Digital equipment must be able to talk to each other.

CODECs

The word CODEC stands for CODe/DECode. A CODEC defines a digital standard. It will include sampling frequency, processing level, encoding ratios, compression standards (to be discussed later in this book), and other information.

Most digital equipment will produce both analog and digital outputs. If you hook up the analog output of one piece of digital equipment to the analog input of another piece of equipment, they will “talk to each other,” but it is complicated. In the first piece of equipment, the digital signal will go through a D to A converter to become analog. As soon as it is in the next piece of equipment, it must go through an A to D converter to become digital. It would be much simpler to go directly from digital out to digital in. The CODEC will tell you if this is possible. If two pieces of equipment use the same CODEC, they will talk to each other digitally. If the equipment uses different CODECs, they will not talk to each other digitally and you will have to use the analog connections.

Obviously then, when buying equipment or putting together a studio, you want to buy digital equipment that can all use the same CODEC. That way everything can remain in digital form throughout.

Many digital formats are available, so ensuring that everything you buy uses the same CODEC is critical.