24-bit audio support

[3371-Alpha]

After obtaining some pre-owned high quality speakers I couldn't help but notice how shitty the M2 theme song sounds with 16-bit audio output. It sound like a record player, no joke! This isn't game breaking as I still play it but it is pretty annoying. If any of you know how to build an AlephOne with 24-bit audio support please give me advice; or better yet, if you already successfully built one share it with me, please!

[patrick]

i couldn't help but notice how shitty the M2 theme song sounds

i always overwrite that file

it sounds like a record player

[Crater Creator]

Aleph One is just playing the Music file, right? Is a >16-bit version of the track even available?

[Zott]

The music CDs you buy from the store are all 16-bit. Day-to-day, it doubtful one would hear the difference between 16-bit and 24-bit because there is limited 24-bit audio content available. This goes especially true for all of Marathon's content.

[3371-Alpha]

it's doubtful one would hear the difference between 16-bit and 24-bit

Really?

The music CDs you buy from the store are all 16-bit.

Hmm, well they say you learn something new every day.
Regardless I'll just explain what keeps happening. Every time I play it I keep hearing these clicks and pops when playing certain parts of the audio like an old record.

[AlumiuN]

it's doubtful one would hear the difference between 16-bit and 24-bit

Really?

The music CDs you buy from the store are all 16-bit.

Hmm, well they say you learn something new every day.
Regardless I'll just explain what keeps happening. Every time I play it I keep hearing these clicks and pops when playing certain parts of the audio like an old record.

That's not the fault of Aleph One or that specific song (as both work absolutely fine for me, as I'm sure they do for most others) - either the speakers you bought are faulty (although this seems unlikely if they work fine for other things) or your sound card doesn't like Aleph One/SDL's audio, or a combination of both.

[treellama]

it's doubtful one would hear the difference between 16-bit and 24-bit

Really?

16-bit audio encodes a dynamic range greater than that of a symphony orchestra. Plus, most recordings are mixed to use far, far less of that, so they sound louder. You would only need 24-bit audio for production and mixing.

[Pfhorrest]

I think I recall that I had some issue with sound clicking and popping in Aleph One back on my old G4, which was fixed by manually editing some kind of sound buffer value in a settings file somewhere.

[3371-Alpha]

Do you remember the setting exactly?

[Pfhorrest]

No, I was hoping Treellama would comment as he was the one who told me what to change back then. You can probably also find that conversation archived somewhere... it was probably on the MSF but might have been here.

[AlumiuN]

It would appear that you can set a sample rate and buffer size in the preferences file by adding a section like this just under the line <mara_prefs>:

Code: Select all

<!-- set sample rate and buffer size by changing the numbers below -->
<sound rate="44100" samples="1024" />


Those are the default values; I'd probably fiddle with the samples value first, as I'm not sure how AlephOne handles mixing at other rates.

[3371-Alpha]

After fiddling with this for a while and getting nowhere, I decided to open the song in QuickTime only to find that the clicks are there even without AlephOne. Conclusion: the speakers are the problem.

[irons]

Please get a new computer.

[3371-Alpha]

Please stop posting comments asking me to get a new computer.

[patrick]

Please stop.

[AlumiuN]

Please stop posting comments asking me to get a new computer.

Please stop posting comments asking us to provide support for outdated hardware.

[3371-Alpha]

I only asked once for extended support, on the other hand people have repeatedly asked me dozens of times to "get a new computer".

[herecomethej2000]

I think you are confusing bit rate with sample rate. Bit rate is dynamic range and sample rate is digital accuracy. More samples, the closer audio is to analog. As treellama stated, most mixing tends to limit dynamic range as it doesn't play well with crappy headphones and car stereos. To the point where just as how songs are now 3-4 min tops because of old 78 record length, these audio limitations have now defined modern styles and genres.

Regarding games, back then they were pushing boundaries just by having crappy digital audio and not computer generated FM-synthesis bleeps and bloops. (it's all mono for crying out loud and it's the bit rate that bothers you?)

All that said, even if you set alephone (and your OS. don't forget that!) to play 96000Htz 24bit, it's not going to change a thing. All audio files the are encoded the rate they were when mixed. Changing your output rates is not going to magically make it better.

For the record, a lot of people absolutely love records, because the recording is analog (I don't know about modern records though, I wonder because everyone uses digital equipment now days). It is supposedly the most accurate recording you can get.