Background

Before a sound can be used by a sampler, it must be converted to a digital signal. Hardware samplers provide audio inputs that can convert the analog signal to digital, by the use of an "A/D Converter" (analog to digital). This "samples" the signal at very short time intervals and converts it to a digital representation of the analog signal's waveform. The sample rate and the bit depth of this conversion determines the resulting sound quality. Finally the signal is passed through a digital to analog converter (D/A) which reconstructs the digital signal back to analog, which can be played back.