Musician's Friend
Fishman Aura
Studio-quality sound without the studio.
By Eduardo Nogales

 
We all want to sound our best onstage. It's completely natural to try and get the optimal tone, response, and dynamics from our instruments. For acoustic guitar players especially this represents a unique challenge. While there are many products made to amplify acoustic guitars for live use, none of them accurately reproduce the luscious sounds and response of your guitar when it's optimally mic'd, fully EQ'd and ready to record—until the Aura came along.
Fishman Aura Acoustic Environment Processor

Fishman named the Aura very appropriately. Webster's defines "aura" as a distinctive atmosphere surrounding a given source and that's precisely what the Aura captures. What pickups miss, and studio recordings capture, is the actual air your acoustic displaces to create its natural, unamplified sound. Different than an effects processor or the now-ubiquitous modeling processor, the Aura is designed to wrap itself around your acoustic and deliver the sound of your instrument with full-scale studio production—live.

The Acoustic Sound Images used for Aura were recorded and built over a five-year period of research and development by Fishman. The first step was recording different acoustics in the Nashville studio of Grammy-award winning producer Bill Vorn Dick using a plethora of expensive microphones, preamps, EQs, and processors. Then, melding what they had recorded with Acoustic Spectrum Transform technology licensed from Akai, Fishman was able to put the powerful algorithms generated into digital circuitry capable of reproducing those sweet acoustic sounds.

Sleek and savvy stage stalwart
While the sound the Aura pumps out is studio perfect, its rock-solid chassis screams "Gig me!" Not only would I take it into bars and coffeehouses, I'd feel pretty safe using it as a self-defense weapon. Its sculpted, smooth faceplate and rear backing are machined from solid steel, which makes it exceptionally hale, hard, and heavy. The extra weight and its non-skid rubber feet mean that when you lay the Aura down, it stays put. The knobs and switches protruding from its top are solid-feeling, too—way more stable than your average stomp box. Quality and durability were obviously very much in mind when Fishman set about designing a case for the electronic guts of the Aura.

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Setting it up and plugging in was a simple affair. Just plug into the Aura's 1/4" input and run the signal out through the 1/4" or XLR jacks (or both) to a PA or amplifier. The inputs, which are on the backside, are conveniently labeled on the faceplate so you don't have to crane your neck around to see which jack you're plugging in to. A little pre-fun tuning was in order, so first I stepped on the two right footswitches (Tuner On) simultaneously to activate the tuner, tuned up, and then stepped on the Tuner Off footswitch to the left to play.

Similarly, getting all the good sounds going was a snap. The knobs and switches are clearly labeled with black print that's easy to read against the silver finish. With room for 50 Programs, the Aura comes with 16 already set up for you. Each Program can contain a different Acoustic Sound Image, specific EQ settings, volume levels, and blend settings that combine the signal from the Aura and the signal from your guitar, all customized by you. To get started, just flip the Edit/Play switch over to Play and dial up the Program containing the Acoustic Sound Image that most closely matches your guitar for instant Aura-fication. I can hear the heads being scratched right now. "Huh? Why do I have to match my guitar to a preset?" Remember when I said the Aura is different from an effects processor or modeler? Well, this is where the Aura goes off the beaten path.

Sublime sonic imprint
 Aura is different from modeling or simple effects processing because, unlike modeling, it won't take your nylon-string classical guitar and make it sound like a jumbo 12-string. In my opinion it does something much cooler and better. The Aura holds a mirror up to your guitar and enhances the image by adding the characteristics of the desired Acoustic Sound Image. Think of it like this: modeling is like an old-fashioned whalebone corset. No matter what the shape of the woman you put in it, she's going to look like an hourglass when you're done.   Aura is like a fabulous evening gown custom-made by a talented seamstress to complement the woman's body without forcing her to hold her breath all night long. The woman? She still walks, talks, and sounds like herself, but she looks the best she's ever looked. Every curve and corner is adorned with just the right material, colors, and fit.

Seeing my favorite dreadnought dressed up in tailor-made clothing was definitely a treat. I was amazed by the beauty the Aura imbued to my slightly small-bodied, all solid-wood workhorse. The Aura added back all the air and body that is normally lost in the signal sent from my magnetic soundhole pickup. It accurately portrayed the resonant depth that I've never been able to get live, while leaving intact the response and sweet mids that make it my favorite axe. And it really wasn't even hard to do.

