audio. 192kHz and 24-bit equate to 192,000 measurements per second, each one from a range of 16.7 million possible values. If that sounds like overkill, you're probably right - audio CDs sound pretty good, and they are fixed at 44.1kHz and 16-bit.

Running at high resolutions creates larger audio files on your hard disk and requires more computing power to manipulate. We don't recommend recording any higher than at 44.1kHz. This sample rate covers the human hearing range of 20Hz to 20kHz, and any marginal benefits of higher sample rates are lost when you export to audio CD or MP3.

However, there is a tangible benefit to recording at 24-bit, even though the final mix will only be at 16-bit. It's the nature of bit depths that adding a bit doubles the precision of each measurement, so 24-bit data isn't a third more accurate than 16-bit but is actually 256 times more accurate. This means that it's possible to record a quiet signal to avoid any possibility of distortion and still capture plenty of detail. Even if it's barely registering on the input meters, it's probably more detailed than a full-volume 16-bit recording.

Most music-production software defaults to 24-bit, 44.1kHz recording. If you wish to change these settings, you'll find the sample rate setting in your recording software's audio driver options, and the bit depth in the interface's software utility.

	1 Alesis's iO|26 supports sample rates from 44.1kHz.