Topic by Phil

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Topic: Pianoteq switching to 16 bits with iD4 sound card

Hello all, I've received a brand new sound card Audient iD4 which allegedly should be 96 kHz and 24 bits. When setting as output device the "Built-in output" my Pianoteq reports it is using 24 bits output. When I then switch to my connected iD4 it changes the encoding to 16 bits. Is this normal? I was expecting 24 bits. There may be anything wrong with the sound card as well, but since I don't know "who decides and how" I first ask on the forum of who has reported the info. Let me know if there is anything I can do to investigate further.
Thanks.

Reply by EvilDragon

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Re: Pianoteq switching to 16 bits with iD4 sound card

Audio interface likely has its own preferences somewhere, where this could be adjusted?

Hard work and guts!

Reply by Phil

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Re: Pianoteq switching to 16 bits with iD4 sound card

EvilDragon wrote:

Audio interface likely has its own preferences somewhere, where this could be adjusted?

Thanks EvilDragon. I don't know of any control console for the sound card, except for a small program used to update the firmware (which I already did by the way). Does such a sound card control app need to be proprietary, or is there any generic app to help you with that?

Oh and I forgot to mention that I'm on macOS (recently updated).

Reply by EvilDragon

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Re: Pianoteq switching to 16 bits with iD4 sound card

In Pianoteq's Options->Devices, there's a "Show this device's control panel" button, did you try clicking it?

Hard work and guts!

Reply by dazric

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Re: Pianoteq switching to 16 bits with iD4 sound card

I have an iD4, and I'm generally very happy with it. In the Options window of Pianoteq, it shows it's running at 48k and, curiously, 32 bits (not 24). But here's the weird thing: I clicked on 'Show this device's control panel' and nothing happened (I'm on Windows 10). Clicking on the 'iD' logo on the Windows sidebar did nothing, either. Need to investigate further and maybe send a query to Audient.

Reply by Gilles

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Re: Pianoteq switching to 16 bits with iD4 sound card

Phil wrote:
EvilDragon wrote:

Audio interface likely has its own preferences somewhere, where this could be adjusted?

Thanks EvilDragon. I don't know of any control console for the sound card, except for a small program used to update the firmware (which I already did by the way). Does such a sound card control app need to be proprietary, or is there any generic app to help you with that?

Oh and I forgot to mention that I'm on macOS (recently updated).

On the MacOS Audio and MIDI setup utility is shown the current choice for sample rate and bit width of all connected devices both in and out. Yours should be there with the current values that Pianoteq sees.

Last edited by Gilles (14-06-2019 13:58)

Reply by Phil

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Re: Pianoteq switching to 16 bits with iD4 sound card

EvilDragon wrote:

In Pianoteq's Options->Devices, there's a "Show this device's control panel" button, did you try clicking it?

Can't find such a button in Options->Devices (I'm using Pianoteq 6.4.1).

Reply by Phil

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Re: Pianoteq switching to 16 bits with iD4 sound card

Gilles wrote:

On the MacOS Audio and MIDI setup utility is shown the current choice for sample rate and bit width of all connected devices both in and out. Yours should be there with the current values that Pianoteq sees.

Bingo, that was the missing link! I found those settings and managed to set my sound card as I wanted. Weird that there is no way to get there through the system prefs.

Thanks to all of you for your time. I'm glad to have found a friendly and responsive forum :-)