[sdiy] jitter, warmth, and so on

[Antti Huovilainen]

On Sat, 22 Apr 2006, Richard Wentk wrote:

> If there's a consensus, there's a real effect. If the results are random, 
> doing any further investigation is likely a waste of time.

Only for single oscillator case. As I remarked earlier, JND for frequency 
change is quite high (around 3 cents). JND for beating pattern change is 
vastly lower.

> I've occasionally wondered if 'fat' is related to very low level noise 
> introducing a kind of dither. If that's present, it needs 24-bit resolution 
> to record it properly.

In this case no analog synth recorded on cassette or LP could be fat. The 
noise floor is not even close to that of decent 16 bit ADC. Also, even the 
very high end gear can only get ~20-30dB better noise floor than a 16 bit 
ADC is capable of.

> 44.1kHz is barely adequate for high-res audio. (Not a Nyquist issue so much 
> as a hardware issue.)

Well, to me analog synths sure sound warm even when recorded on CD. I'm 
not aware of single scientific study that shows beyond much doubt that 
there is an audible difference between 44.1 and 96 khz in realworld case. 
There have certainly been tries though.

I just don't think a 44.1 vs 96 difference would have any real 
significance (assuming decent hardware) compared to (desired) variations 
in VCOs. Differences in THD/IMD etc would likely trump those at typical 
prosumer price points.

Antti

"No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow"
   -- Lt. Cmdr. Ivanova