Any Ideas Why This Would Happen?

[bermudagold]

first off,...i know most of the underlying discussions in this have already been covered ad nauseum....and i was one of those guys who was like bits is bits....there is no difference in ones and zeros....and i understand that most native sound coloration comes from A-D/D-A converters in the audio interfaces and hardware you use, which essentially act like effects....but this fascinated me so i had to ask.......i loaded up Tracktion, Ableton Live, and Adobe Audiiton on the same computer at the same time, placed the same wave file song in each in a single track with no effects,and played all three instantaneously toggling the mute buttons between hosts listening to the wave at the same places.....all three being played through the same audio interface and headphone jack.....and i was really surprised that they all sounded noticeably different....now i know all three apps have different default volumes, but what i heard was more than volume....subjectively of course....Live sounded muted, almost compressed,....Tracktion sounded airy, almost crackly.....audition sounded bright, almost clearer and wider.....i didn't think the summing bus arguments would provide a noticeable difference, plus this is only one track....what else is there that could cause this besides volume?...do different apps actually have their own coloration?....how is this possible with digital audio?...exscuse my ignorance if i'm missing the obvious

[original flipper]

HI

You did well there - I have never heard of 3 host programs sharing the same ASIO drivers at the same time.

Flipper.

[diverdee]

audition doesn't support asio as far as i know - but..... yeah.

[AJay]

It's possible that running the 3 programs simultaneously has an influence on the individual apps sound quality.

Even if you only play sound in one app, the other two apps are still loaded in memory and will still be accessing resources in the background.

Try running them seperately.

[greendoor]

I believe different hosts do sound different. I used to think binary files were binary files, and "logic" suggests that they should all sound the same, provided they are doing the same thing (as you are trying to do). Probably it's more important how the Export function sounds (if indeed it sounds different, and I suspect they do). You can try exporting the exact same file from each app, and then comparing them in another multitracker. Two identical files will cancel to zero if you invert the polarity on one. Any residual noise would be the difference between them.

But streaming playback may well be different - I don't think the people who really know would tell. I suspect there are some corners cut with some of the audio device driver code - maybe to make them faster/less latency. There are so many variables in software, trust nothing except your ears.

[bermudagold]

i see all you guys points...thanks 4 the thoughts.....i'm running ASIO on an M-audio Ozone.....instead of playing them simultaneously in all apps, i repeated playing them in one app at a time to prevent driver fighting....still heard the same noticeble differences....even if i play all three apps at the same time but not simultaneously, instantiating each about a second apart, i can hear all three playing in my headphones without pops, crackles, or dropouts,....so i dont know if the app having total control of the asio driver is an issue....and yeah exporting the clip would be a more accurate representation.....unrelated, the first wave i used was recorded from my mic.....i tried again with a wave from a professionally mastered cd....the differences seem highly dependent on the wave....this time the ableton sounded almost eq'ed...drums were punchier, vocals further back and bass more upfront,...the tracktion sounded eq'ed the other way, almost leveled and flatly balanced.....audition sounded spatially different, almost like it was recorded in another room, like the stereo space had been squished narrower, instruments closer to each other......i'm no sound engineer, and the type of guy who wouldn't normally listen for this,..just whether i like the song......but still, this whole thing is very surprising to me....dont know why this is the case....but interesting none the less.....i guess from this incredibly unscientific test i may end up having a subjectively personal preference in terms of sound.....something i didn't think i'd need to consider from a DAW