IK Multimedia Arc Studio

Room Acoustic Correction System

Instantly upgrade any studio monitor with the first ready-to-use room acoustic correction system that anyone can afford. ARC Studio combines an autonomous correction processor, the new ARC 4 measurement software, and a room analysis microphone. There's a reason why all today's high-end studio monitors add active room correction: it boosts their performance and ensures that mixes translate flawlessly. ARC Studio delivers the same massive performance and precision boost to any monitor in every studio. For the first time in the recording industry, an affordable hardware processor can be used as a correction and calibration system for any type of studio, whether it's home, project, or professional, without the limitations of an exclusively software system. Your room has a huge impact on how you listen to your music. Size, shape, materials, and furniture all contribute to distorting the frequency and stereo balance of your monitors, degrading the sound. ARC 4's brand new algorithm analyzes and corrects these issues in minutes. Your music becomes increasingly crisp, with more controlled bass, tighter transients, and precise stereo imaging. It's like an instant upgrade to your monitors. Connect the microphone to your interface and you'll be guided through measuring acoustic points within your listening position. IK's award-winning ARC technology uses this 3D snapshot to identify and fully correct all the problematic issues that reduce monitor performance.

ARC 4 stores the correction profile and loads it into the ARC Studio processor, sitting invisibly between your interface and monitors to apply it to all incoming signals. The autonomous processor corrects studio monitors in any studio, including hardware and console-based setups.

ARC Studio features a 120 dB(A) analog input for dynamic output range, frequency response from 0.5 Hz to 40 kHz, and ultra-stable clocking to eliminate low jitter, offering total sonic transparency and a precision level that you only find in mastering-grade audio converters.

The AD and DA conversion in the ARC Studio is the result of extensive research, experimentation, measurements and listening tests that led to the selection of AKM Velvet Sound™ converters. They are simply the best sounding among all the high-end solutions we tested. Learn more.

ARC Studio connects to your studio and monitors via balanced XLR with hard relay-based bypass for safety power management, so when bypassed you're protected from sudden power-related pops. Between the premium audio quality and ARC Studio's brand new correction algorithm, you'll enjoy the most natural and transparent monitoring ever.

The ARC Studio hardware is not only designed and manufactured in Italy according to the highest standards of precision and quality, but its intelligent engineering makes it available at a fraction of the cost of other hardware solutions.

For professional studios, both in-the-box and console-based, ARC Studio enables sonically transparent correction and customized adjustment for any monitoring configuration, from near-field to full-range, preserving the inherent sound quality of your system.

For DAW-based studios, ARC Studio frees you from the hassle of inserting plug-ins on your master bus and preserves zero-latency monitoring configurations, plus it lets you listen to your favorite streaming service with acoustically corrected monitoring without any issues on the go with system drivers.

You can create a profile for every configuration, listening position or even monitor pair. Whether you're in a makeshift studio or a world-class one, fine-tuning your monitoring to your taste has never been so easy and never sounded so good.

ARC Studio can be instantly reloaded with new settings using the ARC 4 software, which now features a monitor emulation function. Transform your monitoring system into iconic studio monitors, as well as popular hi-fi speakers and mobile devices, with incredibly realistic results, accurately reproducing the frequency and phase response of the originals.

With over 20 profiles included in ARC 4, a single pair of monitors now allows you to quickly test your mix on different reference systems, without ever needing to go out in your car or purchase additional monitor pairs!

Specifications

• AD and DA converters: AKM Velvet Sound™
• Audio conversion and internal processing sample rate: 96 kHz
• Audio conversion resolution: 24 bit
• Internal processing resolution: 32 bit floating point
• Frequency response: 2 Hz - 45.0 kHz (- 2.0 dB)
• Dynamic range: 120 dB (A-weighted)
• THD (20-20 kHz): 0.00035%
• THD+N (1 kHz@-1 dBFS): -107 dB
• Channel crosstalk (1 kHz): -122.5 dB
• Maximum phase deviation: +7° 20Hz, +16° 22kHz
• Input impedance (balanced): 20 kOhm
• Output impedance (balanced): 50 Ohm
• Maximum output level: +17 dBu
• Latency
• Natural Phase Mode: 1.4 ms
• Linear Phase Mode: 42 ms
• Power
• Powered by included power supply
• Dimensions
• Dimensions: 14.4 cm / 5.6" x 12 cm / 4.72" x 4.5 cm / 1.77"
• Weight: 465 g / 1.03 lbs
• Package includes
• ARC Studio room correction processor
• ARC measurement microphone (depending on version)
• ARC measurement microphone clip (depending on version)
• USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable (1.5 m / 4.92')
• Power supply
• Registration card

System requirements

• Mac® (64 bit)
• Minimum: Apple M1 processor or Intel® Core i5, 4 GB RAM, macOS® 10.15 or later (macOS 11 or later required for Apple Silicon processors).
• Supported plug-in formats: Audio Units, VST 2, VST 3, AAX.
• Works with any audio interface featuring XLR microphone input with phantom power and a pair of monitoring outputs.
• A sample rate of 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz is required for the measurement process.
• An available USB port is required.
• Windows® (64 bit)
• Minimum: Intel® Core i5 processor or equivalent, 4 GB RAM, Windows 10 (64 bit) or ​​later.
• Supported plug-in formats: VST 2, VST 3, AAX.
• Works with any audio interface with ASIO driver, an XLR microphone input with phantom power, and a pair of monitoring outputs.
• The measurement process requires a sampling frequency of 44.1kHz or 48kHz.
• A free USB port is required.

Requires a graphics adapter compatible with OpenGL 2.