Hello,
Audacity 2.1.1 is set at Stereo, 44100Hz and 32-bit float. OS is Win7 Pro. For the best sound quality what should I have the Roland UA-1G set at when sending digitized music to Audacity?
The UA-1G has 32, 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz sample rates.
Thanks
Bart
It’s not super-critical as long as you are at 16-bit 44.1kHz (“CD quality”) or better. “CD quality” is better than human hearing so there’s not much gained by going higher than that. If you are recording at low levels (pros usually record at -12db to -18dB) there may be an advantage to using 24-bits, because at low levels you are not using all of the available bits.
On the other hand, there’s not any harm in taking advantage of your interface’s higher resolution. The only disadvantage is bigger files and you can always downsample later if want/need a different format. The current pro studio standard is 24-bit/96kHz.
Audacity 2.1.1 is set at Stereo, 44100Hz and 32-bit float.
Set Audacity’s sample rate (kHz) to match the sample rate you are recording at, just to avoid an unnecessary conversion.
But, leave Audacity’s bit-depth at 32-bit floating-point. Conversion from 24-bit integer to 32-bit floating point is lossless. Analog-to-digital converters and digital-to-analog converters work in integer format, but there are some advantages to mixing/editing/processing in floating-point, so most audio editors and DAWs use floating-point internally.
I’d avoid the 32kHz sample rate unless you need smaller WAV files or you have some other need for that format. The sample rate needs to be at least twice the audio frequency, so a 32kHz file cannot contain any audio above 15kHz. Young people with normal hearing can hear up to about 20kHz, so in order to record the full audio range, the sample rate needs to be 40kHz or more.