Computers: Jargon buster
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16-bit sampling: High - near CD - quality digital recording suitable for music and more serious work.
Emulator: A piece of hardware or, more usually, a software program that makes one computer or component act like another.
Midi: Musical Instrument Digital Interface - the industry standard remote control and data exchange system used by keyboards, synthesisers and computers. Midi only transmits performance details - keys pressed and buttons pushed - rather than the final sound of the music, in the same way a piano roll controls a player piano, but does not make any sound.
Sound card: A circuit board that can be added to the main processor board to process and produce sounds of various kinds.
Bits per second (bps): the speed of transmission of data via a modem over a network. Divide by 10 to get a rough idea of characters per second. The current recommended speed is 14,400bps, known as the V32bis standard.
Download: To load information - a data file or program - into a system from a distant computer.
E-mail: Electronic mail, messages sent over a computer network.
Modem: a piece of communications equipment that enables a computer to transmit information over a telephone line or receive information from it. A modem may be separate unit or installed inside the computer.
Network: A group of computers interconnected by cables, telephone lines or other telecommunications links.
On-line: When a computer user is able to interact with a distant computer over a communications link, he or she is said to be on- line.
Server: The computer or computers that act as the centre of a network holding information and transmitting and receiving information from computers that link up to the network.