I'm a little confused by this - as I understood it, Sonarworks needed a specific mic and a plugin in your DAW? SoundID seems to be just an app for calibrating headphones or something? I'm probably being dense as usual....
Guy Rowland wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2021 3:54 am
I'm a little confused by this - as I understood it, Sonarworks needed a specific mic and a plugin in your DAW? SoundID seems to be just an app for calibrating headphones or something? I'm probably being dense as usual....
It still does the same things as before. There's still a DAW plugin etc.
Their new branding is confusing to be honest. What was called Sonarworks Reference has now been renamed SoundID (which is the regular computer software that runs in your DAW or as a system-wide audio driver). However, I believe they also have an app called SoundID (which is for your phone's headphones).
If you're working on headphones (phone or DAW), then they have a number of preset profiles to provide something that might be more flat/neutral sounding. Just load up the profile and you're good to go.
For your main monitors, you need to calibrate your speakers/room first, then everything's also in the software. So all you need is a measuring mic. The mic doesn't have to be Sonarworks hardware (although they do have one). Any measuring mic will do and, as you only need to do it once, it's possible to just borrow one from a friend.
Once you've measured your speaker/room response using the measuring mic, everything is done in the software. Either as a DAW plugin or as a systemwide audio driver (the latter typically for non-ASIO stuff like YouTube). Sonarworks will compensate for any frequency or timing issues in your setup to make it sound more flat.
Sonarworks is probably most useful for people with rooms that aren't particularly treated or designed for audio. Of course, it's not an alternative to acoustic treatment and I think should be regarded as a "supplement" rather than replacement. People with treated rooms still may find it useful.
