ACID Pro 9 Review

ACID Pro 9 is a creative Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) that is essential for every kind of musician or producer. It is one of the most powerful pieces of digital audio software, virtually being a 64-bit audio production powerhouse.

ACID combines its famous flexible workflow together with pro-level features that, according to its creators, are worth over $1,000. Plus, ACID Pro 9 comes with a variety of new features, effects, and 9 GB worth of ACIDized loops. It is no wonder that ACID is well known to artists and producers alike.

They have over 20 years of industry experience, and only continue getting better. ACID Pro 9 will once again make history when ACID releases its all-new VST3 support soon in its free update. This ACID Pro review will cover what the software is and what it has to offer artists.

What is ACID Pro 9?

ACID Pro 9 is defined by its tagline, a “place where creativity meets inspiration.” It is a DAW made for every producer or musician. It encourages them to be ambitious and innovative in music. ACID Pro 9 has been specifically designed to synchronize ease of use with professional results, thus unleashing your inner creativity.

The base software has a collection of great effects, which can be used in combination with quality equipment to add layers of sophistication to any music. Additionally, ACID Pro 9 offers its users great all-new features like the MIDI Playable Chopper which allows you to play it as an instrument, jamming, remixing and composing. It also has additional plugins and a lot of ACIDized effects and loops.

ACID Pro 9 therefore offers the perfect combination of creativity and power. It allows you to record and make high-quality multi-track audio then seamlessly use its innovative looping technology to create breathtaking final compositions. Users can also incorporate mastered features and high-end effects to tweak their creations until they are perfect.

My story with ACID Pro 9

I have been using ACID for several years now. I think I started with version 2. or 3, I’m not exactly sure. Of all the versions that I have used so far, only two have really stood out for me: ACID 7 Pro, and ACID Pro 9. ACID 7 Pro was interesting because it was pioneering in many ways. However, in my opinion, ACID Pro 9 has blown it completely out of the water.

ACID Pro 9 really stands out for many reasons. It comes packed with many great features and plug-ins. Its loops, high fidelity audio, superior mixing, flexible audio, control surface support and the ability to arrange my tools among other features have made me go crazy about it. I feel like this platform was absolutely made for me because whenever I use it, I can create my music exactly the way I visualized it.

And as if it was not already awesome enough, there’s a slew of updates coming our way too! I can’t wait for them! I just know that the VST3 will completely blow everyone’s minds. The best part is that upgrading to the latest versions is just as affordable as it has always been, so no need to break the bank to get the new awesome features!

Key Features

ACID Pro 9 is packed with many instruments, loops and effects. It is built with the newest audio technology in the market and apart from that, it is really easy to use. You will find things like the new MIDI playable chopper that will enable you to make beats from loops then play them like a legendary MPC sampler would.

This application also allows you to chop loops into load banks or beats and make an entirely new tune or remix. These tunes or remixes could even be saved in real time as audio events.

ACID Pro 9 has a 32-bit VST bridge that makes it compatible with any computer device. Older plug-ins can also run in ACID’s new and sleek 64-bit environment.

The application also comes with new synthesizer instruments like the Vita Lead Synth and the Analog Synth 2; all which allow you to access all the classic tearing leads and bases that you may need for music production.

ACID Pro 9 also comes with a great number of fresh loops which covers quite a number of genres like hip-hop, Grime, Trap and House. They can all be easily loaded by tempo and key and added effects to make some music.

ACID Pro 9 is a full-fledged music production studio. It is a creative DAW for any artist or producer today. Its refined and sleek appearance is accompanied by a powerful DAW that is packed full of sophisticated tools and an optimized workflow. Plus, the fact that it is tailored for 64-bit machines means it can comfortably handle even the most complex projects.

In summary, the following are some of the great features of ACID Pro 9:

Loops

They are at the heart of ACID Pro 9. The application uses ACIDized loops that are really important in creating loop-based music which has length, pitch and transient data. It can be edited or manipulated and easily mixed together in real time to form complete pieces.

Multitrack recording

ACID Pro 9 has a 24-bit, 192kHz multitrack recording which contains a range of pro-level features. It can be used for creating MIDI and loop-based compositions at home and on the go.

High-fidelity audio

The 64-bit engine on ACID Pro 9 works well with PCs for efficiency and maximum power in music making.

Superior mixing

It also has a fully-featured, dedicated mixing console that is incredible at recording. It is also easy to work with and favors control surfaces like Frontier Design TranzPort and Mackie Control. They ensure you enjoy the traditional hardware mixing experience.

Flexible routing

ACID Pro 9’s mixing console is customizable, so you can enjoy a surface that is suited for your workflow. It is also possible to add external processor effects to busses and tracks to make complex sub mixes. You can also mix surround projects using a surround panner for exact control over channels.

Control Surface Support

The software supports Frontier Design TranzPort MID Controllers and Mackie Control Universal. You can use up to five control surfaces with ACID and they can be custom mapped to help users stay organized.

