In its strictest definition, a digital over is three consecutive samples at 0dBFS. This is because it's reasonable to assume that the audio must have exceeded 0dB at the second sample. Meter manufacturers generally allow you to set your sensitivity to overs to be 4, 5, or 6 samples because distortions lasting for such a small ammount of time are generally inaudible.

cheer:) 8-)

yep

still it is a kind of funny term in that digital can't actually have info that is over.
It is just how we say things.

The analog went over what the digital can specify.
0dbFS
FS - full scale ... loud

I find this is one of the best bits (get it ?) about Digital.
0dbFS is something that doesn't change. When designing gear it is one of the few things that is set in stone ... or should be. I have found some gear that doesn't even agree on that ??

anyway, I digress ... carry on :)

ho ho ho :?

I was about to post a question about this topic, so here goes.

When I scream into a mic when recording into Sonar, I get a figure saying how much over I went. Of course the signal going in can never be above 0.0, so where does this figure come from? I thought it might be some calibration issue, but when I use the limiter on my recording device and everything stops at 0.0, Sonar sees this correctly. How can Sonar know how far I overshoot?

Cheers,
John Stafford