ACID Pro 7 is a professional Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). It now contains full multi-track recording and mixing, MIDI sequencing, as well as the standard in ACID looping functionality to give you not only a music creation system, but a post-production environment as well.
ACID, when it was first launched in 1998, was the first loop-based music sequencer in which someone could just drag-and-drop a loop file on to a track and it would automatically adjust itself to the tempo and key of the song with no degradation. This became extremely popular with composers, producers, and DJs for creating everything from beats to complete compositions.
While version 6 began its move into DAW territory with the addition of important core function additions, in this latest version of ACID Pro, Sony has added significant new user interface features. Among them are an audio and MIDI mixing console that complete its transition from being one of the best remixing tools, and places it right in the middle of the DAW market.
What do you need to run ACID Pro 7?
• Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or later), Windows Vista, or Windows 7
• 1.8 GHz processor (2.0 GHz or faster recommended)
• 1 GB RAM (2.0 GB or more recommended)
• 150 MB hard disk space for program installation (8 GB of hard disk space for installation of all optional components)
• Windows-compatible sound card (ASIO driver support recommended)
• DVD-ROM drive (for installation from a DVD only)
• Supported CD-recordable drive (for CD burning only)
• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 (included on DVD for use with optional Media Manager component)
• Internet connection (for Gracenote MusicID Service)
So what is new with ACID Pro 7?
• Audio and MIDI Mixing Console now gives you a dedicated console that provides the emulation of a sophisticated hardware interface, giving you a single point that you can mix audio and MIDI, as well as the ability to specify routing, assign audio effects, and control automation. This gives you the ability to control your production in a visual manner while still providing the feel of a flexible and more efficient in-studio environment.
• Input busses give you the ability to record from external devices with effects and mix audio sources with your projects. They can be used as a mixer input for an external device such as a synthesizer. You can also use input busses for external effects processors with tracks and busses as well as performing time input monitoring. All of this gives you greater control in the routing of input signals and giving you more customization and mixing options.
Article comments
1 - really?
I respect your review, and this isn't a personal attack, but I'm going to have to politely disagree, and this is why: I used Acid Pro for years, and stood by it from way back in the Sonic Foundry days. But once I started looking around at what the competition was bringing to the table, I regretted ever giving Sony a dime of my money. Acid Pro becomes incredibly unstable once you have a decent number of tracks (anything that would warrant the purchase of a "Pro" version of software). The routing is terrible, it is impossible to set up any kind of sidechaining anything to anything. This review should read "Sony finally figured out Acid Pro didn't have a mixer, and now add one like it's a feature, rather than a requirement of a DAW." lol. The "Acid FX" bundle are the same effects that were on the Acid Pro 5 disk, with an INTERFACE designed by Izotope... not a feature. The NI Guitar Combos are basically a demo version of Guitar Rig, who's full demo version (which includes the combos and more) can be downloaded for free from NI's website... not a feature. KitCore is pretty much in the same boat, but for DrumCore... Not a feature. The ARIA player is essentially a sampler that you can't load samples in unless you pay for them (can't even load your own drums into it, it must be out of a paid-library from ARIA); other DAWs incorporate samplers directly into the software with features like "slice audio to new midi track" which cuts the audio up and maps it directly into the sampler and then extracts the groove onto a midi track so that the sampler plays the midi track EXACTLY how the audio was played, enabling incredible editing options. Good luck using a vocoder or any kind of pitch correction, because MIDI cannot be routed to a VST. And the beatmapper is terrible, never ONCE in 5 YEARS of using it has it ever given me a whole number (78, 97), but instead it just ignores groove or humanization, and gives outrageous tempos (78.032, 96.743), which isn't even close to useful. I won't be a jerk and reference the names of any other products, but I will say that a consumer's money is much better spent on one of the leading DAWs: On MusicRadar.com's Top 10 DAWs, Acid Pro isn't even mentioned, with some "Music Studio" equivalents of other DAWs making the list instead of Acid PRO! Acid's got its uses, and it is INCREDIBLY easy to use, but they dug a hole for themselves when they put the "PRO" title on it: If you're going to do that, it needs to be capable of professional results, or at least capable of more than the competition's stripped down versions! For a beginner, Acid Pro is awesome. But what beginner is going to spend $300 on a product that a little research will tell them is inferior? Once Sony took over, it was all downhill from there. So like I said, I have to politely disagree. Much respect tho.