"hd" In The Title???? Help!!!!, What exactly is it? Options

[thehudg]

I'm glad to be hear. I've looked everywhere for answers. Maybe someone can help me here. Okay, let me ask a stupid question. If something has "HD" in the title such as the MOTU 896HD, does that mean it actually takes the weight of the processing off of the host computer? Or is the 896 just another pretty (inter-)face (haha) and A/D converter? The reason I ask is that my PC's suck for processing any music. But if the computer itself is simply more of an "interface" or controller of the sound recording product HD (like the 896), and the 896 is the main processor of the data, I would be okay for now. Just tell me the relationship of the two. How much processing can it do?

[formatj]

HD = High Definition, that's all.

[lepetitmartien]

Hi thehudg

Yes, acronyms can be confusing for most.

Now, if you want an example of another about something you're talking about :

Metric Halo makes a great sounding if expensive FireWire portable interface called the Mobile I/O (which is In/Out) there's a version with virtual mixer and a plug in architecture powered into the interface, it's the +DSP version. Note that i'm still waiting the DSP part to work in full at last…

DSP is Digital Signal Processor. a chip which is aimed to only a few tasks (processing digital data) particularly. Video cards use DSPs for acceleration, Protools pro systems use DSP cards to route and process audio.

[thehudg]

So you're saying that other cards don't have dsp beside Pro Tools? I suppose that means I'm in the market for another computer as well as another sound card. I'm thinking about going the mac way anywho. If Aardvark had a driver for a mac, I'd keep my 24/96.