audio tech paper 2 Flashcards
In what circumstances might a listener perceive a dip in level, when two sounds are crossfaded linearly?
If the content is dissimilar
What does a modern DAW use to enable non-destructive editing?
Edit-decision list
Which of the following DAW user interfaces is NOT used to edit MIDI note data?
Mixer
What does the P stand for in PCM?
Pulse
AIFF and Microsoft Wave files are divided up internally into what logical structures?
Chunks
What is the transmission rate of MIDI data along a standard MIDI cable?
31250bps
What is conventionally a “lossless” audio file format
WAV
What is the standard sample rate across all aspects of the audio industries?
None (there is no standard)
What is used to reduce the effects of quantisation distortion?
Dithering
What happens when a signal exceeds the maximum amplitude supported by a digital system?
Clipping
Which of the following file formats will typically exhibit the worst compression ratio for audio?
ZIP
A surround sound system is described as “7.2”. What does this imply?
It has 7 satellite speakers and 2 subwoofers.
What is the “Nyquist” frequency?
Equal to half the sampling rate of the system
In a software audio editor, which normalisation processes is most likely to require dynamic range compression to prevent clipping?
RMS normalisation to -3dB
The Yamaha DX7 was a flexible music synth of the the 1980’s. Which type of synthesis was it based on?
FM
In comparison to earlier recording media, the development of magnetic tape facilitated the practical application of which activities?
Sound editing
The Mellotron was an early sampler instrument. What did it use for a storage medium?
Magnetic tape
What is the primary purpose of the groove~ object in Max?
To play sound files
What combination of objects could be used to create a pattern sequencer in Max?
Counter / lookup
Which Max object is best suited to scaling an audio signal for use in controlling the frequency cutoff of a filter?
[scale~ -1 1 20 20000]
The unit “cycles per second” or CPS is equivalent to what?
Hz
What frequency ratio is equivalent to the musical interval of 25 cents?
1.0145
Which of the following waveforms contains all the harmonics of a given fundamental frequency?
Sawtooth wave
Shepard and Risset tones exhibit what kind of auditory illusion?
They appear to continually rise or fall in pitch
What is the duration of 11 periods of a waveform with frequency 440Hz?
25ms
Given a square wave with a peak amplitude of 1V, what is its RMS amplitude?
1V
With reference to the relative phase of waveforms, which of the following is equivalent to 180°?
π
How many semitones are in the musical interval of a Perfect 4th?
5
What is the amplitude of the 4th harmonic in a triangle wave if the fundamental frequency has an amplitude of 0.9?
0
Looking at the waveform of a sound, how might you be able to tell if the sound had been subject to quantisation distortion?
The amplitudes of the sound appear to be stepped
In sound synthesis, the A in the acronym ADSR stands for what?
Attack
In modulation synthesis, new frequency components are generated based on the components of the input signal. What are the new components known as?
Sidebands
The amplitude envelopes of acoustic guitar and piano sounds generally exhibit which type of decay?
Exponential decay
What kind of effect is produced by a very short delay (where the delay time is less than 5ms) and the original signal is mixed with the delayed signal?
Comb filtering
When two sine waves are added together and are close in frequency, what phenomenon might occur?
Beating
In wavetable synthesis, how much sample data is stored in the wavetable?
A single cycle
Which expression is used to describe a synthesizer that can only play one instrumental part at a time?
Mono-timbral
