Max Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 What difference is there between hardware and software units for sound manipulation? Is there a quality advantage in using, for a example, a hardware expander vs an expander plugin in an audio program? Are the hardware ones the real deal and the software ones are the imitations? If so, how much of a difference is there between the two? If somebody can break this down, please do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam Posted October 6, 2004 Share Posted October 6, 2004 Hardware is generally thought to sound better. Well, GOOD hardware at least, I don't doubt there is a lot of hardware that sounds worse. Software is normally cheaper (free to most of us, lol). Less cables. The big issue is LATENCY. Even with a uber-powerful machine, there will be some level of lag versus a hardware unit. However, if your machine is powerful enough, this will not be an issue as it will be able to deliver the sound in such a time as to provide a near imperceptable difference. Buffer underuns. If you set the latency too low, sometimes the buffer will under-run. This sounds awful. However, as with the above, if your hardware is up to the job and you set the buffer/latency up correctly, then you'll never have a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.