Setting the audio sampling rate and bit depth

Each Sonar project has an audio sample rate (see Sampling rate) and an audio driver bit depth (see Bit depth) that indicate the level of accuracy with which audio data are sampled and processed. The same parameters are used for all the digital audio in a project. When you create a new project, if you do not want to use the default setting, you must choose a sampling rate before you start recording audio.

Sonar lets you choose from several different sampling rates: 11025 Hz, 22050 Hz, 44100 Hz, 48000 Hz, 88200 Hz, 96000 Hz, 176400Hz, 192000 Hz, 352800 Hz, and 384000 Hz. The default used by Sonar is 44100 Hz, the same rate as audio CDs. However, you may choose a higher rate and later mixdown to 44100. You can also enter any hardware-supported value in the Sampling Rate field. Consult your hardware documentation for supported sampling rates.

A higher sampling rate produces better quality sound. However, a higher sampling rate also means that each audio clip takes up more memory and disk space and requires more intensive processing by your computer. If you have an older computer, or a slow hard drive, you might be better off with a lower sampling rate. For more information, see Improving performance with digital audio.

By default, the audio driver bit depth of audio data is 16 bits. If your sound card supports 18, 20, 22, or 24 bit audio, you can choose to take advantage of these higher resolutions.

If you are creating a new project that will contain only MIDI material (no audio), you do not need to set the audio sampling rate or bit depth. If you import audio from a Wave file or another digital audio file, the sampling rate and audio driver bit depth of the wave file are converted to your default setting, if necessary.

To set the sampling rate and audio driver bit depth for new projects

Note: If you are planning to move your project to a Digital Audio Tape (DAT) or to some other media via a digital transfer, set your sampling rate and bit depth to match the target unit. For example, use 44,100Hz/16-bit for a project that will be mastered to a CD, so that no sample rate conversion is required.

1.	Go to Edit > Preferences > Audio - Driver Settings.

2.	Select a value in the Sampling Rate drop-down menu, and a value from the Audio Driver Bit Depth drop-down menu.

3.

Click OK.

The sampling rate and audio driver bit depth are saved with the project file.