UNIT – II

INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL MEDIUM

Analog Signal:
Continuously varying signal, used to record some media signal.

Digital Signal:
Signals constructed solely using zeros and ones, which the computers can understand
and handle.

Digitizing:
The process of converting analog signals to digital signals by way of taking discrete
samples.

Sampling rate:
The time interval taken between two samples of the original analog data, during
digitizing. The sampling rate is mearsured in terms Hertz (Hz),whitch is the term for cycles per
second.

Sampling Size:
The number of Computer bits (Zeros and Ones) required to represent a given signal in
digital form.

DIGITAL AUDIO TECHNOLOGY

Computers and Sounds

• Computers were making sounds even before the advent of multimedia and digital
audio technology.
• Small beep sounds meant that the user was trying in vain , to accomplish a task that the
computer has fails to recognize
• The computer beep was actual a warning to notify that the user.
• Sound louder than a polite beep meant something much worse – may be the paper deck
had slipped in the printer carriage again.

Definition:
Digital audio is the technology, by which sound signals are represented as a series of
binary digital data i.e., zero and ones which the computers understand and comprehend.

• Once digitalized sound can be processed like any other binary files , using the relevant
editing and play back software.
WHY GOING DIGITAL?

The primary purpose of digitizing the sounds is to make the multimedia computer understand
and comprehend with the audio signals, digital audio has its own advantage over its
predecessor, analog audio.

1. Digital audio is less susceptible to degradation or distortion, because the entire

transmission and all other transaction process takes place as electronic signals, avoiding
the intervention of air or any other mediums. Thus the quality of the parent signal is
maintained.
2. Editing audio with computers makes cutting, pasting and manipulating of the parent
signals, very easy. Also, a lot of special effects like the echo can be artificially added,
without the need of any other hardware.
3. Digital audio is of superior quality during reproductions, because of non intervention of
air and other loss incurring mediums.
4. Digital audio can be stored as digital data, in reliable mediums like the CD-ROM-thus
extending their shelf life to more than fifty years on an average without losses.

• Digital audio files are constructed by receiving analog signals, taking out samples of
the same at certain intervals and reconstructing the pattern using zero and ones.
• Special processing chips and electronic circuits, technically called analog to digital
convertor are used to accomplish this.

AUDIO RECORDING & AUDIO PLAYBACK

ANALOG TO
DIGITAL AUDIO
(ADC PROCESS)

DIGITAL TO
ANALOG AUDIO
(ADC PROCESS)
DIGITAL AUDIO PARAMETERS

Digital audio samples characteristics are controlled by two main attributes of the process
1. Audio sampling rate
2. Audio sampling size

Audio sampling rate:

• The rate at which sound samples are recorded from the incoming analog audio source
and is record in X-Axis
• It is measured in of Hertz.
• The higher the frequency , the better is the recorded signals , if more number of
samples are taken during a given time of interval. The wave reconstruction is
relatively smooth and resembles the original signal to a better degree.
• The three sampling rates or sampling frequencies that are often used in multimedia
audio arena and are meant for CD quality Audio.

Audio sampling size

• Audio sampling size refers to the number of zeros and ones used to record the
incoming signals and is recorded along the Y-Axis.
• This size depends upon the bits of data your digital sound systems can handle.
• An 8 bit sound system can record signals at around 256 quantum steps.
• Larger audio samplings size can produce better quality sounds.
• A 16 bit sound system will perform modestly well on all normal usages, though
professional recording demands 32 bits or more.

MONO AND STEREO AUDIO CHANNELSING

• In Mono audio recording / playback , same sound signals are sent to both Left and
Right channels of the recorders/speakers; But in stereo, they are different.
• Digital Audio files also handle stereo sounds, by incorporating necessary details in their
header section.
• If the recording is specified as stereo, then, during playback, alternating byte samples
are sent to two speakers after conversion.
• Sampling size reduces as the number of bits that have shared by two incoming signals
instead of one.
• Stereo is advisable only if you need high quality music.

DIGITAL RECORDING PITFALLS

Two types of problems can be anticipate in digital recording process

1. Quantization: The value of each sound sample, during A D C process, is rounded off to
the nearest integer value. This is called quantization and it sometimes produces an unwanted
background noise
2. Clipping: During A D C, if the amplitude of the samples are greater than the intervals
available, the wave is clipped in the top and the bottom. This is called clipping and it
sometimes results in severe distortions of fine music.

