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Acoustica

Audio Editor Plugin by Acon Digital
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Acoustica has an average user rating of 5.00 from 2 reviews

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User Reviews by KVR Members for Acoustica

Acoustica

Reviewed By Marcel L. [all]
February 18th, 2018
Version reviewed: 7.0.51 on Windows

Acoustica v.7 by Acon Digital (for PC and Mac)

(an insider tip for professionals and beginners)

Background

I am an old musician from the analogue days. Since I gradually switched to the digital world about 20 years ago, one of my priorities has always been to use programs and plugins that are as intuitive and simple as possible on the one hand, yet still without lacking nor quality nor essential features to work on a high level on the other hand.

Within the years, I have found the DAWs, plugins and musical programs that fit my needs. One thing was missing, though: a good audio-editor, especially for delicate restoration and editing purposes. Everybody who records acoustic instruments (especially string instruments) or vocals knows the problem of having a great track but with some annoying noise(s) in it, such as clicks, crackles, pops, bangs etc. I had tried out various restoration plugins to solve this inevitable problem, nothing really convinced me.

Another important aspect for me was - since I have always been teaching, too - to find a simple DAW with which beginners could learn the basics and principles of (digital) audio production, without getting confused by hundreds of additional features, yet still on a high quality level.

Acoustica v.7

Fully featured audio-editor, simple and intuitive to use, with restoration tools and many other plugins/tools for all editing-, tracking-, mixing- and mastering-tasks: But even a "mini-DAW" (cf. further below, chapter "mini-DAW"):

  • restoration and spectral cleaning: from my experience the best restoration tools I have ever used. Spectral cleaning (only available in the Premium Edition) is ideal for delicate tasks by applying repair tools across time and/or frequency, which allows to clean up a noise at a certain frequency without affecting the frequencies of the same band where there is no noise. Here, Acoustica really shines.
  • editing: from basic to most subtle tasks, everything you need is available.
  • mastering: all you would expect.
  • recording in editor: one track at a time, Premium Edition also supports simultaneous multichannel audio recording, editing and rendering in up to 8 channels, such as 5.1 and 7.1.
  • CD-editing.
  • simple recording and mixing in Multitrack-Session: unlimited tracks or stems, time stretch clips, automate volume, pan and send levels (Multitrack-Session tracks have less features available than the full editor).
  • possibility to open several tabs in one project (you can compare different masters or mixes, or to reference tracks).
  • installing both 32-bit-version and 64-bit-version in parallel: this way you can work with 32-bit VST plugins when needed. Installation goes very easily and smoothly.

A clarification:

Some people might get confused about the terms "multichannel" and "multitrack session". So let me shortly explain: You have 3 different possibilities when you open a new project:

  1. New Recording = opens the full editor, as described above, with all possibilities available. Here, you can record, edit and render a mono or stereo track, or (only in the Premium Edition) up to 8 channels (= multichannel). Ideal for people who work in Surround 5.1 or 7.1.
  2. New Multitrack Session = opens a new tab for recording and mixing as many tracks as you like, as described above.
  3. New CD Project.

Acoustica comes in 2 versions, both with plugin support for VST, VST3 and AU for Mac:

  • Premium Edition v. 7.x for US$ 199.90.
  • Standard Edition v. 7.x for US$ 59.90.

I recommend the Premium Edition, but the Standard Edition is also very good (see comparison sheet on acondigital.com - Products - Acoustica - Features).

Individual plugins (in 32 and 64-bit for VST, VST3, AAX for Windows and AAX and AU for Mac) sell for $ 99.90, but if you buy the Premium Edition of Acoustica, you will get a 50%-discount on the plugins (ask Acon Digital's support when buying, they will send you a coupon code).

Check homepage for videos and sound examples of the plugins.

My personal experience and the way I use Acoustica

After having used Acoustica Premium Edition for a few weeks now, I can say that it fulfills my expectations. All features and GUI are very well thought through and everything you would expect from a professional audio-editor is at hand, yet even more. In no time I was able to use it with minimal time spent and having to refer to the manual only punctually.

It's true, you can track, edit, mix and master fully within a DAW, a dedicated audio-editor is not absolutely needed. But it definitely offers advantages, especially in the case of Acoustica. My procedure now is the following:

I record a delicate track (track by track) into Acoustica where I have all the excellent editing- and restoration-tools at hand, clean and edit it before exporting it to a DAW for mixing. Eventually, I export the final stereo-master-mix (or stems) out of the DAW into Acoustica again where I do all the mastering (and still some editing if needed). This procedure has proven to be very useful and efficient, especially cleaning and editing tracks/clips with outstanding tools before entering a DAW.

