5.1 sections

5.1.1 - Analog vs. Digital

This is an easy to understand section. The content makes sense and sets up the important concepts for the rest of the chapter.

5.1.2.1 - Two Steps: Sampling and Quantization

I find it annoying that a term (Hertz) can be used with different meanings, but I know nothing can be done about that here. I found sampling and quantization to be relatively straight forward. If the difference between continuous and discrete is understood, I feel like sampling and quantization will make sense to the student.

5.1.2.2 - Sampling and Aliasing

I thought this section was easy to understand as well. The computer must select points to sample, and enough points must be sampled to create a decently accurate digitized version of the track. This requires the use of the Nyquist Theorem, or else the sample won't be accurate enough. I think it is pretty straight-forward.

Error on page 5. It says "The value of these high sampling rates will be discussed in section 4.2." Since this is in chapter 5, it should say "The value of these high sampling rates were discussed in 4.2."

5.1.2.3 - Bit Depth and Quantization Error

If you want the music majors to really understand binary, there needs to be a good lecture on binary. Elizabeth was still confused about it after reading, so I tried to explain it to her (hopefully my awful teaching made enough sense to make binary a little more clear). Once you understand it binary is pretty easy, but it takes a bit of work to learn it. Bit depth is a little confusing, but I feel like the supplements do a pretty decent job explaining it. Assuming this is what actually happens, figure 5.6 also clears this concept up by showing the positive and negative values for the bit depth. The reason that quantization occurs also makes a lot of sense, especially with the help of the different related figures.

5.1.2.4 - Dynamic Range

I'm not a big fan of this section. It gets a bit dry after a while, and after reading a few times, I'm still not sure if I fully understand what dynamic range is in this context. A lecture on this might help, but the text and supplement standing by themselves don't give a great explanation of the concept.

There is another error here at the end of the section on page 12. It again says "will be further discussed in chapter 4."

5.1.2.5 - Audio Dithering and Noise Shaping

Audio dithering is simple enough, but noise-shaping is a little bit confusing. I feel like a visual representation of this would be beneficial.

5.1.3.1 - Audio Data Streams and Transmission Protocols

Discussions of the different accessories required for sound production like this section can be a bit boring sometimes. This section clearly explains what the S/PDIF does and the better qualities of the AES3, but I don't really have much more to say about this section.

There is a typo at the top of page 15. The second "meters" is spelled "meteres."

5.1.3.2 - Signal Path in a Audio Recording System

The discussion of buffer size in this section is interesting and quite relevant. It is helpful to understand why the sound cuts out every once in a while. Many of the computer science majors will probably already know this information, but a clear explanation of what is happening is quite helpful and the music majors probably don't know this info. It is also very practical to what is going on in the class. Selecting the right buffer and sampling size to create the best sound capturing is crucial to successful digital music creation.

5.1.3.3 - Digital Audio File Types

This was an interesting section, I thought. I've always been curious about what the actual difference is between the different music file formats. I found the discussion of compression to be interesting and informative. It was easy to understand and fun to learn about. Even though compression makes sense and the reasons that data can be lost during the process are easy to understand, I also though the supplement helped with understanding even more. I thought it was a pretty good supplement.

On page 19, a little bit of the bottom of the aside is covering some of the text. It is just the very top of a few letters, but I'm sure it would be pretty easy to fix.