Also called a "sound board" or "audio adapter," it is a plug-in card that records and plays back sound. Supporting both digital audio and MIDI, sound cards provide an input port for a microphone or other sound source and output ports to speakers and amplifiers. Sound circuits are typically built into the chipset on the motherboard, but can be disabled if a separate sound card is installed. See Sound Blaster, AC'97 and HD Audio.
Digital Audio
Digital audio files contain soundwaves converted into digital form. Sound cards convert the digital samples back into analog waves for the speakers using digital signal processing (DSP). See sampling, digital audio and DSP.
MIDI
MIDI files contain a coded representation of the notes of musical instruments such as middle C on the piano. Taking considerably less space than digital audio, MIDI files require a wavetable synthesizer on the card, which holds digitized samples of the instruments. See MIDI.
Anatomy of a Sound Card
PC sound cards typically have all the components in this picture. Some have only one output, which may be amplified (Amp) or not (Buffer amp). These components may also be built directly into the motherboard. (Illustration courtesy of Peter Hermsen.)
High-End Sound Card
This Audigy 4 Pro sound card from Creative Labs' Sound Blaster family cables to a remote-controlled external hub that supports all major surround sound standards, up to seven speakers and a subwoofer. It provides a wealth of analog and digital inputs and outputs for connecting audio and video equipment and even has ports for MIDI synthesizers and musical instruments.
Digital Audio
Digital audio files contain soundwaves converted into digital form. Sound cards convert the digital samples back into analog waves for the speakers using digital signal processing (DSP). See sampling, digital audio and DSP.
MIDI
MIDI files contain a coded representation of the notes of musical instruments such as middle C on the piano. Taking considerably less space than digital audio, MIDI files require a wavetable synthesizer on the card, which holds digitized samples of the instruments. See MIDI.
Anatomy of a Sound Card
PC sound cards typically have all the components in this picture. Some have only one output, which may be amplified (Amp) or not (Buffer amp). These components may also be built directly into the motherboard. (Illustration courtesy of Peter Hermsen.)
High-End Sound Card
This Audigy 4 Pro sound card from Creative Labs' Sound Blaster family cables to a remote-controlled external hub that supports all major surround sound standards, up to seven speakers and a subwoofer. It provides a wealth of analog and digital inputs and outputs for connecting audio and video equipment and even has ports for MIDI synthesizers and musical instruments.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2008 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Palm Treo: The reviews are upbeat; Can a device turn Palm around?
- Palm may have a hit on its hands with the Treo Pro judging from the recent spate of reviews as NDAs ended on Wednesday. The larger question is whether this pricey device can give the company a boost in the bottom line. To wit: ...
- Blog posts 2008-08-27
- Who's Dumber: Bad Guys … Or Good Guys?
- In the old cowboy movies, the black hats were villains that created mayhem, until the white hats came along and ended their reigns of fear. Now, we have the spectacle of good guys seemingly educating the bad guys on how to exploit flaws or processes of the Internet, that...
- Blog posts 2008-08-27
- Cisco buys PostPath: WebEx to compete with Exchange, Outlook, Office?
- Cisco on Wednesday bought email and calendar software maker PostPath for $215 million in a move that may signal bigger plans for WebEx. Simply put, Cisco and Microsoft are increasingly on a software collision course. Cisco said its latest acquisition will be used to "enhance the existing...
- Blog posts 2008-08-27
- IDC: 2Q Server units up; Price war looms; IBM keeps market share lead
- IBM maintained its server market share lead over HP as worldwide factory revenue was up 6.4 percent to $13.9 billion in the second quarter, but vendors saw "strong pricing pressure in the marketplace," according to research firm IDC. In it quarterly report on server sales, IDC found:...
- Blog posts 2008-08-27
- Does Psystar have a legit argument in Apple countersuit?
- Somewhere in the news coverage of Psystar's countersuit against Apple today, I was reminded of the car analogy I use to help friends and family understand how to buy a computer. Under the hood of a car, everything is the same. There's an engine, transmission, battery and...
- Blog posts 2008-08-26
- Feel like taunting an identity thief? Don't.
- The next time you get the urge to enter angry messages to phishers on fake malicious Web sites, stop and consider this discovery by researcher Joe Stewart. The identity thieves behind the Asprox botnet have built extra logic into phishing sites to detect taunts and subject those...
- Blog posts 2008-08-26
- AT
- ATSomething better is neededWhen I was traveling overseas on business I sued a GSM phone in Australia and when I went to the UK I only needed to buy a SIMM card and minutes, A fast switch and I had a UK mobile phone.That is the approach that Apple...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-26
- Malware detected at the International Space Station
- Malware is reaching new heights, and going into Space through a removable media carrying the W32.Gammima.AG password stealing malware to the International Space Station. According to SpaceRef.com : "W32.Gammima.AG worm is a level 0 gaming virus intended to gather personal information. Virus was never a threat to any of...