The process parameter should be carefully assigned. So as to avoid kinds of pitfalls

DIGITAL AUDIO FILE SIZES

An approximate idea of the disk space requirements for a specific digital audio recording, can
be calculated using the following formula:

Disk space required per second of recording (in Bits) = Sampling Size (in Hz)*Sampling
rate(in Bits)*Channel Multiplication Factor

Where Channel Multiplication factor=1 for Mon recording and 2 for Stereo

DIGITAL AUDIO PLAY BACK

• The digital files are converted back to their parents form viz analog signals and are fed
into the speakers.
• The process is necessarily a reversal of ADC i.e. digital to analog conversion (DAC).
• The digital data that’s converted back, the result are generally rich.
• The basic digital sound manipulation systems in almost the entire current multimedia
computer are usually built up with their own amplifiers circuits and can handle around
4 watts at 4 ohms on each channels.

ANALOG TO
DIGITAL Microphone
CONVERTION

I
D N
R T
I E
COMPUTER
V R
E F
SYSTEM
R A
C
E

DIGITAL TO Speakers
ANALOG
CONVERTION
 2.1 THE SOUND CARD FUNDAMENTALS

THE AUDIO CARDS FAMILY

INTRODUCING THE FAMILY

• The digital recording of the analog source signals is achieved by means of electronic
circuits called the analog to digital converters(ADC) and that during playback
• The digital signals are converted back to their parental form by means of the digital to
analog converter (DAC) before fed into the speakers.
• All these conversion circuits and a host of other electronic circuits that performs
various other audio manipulation functions, are bundled into the multimedia computer ,
in the form of electronic printed circuit boards these PCBs are usually called as the
Audio Cards
• Digital file formats have evolved for multimedia audio. Wave file format  Wav.
For windows or the audio interface file format (files with .AIF extension for the use of
Apple Macs. And playing back and reading such multimedia audio files.
• Audio cards should also be stressed that audio cards functionalities extend much
beyond mere audio recording and digital playback

THE THREE MUSKETEERS:

Three main types of audio cards are mainly used in the multimedia application.

SOUND CARD Music, speech, etc.

COMPUTE MIDI INTERFACE

R CARD Electronics instruments
( keyboard )

WAVE SYNTHESIS
CARD Music, (special effects )
SOUND CARDS:

• Sound Cards are basically meant for Digital audio recording/Amplification/playback

and a number of other fundamental audio functions.
• The other two type of cards are dependent on the sound cards and cannot function
without them.
• The most famous among the bunch of sound cards currently available in the market, i8s
creative sound blaster series is cards.

THE MIDI INTERFACE CARDS:

• MIDI cards are special purpose audio cards exclusively meant for recording music
directly from electronic instruments mostly the electronic keyboards.
• The keyboard must be compatible with MIDI
• In general, only the higher end keyboards supports MIDI and or not others.
• MIDI cards record music in a very special format that’s exclusively meant for
electronic synthesized music.
• The greatest attraction being their smallest dial size as compared to their sound card
counterparts-which make them ideal for storing music data that are comparatively very
long and broadcast like internet
• Disadv :- MIDI is that they cannot record audio other than electronic music, like
speeches or wind instruments.

THE WAVE SYNTHESIS CARDS:

• The wave synthesis cards are also special purpose Audio cards-They are exclusively
meant for professional musicians and not for the average multimedia users.
• The Wave Synthesis cards, in a way, go much beyond mere digital recording in that
they can create professional music on their own, without the aid of any music
instruments.
• The music created is much superior quality, since the music is created just by adding
and deleting Notes.

THE SOUND CARD FUNDAMENTALS

Sound card are basically meant for digital Audio Recording, Amplification and
playback.

AUDIO SYNTHESIS TECHNOLOGY

• The process by which a sound card creates music is called the sound synthesis or the
audio synthesis.
• There are two fundamental types of sound synthesis technology
FM synthesis and the wave table synthesis.

FM Synthesis:
• The technique of blending around with a range of frequency modulations to produce
audio that resembles the original analog sound data.
 • The finial outputs sounded much like ‘electronic generated’ audio pluses.

WAVE TABLE SYNTHESIS:

• The technique of building a wide variety of built in sound samples (actual recording) of
various music instruments and reconstructing the sounds by looking up for samples.
• When a note from a particular instrument is played , the card actually looks up for an
equivalent collection of digital Audio Samples and reconstruct the sound with that
models
• The resulting sounds are better than FM counterparts.
• This sound synthesis technology affects MIDI music much more than the digital audio
files.

CREATIVE’S FAMILY OF SOUND CARDS

Sound Blaster card:- 8 bit sound card- The earliest of the series-was extensively used by
many of the popular CD-ROM Gaming series

Sound Blaster Pro:- 8 bit sound card-had slight improvements over its predecessor like the
stereo sounds.

