Any users here?
Especially interested in the Studio edition used in home studios with average acoustics
Do your mixes really sound better with it?
Thanks.
Itās a lifesaver, it has in the past enabled me to āmixā my tracks in a room that was a nightmare and then some there was no way you could get a decent mix in there without it.
Also used it in good rooms and it did work well there for fixing the lowend, highly recommended!
I use the headphones version. Works pretty good. But I also toss in a reference track to compare my mix
Having trouble getting the volume balanced between my monitors, DAW, and audio interface. How would I go about setting them at a reasonable studio level?
Honestly I like the functionality of the software but the audio got incredible glitchy since I use it on both my pc and laptop (audio dropouts, especially when opening new browser tabs, crashes of audio drivers etcā¦).
Additionally it is a pita if you change between different headphones or speakers regularly as you will tend to forget to switch the profiles.
Do you use a headphone amp in your setup by chance?
Reference is great. Both for speakers and for headphones.
Happy New Years. Iāll check out the software then. Iāll review it with my audio labs monitor headphone amp
Just remember that you need a profile for headphones too. You canāt make them yourself. Only the speaker profiles are measured by you
Is this software really able to flatten the response on headphones? I may see an issue in using the software if you already know your headphones really well. Wonāt this change the profile of them and it may take some adjusting correct?
I personally only turn the plug in on when Iām mixing, not creating or otherwise. It will flatten your mix but not in a detrimental way. If youāre mix is solid, itāll come close to matching the reference.
Remember that your headphone needs a profile. Some have standard ones, some need the headphones sent in.
Iāve used it for the past few years. It does an incredible job on headphones. I use it for listening as well as mixing/production.
Best to spend time listening to music you know for a while to get used to the character of it so itās not a distraction, but in essence it is changing the sound signature of the headphones to be as close to a āflat responseā as possible (given the variance in the human ear shape etc.), so the result should be more reliable than without it even if you donāt spend any time adjusting.
But canāt you use Sonarworks for other purposes as well such as casual listening, and not just for mixing?
yes, you can. reference can not only be loaded as vst. it can also function globaly systemwide. lika a driver that is hooked somewhere between the soundcard
Iāve had Sonarworks 3 for three years and every time Iāve had to calibrate my speakers, itās an exercise in me wanting a drink afterwards. The programās test voice always says it should be at normal conversation level. But the program doesnāt pick up the signal until I have to turn the gain all the way up till I get feedback at which point the measurement starts and Iām able to dial back the gain a bit to avoid the feedback.
This process would take me 1-2 hours because Iād have to fiddle with the gain and volume to make it work, and be careful not to damage my speakers in the process. Sonarworks were not helpful when I brought up this issue to them 3 years ago, so I figured this is how the program works. I repeated this last year with a 2nd pair of monitors with the same long arduous process. Why does the program say ānormal conversation volumeā when I have to turn it up to between 90-95 dB for the program to even start calibrating? Itās deafening having to deal with this for 2 hours each time.
Today I had to calibrate a newer pair of speakers as Iāve sold my old ones. No matter how loud I turn up the volume this time, the calibration doesnāt engage. Iām stuck on a screen telling me āIncrease microphone signal levelā no matter how loud I turn it up. Sonarworks should offer me a refund this time as they never addressed the issue the first time and now itās not working at all. I hate this program.
What mic are you using, is the mic input (not the speaker output) turned up?
Iām using the Sonarworks mic. It picked up my voice fine. I turned up the gain on my mic-pre and the programās ābleepingā sonar sound was plenty loud before it started to get feedback once the gain was turned up any louder - certainly far louder than ānormal conversation levelā.