Users of ARC or Sonarworks Reference, did it work?

[Mind Riot]

Once you did the beeps and the boops and got your frequency corrections in place, did it do what it claims to do?

Did your mixes improve?

Did your mixes translate to other audio systems better?

The car, the TV, the earbuds, the laptop speakers?

Are you still running the corrections to this day?

How long have you been using it, and do you plan to keep it permanently, or at least as long as your setup stays the way it was when you first did the beeps and boops?

Thank you all for any information you'd like to share.

[Scarlet Pumpernickel]

I've been using Sonarworks Reference/SoundID for about 3 or 4 years now. Work became easier and results translate better. (I'm in a partially treated room and correction curve doesn't exceed 7 dB).
I don't feel the correction is "transparent", but for me, its benefits outweigh the costs. The correction VST works fine but I find Systemwide component to be unreliable on my Win10 machine.

[beingmf]

SW did work, while ARC3 took everything to another level. Incredible really!

[Mind Riot]

Thank you [EDIT] BOTH for responding. I'm in a pretty small room, 8'x12' with an 8' ceiling, that I have treated as much as I possibly can. Bass traps across three out of four floor to wall corners, bass traps hung along the wall to ceiling corners, and absorption panels on the walls. I've also put absorption panels surrounding the mix position; on both sides, the ceiling above, and the whole back wall behind. So I've got my reflection free zone where my head sits all set.

But I still have a heck of a time getting my mixes to translate, and even with all the treatment it's still a small squarish room so it'll have dips and peaks, so I'm really hoping ARC 3 will help to compensate for some of that.

If anyone else has some experiences to share I'd love to hear them. Thanks!

[Mind Riot]

SW did work, while ARC3 took everything to another level. Incredible really!

I take it you noticed improvements in your mixes and how they translated?

[beingmf]

I take it you noticed improvements in your mixes and how they translated?

Definitely! The difference can be described analog to FOH mixing in smaller venues: you fight against the room, every decision you take only makes sense in that context.
While SW showed me that it was somehow possible to get rid of the most offending frequencies, ARC3 finally leaves almost nothing to be desired. Details galore, spectral balance, it's a joy to mix in this smallish, semi-treated room.
(the only thing which I liked better in SW was the mixed-phase setting. LP in ARC3 is audibly pre-ringing with low transient-rich material)

EDIT: From my experience it'd make sense to get a really good measurement mic, you might also rent it, as you basically need it only once. I used to have the SW mic (which doesn't support 90° measuring), and the ARC3 results were better than SW already – then I borrowed a Beyer MM1 (and captured at 90°), and I couldn't believe my ears. But I'm super picky, cheaper mics work for many users as far as I can see.

EDIT2: And of course all the above refers to mix translation.

[Iva]

ARC3 works great. It sure helps a lot. Didn't try SW though.

[Mind Riot]

I take it you noticed improvements in your mixes and how they translated?

Definitely! The difference can be described analog to FOH mixing in smaller venues: you fight against the room, every decision you take only makes sense in that context.
While SW showed me that it was somehow possible to get rid of the most offending frequencies, ARC3 finally leaves almost nothing to be desired. Details galore, spectral balance, it's a joy to mix in this smallish, semi-treated room.
(the only thing which I liked better in SW was the mixed-phase setting. LP in ARC3 is audibly pre-ringing with low transient-rich material)

EDIT: From my experience it'd make sense to get a really good measurement mic, you might also rent it, as you basically need it only once. I used to have the SW mic (which doesn't support 90° measuring), and the ARC3 results were better than SW already – then I borrowed a Beyer MM1 (and captured at 90°), and I couldn't believe my ears. But I'm super picky, cheaper mics work for many users as far as I can see.

EDIT2: And of course all the above refers to mix translation.

Oh, I ordered the $150 version of ARC 3 that comes with their own omni mic included. So I hope it works well with their own software!

All this is getting me excited, I can't wait to see how many anomalies there are in my room and what kind of fixes it'll take to even things out.

Since I ordered the ARC 3 version with their onboard mic it's a physical product and I'm sitting around here waiting for shipping. Tracking shows that it's supposed to show up here on November 2nd, so next tuesday. So I just have to sit around and tap my foot eagerly until then.

The funny thing is that I didn't know anything about the group buy. I was just genuinely interested in ARC 3. It was only after I bought it that I found out, so now I'm in the group buy at the $150 entry level, so I've got 24 freebies to pick out that are $150 or less.

Of course, I have to wait to do that too, since I can't register my serial number until the physical product arrives here and I can get the number off the box. GAAAAAHHH!!!

Thanks to everyone for contributing, it's great to know that it's worked well for people.

[jamcat]

You're going to miss the group buy cutoff, but if you contact IK tech support they'll manually add you since you purchased during the group buy.

[an-electric-heart]

That reminds me, I did get ARC in the group buy, I still need to get a mic though. I'll get either the Presonus PRM1 or the Nady CM 100, probably the Presonus.

[Mind Riot]

You're going to miss the group buy cutoff, but if you contact IK tech support they'll manually add you since you purchased during the group buy.

I saw that, yeah. Even though I didn't know about the group buy going in it still would have really sucked to find out I missed out because I didn't pay fifteen bucks for 3 day shipping.

I made the purchase on the 26th or 27th, so I'm golden.

[Mind Riot]

So does anybody have any experience with IK's own mic they include with ARC if you pay a little more? I've got it coming and it seems pretty interesting, definitely not your typical omni, or your typical anything, really. I don't think it has any use outside of doing its intended room measurements, but who knows? Might sound good on an acoustic guitar if you like the sound of the room you're in.

[beingmf]

Great! So what really was helpful for me: take several measurements, pointed at the speakers, pointed at the ceiling, even position your monitors a little differently. Then compare sub bass RT60 and previously unpleasant frequency areas. If you are not sure which room size category you should base your measurement on, also capture both probable. My guess is those templates are the crucial advantage over SW. Good luck and enjoy your "new" room!

[jamcat]

So does anybody have any experience with IK's own mic they include with ARC if you pay a little more? I've got it coming and it seems pretty interesting, definitely not your typical omni, or your typical anything, really. I don't think it has any use outside of doing its intended room measurements, but who knows? Might sound good on an acoustic guitar if you like the sound of the room you're in.

The original mic that IK used could do double duty as a recording mic. The new mic that you’ll be getting isn’t good for recording anything, but the tolerances are very very tight, so there is no measurable difference from one unit to another for this type of mic. That’s very good for this application, because what matters is that your unit will match the mic profile in ARC exactly, giving you very good results.

And also, T-RackS Mic Room has a profile of the new mic (but unfortunately not the original, which is what I have), so you can replace the no good sound of the ARC mic with a U87 or an AKG C12, etc., and those tight tolerances will give you the most accurate mic replacement you can get in Mic Room.

So I highly recommend you select TR Mic Room as one of your Group Buy products, as it will add a lot of value to the mic outside of ARC.

[The Noodlist]

I think it works, there's room for feature improvements like AGC, true mono monitoring and a output limiter.

Here's a calibration file for the IKM mems mic. Just rename it to .cal instead of .txt
https://gearspace.com/board/studio-buil ... e_15537122

It now can be used with Room EQ Wizard and Equalizer APO for system-wide correction for Windows.