Techie question about bits and dither

[lharless]

should i use the mda or the waves dither? or does it make a difference? what really matters when dither is used? which are the best dithers that are available, without money as an obstacle? if im using a program like wavelab or some other "finalizing" software, i suppose that i should use the dither at the end of THAT process instead of in tracktion? or should i be using wavelab at all in the process? does tracktion cover all of those bases? what's up yo?

[IIRs]

if im using a program like wavelab or some other "finalizing" software, i suppose that i should use the dither at the end of THAT process instead of in tracktion?

Yes. Dither at the final stage, when you drop to 16-bit. At the moment I would suggest doing that in Wavelab.. the Waves dither is supposed to be quite good I think, but I don't have it to compare..

[IIRs]

One way to test different types of dither: load up your hi res master in wavelab, drop the gain by 24dB or more, and dither and truncate with various algos. Now turn up your monitors, and listen carefully for depth and stereo imaging.

[Jon]

This web site should answer your question by soliciting your own ears. Do the blind test. Then look at the results.

http://www.24-96.net/dither/

[IIRs]

This web site should answer your question by soliciting your own ears. Do the blind test. Then look at the results.

http://www.24-96.net/dither/

Thats an ear opener!

so, the only way to get this Megabitmax dither is to buy Ozone then..?

[IIRs]

On the other hand, mda dither sounds quite pleasant compared to some of the other ones up there! (try turning the word length down to 8 bit)

[Jon]

mda pretty good. If you are looking for the best sound, it appears that it is either waves or megaitmax. To me the megabitmax was by far the best sounding. You can get it if you can find an old version of spark. You don't need to use spark, you can just use the plug-ins.

[IIRs]

To me the megabitmax was by far the best sounding.

both the MBM algos were in a different league to the rest..

[valley]

I actually preferred the pow-r type3, although the megabitmix ultra was almost a joint favourite.

Certainly an education though (even if I do doubt that I personally could have told the difference on at least a third of them without the +50db).

[valley]

disclaimer - perhaps listening to Krushed and Sorted's Acid Made Me Do It[1] at high volume before embarking on a dither shoot-out pretty much disqualifies me from having an opinion at this time.

[1] truly a masterful ode to the improbably horrible Yamaha A3K filters.

[IIRs]

I'm seriously considering buying Ozone now..

[semiquaver]

Here is something you could do: download the demo of Ozone and make a recording of the Megabitmax dither.

then send them $20...

[IIRs]

Here is something you could do: download the demo of Ozone and make a recording of the Megabitmax dither.

then send them $20...

I just tried that (apart from the $20 bit! ) but it doesn't seem to work.. I made a 32 bit file in Soundforge using the DX version of Ozone, and imported it into Tracktion before rendering.. the results are not nearly as good as when I run Ozone in the mix buss.. Any ideas why? Perhaps there is more to the algo than simply adding noise..?

[semiquaver]

it will only work correctly if your master fader is at 0 and there are no filters in the master section....

[IIRs]

Of course! Still doesn't work properly..