· mp3
o Developed by Moving Pictures Experts Group and released in 1993 as MPEG-1 Audio Layer III and in 1995 as MPEG-2 Audio Layer III and now commonly referred to as mp3 because of the .mp3 extension.
o A digital audio encoding format using lossy compression algorithms designed to greatly reduce the size of digital audio files with minimal loss of quality by reducing the accuracy of certain parts of the sound that are out of the normal range of human hearing.
· Wave
o Waveform Audio File Format is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing audio on PCs. It uses the RIFF bitstream format method for storing data in "chunks".
o Wave files can be compressed, but are generally uncompressed.
o Lossless
o Use the .wav extension.
· AIFF
o Audio Interchange File Format was co-developed by Apple in 1988 using the Electronic Arts Interchange File Format (IFF) used by the Commodore Amiga.
o Audio data is stored uncompressed using Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). Compression codecs are available.
o Lossless
o Uses the .aiff or .aif extension or .aifc for compressed files.
· Logic Studio
o A music production suite by Apple first released in 2007 consisting of the following products:
§ Logic Pro – Audio workstation 32/64 bit with MIDI
§ MainStage – Virtual Instrument Manager (MIDI)
§ Soundtrack Pro – Music composing and audio editing app. (Multi-track)
§ WaveBurner – Mastering and CD burning
§ Compressor - Video and audio media compression app.
§ Impulse Response Utility – Create custom convolution reverbs
§ Apple Loops Utility - Create loops of audio that can be time-stretched
§ QuickTime Pro – Media Player
§ Studio Instruments
§ Studio Effects
· Pro Tools
o A digital audio workstation platform for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology.
o Supports 24-bit audio at sample rates of up to 192 kHz, and can handle WAV, AIFF, mp3, SDII audio files and QuickTime video files.
o In 1984 Avid released Sound Designer and then Sound Tools in 1989. The first version of Pro Tools was launched in 1991 with 4 tracks. By 1997 the 24 bit 48 track version was released. The latest version Pro Tools 10 was just released on 21/10/2011.
