I am busy designing a 4-microphone linear array for source localization. I am using an Arduino Due to process the 4 digital signals. I do not have requirements regarding audio quality so i do not plan on sampling at 44.kHz. Rather, I am thinking about sampling at 8-10kHz. I am wondering - is the Due's ADC powerful enough to sample 4 input analog signals at 8-10kHz each? Otherwise, I will need to use an external ADC and connect it to the Due via SPI.
You do know that the Due along with most other processors only has one A/D with a multiplexer on the front end? This means you can't sample all the sound sources at the same time, they will have to be sampled sequential. Therefore any sound front edge will be slewed.