"mini-DAW" for beginners

Of course Acoustica is aimed at experienced users, but I think it's also a great program for beginners. It's the perfect program to get you familiar with the basics and principles of digital audio production. You won't get lost here.

In the Multitrack Session Tab you can record, edit and mix different tracks (or stems), use audio-effects (inserts and sends/returns), use effects on the master bus, time stretch clips, automate volume, pan and send-levels; in the end master and render your mix into all common formats.

As somebody who has taught - and still does - younger and older people in audio production, I know the difficulties they have when first being confronted with a mixing desk or a DAW with endless features, plugins, etc. Most of them are completely lost or even intimidated.

And the internal plugins and tools of Acoustica are so good that you don't really need external ones - except for saturation-, channel strip- and delay-plugins (which I recommend to you).

Once you are familiar with the essential features of recording, editing, mixing and mastering audio, you can sooner or later buy a major DAW, it works on the same principles at its core. You will be able to much better make a choice of which DAW to buy, for there are so many.

Just one thing here: ALL major DAWs are very good and capable of delivering excellent results in our days, as is Acoustica as an editor and a "mini-DAW", it only depends on the person who uses it. That is why I am not giving any suggestions here. The differences lie in the way DAWs approach the different tasks, in the additional features or functions, there can also be differences in the quality of the included plugins and tools, and of course in the price.

Don't believe this blatancies claiming that "one DAW sounds better than another one". Yes, there is a DAW such as "Harrison Mixbus" (by the way excellent if you like an analogue style of working and a virtual analogue mixing console), that has already saturation built in so it sounds more "analogue". But you can get the same effect by adding external saturation plugins or channel strips to any DAW.

Remember - things are always only getting more complex, but the principles remain: an audio signal comes in from somewhere and eventually goes out - after some detours and additions - on a master bus. Find out for yourself, do some research, by testing, asking around, checking the internet (lots of boasters and dilettantes there; also lots of superficial, mediocre and very subjective stuff; but also many good, capable and helpful people which you will soon be able to distinguish). You have plenty of time to do so while you are working and progressing with Acoustica.

Acon Digital

I generally prefer small companies where the developer(s) can be reached directly, and which don't have marketing budgets but offer top quality instead and with regular updates based on customers feedback (just to make it clear: I'm not saying that big players don't have top quality, of course they have, too). The problem is you often won't find them on "best-lists" etc., you need a hint.

The attitude of the company is very customer-friendly. It counts on honesty. (Remember: cracking or cheating = stealing, especially from such sympathetic companies with very fair prices and service who trust you). No online-activation, no dongle, just a S/N or validation-file, that's it (like other great small companies).

Final remarks

Try before you buy - you can download trial versions from the homepage. And you should also download the free and also outstanding plugin "Multiply" (Chorus) to get an idea of the quality and GUI of Acon Digital products.

I wrote a more detailed review on the other big audio site (here 10'000 characters only). If you still have any questions, you can contact me on mdl747(at)gmail(dot)com. I cannot promise to answer immediately, but I will do my best.

Marcel L.

February 2018.

Read Review
Acoustica

Reviewed By Brother Charles [all]
May 13th, 2013
Version reviewed: win7 x64 on Windows

A FULL, Exhaustive review, complete with screen shots and much greater detail, can be read by clicking the link at the the bottom of this article.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, audio-software fans of all ages, welcome to Reviewer's Revival; one of North America's most beloved audio-related web dugouts. Now batting for the Norwegian Acon Digitals, Acoustica 5 Prem-EEEE-umm."

Settle in with your favorite libation. We're in for an edge-of-the-bleacher, nine inning, exhaustive review of one of Europe's most underrated competitors. If you're an antsy, 5000 words-or-less review fan, then you may not have the endurance for this one. If you're in it for the joy of the audio game, you're gonna LOVE IT! Ready? Ok, let's go.

Sound Forge Pro, Sound Forge Audio Studio, Audition, Wavelab, Wavelab Elements, Audacity, Waveosaur, Gold Wave; what to do, what to do? The upper crust of these products requires a deeply indrawn breath, a flush bank account, and a commitment to pro-calibre audio editing. The lower range of available audio editors provides decent audio-editing features that will appease novices or those who only want/need to make simple changes. If the user is not concerned about achieving professional results, or hasn't a need for pro features, then a freeware or inexpensive audio editor will suffice.

