What is a digital sound card?

Digital sound card is a computer part most commonly used to convert electronic signals to audio signals that can be played through speakers. The sound card is designed by one of two ways, either as a separate part that connects directly to the computer motherboard, or built as part of the motherboard itself. The card also has various input and output connectors to which things can be connected, such as speakers and even musical tools. Modern sound cards are capable of advanced sound features such as spatial sound, and some can provide a sound at a level comparable to dedicated home theater systems.

The two main purposes of digital sound cards are digital playback and music synthesis. Digital playback is simply the output of pre -recorded music, while music synthesis is to generate on -site sounds due to user input. A good example of this kind of technology is the use of a digital interface of a musicertOJE (MIDI) keyboard connected to the audio card. As a key on the keyboard, the sound card can generate notes based on stored data files of different types of tools.

Sound cards were not standard devices on computers of up to 90 years, before the most common sounds radiated from a typical computer were basic beeps and Bloopy via a single internal speaker. Digital sound technology gradually and driven mainly by the computer games industry has advanced to include more complex sound. Things, such as sound effects, music scores and even digitized voice acting, have become more and more possible to work with a digital sound card.

The basic technology of digital audio cards at the beginning of the 90s provided only a one -channel mono output, unlike stereo or five channel space. In addition, the number of different sounds that bY could be played at once, characteristics known as polyphony, no more than three was limited. As a result, there have not been sounds that could play a computer for many years, more complicated than a ringing tone on a basic mobile phone. Especially early sound cards also usually included gaming ports, the only way to connect joysticks or controllers to their computers.

In the 90s, sound card technology and more advanced features such as stereo output have improved. In addition, more cards came to have their own memory with random access (RAM) and central processing units (CPU). This meant that sound processing could be interpreted from the main memory and CPU of the computer, release system resources for further tasks and allow the user to maximize sound quality at the same time.

The beginning of the turn of the 20th century was increasingly common for computer manufacturers to integrate the basic sound cards into the computer's motherboard. This integrated solution is cheaper and ofAbout less physical space in the case of a computer than one that needs to be plugged into a slot. However, the functions of sound cards on board are generally minimal and serious players and still consider other energy to be a necessary digital sound card of the accessory.