Fishman Aura - the OG of IR?

[aaronmarkson]

Is the Aura obsolete now that Tonedexter and Voiceprint are on the scene?

This is the question I am asking myself. I’m going down the rabbit hole for myself to find out and figured I’d document it along the way.

I’ve owned and used the Fishman Aura for many years. I bought a Tonedexter early on and chose to stick with the aura at the time. I just bought another one now that 2.0 is out along with a voiceprint to decide which is best for me.

I’m starting with a demo and discussion what I think is still a great product.

[Petty1818]

I still say that the Aura is probably the easiest pedal to set up. Fishman were so far ahead of the game with that pedal and it still holds up. If they can release an updated version, they could be in the lead once again. The Tonedexter is amazing but the aura is just so easy to dial in.

[Gordon Currie]

The Aura was pretty ground-breaking when it first arrived - at least for the sweet spot of common guitar images combined with UST.

(It never worked even acceptably for me as I had already moved onto SBT, and none of my guitars seemed to be even a ballpark match for the images.)

I think IR devices will continue to proliferate and get easier to use, and their key differentiator - that the IR you create is YOUR instrument - will eventually render the Aura as an interesting historical footnote.

I could only see Fishman coming out with a newer Aura-type pedal if it allowed for ad hoc IR creation. There's no future for pre-loaded IRs in an idiosyncratic environment such as acoustic guitars.

[martingitdave]

It's still an excellent choice for live sound especially if you have a Fishman under saddle pickup.

[jonfields45]

One important difference is Aura can run 25 hours on a 9v battery and be installed in your guitar (it is an ugly large PCB last time I looked...). They made trade-offs that favor low power consumption and possibly are not well suited to generating the IR at home as with ToneDexter, Voiceprint or my generator.

The latest Acoustasonic Telecaster and Stratocaster are another example of neat products that benefit from optimizing IR playback (Aura) for low power consumption.

Aura is still the only game in town that can be installed in your guitar.

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by jonfields45

One important difference is Aura can run 25 hours on a 9v battery and be installed in your guitar (it is an ugly large PCB last time I looked...). They made trade-offs that favor low power consumption and possibly are not well suited to generating the IR at home as with ToneDexter, Voiceprint or my generator.

The latest Acoustasonic Telecaster and Stratocaster are another example of neat products that benefit from optimizing IR playback (Aura) for low power consumption.

Aura is still the only game in town that can be installed in your guitar.

Yep, it's been around a long time but it still sounds great and it's super simple to dial in. One system that I don't think gets enough attention is the Aura Ellipse. The sound hole controls allow for four images to be stored but if you want to change them, there's a mini usb port as well. Hopefully Fishman update their Aura imaging to the newer HD technology.

[aaronmarkson]

I also think the Fishman Aura really was ahead of its time in many ways.

While I do believe Aura still has a place as is, I’m am excited to see how it develops in the future.

I’m giving Tonedexter a spin now to see how new school compares to old school.