I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

[neilthecellist]

1. OK! Can someone refer me to a website that has to do with ......the actual code behind audio?

2. Why is the ogg vorbis codec the slowest? What in the compression routines makes it slow? Is it because that it sounds better because it's slow?

3. As much as I hate Microsoft, I'm beginning to admire the wma codec. It sounds great at 128 kbps a second for any ordinary music file.... What's the code behind it? Why is it SOOOOOOO fast to encode with dMC? I get around 34x realtime encoding and i have a Pentium 4 1.8 ghz processor. pretty weak. but the encoding's so fast for wma. why?

4. How long does it take to understand the Ogg Vorbis code? I got the source code but I don't understand it all...

My only programming experience is with Visual Basic......and I've only just started it.



-Neil

[Spoons]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

you might find some discussions on this sort of thing over at hydrogenaudio.org , and you will find so called blind listening tests done over there.

it could be that technically or scientifically speaking ogg may be better which is why it is slower? i really don't know. but in the end who cares? if it sounds ok then it is :D . but i do understand those with obsessions of having the most superior codec is a must have.

and i am also impressed with wma since the lossless codec came out. it's easy to use and the majority of OS systems can play it.

[neilthecellist]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

ok. i just noticed that the Ogg Vorbis CLI is the fastest of all lossy codecs on my computer. Of course, this could just be because I have a Pentium 4...:confused:

I'm just curious as to what you guys' minimum bitrate for each codec is.....for example, my preference with the LAME 3.96 codec is at least 192 kbps , but preferably 224 kbps if possible. With Ogg Vorbis, my minimum is 128, but 160~192 if possible....my minimum with WMA is currently undecided.......what is yours? I'm just curious.....trying to gather as much info as possible.

[neilthecellist]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

what makes a conversion faster? I already have a pretty decent CPU and s***loads of memory (768 megabytes ~ 266 mhz) , a 52X CD-RW Lite-On drive, but i don't know the motherboard name. What makes it faster? is it the CPU mostly?

[LtData]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

what makes a conversion faster? I already have a pretty decent CPU and s***loads of memory (768 megabytes ~ 266 mhz) , a 52X CD-RW Lite-On drive, but i don't know the motherboard name. What makes it faster? is it the CPU mostly?

In approximate order of importance, I'd say CPU performance(type and speed), amount of RAM and speed of RAM. There's probalby a few other factors also, but these are the main ones. By performance of the CPU, I mean its performance relative to other CPUs.

[ChristinaS]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

You forgot to mention it is inversely proportional to how fast you want it

[neilthecellist]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

You forgot to mention it is inversely proportional to how fast you want it

wait, what do you mean? I think my system is pretty good for audio conversions.....I'm just saying: What would make it faster?

And why is my Pentium 4 1.8 ghz CPU always at 13% CPU under task manager? It's not spyware that's taking it up; I checked under Task Manager and it says "System" is at 13%...HOW does this make sense? Does this affect the speed of my audio conversions??

How do I speed up my processor? Is it possible to overclock a processor? Would overclocking my processor speed up my audio conversions??

Whew.... That was a lot of questions....

Oh and by the way, I'M AT SCHOOL RIGHT NOW!!! (Don't worry, I'm not in class, class just let out and I had 5 minutes to type this up. ^_^

[ChristinaS]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

LOL! Neil, if you attempt to overclock your processor you'd better really know what you're doing and be prepared to accept the consequences, which often may mean a totally destroyed computer.

[LtData]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

Can you overclock? Yes. Do I recommend it to you? No way. If you try this, you will only have an expensive doorstop. Speed them up? Get a better computer. That's pretty much it, sorry.

[neilthecellist]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

Ok, can you at least tell me how? My brother did it to his computer......except he has an AMD so it's easy to overclock......He overclocked his GeForce FX5700 ULTRA 256 MB 8X AGP card to the max..........but he has a conventional fan sitting in the back of his computer that constantly blows air into the computer. I have something just like that too, so it should be safe to overclock. Can you PLZ tell me how to overclock just the processor??? I'm beggin' you guys!!!

[LtData]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

Ok, can you at least tell me how? My brother did it to his computer......except he has an AMD so it's easy to overclock......He overclocked his GeForce FX5700 ULTRA 256 MB 8X AGP card to the max..........but he has a conventional fan sitting in the back of his computer that constantly blows air into the computer. I have something just like that too, so it should be safe to overclock. Can you PLZ tell me how to overclock just the processor??? I'm beggin' you guys!!!

Did you buy the computer prebuilt or did you build it or have it built? If you just bought it prebuilt, then your out of luck most likely. And seriously, if you don't know how to do it, don't start trying with your only computer. That's just asking for trouble.

[neilthecellist]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

prebuilt: Dell Dimesion 4500. I added in a Lite on 52X CD-RW drive, and 512 mb of memory, so now my total memory is 768.

What do you mean out of luck? Just tell me how, I won't blame you guys if my computer gets all smoked up the next day, ok? I have a really good cooling system and i have a conventional fan sitting in the back of the computer, constantly fanning air inside.

I've overclocked my video card already, and it's only crashed once because I didn't have a conventional fan yet. (Gainward FX 5200 128mb 8x agp)

[drspy00]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

If your brother is so good at overclocking computers, why dont you ask him about it? This isnt even an overclocking forum, lol.

Overclocking is a silly thing to do especially when you are doing it to make converting audio faster. DMC is probably the fastest audio converters/encoders around and why would you want it any faster than that?

If you really have a real problem with the speed of it, instead of wrecking or damaging your computer, why not use the file selector and convert the files overnight?
just some suggestions!

[LtData]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

prebuilt: Dell Dimesion 4500. I added in a Lite on 52X CD-RW drive, and 512 mb of memory, so now my total memory is 768.

What do you mean out of luck?

Out of luck as in you cannot access the necessary BIOS options needed for overclocking. There is a small chance that you have jumpers on the board you can adjust, but unless you have a third-party GOOD cooling system, you WILL destroy your CPU.

[neilthecellist]

Re: I'm a programming n00b but i wanna learn stuff about audio

poop.

I don't have a good cooler, I just have this gigantic fan i usually use to fan a large room full of people sitting in the back of my computer.

Oh yeah and this guy at school told me that the Dell Dimension 4500 can't have its processor overclocked...Is this true?