Most samples in the Abacus (Not many with OAS 7) are 16 bit, however the rest of the sound system (Other voices, VST’s etc) make full use of the 24 bit DSP card.

Problem;
When I convert to mp3 (Even if I have recorded using 16 bit) they don’t come out anything like the original.

Question;
As in the title what is the best way to convert them for online posting.

Current method;
Record to internal hard disk
Transfer to main computer (Either by burning a CD on the Abacus or direct via the network)
Convert using Audacity with the Lame mp3 encoder
Post on the web

Look forward to your suggestions, so as I can get the online demos to sound at least something like the original. (I don’t expect an exact copy as it is an mp3 after all)

Regards

Bill

What are the settings on your LAME encoder?

I manually select the bit rate, using a setting of 192, with the processing set to high quality.
The mode is set to stereo, and no filters are enabled.
Hope this helps, as I just cannot get the mp3s to sound like the Abacus does live. (This is the main reason I always say go and listen too and play the instruments live, before making a decision)

Bill

I get good results using the built-in program in Windows XP. I generally use 320 bit rate.
Just right-click the wav file and pick Convert Format.
DonM

Do you play the MP3 through the Abacus' speaker system?

If not, you are definitely getting a change there...

What would be more telling is to play the .wav you get from the Abacus through the speakers you monitor your computer on, and compare THAT to the MP3 of the same file. We all tend to play louder than we generally like to listen at, that's another thing to take into account (louder usually sounds better!) so crank that MP3 up there (if your monitors can handle it.

Speaker systems for arrangers are usually ANYTHING but flat, so I'm not at all surprised that you get a different impression when actually PLAYING your Abacus than listening back on monitors. But, all in all, I would think that the sound system has got a LOT more to do with your impression of tone change, than using an MP3 encoder at 192kbps.