Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 1 Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter Seven: Digital Audio Workstations and Computers
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 2 Digital Audio Workstations Two types of DAW systems –Sound recording and playback systems built around a computer –Proprietary “desktop” designs that are self contained systems Descendants of the cassette multi-trackers made popular in the 1980s Record directly to hard disk
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 3 “Portastudio” Cassette mult-itracker
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 4 Computer-based DAWs May be built around a conventional home computer or “personal computer” (PC) Most PCs are based on a standard architecture The computer is constructed of various subunits
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 5 Computer-based DAWs
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 6 Computer-based DAWs Subunits of the computer are attached to the printed circuit board called the “motherboard” The CPU is the computer’s “brain” and executes the calculations required to perform the various functions Other subunits are attached to the motherboard as “daughterboards”
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 7 Central Processor
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 8 Daughtercards
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 9 Computer memory Short term storage call “random access memory (RAM) retains data only while the computer is operating Long term data storage is accomplished using internal hard drives, or external storage devices such as solid state drives (compact flash, secure digital, etc.)
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 10 RAM
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 11 Hard drives Hard drives use the same magnetic recording principles used in tape Hard drives are constructed by fixing oxide to a polished glass or aluminum platter Hard drives contain multiple platters attached to a common spindle The tiny recording and playback heads move across the disk surface without touching it
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 12 Hard drives
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 13 Hard drives
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 14 Optical storage Compact disks (CD) and digital versatile disks (DVD) offer permanent external storage Optical storage has the advantage of being less volatile than magnetic storage Optical storage can be very high capacity
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 15 Connecting peripherals Peripheral or outboard devices may be connected to the computer Various protocols exist to connect peripherals –Parallel and Serial Buses –Universal Serial Bus (USB) –IEEE-1394 (FireWire) –Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) –Sony/Philips Digital Interface (S/PDIF)
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 16 Connecting peripherals Parallel and serial are older systems (legacy) that do not offer high enough throughput for most audio devices USB 2.0 provides fast data transfer - suitable for audio data IEEE 1394 offers high data transfer capacity and is “hot swapable” SCSI and S/PDIF are less common and used only for audio devices
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 17 Peripherals and interfaces Some peripherals are designed to allow audio inputs and outputs to be easily connected to the computer using standard audio connectors Other interface devices allow the user to have the same “tactile” experience as using a mixing console
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 18 USB audio interface
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 19 User interface
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 20 User interface
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 21 User interface
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 22 Software BIOS – basic input-output system –Permanent instructions on a chip –Called “firmware” –Instructions for organizing data flow Drivers – small software scripts that allow the computer to communicate with various hardware
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 23 Software Operating systems (OS) provide a consistent software platform for application software Most OS are single-user multitasking OS present a simple (text or graphic) system for the user to operate the software and hardware
Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 24 Software Audio recording and editing applications are covered in detail in Chapter 8