Sonarworks Reference

nzk303 · March 9, 2019, 12:39pm

Any users here?
Especially interested in the Studio edition used in home studios with average acoustics
Do your mixes really sound better with it?
Thanks.

shroom · March 9, 2019, 12:53pm

It’s a lifesaver, it has in the past enabled me to “mix” my tracks in a room that was a nightmare and then some there was no way you could get a decent mix in there without it.

Also used it in good rooms and it did work well there for fixing the lowend, highly recommended!

djadonis206 · March 9, 2019, 2:42pm

I use the headphones version. Works pretty good. But I also toss in a reference track to compare my mix

friedcircuit · December 31, 2019, 7:38pm

Having trouble getting the volume balanced between my monitors, DAW, and audio interface. How would I go about setting them at a reasonable studio level?

Kreis · December 31, 2019, 6:56pm

Honestly I like the functionality of the software but the audio got incredible glitchy since I use it on both my pc and laptop (audio dropouts, especially when opening new browser tabs, crashes of audio drivers etc…).
Additionally it is a pita if you change between different headphones or speakers regularly as you will tend to forget to switch the profiles.

v00d00ppl · December 31, 2019, 7:30pm

Do you use a headphone amp in your setup by chance?

loopdude · January 1, 2020, 1:25am

Reference is great. Both for speakers and for headphones.

djadonis206 · January 1, 2020, 2:55am

@v00d00ppl what up! No, I don’t use an amp. I just come out of my laptop or soundcard

v00d00ppl · January 1, 2020, 3:17am

Happy New Years. I’ll check out the software then. I’ll review it with my audio labs monitor headphone amp

loopdude · January 1, 2020, 8:31am

Just remember that you need a profile for headphones too. You can’t make them yourself. Only the speaker profiles are measured by you

Cepheid · February 7, 2020, 5:06pm

Is this software really able to flatten the response on headphones? I may see an issue in using the software if you already know your headphones really well. Won’t this change the profile of them and it may take some adjusting correct?

djadonis206 · February 7, 2020, 5:40pm

I personally only turn the plug in on when I’m mixing, not creating or otherwise. It will flatten your mix but not in a detrimental way. If you’re mix is solid, it’ll come close to matching the reference.

loopdude · February 7, 2020, 10:43pm

Remember that your headphone needs a profile. Some have standard ones, some need the headphones sent in.

auditorycanvas · February 8, 2020, 10:22am

I’ve used it for the past few years. It does an incredible job on headphones. I use it for listening as well as mixing/production.

Best to spend time listening to music you know for a while to get used to the character of it so it’s not a distraction, but in essence it is changing the sound signature of the headphones to be as close to a ‘flat response’ as possible (given the variance in the human ear shape etc.), so the result should be more reliable than without it even if you don’t spend any time adjusting.

auditorycanvas · February 8, 2020, 10:24am

Here’s the list of supported headphones: https://www.sonarworks.com/reference/headphones

friedcircuit · February 8, 2020, 4:47pm

But can’t you use Sonarworks for other purposes as well such as casual listening, and not just for mixing?

loopdude · February 14, 2020, 7:43am

yes, you can. reference can not only be loaded as vst. it can also function globaly systemwide. lika a driver that is hooked somewhere between the soundcard