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This lesson covers how computers represent digital audio, including sampling, sample rate, bit depth, file size calculations, the Nyquist theorem, and the comparison between MIDI and digital audio. This is required for the OCR H446 specification.
Sound is a continuous (analogue) wave of air pressure changes. Computers store data digitally (as discrete binary values), so analogue sound must be converted to digital form.
| Aspect | Analogue | Digital |
|---|---|---|
| Signal | Continuous | Discrete (sampled) |
| Quality | Perfect representation | Approximation |
| Storage | Physical medium (vinyl, tape) | Binary data |
| Copying | Degrades with each copy | Perfect copies |
Sampling is the process of measuring the amplitude (volume level) of an analogue sound wave at regular time intervals and recording each measurement as a binary number.
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