Sampling rates/ Akai Sampler/

I was about to invest on the latest AKAI sampler available in Japan, which
has a sample rate of 96 KHz (24 bit /I still haven't got clear what bits
stands for):

Akai professional Z8 and Z4 (check www.akaipro.co.jp/ )

...when suddenly somebody mentioned about the new sound cards for PCs with
192 and 256 KHz.

Has anybody heard about these sound cards?. Any advice on latest sound cards
with higher sample rate than 96KHz would be appreciated!!!

Even though I am still worried about the PC taking 48 tracks with Cubase
using high sample rates.

The Akai professional Z8 and Z4 seem to be a good alternative to avoid
clicks on the computer while using high sample rates of 96 KHz with a 128
note poliphony (64 stereo), plus also the tuning resolution is not bad at
all!

Has anybody used high sample rates with Cubase (or similar) on a computer?
If so, I would like to know if you require on your PC

dual mother board with a couple of 2GHz cpu
SCSI drive
High cache (2M at the least?)
A high Ram (514 OR 1024?)

Any suggestions would be appreciated!!! All I can do for you is provide a
list of latest aquipment available in Japan and prices ... even though I
thing USA is still ahead with the intel cpu's!

Many thanks in advance

J.A.M.Salinas

On Sun, 3 Feb 2002 12:49:39 +0900, SOMEONE articulated, I'd better not
say who :

>I was about to invest on the latest AKAI sampler available in Japan, which
>has a sample rate of 96 KHz (24 bit /I still haven't got clear what bits
>stands for):

Well, the sample rate is how many times in one second the analog
signal can be sampled ;) CD qual is 44100, higher rates should sound
better (though this depends on the quality of components in the hw)
The bit rate determines the dynamic of the recorded material.
16 bit gives a possible 65535 (-32767 -> 32768) values for each
'sample', 24 bit gives proportionately more 'depth' and should sound
better. (sorry for the poor explanation)
Of course, if your hardware is a bit crap, it will make less
difference than it should :)

>Akai professional Z8 and Z4 (check www.akaipro.co.jp/ )

Seen there ;)

>...when suddenly somebody mentioned about the new sound cards for PCs with
>192 and 256 KHz.
>Has anybody heard about these sound cards?. Any advice on latest sound cards
>with higher sample rate than 96KHz would be appreciated!!!

No. In all honesty, these really high rates may not give significantly
'better' quality of sound. It's more to do with the quality of
converters and circuitry used. They may just cause more disk space to
be eaten up and more powerful computing being necessary.
A cheap card with 96khz sampling may not sound better than a dear one
at 48khz with good components (like apogee, perhaps)

>The Akai professional Z8 and Z4 seem to be a good alternative to avoid
>clicks on the computer while using high sample rates of 96 KHz with a 128
>note poliphony (64 stereo), plus also the tuning resolution is not bad at
>all!

Have you looked at the Symbolic Sound Kyma / Capybarra system ?
It has sampling capabilities, freedom concerning tuning (0.0026 Hz
resolution) and just about every other aspect of Digital Signal
Processing.
It's not going to be much more expensive, for a fully expanded one,
than what you suggest already ;) Ah, Kyma :)
Not for the faint hearted (or time lacking) peeps though :)

Even most of Native Instruments soft synthesisers have great tuning
ability too. (Reaktor, Pro-52, Generator) See this page.

http://www.microtonalsynthesis.com/micro_ns.html

>Has anybody used high sample rates with Cubase (or similar) on a computer?
>If so, I would like to know if you require on your PC
>dual mother board with a couple of 2GHz cpu
>SCSI drive
>High cache (2M at the least?)
>A high Ram (514 OR 1024?)

What about a dual Amd MP ?
The hard drive is pretty important, fast as possible, as is your
memory.
If you want to go overboard, SCSI is the way to go with the hard
drives, though a new Ide100+ disk (or RAID ide) would be a much
cheaper option, likely faster too.

If none of this has been any help, or is incorrect, my apologies...

"If I had twice the time, half the work done"

http://www.ampcast.com/guiseppimendoza
http://www.ampfea.org/sln/browse.php?num=3&a_id=132

On Sun, 3 Feb 2002 12:49:39 +0900, SOMEONE articulated, I'd better not
say who :

>I was about to invest on the latest AKAI sampler available in Japan, which
>has a sample rate of 96 KHz (24 bit /I still haven't got clear what bits
>stands for):

Ooooo, look at this :)

http://www.hartmann-music.com

Click on the button and download the pdf.
Looks like a powerful (if expensive) bit of kit..

"Pipeline in pipeline for piping through Afghanistan" ;)

http://www.ampcast.com/guiseppimendoza
http://www.ampfea.org/sln/browse.php?num=3&a_id=132