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New users to ACID are often intimidated when they first see
the interface, but that intimidation quickly fades. ACID is
intuitive and most users quickly become productive. In fact,
Sony makes it easy to start with ACID by bundling over 1,000
high-quality loops on a DVD that comes with the product. You
can also use loops that you purchase from Sony. (We also used
loops that we purchased years ago from Sonic Foundry for the
first version of ACID.) Loops that you purchase from Sony are
optimized for use with ACID (they're known as "Acidized"
loops), but you can use loops created with other products as
well.
Figure 1 : The ACID interface. Click for a
larger image.
Your creativity isn't limited to loops. You can also use
ACID to record multi-track audio, MIDI, and VSTi. Sony calls
ACID a music workstation, and the feature-set of the product
certainly makes that title appropriate.
When it comes to recording audio, ACID 6 provides
flexibility to maximize your creative talents. You can
simultaneously record multiple tracks of audio and MIDI
directly on the timeline, and ACID 6 even lets you arm
multiple tracks and record alternate takes as clips. You can
then choose the clip that you like best. If you choose to use
audio effects with your recording, you can use input
monitoring to hear your audio with effects applied during the
recording process. This is just one example of many that
illustrates how ACID is designed to give you the flexibility
and power to produce exactly the recording you envision.
ACID 6 introduces the concept of project sections.
This feature enables you to drag and drop sections of an ACID
project to any point within your composition. This feature
makes it incredibly easy to create a new arrangement from an
existing project or to rearrange and add freshness to a
project that's been on the shelf for a while. You can even
name your sections and alter the length so that it fits
perfectly into your composition.
Figure 2 : Editing MIDI in ACID 6
If you're into MIDI, ACID 6 has plenty of features that
you'll find invaluable. As with many other similar tools, you
can use a piano roll or a drum grid interface to edit your
MIDI data. You can even draw and erase MIDI notes using ACID's
intuitive and unique drawing tools. We also had excellent
results with ACID using our M-Audio Axiom 61 as a controller.
ACID includes a copy of a special version of Native
Instruments KOMPAKT with over 120 instruments. This is a
fairly powerful VSTi and adds to ACID's attractiveness.
However, if you're used to the flexibility provided by FL
Studio or the power of Reason, you won't find that in ACID.
ACID 6 supports 5.1 surround so that you can add
impressive surround effects to your projects. ACID's interface
allows for optimized surround sound for specific speaker
placements. You can use the Surround Panner to configure
surround for a particular track, but you can also enlarge the
track display and edit surround settings directly on the
track.
Figure 3 : 5.1 Surround Editing in ACID 6
Drum maps are easily created in ACID 6 using Drum Grid
Mode. You can edit and create drum patterns directly in the
timeline and you can label patch and drum names to aid in the
use of drum machines or MIDI devices. If you create a template
that you really like, you can easily share it with other ACID
Pro 6 users.
Figure 4 : Drum Grid Mode in ACID 6 makes
creating drum patterns easy.
Once you've finished your composition in ACID, you can
easily publish it to ACID Planet, an online community of ACID
users. However, you also have the option of rendering to a
large number of file formats including AVI, WAV, MIDI,
QuickTime, OGG Vorbis, MP3, WMA/WMV, RealAudio and RealVideo,
etc. You may be wondering why you would render a music project
to a video format. In fact, ACID allows you to import video to
the timeline so that you can easily use its powerful features
for scoring of video projects. When you've finished your
score, you can render the video complete with the music score
right from within ACID.
New users of ACID couldn't possibly pick a better time to
start using this excellent product. If you're an owner of a
previous version of ACID, version 6 is a must-have upgrade.
(Many of the features we've pointed out in this review are new
to version 6.) If you have a need to ever create music
compositions for any reason, you owe it to yourself to give
ACID a try. We are confident that you'll find it to be an
indispensible addition to your workflow.
Highly recommended.
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