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 .
7-416: 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 & from
14-667: A Software Development Kit has been published by Celemony. Current software products which support ARA include the following. Pro version 4 or later Pro version 4.5.0.5 or later Audio plug-in An audio plug-in , in computer software, is a plug-in that can add or enhance audio-related functions in a computer program , typically a digital audio workstation . Such functions may include digital signal processing or sound synthesis . Audio plug-ins usually provide their own user interface , which often contains graphical user interface (GUI) widgets that can be used to control and visualise
21-470: A functional specification may be provided, which defines how the plug-in should respond to function calls, and how the host should expect to handle function calls to the plug-in. The specification may also include documentation about the meaning of variables and data structures declared in the API. The API header files , specification, shared libraries , license , and documentation are sometimes bundled together in
28-410: Is called a plug-in host. Example hosts include Bidule , Gig Performer , Mainstage , REAPER , and Sonic Visualiser . Plug-ins can also be used to host other plug-ins. Communication between host and plug-in(s) is determined by a plug-in application programming interface ( API ). The API declares functions and data structures that the plug-in must define to be usable by a plug-in host. Additionally,
35-641: The plug-in , allowing that plug-in to be used as a more closely integrated part of the DAW's overall interface. 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
42-459: The plug-in's audio parameters. There are three broad classes of audio plug-in: those which transform existing audio samples , those which generate new audio samples through sound synthesis , and those which analyze existing audio samples . Although all plug-in types can technically perform audio analysis, only specific formats provide a mechanism for analysis data to be returned to the host. The program used to dynamically load audio plug-ins
49-663: 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). To allow software manufacturers to support ARA,
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