Introduction to Sound Card

A sound card is device that allows the computers to output the audio signals through the
speakers. It enables the computer to manipulate the sound of the different applications and output
it through the internal and external speakers. Sound cards have different kind of usages in the
computer like they are used with the audio CDs, games, voice recognition, business
presentations, audio conferencing and multimedia applications etc.  Almost all the sound cards
support the MIDI, which is a standard to represent the music electronically.  They also equipped
with the digital to analog converter that converts the digital data into the analog format and
analog to digital converter that converts the analog signals back to the digital. 

Sound cards digitized the audio signals and store them on the computer’s hard disk for the
storage, editing, copying and further processing.  To provide the multiple simultaneous
functionalities, most of the cards have more than one built-in sound chip. Because of the
importance of the audio, many computer manufacturers now have the built-in sound card chip on
the motherboards. Most of the sound cards use the following two methods of converting the
digital signals into the analog.

FM Synthesis:  It copies the expressions and sounds of the different musical instruments
according to the built-in formulas.

Wavetable Synthesis: It relies on the actual recordings of the musical instruments to produce
the sound.  Wavetable Synthesis produces more accurate sounds.

To listen to music, watching the video and to have the good gaming and multimedia experience
the sound card is an integral component of every computer system. It can either be inserted into
the PCI slot of the motherboard or the motherboard has the built-in sound card chip. Common
manufactures are Yamaha, Realtek, C-Media, Creative Labs, Sound Blaster and M-Audio.

MIDI stands for the Musical Instruments Digital Interface and it is a standardized protocol that
allows the different musical instruments to communicate with each other.   In addition to the
basic components for the audio processing, many sound card includes the different other
hardware components that include the followings.

Memory

Like the video adapter, sound card uses its own memory to provide the faster data processing.

Digital Signal Processing

Digital Signal Processor or DSP is a specialized microprocessor. It performs the calculations and
audio processing like analog and digital conversions and takes away the processing load from the
system’s processor.  But if a sound card doesn’t have the DSP, it uses the system’s processor for
the audio processing.
Input/Output Connections

Many sound cards provide the connections to the microphone, speakers, USB, MIDI and
firewire.

Most of the latest sound cards allow you to compose, mix and edit your own music with through
software.