Sound Blaster 16:- 16 bit sound card-perhaps the most popular one in the creative family

Sound Blaster Multi CD/SCSI:- 16 Bit sound card-with advanced signal processor and option
like Wave card up gradations, these two cards were compatible with CD-ROM Drives

Sound Blaster AWE32:- 16 bit sound card-A widely improved avatar of sound blaster 16 with
very interesting enhancements like advanced wave effects synthesis and 3D surround sound etc

Sound Blaster AWE64:-

SOUND CARD FUNCTIONALITIES:

1. Audio playback-including speech ,music and MIDI
2. CD audio Playback-Playing audio CDs from CD-ROM
3. Adjusting your output speakers for optimum volume , bass, undertone etc-much like a
tape recorder.
4. Audio amplification—for direct input to the speakers
5. Recording music sources like tape recorder and microphone
6. Recording MIDI notes directly from sources like keyboards and synthesizers
7. Synthesizer music creation
8. Wave sound file editing and adding audio special effects like reverb
9. Providing an interface between the IDE or SCSI controlled CD-ROM and sound cards
10. Providing an interface between the joystick and the CD-ROMs/sound card..
THE TYPICAL SOUND CARD CONSTRUCTION: CREATIVE AWE32

DIAGRAM

THE AUDIO JACKS

• Jacks are single hole connecting interface on the audio cards.
• They allow us to attach different devices to our card.
• The variety of devices for which the connectivity extends, largely depends upon the
type of sound card.
• All jacks on your card can be found exclusively on the rear panel of your audio card.
• AWE 32 has 4 jacks.

1. LINE IN JACK
• This jack allows you to connect your tape recorder or disc player to your sound card,
mainly for recording and also for playback.

2. MICROPHONE IN JACK
• This jack allows you to connect your microphone to your sound card for voice or
instruments recording.

3. LINE OUT JACK

• This jack allows you to bypass the card’s internal amplification system and divert the
out coming audio directly to external amplifiers/speakers.

4. SPEAKER OUT JACK

• This jack allows you to connect the speakers for audio o/p from the card’s built in
amplifiers.
 • This built amplifier has minimum o/p power of 4 watts per channel from 4 ohm
speaker and two watt per channel from8 ohm speaker.

THE CONNECTORS

1. CD AUDIO CONNECTORS
• This connector enables you to connect your audio card to a CD-ROM drive using the
audio cable. This connector allows audio signals to be transferred from the music CDs
in your CD-ROM drive to your audio card.
2. IDE CD-ROM DATA CONNECTOR
• This connector allows you to connect your Audio card to an IDE controlled CD-ROM
drive using a CD-ROM data cable. This connection is a mandatory for the sound cards
to recognize and play music in multimedia CD titles.
3. Joystick/MIDI connector
• This connector allows you to connect a joystick and MIDI kit, simultaneously to your
sound card.
4. MEMORY MODULE EXPANSION SLOTS
• This slot allows you to install memory chips on your audio card so that you have more
RAM for your MIDI instrument samples.
5. MODEM CONNECTORS
• This connector enables you to connect your audio card to any modem card that has got
the necessary interface.
6. PC SPEAKER CONNECTOR
• It enables you to redirect the sounds that normally come out of the pc speakers to your
soundcard.

CONFIGURING THE SOUND CARD:

After installing the sound card and its components on the computer, the system must be
configured with the relevant ‘device driver’s/w so that other computer is able to recognize the
new entrant and subsequently divert the audio signals to the sound card.

DIGITAL AUDIO PLAYBACK AND EDITING

AUDIO PLAYBACK
Windows media Player.

CREATIVE MULTIMEDIA DECS:

1. Creative CD
• This program allows the user to playback audio CD’s from the CD-ROM drive
and hear the Play back from speakers with or without amplification from the sound
card.
• It includes advanced options like random track selection and digital playback.

2. Creative WAVE
 • This program is meant for .Wav files playback
• Advanced options like fine selection of track, multiple display forms, direct volume
control and several others.
3. Creative MIDI
• This program allows the user to playback MIDI music files.
• Advanced options include multiple track selection, and touch sensitive display..

4. Creative Remote:
• A combination all above mentioned player program programs. With a single control
interface, one can control all the multimedia devices and files supported by the
system.

DIGITAL AUDIO RECORDING PROCESS

1. Keep your microphone socket plugged in properly

2. Activate the sound Recorder from the accessories program Group
3. Verify the volume control is adjusted properly.
4. Click on the sound recorder Button
5. Start making the sound you wanted to record
6. If the recording is proper, the green line on the center of the panel starts moving up and
down in a zig zag manner
7. To stop the recording process
8. To hear your recording, rewind and play
9. Save

AUDIO EDITING TERMINOLOGY

1,Trimming:
It is the process of removing the unwanted blank spaces

2.Splicing
Splicing process refers to removal of unwanted sounds

3.Reassembling
Assemble several stray pieces of audio together, to make up a single file.

