Acustica is pleased to present Lava, the microphone revolution plug-in. A winning choice for recording, mixing, and broadcasting applications.
What if you can get instant access to the best microphones in the world in one simple click?
Lava is a VST2/VST3/AAX/AU Acqua plug-in that accurately recreates the tone of classic microphones, including the microphones' response, harmonic content, and proximity effect. It is an out-of-the-box plug-in that can make your own microphones sound just like the microphones you have always wanted to own, with a few simple clicks, and you can use it on any vocal and instrument. You can also use Lava in real-time by using the LAVA ZL version (its latency at 44Khz is 4ms.)
No matter what physical microphone you have, just select it from the menu and make it sound like the one you want by choosing it from the list. Done!
Compared to our other plugins, Lava is particularly lightweight regarding CPU consumption, and we are sure you will appreciate it. Plus, phase responses are nice and clean and without artifacts.
LAVA GUI
With Lava, you can easily transform your microphone by choosing between a wide selection and making it sound like the one you desire, transforming a $100 microphone into a $9000 one.
Main features
• Over 140 microphone emulations.
• Distance slider to remove any proximity effects on the source mic.
• Dry/Wet Mix knob.
• High-pass filter from 45 Hz to 1k1 Hz.
• Input and output led meters.
• Low CPU usage.
• ZL (zero-latency) version suitable for tracking.
• Up to 4x oversampling.
• Resizable interface*
*Choose between 3 magnification values (1x - 1.5x - 2x) from the top right ▼SIZE drop-down menu.
Once the desired size has been selected, the plugin must be removed and re-loaded to apply the changes. This action affects the currently selected plugin. New instances of the same plugin will open with this magnification.
What you get
Lava includes over 140 microphone emulations (100 source and 41 destination mics) for a total value of $170k worth of microphones right in your DAW.
Instantly expand your collection with vintage and modern microphones models on the market, including a selection of ultra-rare boutique mics.
Please refer to the Lava user's manual for a complete list and details of the emulated microphones.
Note: as we have experienced, if you are looking for maximum accuracy, some conversions physically cannot be done (from a Figure-8 mic to a hyper-cardioid one), but in the everyday practical use of a mic, the approximation we make is enough not to distinguish which mic has been processed with Lava and which is the original one. You can barely perceive the difference (as proved by the contest!)
Tip! we recommend trying the EM-251 (ELA M 251) emulation as the output microphone as it sounds amazing after processing, and it is a rare and expensive piece of engineering (but of course, the choice is yours, depending on the instrument or vocal you need to process).
Lava - Demo
https://youtu.be/126RLRP3SS8
The story behind Lava
Lava is a project that took over six months of development to properly understand how best to capture the sound characteristics of each different sampled microphone.
We started by choosing the most suitable environment for the measurements: an anechoic room. In particular, we used the one inside the 'Politecnico di Milano' run by Professor Roberto Fumagalli, who spared no effort in his helpfulness and precious advice during our extended stay.
This place also has a complete absence of reverberation in high, medium, and low frequencies meaning no room modes can change the sampling transducers' timbre.
Once the ideal location was found, we moved on to the choice of the speaker, the transducer responsible for emitting our proprietary measurement signals. After several attempts, the choice fell on passive Rasch Audio© speakers by Simone Fagnani, driven by a hi-fi amplifier.
We were particularly convinced by the phase coherence and the very low impulse response, essential characteristics for not emphasizing data capture. The 3-way speaker with its dedicated sub was measured with special calibration microphones and a calibration file. This way, we could cancel out even the smallest emission dissimilarities.
The measurements were carried out under controlled temperature and humidity thanks to the instruments in the chamber. Laser levels and laser meters helped us to achieve repeatability of positions and operating distances.
Once the measurement routine was established, we moved on to find a conspicuous number of microphones that represented the timbre, engineering, and history of these fascinating transducers. We were helped in this task by Piero Sturla, a technician and microphone manufacturer for Ribera Audio, who is well known and appreciated among professionals.
Piero ensured that the electronic functioning of every single sampled microphone was perfect, especially for the vintage ones, devices that now have more than 70 years on their shoulders. In fact, each microphone was carefully checked in its operation before and after measurement, verifying the data acquired with those released by the manufacturer.
The pre-amplifier used for the acquisition is among the best in terms of linearity and driving capacity, its generous input impedance being able to handle even the hardest microphones. The converter used for recording and testing signal output is a benchmark for its linearity and absence of harmonic distortion.
A heartfelt thank you goes to Marco Vannucci, Acustica's collaborator, who actively participated in the project and contributed significantly to its realization.
Technical information
• Plug-in Format(s): VST2, VST3, AAX, AU
• System Requirements
• Available sample rates: 44.1 - 48 - 88.2 - 96 kHz
• Windows 10 compatible
• Apple Silicon M1 macOS Monterey compatible
Price and availability
Introductory price: €129 | 38% off until October 11, 2022 (reg. price €209) Buy Now!
The product is at an introductory period for the first four weeks after release or until the first official version is released; this implies that the product may receive improvements, changes, or fixes available through Aquarius Desktop updates during that time.
How to install the free 30-day trial
Note: Lava trial version includes 44.1 - 48 - 88.2 - 96 kHz sample rates.
Please be careful and remember that trials expire 30 days after authorization, and we strongly recommend not using trial products in commercial sessions or any important project.
Lava user's manual
Lava web page: https://www.acustica-audio.com/store/products/lava
Acustica!
