Anyone Using ARC Systen 2?

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Rick Cornish
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Anyone Using ARC Systen 2?

Post by Rick Cornish »

The last MOTUnation post on ARC was from 2011, so I thought I'd see if anyone is currently using ARC System 2 with DP in your home/project studios and how you like it.

In particular:
• Do you always track and mix through ARC?
• Do you use ARC with a multiple monitor setup? If so, what do you think of the hassle of switching ARC profiles every time you change monitors?
• Do you trust what it does?

Thus far, I'm pleased.
I use it to mix always, but usually don't bother with it when I compose or track.
I was surprised at the odd plot it gave me from my Genelec 1038s without the sub, while the curve with the sub was pretty much what I expected. Then I re-did the room analysis and it came back almost exactly the same.
I find it has brought greater focus and "stereocity" to my listening environment.

Your thoughts?
Last edited by Rick Cornish on Sun Aug 23, 2015 4:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Rick Cornish

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Re: Anyone Using ARC Systen 2?

Post by Martini Hill »

I would like to hear more about this as well.
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HCMarkus
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Re: Anyone Using ARC Systen 2?

Post by HCMarkus »

Not using ARC but, FYI, on sale $100 off until the end of August!

For $199 'm probably going to purchase and give it a shot.
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Re: Anyone Using ARC Systen 2?

Post by Rick Cornish »

HCMarkus wrote:Not using ARC but, FYI, on sale $100 off until the end of August!

For $199 'm probably going to purchase and give it a shot.
For those interested, consider supporting our sponsor.....
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ARC2
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Michael Canavan
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Re: Anyone Using ARC Systen 2?

Post by Michael Canavan »

I've thought about it over the years, but Room EQ Wizard is free, and really lets you know what's going on in your setup. The learning curve is much higher with REW, but you get more information, and the chance to correct your room yourself.

There used to be issues with firewire devices etc. in OSX but that's resolved via a few freebies.

http://www.roomeqwizard.com

There are forums, the developer actually answers questions sometimes. :)
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Re: Anyone Using ARC Systen 2?

Post by EMRR »

Still using the first ARC. Seems to do a pretty good job, it's not a miracle worker though. I've run the setup multiple times, honing in on actual working volume. Not too hard to switch speaker setups. You can't track with it unless you are ok with latency. You can't switch it on and off without losing your mind, because it sounds broken when mixing contexts. I only turn it on for mixing.
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Re: Anyone Using ARC Systen 2?

Post by SixStringGeek »

Not ARC - but the room correction in my Equator Q-10s.

Seems decent. I also piled a bunch of time into building absorption panels and was pleasantly surprised when the analyzer found the room reasonably dead and flat (could do more ... probably will).
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Re: Anyone Using ARC Systen 2?

Post by Rick Cornish »

BTW: I'm in a purpose-built room (non-square, ceiling not parallel with the floor) with 20 Auralex panels on the walls in the front 1/3 of the room, my desk 4' back from the front wall and diffusive materials in the back (i.e. a LEDE-like setup). Also have heavy curtains over all windows. Didn't sound bad to start with, but ARC found problems I didn't know I had and helped fix them.
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Re: Anyone Using ARC Systen 2?

Post by xmission »

I've been using it for about a year, and It's made a big difference.

I wish there was a way to use a plug-in in the focusrite mixcontrol rather than in DP, so that I'd hear everything that is played on my system, so I'd be able to hear reference material through it, but other than that, I can't recommend it enough.
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Re: Anyone Using ARC Systen 2?

Post by guitardood »

I had some success with ARC2, but cannot track through it due to latency issues. I find it hard to track additional instruments without a basic mix of what I've already got recorded and with plugins and such, I have my DP buffer at 2048. Between that and a few other plugs, I'm usually at a high enough latency that monitoring through DP for tracking is next to impossible. I did use it for mixing, though it only corrects so much and with the bass null in my room where I had my mix desk, I wound up with everything way too boomy.

I had a little better success with the DBX driverack room eq capabilities and putting that as the last device in the chain going to the monitors. It's got 3-way (high,mid,sub) crossovers per side (though I'm only using two of them (mid&high combined and sub), one for monitors and the other for the sub). The best thing about the drive rack is that it's a piece of hardware that everything goes through and no latency issues tracking through it.

On a side note, I had a bit of water get into my studio space about a year ago and still haven't got everything back to normal there and have been doing most of my latest stuff on a MacBook Pro with an Apollo interface and mixing in headphones. Because of this I tried and then purchased a program from Sonarworks called "Reference" which is a AU plug you put on the master bus and it does EQ correction for headphones to help realize a more flat mix. They have a list of supported phones but, for an additional amount, you can purchase phones with a custom tuned template for that specific pair or send them your phones and they'll make a custom EQ template for them. Honestly, the mixes coming out of my system this way are about the best i've done. They also have a version which offers EQ correction for speakers (currently using HS8s) and I'm probably going to try and buy that once I get myself back into my studio space.

After that big wind... ARC 2 is pretty cool and fixes a few things, but you should still look into whatever room mods you can do first and then maybe ARC 2, drive rack or Sonarworks as the finishing touch.
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Re: Anyone Using ARC Systen 2?

Post by Bennie Sims »

It works great for me since 2011 version to now with version 2!! Its right on point!! I think I got lucky!!! Measurement wise and room wise etc...
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Re: Anyone Using ARC Systen 2?

Post by HCMarkus »

I really like ARC2, and monitor with it on and off as well as switching to secondary speakers while mixing to get a broader perspective on my mix's bottom end. A no-brainer at $200 on sale a while ago.
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