I have never used the UV22HR dithering plug-in on the Master bus. Should I? I’m assuming so, so here’s the follow-up: should I use it for playback during ITB mixing in Cubase or only insert it when I’m ready to mixdown to WAV / MP3?
Technically you should use it when changing bit depth down the ways, so for normal pre mix play back it’s normal not to use it and drop it in on insert 8 when mixing down to anything less than 32fp.
And its debatable if its even worth bothering about when mixing to MP3 or the like.
So basically if I were to ever mixdown to 44.1/16 for burning to CD I should be using it but “don’t bother otherwise”…?
Aloha f,
That’s the way most folks I know use it. (or not)
Keep in mind tho’ dithering just adds noise.
Supposedly a pleasing noise but noise none the less.
My analogy is, like back in the old ‘Dolby’ days;
The more dynamics the music, the more effective dithering is.
YMMV
{‘-’}
And if you are mixing otb every output channel should have it as well during mixdown. The question whether it is needed for mp3’s is a good one thou’
braunie
Thats more or less it.
Heres a good PDF explaining the more technical aspect of Dithering in Audio, also contains an explanation of the UV22 dither and how it got it’s name 
http://www.users.qwest.net/~volt42/cadenzarecording/DitherExplained.pdf
Nice article, thanks Split 
Nice article, thanks Split
Yep, that’s how I use it.
I guess this explains why I haven’t missed it up to this point, since I never burn to CD. 
Wow! That’s an awesome article!
I don’t think this topic was moved correctly. I have that plug in Studio 5.
Might be the first time I’ve seen a topic moved OUT of the Lounge, however. 
The topic starter uses Cubase 4.5.x
Cheers,
Chris
I guess I thought the “Cubase 5 and 4” forum would have been a better choice.
But, whatever … no worries!
I don’t really agree with the move though, this topic is in no way even related to any cubase version so why move it out of the lounge?
I can understand why Chris did it, but that’s my fault since my question was more akin to “should I be using dithering?” which is DAW agnostic. I should have been clearer.
Okay, but what if your D/A is running at 24-bits? I wouldn’t think you need it in such a case
My default project as the UV22 installed on the last slot of the master, and muted… until time to export to 16-bit. I believe it should be used when going from 24-bit to mp3 since you’re reducing bit-depth
That article is from way back in 2002 which means, in the words of a famous physicist, “it’s not even wrong!” 
You’re correct about the reduction in bit depth giving you reason to consider it, but if you read the article you’ll realize that the dithering is done to reduce the noise floor due to round off error during the bit reduction. MP3 already introduces changes to the signal due to its own reduction algorithm so I’m not sure dithering is going to buy you anything. It may even degrade the sound because of some adverse interaction between the codec and the dithering…who knows?
Hello Scap you are right 