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Consider this question. .. .

What if you 'need' professional features, but can't quite bite off the 'professional' costs associated with the upper range audio-editing software packages? You take a look in the direction of team Norway. Since 1987, Acon Digital has been diligently refining their powerful, affordable product-line. Heading up the roster is team captain, Acoustica 5 Premium.

With a MSRP of only $119 (USD), it is entirely plausible that Acon Digital's Acoustica 5 Premium is poised to win gold as THE BEST audio editing software package within its price range. Competing products (in this price range) DO NOT offer the extensive, powerful features that Acoustica 5 Premium provides.

Acon's stats are well-earned and should never be relegated to the 3rd sting, warmer's bench. For example, competing speciality audio restoration packages will typically cost $325 or more. Acoustica 5 Premium *includes* the capable "StudioClean" restoration bundle. What's more, you can put these powerful VST plug-ins into play within another DAW or host on your system. Not to be mistaken for junior-league pinch hitters, these seasoned warriors of the digital field are strong, fast, and capable. These have helped bring home the cup more than once.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Acoustica 5 Premium is FAST and POWERFUL. This muscular audio champion is laden with an abundant, BEST-IN-CLASS feature-set.

Installation & Setup:

Everything about Acon Digital's software is FAST and efficient; including the simple, intuitive installer. On the six year old dual-core laptop that I used to bench-test this sweetheart of audio app, it installed in about a minute. No exaggeration – it only took about one minute... .

Visuals:

If you're looking for bloated, pretty graphics, you ain't gonna find them in this bull pen. Acoustica Prem 5 is about power and speed; not fluff n' cutesy-wutesy pictures. Don't get me wrong, boys, it has a cool, stream-lined interface that's easy to navigate and attractive in a minimalist kind of way. The blue-toned GUI is soothing on the eye-balls and won't require you to spring for a new pair of Ray-Ban shades.

Subtle, mouse-over highlighting effects give you a clear indication of where your mouse cursor is. A popup description of what each icon does is also seen while hovering the mouse cursor over the various toolbar elements. The default toolbar icons are quite small on large, high res monitors. Fortunately, the icon size can be made larger and still looks great... .

Editing & Basic Usage:

"Ok, huddle up and fall in, guys. We've got some fierce competition in the league this year, but this club is well on its way to seeing this season through; past the semi-finals. With its speed, power and agility, it is not an unreasonable expectation that Prem 5 can take home the cup for MVP!"

To get the ball rolling, let's first take a look at the obvious: basic audio editing. (As a quick sidebar note, these features are common to all three editions of Acon's Acoustica 5).

Thanks to the fast, smooth "zoom" control over a waveform, very precise insertion points and waveform selections can be made. The default vertical zoom of 100% can be increased up to a whopping 5000 percent!

Something about the editing of wavefom selection(s) that I'm particularly impressed with is the fact that volume adjustments do not result in annoying 'clicks' at the insertion points. With other audio editors that I have used, this has often NOT been the case.

For example, let's say that an engineer would rather subdue sibilance on a vocal track 'by hand' rather than relying on a DeEsser plug-in. I have found that by carefully selecting the "SSSS" segments and lowering the volume of those segments, the integrity of a vocal track was retained without it suffering from annoying editing 'clicks'. My experiences of performing these same editing tasks with other audio editors (including those costing $300+) were not as successful. The unwanted editing 'clicks' anomaly became pronounced once processing (such as compression) was applied to the track. 5 STARS to Prem 5!

Premium Features:

Broad Range of File Types: Prem 5 can work natively with a diverse selection of file types (without requiring external codex): FLAC, Ogg, MP3, Wav, Wav64, AIFF (read-only), AAC (MPEG-4), WMA, and AU.

CD Track Import & Basic CD Cover Design: That's right, you don't even have to use an add-on or 3rd party application for importing CD tracks. This feature can come in handy, especially if you want to easily rip a track from a pro recording to use for comparison reference within your own project.

AN EXHAUSTIVE BREAKDOWN OF ALL FEATURES CAN BE READ IN THE FULL REVIEW, hosted on Reviewer's Revival.