Ability to arrange tools

ACID Pro 9 has many tools that producers can use to arrange their creative projects into logical categories according to timelines. You could group them into clusters or Track Folders by dragging, pitch-shifting, cutting and pasting, copying or even paste a whole section.

Apart from mixing, ACID Pro 9 gives its users features like chopper tools and the Beatmapper. Chopper tools help slice audio files and create impressive stutters, DJ effects and drum fills. The Beatmapper is for time and tempo signature information; which is extracted from external files to make remixes with ACIDized audio files.

MIDI editing features

They are sophisticated, precise and comprehensive. Direct MIDI editing is meant for editing data that is within the timeline. There is also the Keyframe automation, flexible drum editing and track freeze to audio. The MIDI control that ACID offers is fun, hassle-free and intuitive.

Inline editing

This one allows users to edit MIDI data on ACID’s timeline but within drum grid interfaces and the traditional piano roll. With inline editing, users can edit velocities, pitch bends, controller information, and note positions. All this is done on ACID’s multitrack interface without opening another window.

ACID’s groove mapping

ACID has set high standards when it comes to audio editing (real-time editing), and now, with the release of ACID Pro 9, it has even gone a notch higher because it has given people very powerful audio features. These include the ACID time stretching, real-time pitch and a groove mapping feature that is sophisticated. Groove mapping enables users to extract grooves from loops then apply them to audio files.

ACID’s groove mapping is also easy to take control of, with only one click you could easily take control of things. The ease in controlling ACID’s groove mapping is an addition to make users have a great experience creating their content. ACID also gives its users the chance to create their own custom grooves (made all the way up, from scratch) and make amendments to existing ones so that they could have total groove control.

Zplane élastique

Zplane élastique Pro is featured by ACID Pro 9 and ensures flexibility and maximum quality of sound when users deal with audio clip time- and pitch-shifting. The feature also ensures artifact-free, time-stretching and pitch-shifting Beatmapped tracks.

Groove cloning

Groove cloning is useful at that time that artists like the rhythm or feel of loops; at this point, they can extract the groove from a loop with the ACID Pro 9’s Groove Cloning feature. ACID will analyze the clip’s audio then extract that it is applied to MIDI files and loops.

Envelope Control

Envelopes in ACID Pro 9 have been put in place to help creators automate the global parameters, modify pitch, expression, modulation and many other MIDI data in a track. These envelopes are also used to automate controls on plug-in instruments, they can also make Tempo Curves which in turn make smooth tempo variations in a music project.

Envelopes are drawn using external control surfaces or a mouse then they are tidied up using envelopes thinners or keyframes that smooth them out. Keyframes can also aid in the automation of users’ 5.1 mixes, on their timelines. Envelopes and keyframes can also be used to implement MIDI program changes and continuous controller data.

ACID Pro 9’s ReWire support

This technology enables compatible audio packages to function with each other so ACID users can route MIDI and audio data between them. ACID Pro 9 functions as a device and ReWire host so users can set up on other ReWire applications like Reason, Sonar, Live, Pro Tools or Cubase.

Audio plug-in manager

ACID’s plug-in manager gives artists complete control over all audio plug-ins. This enables them to easily and quickly add effects to a bus, track, soft synth bus and assignable effects. They can also organize and rename plug-ins; making a customized environment that helps users’ workflows.

ACID Pro 9 has many other features like the first class studio rack which has the EssentialFX Suite which is a collection of first-class plug-in effects. The effects work great with all studio applications. They use high-quality algorithms that bring out great sound and make the system highly efficient.

Other features you should know about are:

• The coreFX Delay that creates echoes with delays.
• CoreFX Chorus; this one brings a fuller sound.
• CoreFX Flanger creates dynamic cold sounds.
• Integrated CD burning; this is a disc-at-once and track-at-once CD burning that enables users to burn CDs straight from their timelines.
• Easy audio encoding; helps you save your favorites in many formats like MP3, WMV, WMA, FLAC, AAC and many more.

ACID Pro 9 is a Digital Audio Workstation, which basically means it is a complete music studio in a computer software. It works by giving you the power to create your music exactly the way you want to.

ACID Pro 9 is pretty intuitive for anyone who has had some experience working with other DAW software. If you are a complete beginner, there are lots of introductory videos on their official site that demonstrate how to work with the program. It will not be long before you are able to make your own songs with the sound loops, manipulate grooves, cut hoops with the help of choppers, and play the software instruments provided on the site.

MIDI Playable Chopper.

This is a tool that allows you to make your own remixes or loops. ACID Pro 9 gives you this tool to use it as a sampler or play it using MIDI keyboard.

Stem Maker or Audio Separation

STEM Maker is also another tool on ACID Pro 9 that uses cutting edge remixing and sampling technology to let ACID users filter percussion and vocals from any kind of song. This technology is dependent on artificial intelligence that resembles neural networks. It is designed to improve itself each time it learns and analyzes audio.