about bit depth, wordlenght and sample rate

[nuisance sonore]

Hi,
Every article I've read talks about the supperior quality one can expect from working in a 24 bits environement until final export, then dither down to 16 bits. My hardware is 24 bits capable, but I can't find any info for T. Is T in fact recording in 24 bits? What's 32 bits floating point? Is it recording in 32 bits and you only dither down to 24 bits on export (or render)? I don't have access to the render or export dialog as I only have the demo for now.
My typical workflow would involve laying down both midi and audio track in a sequencer, then open and final mix in Vegas where I sometime cheat and do some very destructive things like stretching the audio to match video, an instance where a longer wordlenght would help in maintaining quality I think.
Thank's ahead for clarification.

[kagemusha]

here is some good explanation on the Nuendo forum
http://forum.nuendo.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/020874.html

Tracktion works intern at 32 bit floating point as most host do today.
Depending on what you do it's best to use 32bit float because it has more headroom and doesn't clip. (see explanation at the Nuendo forum). If it clips you can recover the signal to a non clipping/distorted signal. This is very usefull working with VSTs internal. Ofcourse if you record thrue a 24bit card and your signal is distorted before entering Traction you've get clipped sound wich is not repairable.

32bit float is best for working on music, processing sounds, experimenting etc. If everything is finished you can convert to lower bit depts.

[nuisance sonore]

Thank's Kagemusha, a very torough discussion indeed. But on a more specific level, is Tracktion taking full advantage of my hardware when recording, meaning recording 24bit? Will I be able to export(or render) the tracks in 24 bits bit depth?
The reason I'm asking is that I use another software now, sold by Magix, which can only record in 16Bits even though the internal resolution is 32 float (it can import and export, but not record which is my main concern).
Thank's.

[kagemusha]

Yes Tracktion can record, rendering and exporting audio at 16, 24 or 32float wave or aiff files (independant from your audio card resolution)

[nuisance sonore]

Thank's again, this forum is great. Now, I feel a bit stupid as I've just seen the option to set my input to 24 bits in the settings tab, but I could have sworn thoses option were not there the first time I opened the tabs; I must be getting old...