A flow cytometer includes a plurality of detectors for providing voltage pulse signals over a four decade range as particles pass through an illuminated detection station. Each voltage pulse signal is processed and provided to a first sample and hold for storage. Thereafter, the value in the first sample and hold is amplified by one or thirty-two, depending upon its magnitude, and stored in a second sample and hold for subsequent provision to a sixteen bit analog to digital convertor (ADC), one signal at a time. The first sample and hold is then free to store a new value while the old value is awaiting provision to the ADC. The ADC converts the signal received from the second sample and hold to a fifteen bit digital signal and uses the sixteenth bit to manifest whether the signal stored in the second sample and hold was amplified by thirty-two.