Dirac Live for Studio: software-based room calibration for your studio
Dirac has announced Dirac Live for Studio. Building on its well-known room calibration system for home cinema and hi-fi applications, the Swedish firm is expanding into the professional studio market. As a software-based solution, Dirac Live for Studio is an interesting option for studios looking to improve their room acoustics with minimal costs and effort.
Dirac Live for Studio
Dirac Live for Studio is based on the company’s patented algorithm. The idea is to identify and solve problems with your room acoustics without the requirement for expensive absorbers or other room modifications. Sounds magical, right?
The Dirac Live for Studio software runs on Windows and Mac computers and includes a plug-in for all popular DAWs. The first step is to measure and calibrate the room in terms of timing, frequencies and stereo imaging. Once this is done, the software creates a room profile and uses it to digitally modify the monitoring signal. In theory, this creates an ideal listening environment that takes into consideration the imperfections of the specific room. The concept is similar to other software-based room calibration options like Sonarworks Reference.
For a measurement microphone, Dirac recommends the miniDSP UMIK-1, which is also included in the company’s hardware-based miniDSP Dirac Live package. By itself, the UMIK-1 costs about USD 75. But you can also use other measurement microphones, and Dirac offers some tips on its website for choosing the right mic. If you don’t own a measurement microphone yet, here are some options from Thomann*.
Dirac Live for Studio sounds like a promising and relatively inexpensive solution, especially for smaller (bedroom) studios that don’t have the financial resources for extensive room modifications. The company’s technology has been quite successful in the demanding hi-fi market, and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work in the studio, as well. While the software and a measuring microphone will cost you upwards of USD 400, you can easily spend a whole lot more for having your room professionally calibrated and fitted with the appropriate acoustical modifications.
Price and compatibility
According to the developer, Dirac Live for Studio supports the following DAWs: Logic Pro X, Cubase 10, Studio One 4, Reaper, JRiver Media Center 25, Ableton Live 10 and Pro Tools. The plug-in is available in VST, VST3, AAX and AU formats. The software runs on Windows 10 and macOS Mojave. Dirac says that it hasn’t been tested on macOS Catalina yet. The software costs USD 349.
More information
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