New IK Multimedia ARC Plug-In Acoustically Tunes Your Home Studio

ARCIK Multimedia is now shipping ARC System: Advanced Room Correction system, the first and only plug-in based acoustical room correction system for MAC/PC DAW based studios.

IK Multimedia teamed up with Audyssey, a  provider of sound equalization solutions, to provide engineers and musicians with a solution to correct the phase and frequency distortion problems caused by room acoustics in the studio mixing environment.

Equalization can’t beat a well-tuned room, but this is an area that’s ripe for innovation and automation. Most home studio owners don’t have the time, the knowledge, the money or the ears to acoustically tune their room.  I’m looking forward to learning more about ARC.

Here’s what IK has to say about ARC:

ARC System: Advanced Room Correction System

ARC System (Advanced Room Correction System) is a combination of a professionally calibrated measurement microphone, a measuring software and a multi-platform plug-in that can be integrated with any DAW-based studio, capable of correcting the distortion caused by room acoustics and able to improve how a studio will sound.

According to IK, ARC will improve any kind of monitor type in any room, at any level of quality, within any type of mixing environment. Not only will it improve the home studio, but even the most highly treated mixing rooms will benefit from ARC system using Audyssey’s MultEQ technology. ARC features Audyssey MultEQ, which corrects for both frequency and phase response, not only for the engineer’s ‘sweet spot’, but also for multiple points in the room.

This solves many of the problems that have plagued room correction EQ systems since their inception. Other EQ systems only correct for frequency domain problems, which leaves the time domain to cause phase distortion and smearing. When you experience ARC’s Advanced Room Correction System, the perspective of what you are recording, mixing or mastering becomes immediately clear and reliable; so you can finally trust the sound of your studio.

ARC System will correct acoustic problems for any DAW-based studio, dramatically improving the clarity, stereo imaging and frequency response, for faster, more reliable mixing.

ARC System Features:

  • Easy to use, step-by-step, room measurement software for Mac/PC
  • VST, RTAS, AU correction plug-in for Mac/PC most popular DAWs (such as Pro Tools®, Cubase™, Logic™, Sonar™, Live™, etc.)
  • Professional measurement microphone
  • Type: 1/4″ precision measurement condenser microphone
  • Polar pattern: omni directional, free field
  • Capsule frequency response: 20-16,000 Hz
  • Calibrated frequency response when used with ARC: 16-20,000 Hz, +/- 1.5 dB
  • Output: transformerless, electronically balanced, 200 ohms output impedance
  • Sensitivity: 50 mV/Pa
  • Noise Equivalent Level: 22 dB
  • Max SPL: 130 dB for 3% THD

ARC System Measurement Software features:

  • Automatic multi-point room measurement system, wizard based, based on Audyssey MultEQ® technology
  • Measurement precision when used with ARC System microphone: +/- 1.5 dB
  • Requires 48 kHz operation (only for measurements)
  • Requires ASIO Audio Hardware on Windows Vista or XP, CoreAudio on Mac OS X
  • Saves Measurements sets to be opened on the ARC System Correction Plug-In

ARC System Correction Plug-In features

  • Multi platform high quality Frequency AND Time correction processor based on Audyssey MultEQ® technology
  • Correction precision when used with ARC System microphone: +/- 1.5 dB
  • Correction processor resolution: 32 bits floating point
  • Correction processor supported sampling rates: 32 kHz to 96 kHz
  • Four target curves
  • Graphic Frequency response display

ARC System has an MSRP of €579/$699. A crossgrade version for all IK registered users is available at the reduced price of €419/$499. ARC System is now available through IK’s network of dealers and distributors.

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