Which converter, which filter, to dither or not to dither ?
And the big question, is it worth recording in native dsd AT ALL if you're going to convert to pcm ANYWAY for processing ?

it is a mystery to me why people continue to pay attention to a format that has never brought any benefits and has long since failed...

"Worth" is a big word, it's a word that connects ever single action or inaction undertaken by an engineer, because ever single action/inaction is reflected in the final product.

Alot of people will settle on the attitude that everything they themselves do is "worth it," and the things they dismiss are not.

My employment of DSD is clearly insane, but it works for me and these specific customers are ecstatic. Would they be ecstatic to the same degree if I employed a PCM approach? Everyone else is fine with such an approach ... so... Maybe? Maybe not? I honestly don't know, and I'm not prepared to find out.

To wit: for a chamber ensemble, I'll have one Sony D-100 low infront, and another high in back. Track in DSD. Bring them into the computer (out the line outs) and instantly and from then on amen it's all PCM.

Sounds wondrous and fully dimensional and the eagerness, discernment, grace and energy of the players is captured and displayed in a fabulous, glorious way.

Well worth it...

For most people DSD serves no purpose and is annoying.

However is does sound better on high end acoustic recording and I really enjoy listening to my SACDs.

I did a big dig last year into this again and found that you can do some cool things but my god are they clunky to use. Once the code was opened up the community jumped in. Editing, level adjust and basic processing is doable.

Massive shame as it could have been a standard.
I assume you're Pyramix Joel?

You're probably peering into the future, I hope so... for the present day, I am on the humble but entirely effective Digital Performer 11.

There were some tests done on various software back in 2015 I’ve not seen a follow up

https://archimago.blogspot.com/2015/...s-mac.html?m=1

Do you actually gain something by recording in DSD, then working in high sample rate PCM, compared to directly recording in high sample rate PCM ?
Your post suggests it doesn't yield the same result.

Theoretically you gain control of how the Pulse Density Modulation is converted to Pulse Code Modulation rather than just doing what the hardware ADC chose.

However unless the ADC is badly implemented then any differences should be inaudible.

I definitely do, there's a seamlessly smooth texture to the whole thing, more "life" and "believability" and "magic."

And "magic" is sure a treasured thing, especially with these hardcore acoustic classical virtuoso-type people.

As others have noted, if I just did it all in 96/24 pcm, it would be fine and fantastic and perfectly okay... but having stumbled upon this process that makes it really really good, I keep on keeping on.....

DP11 does DSD !!!!!! ????????

Well they kept that quiet.

It does it in my bizarre, anti-conventional way, yes.

What I do is play the DSD files on my Sony D100, and run its line out (1/8") into DP11 (through the first two channels of a Presonus Quantum 2626) to create a 96/24 file, in real time.

Then, edit, process, enhance, concatenate, just generally do my thing.

The final product is wav files and mp3's.

So... "insane"?... absolutely, but the purity and sweeping musicality of that final product is real nice. Super-nice.

So you're not converting dsd to PCM in a conventional way, you're feeding the dsd output signal into your DAW and re-record it there.
In a pure theoretical sense, isn't that a subpar conversion ?

steer clear of dsd: there are several disadvantages but zero benefit (which imo is the reason why the format has failed) - sounding slightly 'different' (depending on converter) but not necessarily 'better' imo does not qualify as benefit: you can as well use another pcm converter if you want some variety...

[been there, done that - i had used hugely expensive meitner converters at the time (in case someone is wondering) - these days, i still have a tascam recoder that could do dsd but i've got no reason for using the format]

So you are capturing DSD converting it to analogue then capturing the analogue in to PCM?

Um Why? You would be better just to capture as 24/96 PCM with to start off with.

I'm glad I was first out of the gate describing this process as "insane," saving everyone else the trouble.

But, here we have one of these cases where: on paper, in theory, with every means at the disposal of man, this should not work.

But experience has shown, it works great, and I am relying almost exclusively on the people who are paying me to do this. They are, to put it mildly, thrilled.

Which is good enough for me, but I respect all the nay-saying, I even agree with you!!! On paper...

One mans insanity is another mans genius.

As I mentioned before I mixed some DSD 8 tracks in the analogue domain and captured as PCM. Way better than recording PCM in terms of sound but the "closed shop" nature of the format makes it only for the really dedicated.

Funnily enough I was thinking previously of buying several 2 track DSD recorders to do multitrack. Now that's insane!

I've just come back from a choir recording (wayhay I'm not doing it, that's when you know your getting old) and they were using Pyramix DSD and a secondary PCM system for comparison and backup.

The engineer had no idea who I was, so was quite startled when my opening line was "Do you find transcoding to DXD for edits tedious?", and followed with "Ah A+B, ORTF, 5.1 array with outriders and oh are those Gefells doing XY?" he then went and got his boss.

Just in the possible case anyone was curious-- hey wait. Wasn't there a big deal in the day, a big deal about the "D" "D" "D" initials on a CD? Or am I dreaming that? The claim that all phases of the production were "digital"? Or maybe it was the opposite, "A" "A" "D" to reassure the listener that most of it was "analog"? Whichever was in favor, depending on... well, plain old depending...

So here is the one that would get labelled "DSD" "PCM" "MP3," an "experimental" maybe (?) piece for string/piano septet, live in a Civil War era hall, woodcut prints all over the walls to remind you... (and either the woodcuts are impressionistic or something, or else Abe Lincoln had all kinds of tattoos on his face...?)