4.Volume Control
Increasing or decreasing the volume of either portions or whole of the recorded audio clipses

5.Time stretching
matching the time with audio source

6.Resampling
Process of reducing the sound quality from 32 bit recordings to 16 bit or from 16 bit to 8 bit

CONCEPT OF MIDI

Instead of storing the actual sound samples in the form of numbers, a typical MIDI file
just record the description of the ongoing music-like the musical notes that are currently
playing the note in the form of numeric data.

MIDI VS DIGITAL AUDIO

• It be could be recalled that digital Audio files store audio data in the form of
numerical samples , that are converted back to audio form during play back.- with
a whole lot of Adc and DAC convention circuitry.
• MIDI stores only the audio environments and variables – not actual sounds that
are issued out of the audio source

THE GENERAL MIDI STANDARDS

A)Base Level MIDI Devices:
Those MIDI Devices, which are capable of playing back at least three melodic instrument
track and a percussion track
B)Extended Level MIDI Devices:
Those MIDI Devices, which are capable of playing back at least nine melodic instrument
track and a percussion track.

GENERAL MIDI CHANNEL ASSIGNMENTS

Channels 1 to 9 -Extended level melodic instruments with 16 note polyphony

Channels 10 -Extended level percussion instruments with 16 note polyphony
Channels 13 to 15 -base level Melodic instruments with 6 note polyphony
Channels 16 -Base level Melodic Instruments with 3 Note polyphony

WORKING WITH MIDI

1.MIDI files can be played back, either by using the player program with the help of the
windows Media player program, after properly configuration the same.
2.Before starting the process of MIDI creation. It is better to check up royalty free MIDI file
libraries that are available in the market and the net.
3.To build up a MIDI music studio, one needs to have a MIDI compatible synthesizer
Electronic keyboard, MIDI plug in cables and MIDI sequencer software.
4.After the MIDI recording is over, the resulting MIDI data has to be edited to suit the specific
requirements of the project. A MIDI sequencer software is used to edit MIDI files.

DIGITAL VIDEO FUNDAMENTALS:

VIDEO IN MULTIMEDIA PROJECTS

1.The project has certain relevant sequences/material that can be video graphed
2.The project has certain sequences/material that can be produced with the help of computer
animations
3.The project has to be made more attractive with video or
4.The project has live lectures/demonstrations/other per recorded material to be incorporated

FULL MOTION VIDEO

Digital Video files played back at a speed of 25-30 frames per second.

CODEC(Compression –Decompression algorithm for video files)

Some famous codec’s are
*Intel- Indeo Video drivers
*Microsoft-VFW Drivers like Microsoft Video1,Microsoft RLE etc
*IBM- ultimation
*Supermac- cinepak drivers
*creative-spigot
*MPEG

DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

VIDEO PRODUCTION IN MULTIMEDIA

1.Shooting the necessary video sequences,
2.Video capture and
3.Digital video editing

SHOOTING THE SEQUENCES

1.Be sure of the video broadcast standards you are using for the recording(NTSC AND PAL)
2.Be sure of the video recording format you are using for recording data on your data on your
tape.
3.Be sure to maintain even lighting in shooting and maintain minimum number of colors in the
scene as far as possible
4.Try to keep the camera stationary as far as possible throughout the shooting sequence
5.Keep the light levels to the maximum.
6.Don’t make long swings or incessant position shift they may become difficult to edit
7.Finally,it is far better for all real time multimedia projects to depend on video professionals
for such recording purposes.

VIDEO CAPTURE TECHNIQUES

 Video capture is the technology by which video signals are converted to digital signals and fed
into the computers,to be stored as video files in some multimedia video file format
Video Capture Boards
Quadrants Q-Motion card

SETTING UP THE DIGITAL VIDEO SYSTEM

1.A multimedia computer system with video capture card
2.A video capture software installed on the system
3.A source video-such as camcorders or video cassette recorders
4.relevant cables that provide connection between the two

A TYPICAL VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE

KINETIX ANIMATOR STUDIO

FRAME MODE VERSUS TIME MODE

UNDER FRAME MODE:

The frame mode opens up the video sequence as individual frames

UNDER TIME MODE

The time mode opens up the same as a group of time bound entities

CUT,COPY AND PASTE OPERATIONS

ZOOMING

DIGITAL PAINTING PROCESS

ALTERING THE VIDEO SEQUENCE

Resize and Crop