Audio Random Access
Extension for audio plug-in interface
Audio Random Access (commonly abbreviated to ARA) is an extension for audio plug-in interfaces, such as AU, VST and RTAS, allowing them to exchange a greater amount of audio information with digital audio workstation (DAW) software. It was developed in a collaboration between Celemony Software and PreSonus.
01Functionality
ARA increases the amount of communication possible between DAW software and a plug-in, allowing them to exchange important information, such as audio data, tempo, pitch, and rhythm, for an entire song, rather than just at the moment of playback.
This increased amount of information exchange, and availability of data from other points in time, removes the need for audio material to be transferred to and from the plug-in, allowing that plug-in to be used as a more closely integrated part of the DAW's overall interface.
02History
ARA was developed as a joint effort between Celemony Software and PreSonus, driven by the desire to increase the level of integration between Celemony's Melodyne plug-in and the DAWs using it. It was first published in October 2011 and released as part of PreSonus' Studio One DAW (version 2) and Melodyne (Editor, Assistant and Essential versions 1.3).
Version 2 of ARA was announced during the NAMM Show in January 2018, introducing new features such as the simultaneous editing of multiple tracks, transfer of chord track information, and undo synchronization with the DAW. DAWs which use ARA version 2 are not automatically backwards compatible with plug-ins using version 1. The first DAWs to support ARA version 2 were Logic Pro X (version 10.4, released in January 2018) and Studio One (version 4, released in May 2018).
03ARA implementation
To allow software manufacturers to support ARA, a Software Development Kit has been published by Celemony.
Current software products which support ARA include the following.
Digital audio workstations
| DAW | Developer | ARA v1 Support | ARA v2 Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACID Pro Next | MAGIX | N/A | Version 1.0.3.32 or later |
| Cakewalk by BandLab | BandLab Technologies | SONAR X3 or later | Version 2019.05 or later |
| Cubase | Steinberg | N/A | Version 10.0.30 or later |
| Digital Performer | MOTU | N/A | Version 11.2 or later |
| Logic Pro X | Apple Inc. | N/A | Version 10.4 or later; Intel or Apple Silicon with Rosetta only as of 2025 |
| LUNA | Universal Audio | N/A | Version 2.0 or later |
| Nuendo | Steinberg | N/A | Version 10.1 or later |
| Pro Tools | Avid Technology, Inc. | N/A | Version 2022.9 or later |
| REAPER | Cockos | N/A | Version 5.97 or later |
| Samplitude Pro | Magix | Version X3 or later | Version X5 or later |
| Studio Pro | Fender,PreSonus | Version 2 or later | Version 4 or later |
| Waveform / Tracktion | Tracktion Software Corporation | Version 5 or later | N/A |
Audio editors and plug-ins
| Plug-In | Developer | ARA v1 Support | ARA v2 Support | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melodyne | Celemony Software | Version 1.3 or later | Version 4.2 or later | |
| VocAlign | Synchro Arts | Project version 3 /
Pro version 4 or later |
Project version 3.6.0.5 /
Pro version 4.5.0.5 or later | |
| RePitch | Synchro Arts | N/A | Version 1 | |
| Revoice Pro | Synchro Arts | N/A | Version 4 or later | |
| SpectraLayers | Steinberg | N/A | Version 6 or later | |
| WaveLab | Steinberg | |||
| Auto-Align Post 2 | Sound Radix | N/A | Version 1 | |
| Acoustica | Acon Digital | N/A | Version 7.4 or later | |
| ASAP - Spectral Surface | IRCAM | N/A | All versions | |
| ASAP - Pitches Brew | IRCAM | N/A | All versions | |
| ASAP - Stretch Life | IRCAM | N/A | All versions | |
| Vocaloid | Yamaha | N/A | Version 6 or later | |
| Synthesizer V Studio | Dreamtonics | N/A | Version 1.11.0 or later | |
| VOIS (getVOIS) | VOIS | N/A | Version 1.1.9 or later | |
| Sync VX | Waves | N/A | ||
| DynAssist | NoiseWorks Audio | N/A | ||
| Vovious | Vovious | N/A |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Audio Random Access”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- ARA Plug-In Extension Logo.png by Celemony & PreSonus, Public domain
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