SonicStage Mastering Studio

SonicStage Mastering Studio lets you digitally record from various sources, edit the music and write your own optimised CDs.

Perhaps you still own analogue music resources such as old LP records and cassette tapes. If you do, they can be digitally recorded to create high-quality CDs that meet your highest expectations. Sony's original SonicStage Mastering Studio (SSMS) software is an excellent tool for accomplishing such tasks.

SonicStage Mastering Studio takes full advantage of Sony's original Sound Reality audio chip, which provides much higher quality performance than previous chips.

Effectors supplied with Sonic Stage Mastering Studio 2.2 help restore sound quality to its original pristine condition. By way of various controls that can alter the range of highs and lows, enhance stereo spatiality, and adjust volume and sound pressure, these effectors let you sculpt the sound as you like. You can also improve the sound of your favourite music by switching from 2-channel sound to the 5.1 channel surround format. Your optimized sound files can then be recorded on a CD at extremely high quality using a technology called Super Bit Mapping. And overall ver. 2.3 has been optimised to work most efficiently with the latest processors like Intel® Core™2 Duo. Advanced features like these will definitely serve your professional-level editing and CD production needs.

top

Simply connect your analogue player to VAIO to convert your analogue recordings to digital.

Using an audio cable, you can connect your record player* or cassette deck with your VAIO** to record LP records and cassette tapes in stereo. If your VAIO doesn’t provide an audio input connector, simply add an EDIROL AUDIO capture UA-25*** USB audio interface device from Roland, which even lets you record high-quality 24bit/96KHz analogue sources. Or you can use an EDIROL AUDIO capture UA-101*** device from Roland and enjoy the higher performance of 24bit/192KHz recording, 5.1ch support and USB2.0 compatibility.

*
When using a record player without a phono-equaliser, a separate phono-equaliser or stereo amplifier with phono-equaliser must be used between the VAIO and record player.
**
Any VAIO with an audio input or LINE IN port.
***
Availability depends on region.
Automatic track detection and marking function
SonicStage Mastering Studio detects muted portions of an audio recording and automatically divides the recording into different song tracks. Users can customise volume and duration parameters, and manually divide recordings into tracks wherever desired. Tracks are displayed on the screen in a “staircase” manner.
Revitalise music with professional quality effectors.

SonicStage Mastering Studio includes various high-performance effector modules that are popular at professional recording studios. Developed by Waves Corporation, Sony Oxford, QSound Labs Inc., and VAIO Original, these modules enable high-level adjustment of audio recordings, including minute customisation of effects to suit music of different styles and quality. A wide range of preset effects are also provided that support various types of recording activities.

• Sony Oxford Multichannel 5 Band EQ + Filters

This five-band advanced parametric equaliser makes the dream of natural sound "retouching" a reality by allowing you to accurately minimise distortion and strengthen weak signals in the original source. It removes decayed signals at high and low frequencies and adds lost tones at high frequencies to create more natural, dynamic sound. This is the ideal equalizer for aficionados who are obsessive about detail in their music.

zoom
• Sony Oxford EQUALISER

This three-channel standard parametric equaliser allows you to minimise distortion and strengthen weak signals in the original source. In particular, it exhibits outstanding performance when adjusting and improving analogue sound sources with decayed signal strength at the high and low frequencies.

zoom
• Sony Oxford Inflator

Developed by Sony Oxford, this effector module increases the apparent loudness of audio material without any perceptible loss in sound quality. Depending on usage, it can add character and dynamic excitement similar to that of analogue systems, subtle tube-like harmonic characteristics, warmth, fatness, presence, boldness or added dimension.

zoom
• Sony Oxford Restorer   

Unwanted noise can easily be removed with this advanced restorer. It eliminates clicking (sharp ticking), humming (continuous buzzing) and hissing ("shhh") noise without affecting the original signals to restore your recording to pristine condition.

zoom
• Waves S360 Surround Imager

This effector module transforms stereo sound into the 5.1 surround stereo sound format, which broadens the listening angle of the speakers and strengthens the sense of spatial dimension to create a natural sounding entertainment space.

zoom
• Waves Renaissance Bass

The low frequency range can be emphasised and enhanced without affecting the mid to high frequencies. This results in pleasing, natural sounding bass.

zoom
• Waves S1 Stereo Imager

The stereo image of an audio recording can be modified by extending or narrowing the range of the stereo effect. When the source converges in the center channel and sounds muffled, you can liven up the sound by widening the stereo effect.

zoom
• Waves L1 Ultramaximizer

This convenient effector module raises the signal-to-noise ratio by amplifying the desired signal while minimising any increase in noise. It’s extremely useful for expanding the dynamic range of music recorded on cassette tapes at low sound levels.

zoom
• QSound QSurround / QMSS

This plug-in simplifies switching between 2 and 5.1 channel surround sound by automatically making necessary adjustments throughout the sound system. Now it's easy to create an ideal listening environment for natural surround sound!

zoom
Other sound editing functions.
• Noise reduction

You can significantly reduce noise common in analogue sound recordings, such as scratches in LP records and hissing in cassette tapes.

• Normalisation

SonicStage Mastering Studio standardises the volume of music recordings on your VAIO — even if they came from different sources — allowing you to listen to them all at a steady volume.

• Fade-in / Fade-out

Any piece of music can be faded in at the beginning or faded out at the end, with the fade duration determined by the user.

Automatic acquirement of track title, album title and artist name.

SonicStage Mastering Studio can automatically determine the track title, album title and artist responsible for many pieces of music — even if they were recorded from analogue sources. Unlike services that utilise the TOC data of CDs and cannot judge analogue recordings, this function uses Gracenote Internet service to analyse the waveform.

Utilise the music you edit in different ways.

The music you record and edit can easily be stored in a CD or saved as a WAV file and added to the SonicStage play list for simplified file management and playback.

Super Bit Mapping technology enables the creation of higher quality CDs.
Super Bit Mapping (SBM) is Sony’s original digital sound processing technology. It takes high-quality 24bit/96KHz sound sources — through “AUDIO Capture” UA-25 or UA-101 — and transfers them to CDs with sound that is theoretically equivalent to 20bit sampling quality. Amazingly, this means that a CD recorded with SBM support contains virtually 16 times more information than regular CDs and allows extremely high-quality playback on conventional CD players. And by virtue of the SBM Direct function, DSD files can be output to music CD (or 44.1kHz WAV files) to provide extremely high quality playback of live recordings.

Please note - any form of copying or reproduction of copyrighted material may amount to infringement of copyright.

* All product and brand names on this web site may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. (TM) and (R) indication may be omitted in this web site.