The circuitry inside the audio interface that converts the analog audio signal to a digital signal is called an “analog-to-digital converter” (ADC). This may be inside your computer, but for music production it is likely to be an external audio interface.Īs outlined above, musical instruments and microphones usually produce an analog electrical signal that represents the audio sound produced. The computer you use for music production or other recording will be equipped with an audio interface, also known as a sound card. The bit depth refers to the amount of information, or detail, that each sample captures. The sample rate refers to the number of times the analog signal is sampled each second. The two most important aspects of analog-to-digital conversion are the sample rate and the bit depth. What does an analog-to-digital converter do? A analog-to-digital converter converts analog signals from a microphone or instrument in digital signals that can be understood by computer software. The piece of equipment that converts analog signals to digital signals is called an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), but what does it actually do? This is because microphones and musical instruments produce analog audio signals, and the recording software in your computer can only deal with digital signals.

Unless you are doing your recording old-school-style using magnetic tape, you will need to be able to convert analog signals into digital signals.

Analog to digital converter