Bit question

Being somewhat of a novice regarding samplers, I have a question.

I own/use:
Garritan Personal Orchestra
NI B4
Big Fish Audio's Celtic Instruments
The Grand

I am wanting to purchase Big Fish Audio's Black Grand to use in VSampler. However, it's offered in 16 or 24 bit versions.

Which should I purchase, 16 or 24? Obviously I want the 24bit if it will work in VSampler.

Thanks,

Earl

Super!

Thanks for the rapid reply and info!

Earl

I appreciate the additional info!

I'm really enjoying learning about all of this MIDI stuff. It's opened a whole new side of recording for me.

Earl

A couple of years ago, you pretty much had to release 16Bit version of samples.
Giga didn't support 24Bit samples and HALion and the other plug-in sample players' disk-streaming efficiency just wasn't up to the task (at least not when running lots of polyphony).

Most developers use batch-processing to dither/convert the samples to lower resolution. So the extra process doesn't really take that much more time/effort.
That being said, I don't know why some developers charge significantly more for high res versions of their samples.

ORIGINAL: ooblecaboodle

What's ironic is that I presume the sample recordists and programmers worked with 24 bit files, to create 24 bit samples. They then dither these down to 16 bits, which is an extra step, except they often charge you less for the 16 bit versions!
More work done = less profit!!
I can never quite get my head around that!

ORIGINAL: Jim Roseberry

Always go with a higher bit depth when given the option...

But having said that, if the sample developer maximized quality thru the whole process and used a good dither algorithm when converting the samples to 16Bits, there will be minimal audible difference between 24Bit and 16Bit versions.