WORLD OF MUSIC ; PORTABLE KEYBOARD - Latest Portable Music Keyboards, Synthesizers and Music News

British audio specialists Audient have partnered with Sonarworks to announce the release of Oria Mini.

A room correction system housed in a dedicated hardware device that sits between your interface and speakers, Oria Mini is designed to take the hassle out of acoustic calibration and “make any speakers sound better”.

Oria Mini is powered by Sonarworks SoundID Reference technology, which measures and corrects the acoustic imperfections of any space, whether that’s a home studio or a professional control room.

Corrective processing that would usually be introduced via the computer is applied directly via Oria Mini’s onboard DSP, ensuring accurate monitoring without hogging CPU power or introducing latency to your set-up. Users can create up to four unique calibration profiles, save these on the hardware and switch between them with ease.

The USB bus-powered Oria Mini features 32-bit converters and delivers 127dB dynamic range, and is compatible with any audio interface and speaker system up to 2.1. Connectivity is provided by TRS analogue and S/PDIF digital inputs and a TRS output, along with a dedicated subwoofer output.

Though Oria Mini is designed to work with Sonarworks software, you can purchase it without a Sonarworks license and use it with software from other providers, such as Smaart and RoomEQ Wizard. Manual calibration is also available with controls for EQ, trim, delay and bass management.

Audient describes Oria Mini as a “set-and-forget” device that can be set up and calibrated in under 20 minutes. “We understand whilst room correction has such a positive impact on your ability to achieve great mixes it is also complicated,” says Audient’s Andrew Allen.

“It is for that reason that Oria Mini is designed to be a set-and-forget box – offering consistent, reliable performance with ultra-low latency, doing its job quietly in the background with zero fuss. No crashes, no CPU strain – just high resolution, consistently accurate monitoring whether you’re mixing in your DAW or simply streaming music via Spotify.”

Features:

• Room Correction System
• Powered by Sonarworks SoundiD Reference*
• Supports up to 2.1 Speaker Setups
• Ultra low-latency Monitoring
• Advanced 32-bit AD/DA Converter Technology
• Create and Store 4 Custom Calibration Profiles
• Switch between Profiles via Hardware
• Onboard Room Calibration Processing
  • EQ, Delay, Trim & Bass Management
• 1 x Stereo Input (TRS)
• 1 x Digital Input (S/PDIF)
• 1 x Stereo Speaker Output (TRS)
• 1 x Subwoofer Output (TRS)
• 24 bit / 96kHz
• USB 3.0 / USB Type-C
• USB Bus Powered
• Includes Sonarworks Measurement Mic
• MacOS and Windows Compatible
• Remote Control
  • iOS iPad Remote
  • Stream Deck Support

Oria Mini is available for purchase with a bundled SoundID Reference license and measurement microphone for £379/€439/$449. The hardware can be purchased standalone without a Sonarworks license for £249/€299/$299, and existing SoundID users can purchase an add-on bundle for £335/€398/$398.

Find out more via Audient website.

IK Multimedia’s hardware room correction system ARC Studio, promising to ‘instantly upgrade your studio monitors’. This standalone processor is designed to run the new version of IK’s room correction software, ARC 4.

IK Multimedia has announced the release of ARC Studio, a standalone hardware processor for its newly-updated ARC 4 acoustic room correction software that promises to “instantly upgrade” your studio monitors.

Room correction software compensates for the acoustics of the room your monitors are placed in by analyzing its acoustic profile, identifying problematic frequencies and adjusting the output of your monitors accordingly. Everything from a room’s size and shape to the furniture in it can dramatically affect its acoustics; room correction accounts for this to achieve a neutral frequency response.

IK Multimedia has been in this game for a while; previous iterations of its ARC software were designed to run on your machine, whereas ARC Studio gives you the opportunity to run the software on a dedicated processor that sits in between your interface and your monitors. There’s a number of benefits to this approach, eliminating the need to place the ARC 4 plugin on the master bus of a project or introduce additional latency to your monitoring set-up.

ARC Studio arrives bundled with a precision MEMS measurement microphone that’s used to measure the acoustic profile of your listening environment through the ARC 4 software and compensate accordingly, delivering “controlled low-end, tighter transients and pinpoint stereo imaging”. Separate profiles can be created, stored and instantly recalled for different monitors, listening positions and room configurations.

In addition, ARC 4 now offers monitor emulation, so you’re able to emulate the frequency and phase response of well-known studio monitors from other manufacturers, hi-fi speakers and even mobile devices to get a sense of how your mix will sound on other systems.

• For pro studios, whether DAW-based or console-based, ARC Studio with ARC 4 offers sonically transparent correction and custom-tuning for any monitoring setup from nearfields to mains, while preserving the inherent system’s sonic quality.
• For DAW-based studios, ARC Studio eliminates the need to insert the ARC 4 plug-in on the master bus of a project and preserves zero-latency monitoring setups. It also lets you listen other sources, like streaming music, with acoustically corrected monitoring.

Designed and manufactured in Italy to exacting specifications, the ARC Studio hardware boasts a 120 dB(A) analogue input to analogue output dynamic range, 0.5Hz-40kHz frequency response, and ultra-stable clocking. The company says it offers the transparency and accuracy of mastering-grade converters at a far more affordable price.

ARC Studio – Make any studio monitors sound better (including the ARC 4 software and measurement mic) is priced at $/€299.99, but existing ARC users can upgrade for a discounted price. ARC 4 – Mix faster and more confidently than ever can be purchased on its own for $/€149, or $/€199 with the measurement mic.

KRK is launching a limited-edition version of its CLASSIC studio monitor designed in collaboration with Grammy-nominated producer Scott Storch.

The shiny and gold KRK Scott Storch CLASSIC 8ss is limited to only 500 pairs

The KRK Scott Storch CLASSIC 8ss is spin on the CLASSIC 8, an active two-way studio monitor equipped with 8″ woofer and 1″ soft dome tweeter. The CLASSIC 8 delivers 100W of power in total – 75W for the woofer and 25W for the tweeter – and a dynamic, modern sound that’s punchy and bass-forward.

Storch’s signature monitors have been outfitted with a gold chrome faceplate and feature the producer’s signature on the front and back. The CLASSIC 8ss are said to capture Storch’s “eccentric, unique flair” and offer the same +2db KRK Bass Boost function as the regular CLASSIC model; flip this switch and they’ll amp up the low end for an enhanced bass response.

“For years, the KRK CLASSIC 8 monitors have been essential to my artistic music-making process,” says Storch in a statement. “To now have personalized versions of my favourite studio monitors is an exciting venture for me. I’m honoured that KRK chose me for its first-ever artist collaboration.”

Scott Storch is a producer and songwriter known for working with Grammy-winning artists. Storch has been nominated for four Grammy Awards.

Each monitor will cost $299. If you want a bit of gold chrome in your life, don’t wait around – only 500 pairs of the CLASSIC 8ss are being made. Find out more on KRK website.