Figure 14. Sinusoidal Input Bit Reduction for Various Values of πππ‘ ππππ‘β
BIT REDUCTION Bit reduction, or βbit crushingβ as itβs more commonly referred to in the audio effect literature, processes an input signal such that the resulting output can only retain certain possible amplitude values (Tarr, 2019). Reduction of the bit resolution results in the discarding of information previously available to represent the signal, in this case amplitude information. Conversely, increasing the bit resolution better represents the soundβs amplitude profile. Decreasing the bit depth gives a stepped character to the signal (fig 14), which is reminiscent of a signal after the quantisation stage in an analogue to digital converter. For this reason, bit reduction can be thought of as re-quantizing a signal, almost always at a lower bit depth, to create destructive distortion.
