Testing Sony Acid Music Studio 7.0
My search for a suitable GarageBand for Windows product is in the testing phase now. My first few tests with MixCraft 3.0 were very positive. Unfortunately, MixCraft doesn’t support MIDI. I found a spot on the Sony site to download a 30 day trial of Sony Acid Music Studio 7. The install was pretty painless.
Initial impressions
Sony Acid gives you the impression that it can do a bit more based on a busy and complex interface. The interface is less friendly, less like GarageBand than MixCraft is. You quickly get the impression that you have a many more options to fiddle with as well. Click on this thumbnail to see a full view of the interface. (images are from the Sony site.)
Where are the Loops?
This was challenging. I couldn’t find much in the help or the “show me how” tools. I looked on the web for help and found people had similar challenges. The answer was that the loops are not automatically installed with the product. The are on a couple of other discs that are included with the purchased product. This doesn’t help someone that downloaded the trial version. The product page at the Sony site claims that Acid comes with 3000 loops. I couldn’t find them at all. I downloaded a free loop that I found via Google and started testing the controls.
The interface for editing loops is pretty straightforward. You paint them onto the track with your mouse. From there, you have numerous edits and changes that you can apply. Bottom line, not as friendly as MixCraft, but equally, if not more capable. I liked how you could change the key for a loop pretty easily.
Testing MIDI
Following the loop effort, I decided to give the MIDI a quick try. MIDI support is part of GarageBand, but not part of MixCraft. The first thing you need is a way to work with MIDI signals and your PC.
M-Audio MIDISport Uno
I took the plunge and bought the MIDISport Uno by M-Audio. Guitar Center had it for $39.99. The MIDISport Uno is a USB to MIDI cable. It has a USB plug connected to a little egg shaped thing that has both a MIDI In and a MIDI Out plug attached.
The Results
There are some tricky elements to working with MIDI in Sony Acid. When adding tracks, you can add normal audio track, or a MIDI track. I added an audio track by mistake, armed it for input, and my MIDI keyboard was able to play normal piano audio into an audio track. This was a bit confusing when I was then trying to figure out how to adjust the instrument that was playing the track.
With a MIDI track, you can change with virtual instrument used to render sound for the MIDI signal. This virtual instrument capability works well in Sony Acid and was part of my initial goal for a suitable GarageBand for Windows product. I spent some time trying out the various instruments. I found the slap bass effect fun to play with. Some of the instruments seemed a bit weak like the various instruments on a toy keyboard. Others sounded appropriate.
The MIDI bottom line…
Bottom line for MIDI. I think it will fit the bill. If you need MIDI support, Sony Acid Music Studio 7 can be your GarageBand for Windows. If you just need just normal loop support and MP3 support, then MixCraft seems to be easier to manage. From a price perspective, I’ve seen ads for Sony Acid at a slightly lower cost than Mixcraft (about $5 less).
GarageBand for Windows 
Try out Ableton Live.
does the actual purchased cd come with more loops on another cd because I only got one CD and I can’t find the so called 3000 loops either!
Monique: I purchased Sony Acid also. My package actually has a DVD instead of the multiple CD’s that people used to get. I’m guessing that you also have a DVD if you only got one disc.
The install process does not put the loops onto your hard drive. They are on the DVD in another folder. I’m going to do a post on this, but until then, insert your DVD and when the Sony Application Setup window appears, select “Browse Disc”. Select the Content Folder and you will have 3 other folders that each have some loops and sample songs.
You should create your own folder to contain your Loops so that you can update Sony Acid to find it. Copy the loops from the DVD to your folder and you should be all set.
Good luck.
I’m with Monique, i cant find mine either, and i dunno that its a DVD, but i’ll put it in again and see what happens…o yea i got the one disc…and also i cant even find out how to play stuff, i know its easier if u actually have a MIDI beard, but i mean i thought i could just do it on the program! Someone please help
NVM!!! insert ur disc and click product information i think it was and slcik a cuple things(sorry for my ignorance, i was so excited when i did it i forgot everyhting) but yea ull find loops, just drag them to a folder like my music, and MAB ur set lol
Not sure how your quest is going however you might be interested in the Mixcraft 4 beta, available on the Acoustica site, which now includes MIDI support.
The loops are in the “Content folder”. Just drag or paste this folder into MyMusic (or whatever) and your all set.
I purchased acid and had no trouble finding the loops, however I am having trouble recording me guitar. The record button that is supposed to be on the track at the left that u use to arm a track for recording is not there therefore I can’t arm the track. Show me how is no help as it assumes that button is there. Someone please help!!
nevermind I figured it out.
hi, i’m beatrice here. just drop by. hi.
i’m interesting with song composing n doing it too. but i’m finding some good softway to record, mine one sounds delay.
How do you record the vocals on this? can you plug your computer into like a Mackie sound board and record the track and vocals all at once? if so how?
I USE SONY ACID AND IT IS A GREAT PRODUCTION TOOL FOR SAMPLING AND PUTTING BEATZ TOGETHER . FINISHED PRODUCT ALWAYS SOUNDS PROFESSIONAL QUALITY. I RECOMMEND IT FOR ANYBODY FROM BEGGINERS TO ADVANCED MUSICIANS …………………..G’Z BEATZ.
i only got the install cd. so i can’t find loops anywhere.
where is the content folder
I have two suggestions for you to look at.
LeafDrums- Good beatmaking software
Macaw- Good Garage band replacement with more supported formats
The easiest way to find the loops is to do a search in your start menu for “.acd” This is the format that Sony Loops are saved. Once your computer finds them, open the file location and move them to a folder you will remember~ I just put a desktop folder up and threw them in it.
Also, the number of discs you recieve will depend on the region you live in, and the version you buy. Sony ACID Pro 6.0 comes with 2 discs, the second disc includes Kontact. If you just purchased Sony ACID 6.0, you will only receive 1 disc.
You can download many more loops from the ACID webpage, and they offer a new set weekly for you to try out. You can also purchase discs with more specific loops and samples from retailers like Guitar Center. You can also import any mp3 or wav files and start chopping them up to get more loops, or if you run programs like Finale, you can write a melodies for a specific instrument, and then import those into ACID to mix with loops.
I can’t say much for Ableton Live yet, I only just got the lite version to test out, but it seems better suited for MIDI support, but more limited in many of the other areas where ACID took charge.
Hope this helps to clear up any problems you may have had with this program.
I am new to sony acid and have a couple of questions. Is anyone out there willing to help me though email or other means to figure this out? I am starting to get frustrated.