Audio Files

The following audio file formats are supported:

• .WAV files: 16 bit mono or stereo (Pro Plus edition also supports 24 bit, 32 bit and 32 bit floating point files).
• .GJM files: 16 bit mono using lossless compression (Pro Plus edition also supports 24 bit).
• .GJS files: 16 bit stereo using lossless compression (Pro Plus edition also supports 24 bit).
• .SAM files: 16 bit mono headerless raw data files.
• .MP3 files: 16 bit mono or stereo files using lossy compression.
• .AIF files: 16/24/32 bit and 32 bit floating point, mono or stereo (Pro Plus edition only).
• .AEM files: contain references to audio files to play. .AEM files are application-generated (see Understanding Audio Editing).
• .LST files: pre MultitrackStudio 5 equivalent of .aem files. These files can still be read.

WAV files

WAV files can be used with almost any program that supports audio. You need a WAV file to create an audio CD.

GJM/GJS files

GJM/GJS files use a compression algorithm that works best if the audio signal doesn't contain loud treble parts. This works well for multitrack recording since tracks typically have many silent or soft parts so the file size can easily be reduced to about 70% of its original size.

Note that sound quality isn't impaired in any way by the compressing action: if you save a .WAV file in .GJM format and then save that file in .WAV format again you get exactly the same file.

MP3 files

MP3 files use a lossy compression algorithm that degrades sound quality. The resulting file size is 3..9% of the original size. This makes MP3 the format of choice if you want to publish your songs on the internet, or if you want to send them via email.

An ACM Codec is needed to encode/decode MP3 files. Its presence can be determined by simply opening an MP3 file: if the file is opened a codec is present.

Every time a new MP3 file is created the audio quality can be chosen (Medium, High or Very High). High and Very High quality files use the full samplerate (44.1 or 48 kHz), Medium quality files will use half the samplerate (22.05 or 24 kHz). The MP3 codec installed on your system may not be able to create full samplerate MP3 files. The one that comes with Windows usually does not support creating high quality files.

Note that MP3 is NOT the format of choice for multitrack recording: not only does sound quality suffer, the MP3 encoding/decoding process consumes a lot of processing power as well.

AIF files

AIF files are usually supported by software that runs on Apple computers, so they can be used to exchange data between MultitrackStudio and an Apple computer.