Audible difference between DAWs?

Discussion in 'Mixing and Mastering' started by Ted Smithton, Nov 21, 2017.

  1. taskforce

    taskforce Audiosexual

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2016
    Messages:
    2,325
    Likes Received:
    2,456
    Location:
    Studio 54
    Is it hard to comprehend that different DAWs calculate slightly differently near silence and max peak values? The more channels you submit to render, the more prone to this "behavior" is any DAW.
    Do this simple test. Grab 20 tracks @ 0 db peak and import them all in your DAW. Then see how much you have to lower the master volume until you reach the "no red,0 db" zone. No need to export anything.
    Then open these same 20 tracks in another DAW and compare how much you have to lower the volume to reach 0db on your master with no apparent clipping. You may find that you have a 0.1 to 0.3 db difference on the master fader, from to DAW to DAW. And this is what the summing algorithm is. Internal resolution of the various algos that process the multitrack audio to stereo plays a significant part in this difference. And while this difference maybe passable it is not the same.
    Cheers
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2017
    • Agree Agree x 2
    • Interesting Interesting x 2
    • Like Like x 1
    • Funny Funny x 1
    • List
  2. Lambchop

    Lambchop Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2017
    Messages:
    547
    Likes Received:
    126
    So you're saying Live's Old School Roads is not the same as FL Keys? Who knew :\
     
  3. notapro

    notapro Noisemaker

    Joined:
    Sep 11, 2017
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    5
    well the only thing a summing algorithm does is add stuff together. theres no room for differences there.
     
  4. Lambchop

    Lambchop Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2017
    Messages:
    547
    Likes Received:
    126
    Just curious, are you familiar with how 32-bit float math works inside a DAW? There's no such thing as a track clipping inside a DAW, not until you export it (as int).
    edit:
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2017
    • Like Like x 1
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • List
  5. notapro

    notapro Noisemaker

    Joined:
    Sep 11, 2017
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    5
    atleast one sane person on this forum
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Winner Winner x 1
    • List
  6. erwinor

    erwinor Member

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2013
    Messages:
    31
    Likes Received:
    10
    Tell us please how you ,sane persons, do null tests?
     
  7. notapro

    notapro Noisemaker

    Joined:
    Sep 11, 2017
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    5
    by summing the same files in multiple daws, then importing them into another daw, then nulling them.
     
  8. Lambchop

    Lambchop Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2017
    Messages:
    547
    Likes Received:
    126
    Page 3 of this thread; watch vid clips (~30 secs each)
     
  9. erwinor

    erwinor Member

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2013
    Messages:
    31
    Likes Received:
    10
    I knew it.......this is how you should do it.Of course it doesn't matter which DAWs you are using.
     

    Attached Files:

  10. Lambchop

    Lambchop Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2017
    Messages:
    547
    Likes Received:
    126
    ...
     
  11. erwinor

    erwinor Member

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2013
    Messages:
    31
    Likes Received:
    10
    [QUOTE="
    Lambchop said:
    inb4: "but if you do 40 different calculations in a row, on 40 different calculators": same deal.
    [/QUOTE]
     

    Attached Files:

  12. Lambchop

    Lambchop Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2017
    Messages:
    547
    Likes Received:
    126
    ^
    My work here is done.
    [​IMG]
     
  13. taskforce

    taskforce Audiosexual

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2016
    Messages:
    2,325
    Likes Received:
    2,456
    Location:
    Studio 54
    @Lambchop You really want to take this to junior level ? Alright i'll play... There is a light indicator next to your master fader that lights red when your volume exceeds 0 db. What exactly do you think this is stuck there for? Cosmetic purposes?
    You can claim there is no audible difference with digital clipping in modern daws, whole websites do the same based on a theoretical perfect math. Which in practice is nearly never perfect. I gave you the simplest real world example i could. Try for yourself dude. I'm done talking, no offense of course, none taken none intended :). Cheers
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
    • Interesting Interesting x 1
    • List
  14. SOKRVT

    SOKRVT Kapellmeister

    Joined:
    May 21, 2016
    Messages:
    99
    Likes Received:
    44
    So, should i switch to Cubase 9.5 ? Will it make my 808's much thumpier?
     
  15. erwinor

    erwinor Member

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2013
    Messages:
    31
    Likes Received:
    10
    At last......thank you.... go and play with your koala or Teddy bear.
     
  16. erwinor

    erwinor Member

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2013
    Messages:
    31
    Likes Received:
    10
    no it will not....thats not the point.
     
  17. SOKRVT

    SOKRVT Kapellmeister

    Joined:
    May 21, 2016
    Messages:
    99
    Likes Received:
    44
    Was being sarcastic..
    Whoever claims they can hear differences between DAWs is delusional (Same people probably belive the Earth is flat and aliens live among us and we're in the Matrix)
     
  18. erwinor

    erwinor Member

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2013
    Messages:
    31
    Likes Received:
    10
    Well.....I am not a flat Earther.....aliens do exist but I don't know if they live among us.... there is something I ve heard about Matrix ,don't care but............Daws do sound different and I can hear it no matter what null tests are showing.
    Am I delusional??...for some people yes ..I don't care either.
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • List
  19. SOKRVT

    SOKRVT Kapellmeister

    Joined:
    May 21, 2016
    Messages:
    99
    Likes Received:
    44
    Can't argue with that logic
     
  20. Lambchop

    Lambchop Banned

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2017
    Messages:
    547
    Likes Received:
    126
    Whelp, I spoke too soon. My work here is not done. Clearly.
    Looks like we'll have to.

    Curious fact #1:

    Math, used inside your DAW, is 32-bit float. Here's what our grownup friends at Wikipedia have to say about 32-bit float math:
    [​IMG]
    That's an awfully big number! Even compared to another big number, 16-bit int (2^16, or 65,536).
    Bonus question: How many orders of magnitude?

    Curious fact#2
    If the meters in your DAW were calibrated to show 3.4 * 10^38 as 0dB, two bad things would happen:
    1. The meters would NEVER go into the red (clipping), because, unlike God, who can do just about anything, our DAWs can't make a bigger number than they, themselves, could make. Due to the [grownup] principle called non-contradiction.
    So we might as well not have any red pixels.
    2. The meters might as well not be there -- they'd appear to be at -~infdB all the time.

    That would not be nice.

    So the grownups who make DAWs decided to make our meters useful -- to show us relative levels.
    If I record myself on insert #1, and my handler, Miz Lewis on #2, and both meters are bopping around the same value? Well, that means we're about as loud as each other. Feel free to push these meters hard into the red, as I did in the video clip -- when 32-bit float is transcoded to 24 (or 16, as in the vid) INTEGER data, there's no clipping. As you can see in the screencap vid.

    Magic!

    Caveat: When you export your project as an 16 or 24-bit int, make sure the meter on the track being rendered doesn't go into the red. Unlike floating point, int files do clip.
    And that's what I did. Not only that, I even wrote about it & made screencaps. And posted them here.
    Nice?
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2017
    • Winner Winner x 3
    • Like Like x 2
    • Interesting Interesting x 1
    • List
Loading...
Similar Threads - Audible difference between Forum Date
Audible Lays Off Over 100 Employees Industry News Jan 13, 2024
Need help figuring out some inaudible noise Soundgear Nov 2, 2023
Audible Genius Syntorial 2.0 Software News Nov 9, 2022
bass "only" audible in the back of the room Studio Aug 5, 2022
Multiple Kontakt errors, crashes yet still audible in Vienna Ensemble. Kontakt Jul 1, 2017
Loading...