- Blog posts 2008-08-26
- Microsoft to target Windows XP Pro users with Genuine 'nagware' notifications
- Microsoft to target Windows XP Pro users with Genuine 'nagware' notificationsI don't know what difference it will makePeople who love Windows will still love Windows. People who hate Windows will still hate Windows. People who pirate Windows will still pirate Windows.RE: Microsoft to target Windows XP Pro users with Genuine...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-26
- Google Android loses Bluetooth API, Bluetooth still lives
- Google Android loses Bluetooth API, Bluetooth still livesSo what DOES it mean?If the fact that the Bluetooth API does NOT mean that you won't be able to use Bluetooth devices with a phone that runs on the Android OS, what DOES it mean?You'd rather miss it than mess it upSound...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-26
- One Router to Connect Them All
- One Router to Connect Them AllWives and out of townI have the same problem. I usually get infuriating phone calls where I have to talk her through the whole device reboot process each time, and she forgets how to do it.God awful from where I liveRead my "Harsh reality of...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-26
- An argument about switching costs
- An argument about switching costsJust a question...If you're going to be using Windows desktop apps with Sun Ray's, doesn't that mean you'll have to deploy Windows Terminal Server too?Why not drop the cost of Sun Ray and just use WTS (if you're paying for it anyway)?RiskThe core of Dr. Dogs...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-26
- Tech giants may face dollar daze
- Technology bellwethers with a big chunk of their businesses overseas have benefited from a weak dollar compared to other currencies, but the gravy train may be coming to a stop. A weak dollar has helped technology giants such as Google, Amazon, eBay, IBM, HP and others even...
- Blog posts 2008-08-26
- Dell UltraSharp 3008WFP
- The $2,000 Dell UltraSharp 3008WFP is a beautiful-looking display with a ton of features. Because of its 117 percent NTSC color gamut, however, we encountered many more color problems than we expected during DVD and Blu-ray playback. Be prepared to do a lot of color tweaking if you plan to...
- Product reviews 2008-08-25
- IDF and the new Mac notebooks
- IDF and the new Mac notebooksI hope the optical drive rumor isn't true...I hope the optical drive rumor isn't true, I want mine integrated.RE: IDF and the new Mac notebooksHmm...Virtually every PC maker has a quad core laptop.Virtually every PC maker has ram support of at least 8GB in their...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-25
- X-Box (and Cell Phone) Nation: Election Rests In Digital Hands
- X-Box and Cell Phone Nation: Election Rests In Digital HandsGood for MSI read about this last Thursday on cnet http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10021981-52.html And I'll share the same opionion. I think it would be awesome if they could do electronic voting on xbox live.Considering the text message fiascoThe use of high-tech tools remains...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-25
- Get those ToS sorted
- Get those ToS sortedNing can delete everything at their whim?Really? Their business model is "no responsibility". They expect anyone with data to use them?Or do they send out an email amending the terms?Kind of like my credit card company constantly sending term amendments every time they want to increase...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-25
- Vertical line issue also plagues some iMacs
- Vertical line issue also plagues some iMacsWhat part is breaking?The video chip on the mobo or the LCD?Good spooky story timingMy four year old Dell LCD monitor (1704FPTT) began displaying a vertical yellow line, or two, recently. Mine is still sporadic, but I'm sure it will stay or get...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-25
- Intuit: software and services. Are you kidding me?
- Intuit: software and services. Are you kidding me?Paytrust, tooPaytrust customers have been clamoring for connection between Paytrust and Quickbooks/Quicken for years too. It's pathetic that there's no connection between the two and the free online service "mint" is more useful!RE: Intuit: software and services. Are you kidding me?Yes, the release...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-25
- AMD slims down, sells digital TV business to Broadcom
- AMD slims down, sells digital TV business to BroadcomDigital TV products...So, does this mean there won't be any AMD TV Wonder/HDTV Wonder and All-in-Wonder products anymore that usees those chips?Slimmer? leaner?Nope, this isn't 'slimmer' or 'leaner', it is all about, "we need some cash, and we need it urgently'. I...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-25
Neighboring Terms
Premier Vendor Content Whitepapers, webcasts & resources from our Power Center Sponsors
- ZDNet News Videos
-
Tech news covering the latest in products, conferences and blog commentary, from ZDNet video.
- Watch the latest video >>
- Demo: Virtualization with the Intel® Xeon® Processor
-
In this Flash demo, you'll learn about virtualization performance and features ideal for consolidation, load balancing, and disaster recovery with leading enterprise reliability.
- Watch how the Intel Xeon processor can increase performance and reliability of your servers >>
-
-
Tasty Baking’s new LEED factory
0:57
Tasty Baking CIO: Brendan O’Malley
-
Balancing act: innovation vs. reliability
1:28
Facebook VP of technical operations: Jonathan Heiliger
-
Securing data at E-Loan
1:47
E-Loan CIO: Jay Shah
-
When crops are scarce
1:47
Del Monte Foods CIO: Marc Brown
- View all CIO Vision Series Videos »