In my case, I wanted a dreadnought with a solid spruce top, solid mahogany body and neck, and a magnetic soundhole pickup. I started with Sound Image #9: Dreadnought 5 Mag, which was the closest Image to my guitar out of the starting 16 settings. It also features a magnetic soundhole pickup, and the microphone used to record the Sound Image in the studio was a small diaphragm condenser. Perfect. And even though the dreadnought used in the Image had a rosewood body, I was able to tweak it to sound very similar to my guitar by using a bit more of my pickup in the Aura - Pickup blend (60/40), and juicing the mids just a bit in the Aura. After I was finished editing the sound, I saved it as Program #17, and I was done.

Customized sound for everyone
So why is it so important to find an image that's based as closely as possible to your guitar? It's because Aura isn't built to work with just any pickup system or guitar. Again, this is not modeling—each image is specifically engineered to partner up with the type of guitar and pickup used in the creation of the Sound Image. You can't fool Aura, either. Don't believe me? Believe it. I tried running a custom Strat® with a piezo bridge through the Aura and all that came out was a horribly clipped-and-scattered mess.

So what about those of us with a guitar not on the list? The first 16 Sound Images included with your Aura cover most of the popular guitar body styles, but they don't cover everything. Well, don't worry. Fishman has provided an extensive Sound Image library on the Fishman Aura website for download that include some of the most popular acoustic guitar models and body styles available. This gallery is being expanded almost daily, and will allow you to locate a much more specific Image to use with your guitar. Fishman also plans to launch a custom Sound Image program that will allow Aura owners to get an Image created from their own guitar by having it recorded at Fishman's in-house studio or by sending them a recording of your instrument.

Advanced added benefits
Some of the coolest parts of the Aura have nothing to do with the Sound Images. It has smart mixing capabilities that let you dial in precise mixes between the Aura and your pickup, and even individual EQ settings for each. Personally, I was knocked out by the Input-Output gain controls that made it easy to adjust for low-output pickups versus high-output systems. The three-LED level indicator right next to the Input knob lets you dial in just the right amount of gain, while the Output knob lets you give the board or your amp the strongest signal possible without clipping. The Edit mode is where you'll be able to dial in such settings as the individual EQ settings (Aura/ Pickup) and the blend for each program; i.e., how much Aura you want to give your basic signal.

You can also set up presets that make performing live even easier. You can make programs that include such subtleties as EQ variance for switching from strumming to finger picking, utilize specialized compression settings for varying lead or rhythm sounds, or simply pre-program changes in volume levels that are dependent on certain parts of your set. This also applies if you use more than one acoustic for performance. You can have whole sets of programs dedicated to different guitars, making instrument switches onstage much easier for you and the sound engineer.

Just as the best recording engineers are capable of bringing out the best in any acoustic, so is the Aura. Dialing in your Aura will embellish your guitar's signal with wonderful sonic whorls of color and vibrancy. It magnifies and amplifies the unique character of your guitar for all the world to hear. Finding the Image that fits your guitar best will deliver the precise studio sound you've always wanted for your guitar. And you can have it live. Who says you can't have your cake and eat it, too?

Features & Specs
  • 50 total Programs
    -16 pre-loaded Programs
    - 4 permanent Programs
    - 46 user-definable Programs
  • Akai AST technology
  • 11 adjustable Program parameters:
    -Sound Image selector
    -3-band EQ
    -Image/pickup blend
    -Pickup 3-band EQ
    -Pickup phasese
    -Compressor and level
    -Chromatic tuner with A = 427-453Hz calibration
    -Manual or automatic feedback cancel
    -Global phase switch
    -Ground lift
    -Play/edit toggle switch
  • Effect on/off switch
  • 2 adjustable compression types
  • 2-character LED display
  • Connections: 1/4" input, 1/4" output and balanced XLR out (D.I.)
  • MIDI in only, for Acoustic Sound Image download (MIDI cable not supplied) d)
  • POWER: 9V DC via external power adaptor
  • DIMENSIONS: 10-5/8"W x 2-1/2"H x 6"D
  • WEIGHT: 4 lbs.
  • EXT. CONTROLLERS: No

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