Re: Basic intro (OT)

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock <caliban@darklock.com>]

On Thu, 16 Aug 2001 18:05:41 -0400, "Liebig, Steuart A."
<Steuart.Liebig@maritz.com> wrote:

>I *said* I was quoting the Beastie Boys. Bitch at them. :P
>
>** sure, but you quoted them to make *your* point, no?

Yes, which was "number of samples > number of notes". Sure,
theoretically you have an infinite number of notes, because even though
human hearing only falls into a certain range you can ALWAYS cut that
range in half repeatedly all the way into infinity -- it only approaches
the bottom of the range asymptotically. Realistically, sooner or later
you reach the practical limit of how many available notes you can play.
Assuming the average person can detect a change of 0.01 Hz, you've only
got about two million notes to work with. With only two 16-bit samples,
however, you have over four billion possibilities. Even if only one in a
thousand is distinguishable, that's still twice as many. And with 24 and
32 bit samples...? Damn. With a sampled sound, the number of potential
sounds increases exponentially at a phenomenal rate. Sure, most of them
suck, but... ;)