Open Audio Hardware Guide

As the leading developer of music and sound software for Windows, Cakewalk has always advocated and supported open industry standards, giving you the flexibility to create the best hardware and software configuration according to your own needs.

Cakewalk software products are designed to work with any audio hardware that supports standard Windows drivers, providing you with the widest range of hardware choices available. We created this guide to help you decide which audio hardware is best-suited for your specific Cakewalk-based recording system.

This list is a resource for both authorized Cakewalk resellers and Cakewalk customers. It allows you to quickly compare the features of a number of different audio cards, making your hardware decision that much easier. Please see the Glossary at the end of this document if you are unfamiliar with any of the terms used in this guide. If you would like more information on a specific card, simply click on the name of the manufacturer to open a link to their website.

Please Note: Only SONAR Producer Edition, SONAR Studio Edition, Guitar Tracks Pro, Home Studio, and Music Creator Pro are capable of record and playback using multiple inputs and outputs. The maximum amount of inputs or outputs that our other programs will use is 2/2. Make sure that the capabilities of the Cakewalk software you own or intend to own are compatible with the audio hardware you are considering.

Disclaimer: This guide provides an extensive hardware listing, but does not represent all available audio hardware products. The following audio cards shown represent a broad cross-section of today's best-selling and most reliable products. We have made every effort to ensure that the following information is accurate at the time this guide was printed. Cakewalk is not responsible for any inaccurate information. Prices, specifications and availability are subject to change without notice. (Note: The "Maximum Bit Depth/Sample Rate" listed is per manufacturer specification, actual results may vary per program)

Application Notes

Glossary

To make life a little easier and to help you wade through the jargon, we have provided you with a handy list of defined audio hardware terms.

A 9-pin serial connection used to synchronize ADAT decks with other devices such as professional soundcards.

A fiber optic port for connection to an ADAT or ADAT-compatible deck. It allows for the transfer of 8 channels via an optical/TOSLINK cable and is a common interface on professional sounds and digital mixers.

A two-channel digital interface standard adopted by the Audio Engineering Society and the European Broadcast Union. This connection can be found on digital tape recorders, hard disk recorders, digital audio workstations, and some professional soundcards. The connection uses balanced cables with XLR connectors.

Inputs and outputs designed for use with an analog signal. Analog signals are comprised of voltages as opposed to digital signals which encode these signals using a fixed series of samples at a given bit depth.

Audio Stream Input Output. ASIO, developed by Steinberg, is a cross-platform, multi-channel audio transfer protocol. It allows software to have access to the multi-channel capabilities of a wide range of powerful sound cards.

The number of bits which represent each byte of audio data. Higher bit depths mean a higher resolution of each sample equating to greater overall dynamics. CD quality audio is currently 16-bit while DVDs utilize 24-bit recordings

Inputs and outputs designed for use with a digital signal, thus eliminating the need for Analog-to-Digital or Digital-to-Analog Converters. Examples of digital I/O formats include AES/EBU, S/PDIF, and ADAT Lightpipe

Musical Instrument Digital Interface. A means by which computers and musical instruments can communicate. It's a language that allows you to give instructions to a computer that it will then send to the synthesizer on your sound card, or to any other MIDI devices that you may have available.

MIDI Time Code. SMPTE timecode data connected to a MIDI data stream. Pro Audio and Guitar Studio read SMPTE/MTC for film and video synchronization.

Peripheral Component Interconnect. A newer and faster bus developed by Intel which is faster than an ISA bus. Almost all current desktop soundcards, professional and consumer, utilize this format.

Personal Computer Memory Card International Association. This is a standard format for laptop peripherals such as modems or soundcards, which fit into a slot in the side or back of the computer.

A type of connector and jack developed by the Radio Corporation of America. RCA connectors are unbalanced. They are often used in pairs for connecting home stereo components.

Digital representations of analog signals are created by sampling an analog voltage a fixed number of times per second. The higher the sampling rate the more accurate the digital representation of audio. The Nyquist Theorem statest that the uppermost frequency range of a recording is equal to half of its sample rate (ie the upper limit of a 44.1 khz recording is 22 kHz). Compact Disks use a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz while DVD-Audio can use sampling rates of up to 192 kHz.

Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. A popular time code standard used for synchronization.

Sony/Phillips Digital InterFace. An interface (input/output) that allows you to connect two digital audio devices using an RCA connector (Coaxial) or a TOSLINK (Optical).

Teac Digital Interface Format. An 8-channel digital audio interface for Tascam's multitrack hardware recorders.

Universal Serial Bus. This is an external interface for peripherals which support plug-and-play and hot plugging. USB allows for transfer rates from 1 to 12 Mbps.

Windows Driver Model. A driver model based on the Windows NT driver model that is designed to provide a common architecture of I/O services for Windows operating systems for specific classes of drivers. This driver model is currently supported under Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millenium Edition, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. WDM drivers provide low-latency, multi-channel I/O.

A signal that synchronizes digital audio by indicating the sampling rate of sample words over a digital audio interface.

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