Solid State Logic recently released the Acoustifier, a unique modeling plugin that transforms an acoustic guitar D.I. signal into the sound of a miked acoustic guitar. Recording an acoustic guitar with a great microphone is not always possible, particularly in a live sound setting. The Acoustifier is a remarkable tool that can breathe life into a sterile sounding recording of a direct acoustic guitar pickup. The results are convincing and can substantially improve the tone of a direct acoustic guitar.
The Acoustifier is a full featured channel strip all on its own and features guitar size, XY or spaced pair mic positioning with choice of condenser, dynamic or ribbon microphone tones, compression, four types of reverbs including hall, plate, room, chamber presets, EQ and reverb ducking. Seven presets offer suggestive starting points. It’s tremendously flexible and offers a substantial amount of tonal and spacial variation.
The Acoustifier features four standard acoustic guitar sizes: two dreadnought options, a jumbo body, and a concert body. The modeling is excellent and instantly conveys a tonal shift on a track of direct acoustic guitar to that of a guitar in front of a pair of microphones. MC found Dreadnought 1 to be particularly useful, with a forward sound that is balanced, warm, and big. Dreadnought 2 is more midrange forward and also present. Surprisingly, the Jumbo has a subdued low end and a midrange forward tone, with a clarity and hardness sounding like a maple body. The Concert guitar sounded similar to the dreadnought with a darker sounding bottom and nice sparkling top end.
The microphone type and spacing also substantially affects your sound. The mic choices sound as you would expect. Condenser is bold, big, and full; dynamic is smaller and even; and ribbon offers a sweet round treble and articulate bass. A range of mic configurations are also available, including XY and spaced pair setups, with controls to blend body and neck microphone signals. Each microphone can be turned off or mixed higher or lower.
Acoustifier includes a built-in EQ and real-time frequency analyzer which features a quick-access tilt band, enabling instant shifting of the tonal balance toward the high or low end. For more precise control, Acoustifier’s EQ also features high-pass and low-pass filters, and three parametric mid bands. The frequency analyzer with real-time visual feedback can be effective to quickly find peaks or resonances.
Acoustifier is aimed at rescuing D.I. tracks and probably won’t improve a well recorded miked acoustic guitar track. MC did try Acoustifier on a sampled mandolin and interestingly, it breathed life into the samples and made it sound like a real mandolin. The Acoustifier might be the plugin that you didn’t know that you needed. A wonderful useful and powerful plugin to round out your toolkit. Acoustifier is available individually at $99 or as a part of the SSL Complete Access Bundle subscription for $19.99 per month.
