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SuBKA
New member
Alot of people talk about how important "DA Converters" are. But what is that, and what does it do?
Thanks for answers.
Thanks for answers.
City Beats
Twizted Muzic
An A/D converter is an analog to digital converter ... it basically takes an analog signal and converts to digital (binary code, 0's and 1's, for the computer to understand and process)
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SuBKA
New member
Okay, but what does that mean for music production in the end?
City Beats
Twizted Muzic
If you're making beats, absolutely nothing because you're not using any kind of analog signal that needs to be converted into digital ... the only time you'd need an A/D converter (which is your audio interface) is if you're plugging a microphone into a preamp and recording directly into Pro Tools or your D.A.W
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SuBKA
New member
So it would only be useful if I would record real instruments? Okay thanks.
City Beats
Twizted Muzic
Yeah ... basically. If you're recording live instruments or vocals or anything like that. And I take back not needing D/A converters ... sort of. You would need D/A converters (digital to analog) to translate that back into something to playback to you... so if you have an interface with studio monitors hooked up to them then you'd need D/A converters but your interface will already have converters
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SuBKA
New member
Alright. Something I would never consider buying unless I get rich some day. 
You can imagine that the budget of a 15 year old is very ... limited.
You can imagine that the budget of a 15 year old is very ... limited.
krushing
Active member
There's no "sort of" - all audio that comes out of a computer goes through converters to turn those 0s and 1s into something we can actually listen to; you can't hear anything without them. So it's not a question whether or not you need them, it's just about whether or not you need better converters. The answer in the case of your average bedroom recordista with more or less low-end monitoring and little to no acoustic treatment is usually a resounding "no" - converter technology has evolved pretty well, so the converters you're already using are probably pretty good. The high-end converters are the last 5% when you already have a superb sounding room and monitoring; the differences are very very subtle. The same applies when recording external sources, and there the differences can be a bit more pronounced (but still subtle).
deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup
New member
To this day I don't own an AD/DA converter. I own an Avalon M5(which would probably benefit from being chained to one), tons of mics, but just run everything thru my M-Box. I never found value in the purchase since everything for the most part other than vocals and on rare occasion a few guitar licks is done directly on my computer.
I could definetly see the need for one if you're running tracks of live instruments, but once you mesh a few tracks of vocals into a finished song with a little EQ and processing, I could never convince myself it's worth the cost of a decent one($800 starting, $2-3k average), especially when most stuff I mix is sent to me via email and recorded somewhere else.
Alot of people treat them like the foundation of quality recordings though. I'm sure there's some truth to it, but hard to compare to my home recordings when most places I've recorded that have them also have super-professionally treated booths and the highest end Mics and pres.
I need to find a place where I can rent one to see how much of a difference it can really make.
I could definetly see the need for one if you're running tracks of live instruments, but once you mesh a few tracks of vocals into a finished song with a little EQ and processing, I could never convince myself it's worth the cost of a decent one($800 starting, $2-3k average), especially when most stuff I mix is sent to me via email and recorded somewhere else.
Alot of people treat them like the foundation of quality recordings though. I'm sure there's some truth to it, but hard to compare to my home recordings when most places I've recorded that have them also have super-professionally treated booths and the highest end Mics and pres.
I need to find a place where I can rent one to see how much of a difference it can really make.
City Beats
Twizted Muzic
If you're just a young kid getting into audio production who's plugging an old pair of Sony's into his laptop and making beats off of FL Studio you don't need convertors because your laptop/desktop is already doing that for you. That's why I said "sort of"
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C
CPhoenix
CharlesAllen/ BMR Studios
I just wanna say this to avoid a lil confusion i saw above.
There's a difference between A/D and D/A converters lol. It's obvious... they're opposites. The OP mentioned D/A converters, so the comments above about A/D converters are correct... but don't apply here. Just wanna avoid confusion.
For my 2 cents... D/A converters matter, only when you're good enough to hear the difference. When I finally got good at mixing... I didn't realize how much my converters were holding me back, until I accidently got better ones by changing interfaces. It was a big difference for me. But it was zero difference to everyone on my team who didn't mix. Yeah... stock D/A conversion on your interface is definitely good enough. You only upgrade that when you've outgrown them and really require hearing minute details in your sound, b/c you're getting THAT surgical with your mixing. Most people eventually get there if they stick with it and decide to do their own mixes. But they come with a hefty price tag... so it's tough to warrant spending that much money.. unless you really need to. Monitors and acoustics will play a bigger role anyway.
Why is D/A different from one interface to another? Think about it in logical terms. A digital signal is literally just a bunch of 0s and 1s. THat sh-t needs to be converted into SOUND. Like.... REAL LIFE SOUND!!! Imagine turning your brain's electrical waves into SOUND. How crazy is that?!?!? THat's essentially what's happening. The digital signal is carrying all of things information (stored as a 0 or a 1) and the converter has to interpret that and produce an audible tone or signal. Certain interfaces needless to say do that better than others, and they come with a price tag. Worth it to a professional. Not worth it to a non-professional or hobbyist.
The prosumer gear is good enough to where you get a good sound. But there is a big difference between that or the high end stuff. It's just a matter of if YOU will notice the difference... which u probably won't until u get good, and have great monitoring and acoustics. For example... a photo is just a photo to most people... but to someone who's deep into film... they se all types of depth within the photo, lightning issues, something may be out of focus... etc. But to me... the picture looks fine enough. Same thing w/ audio.
There's a difference between A/D and D/A converters lol. It's obvious... they're opposites. The OP mentioned D/A converters, so the comments above about A/D converters are correct... but don't apply here. Just wanna avoid confusion.
For my 2 cents... D/A converters matter, only when you're good enough to hear the difference. When I finally got good at mixing... I didn't realize how much my converters were holding me back, until I accidently got better ones by changing interfaces. It was a big difference for me. But it was zero difference to everyone on my team who didn't mix. Yeah... stock D/A conversion on your interface is definitely good enough. You only upgrade that when you've outgrown them and really require hearing minute details in your sound, b/c you're getting THAT surgical with your mixing. Most people eventually get there if they stick with it and decide to do their own mixes. But they come with a hefty price tag... so it's tough to warrant spending that much money.. unless you really need to. Monitors and acoustics will play a bigger role anyway.
Why is D/A different from one interface to another? Think about it in logical terms. A digital signal is literally just a bunch of 0s and 1s. THat sh-t needs to be converted into SOUND. Like.... REAL LIFE SOUND!!! Imagine turning your brain's electrical waves into SOUND. How crazy is that?!?!? THat's essentially what's happening. The digital signal is carrying all of things information (stored as a 0 or a 1) and the converter has to interpret that and produce an audible tone or signal. Certain interfaces needless to say do that better than others, and they come with a price tag. Worth it to a professional. Not worth it to a non-professional or hobbyist.
The prosumer gear is good enough to where you get a good sound. But there is a big difference between that or the high end stuff. It's just a matter of if YOU will notice the difference... which u probably won't until u get good, and have great monitoring and acoustics. For example... a photo is just a photo to most people... but to someone who's deep into film... they se all types of depth within the photo, lightning issues, something may be out of focus... etc. But to me... the picture looks fine enough. Same thing w/ audio.
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krushing
Active member
Yeah, I understood what you meant - but for someone new to this, your post could be interpreted as if having converters is somehow optional (which it's not). The point being that everything from the lowliest $5 Realtek chips has converters - and they're even not as terribly bad as they used to be.
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Greatwilliam
Guest
I really don't know 