Sound Quality:

The clean, digital processing quality of Acoustica Premium 5 is comparable to any high-end audio editor. Across the board, this championship-grade software produces amazing, crystalline audio results. The array of effects and features need not take a back seat to any. As a matter of fact, I'm going on record stating that I believe that it BESTS anything in its price range, by a wide margin.

Effects & Features:

Acoustica Premium 5 plays hardball with agility and grace. As the formidable, yet ingratiating host that it is, 'Prem 5' pitches seven, strong VST plug-ins squarely over the plate. It's hard to miss with this able-bodied back-line string available to you on whatever digital field you're playing. These digitally fit, all-rounders are: StudioCompressor (Multi-Band), StudioDelay, StudioDynamics, StudioEQ (6 Band ParaQ), StudioLimiter, StudioModulator and StudioVerb. These are in addition to the components that make up the Acon "Studio Clean" and "Studio Time" features that we've already been introduced to.

CPU Consumption:

* What a breath of fresh air. I have a couple of very well-known, fairly pricey, audio editing applications installed on my system. One of them in particular, is as slow as cold molasses running uphill, in the middle of January, in Alaska. Sheesh! The thing takes up to two minutes to launch on my 2nd gen Intel i3. Not so with Acoustica Prem 5, buddy. No sir! This little fleet-footed digital shortstop is practically locked, loaded and ready to go before I get my finger off the mouse button.

Concluding Remarks:

Throughout this exhaustive, inspective almanac, I've brought to your attention the stupendous value that Acon Digital offers with Acoustica 5 Premium. I now mean to reinforce that finding. Dollar for dollar, I am confident that this deluxe audio editing champion will ably out-perform ANY similar product at its conservative price point.

Enjoyed this Mini-Review? You can read the FULL Review, complete with screenshots and much greater detail here:

Acon Digital Acoustica 5 Premium Review - Major League Quality, Minor League Price

Read Review

Latest 2 reviews from a total of 2

Comments & Discussion for Acon Digital Acoustica

Discussion
Discussion: Active
Acesys
Acesys
23 April 2018 at 6:05am

Is there a trick to opening dual mono files? All I get are two tabs and I can select one or the other.

stian
stian
23 April 2018 at 9:36am

What do you want to achieve? Join two mono files to a stereo file?

Acesys
Acesys
23 April 2018 at 5:04pm

Yes, open two files so they look like channel 1 and 2 in the screen. Some editors call it "open as dual mono". when you've selected two files.

For one example, just for experiment, I've recorded some thunderstorms and summer fireworks by having a studio microphones in the window facing North and West here. I used Reaper (Cubase before that) and recorded them as separate mono tracks. I wanted to figure the stereo spread later on.

Also, even though I own and love ACON Verberate, there are textures for my impulse software the impulses are dual mono and it would be easy to consolodate to stereo if Acoustica allowed dual mono import and save as stereo file.

If there isn't a way for now, I can export from Reaper as Stereo panned hard left and right and import to Acoustica, but I thought to ask to be sure.

I think Samplitude, Sound Forge and Adobe Audition open dual mono.

stian
stian
24 April 2018 at 5:57am

Thanks for the elaboration and your kind words about Verberate. There's no dedicated mechanism for loading dual mono files as a single stereo file in Acoustica, but you can load both files, convert one file to stereo (Tools > Convert Sample Format), then copy the other channel. Now you can select a single channel in the stereo file and overwrite the content (Edit > Overwrite Paste).

Acesys
Acesys
2 May 2018 at 5:06am

Thank you right back Stian. I didn't want to admit this, but I don't see how to select only the bottom side of the two waves.

stian
stian
2 May 2018 at 2:31pm

You can easily select one channel of a stereo file by making selection in either the upper quarter (left channel) or the lower quarter (right channel) of the waveform display. Alternatively, you can use the channel selection toggle buttons on the left side.

mastermix
mastermix
8 March 2019 at 12:38pm

A naging question.

How do I play a sequence of regions in the 'Regions List' in Acoustica 7.1.15?

I have tried every this this but nothing seems to work.

Thanks..

stian
stian
8 March 2019 at 2:31pm

Thanks for the interest! The purpose of the regions is to simplify navigation and you cannot play them sequentially at the time being.

THIS POST HAS BEEN REMOVED

mastermix
mastermix
8 March 2019 at 10:36pm

It would be very useful to organize regions as playlists and play them as sequences. This is one huge feature missed with the now defunct Bias-Inc Peak editor..

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