Acid can load in any WAV or AIFF‑format samples, as well as its own ACD ( Acid project) files. To speed up loading times you can transfer these to your hard drive, but they can be used directly from the CD‑ROM without any real‑time performance penalty, since they are normally held in RAM for playback.
Running setup.exe on the CD‑ROM a second time produced the familiar Sonic Foundry install page, and after entering the serial number to activate the program, Acid was soon up and running.Īpart from the program files, the CD‑ROM contains more than 500 loops and other sounds ready for use, including tasters from a variety of other manufacturers' libraries. Unfortunately, my PC locked up during the procedure, although thankfully nothing seemed untoward after a reboot, apart from several discarded temporary files. Here the Stretch page shows the markers that are used when time compressing and expanding.ĭuring the installation, you are given the option of installing the latest DirectX Media 5.2a Streaming files, so I opted to do this. Opening up the Properties section allows you to tweak the track sample for optimum results. Acid will run on a Pentium 133 machine, although you can also take advantage of DirectX real‑time effects if you have a Pentium II processor. As you might expect, Acid is compatible with Sound Forge for more extensive editing, and CD Architect if you want to burn a CD of your performance. You can also change their pitch to create a song structure, while extensive editing options allow you to move, snap to grid, loop and otherwise manipulate your source material, all with unlimited levels of undo/redo.
The clever bit is that Acid allows real‑time changes to pitch or tempo, so that you can alter the tempo of a whole clutch of different loops to run in sync, simply by moving a bpm slider. Supplied with a huge selection of style‑based WAV loops and single‑shot sounds, you can drag and drop snippets of audio on to a version of the Arrange page already familiar to Cubase users. But thankfully, the only mind‑expanding substance at the Frankfurt launch of Sonic Foundry's new PC software was a cheese buffet! Acid is described as a "breakthrough loop‑based music production tool", and the emphasis is on creative flexibility and instant results. When you get asked to try acid at a music show, you tend to be wary.
Loop‑based sequencing can involve heavy‑duty time‑stretching and pitch‑shifting, but Sonic Foundry aim to change this with Acid, which allows you to mix multiple sample loops while changing their pitch and tempo in real time. The Acid window, showing the three main areas: the main pattern‑based Track View, the Track List to its left, and the Media Explorer, mixer and effects section beneath.
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