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ACID - Does anybody use it?

FilmComposerZ

Active Member
Does any film or game composer here you ACID just for quick mockups (ones needed in a day ot two) to give the director or developer at least an idea? Reason: I used a demo of ACID for a composition of mine with some Native American chants, etc (really inexpensive wav samples and very convincing) and it was pretty great I'd say. Not great for WRITING music, but excellent for quick mock ups or maybe certain phrases that samplers can't pull off.... Does anybody feel like it's worth buying, becuase there a special sale at SONY where it costs about 70 bucks I think and it's a "smaller" version, but might be useful for quick writing....
and plus the sample sets are pretty cheap.

Thanx
 
I used Acid before I got Sonar. To me Sonar 4 is the perfect marriage of incorporating loops with plug-ins and MIDI hardware. Acid just doesn't offer me enough original input as I like. But then again, I hate largely looped based music- at least when I'm writing it. Listening I don't mind but I'm always wanting to modulate or change the harmonic frameword. I did "compose" an orchestral piece years back just using the Orchestral Acid loops. Sort of interesting...maybe I'll post it.
 
I use acid pro 5.0 on a regular basis. I think both assesments of acid are pretty accurate. Acid is designed for "looping" music, and works best when used for that.

-It does real-time pitch and time manipiulation as well as or better that anybody.
-It is very easy to work with loops.
-The new pro version can match grooves.
-It can act as a rewire master or slave.

And there are many more features that make it great at what it does. But it isn't a DAW or sequencer. It isn't for composing in the traditional sense, and some people do not like even the idea of working with loops. It does midi and audio recording, but not nearly as well as others.

Does that help?
 
I used to use it for (really, really) low budget documentaries. Probably still would if it was on osx.

Combined with the loop library server (indexing, tagging etc), the key and tempo metadata on the loop libraries, the transpose and temp mapping, and the quality of the loop libraries/ construction kits it was brilliantly efficient.

Of course it was all down hill when sony bought it. But excited to see it back under new management.
 
i used it for the longest time, post-'90s Cakewalk.

when i realized Sony wasn't going to support it passed v7, i jumped onto Sonar, then Reaper, and finally Studio One Pro.

i still have tons of great loops libraries and occasionally use Acid 7 for a quick mix here and there.

fun program.
 
I use it rewired to cubase, because it's quick quick quick. For the one simple thing it does, nothing beats it for efficiency and speed of use. If I didn't have it anymore I could work around it, and in fact I use it so little now that it probably wouldn't make that big a difference to me, but if it ain't broke*... (*acid is actually massively broke in lots of ways... but I don't use it in those ways.)
 
Loved it back in '97-98. It was my introduction to computer music making after being analog since 1980. It was a great way to learn. In fact, I still have the original ACID installation CDs from Sonic Foundry. Man, I'm getting old!
 
I used it up until I discovered Ableton.
I was great for me back in the day as it was integrated with Vegas Pro & Sound Forge. From Sonic Foundry, to Sony, to Magix, I honestly think they missed the mark on marketing their products along the way. They were always a step behind the times with their competitors. Example, go ahead and try to find a tutorial or forum online for their products. It's a small pool. Then look at their competitors and see all the tons of videos and walkthoughs and you'll see what I mean.
They just revived Acid recently even though a little too late I think. (I at least hope it's now 64 bit) That could have been a good product with enough attention paid. I just don't know if it's up to par with Pro hardware like Ableton, etc...They even started a website called Acid Planet where people could post their music creations. I'm not sure if that's even still around
That said I think Sound Forge and Vegas are still 2 of the most used DAWs in my arsenal today for what I use them for, radio production. This may seem like a shocker but for basic audio production I use Vegas Pro (more of a video DAW) over Adobe Audition. It's just so much easier even though it's designed for Video production because it has expert audio tools and functionality. I still think they're good products.

The new Acid Pro 8 is only 150 bucks so for that price it's worth looking into if you want to do basic loop based production but don't expect to have a large group of followers, forums, or user help & tutorials like Steinberg Cubase or Albeton.
 
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I moved to Mac, so.... I have a lot of loop libraries, but haven't figured out how to use them is OSX.
 
The last time I used acid I had a bad time. Hey-oh! :P








I moved to Mac, so.... I have a lot of loop libraries, but haven't figured out how to use them is OSX.

But seriously folks...

Toyed around with it a few times 15 years ago... I thought they were ultimately just wav files. They're a separate format?
 
Toyed around with it a few times 15 years ago... I thought they were ultimately just wav files. They're a separate format?


Yep it's "acidized" metadata /w key, tempo etc metadata. Makes it easier to drag and drop a loop into a track already at the right temp and in the right key. It is possible to do this in Live, but not nearly so easily.
 
The mid 2000s for me and I was using an old version at the time. It was fun to use and the learning curve wasn't too steep for a beginner. I wouldn't think it would be worth the expense to get it now even at the sale price, but if it can get you work and helps you write music faster, then why not? I think it comes down to what workflow is best for you. Interested to hear from any ACID users who use it and write for film or games or whatever.
 
Yep it's "acidized" metadata /w key, tempo etc metadata. Makes it easier to drag and drop a loop into a track already at the right temp and in the right key. It is possible to do this in Live, but not nearly so easily.
Do you want to make loops that do this, or are you specifically trying to use old Acid libraries? Apple Loops do this... Loop Editor lets you make apple loops and converts most things, unfortunately, it's kind of spotty and the company that bought it doesn't seem to be all that concerned about improving it.
 
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