LAVA Music LAVA STUDIO

Boasting full NAM A2 support, Wi‑Fi access to over 25,000 amp captures, and a whole host of useful features, LAVA STUDIO aims to be everything today’s guitar and bass player needs for practice, recording and more besides...

Founded in California in 2013 but now headquartered in China, LAVA Music began by developing novel carbon‑fibre composite acoustic guitars. They still make them, and now pack them with technology too: their latest model, the 2023 ME 4, features Wi‑Fi Internet connectivity, an onboard touchscreen, amplification, effects models, drum loops and 24‑bit digital recording capability!

LAVA Music’s newest product isn’t a guitar, but should certainly be of interest to electric guitar and bass players. The innovative LAVA STUDIO builds on the ME 4’s technology platform to create an integrated amp and effects modeller and digital recording system. At its heart is a computer running LAVA’s own lavaOS 1.7 operating system, but the hardware has been designed specifically to cater for the needs of guitarists and bassists. It features a 13.3‑inch touchscreen and not just suitable I/O, but also a built‑in 2.1 loudspeaker system. On the software side, there are LAVA’s own AI guitar and bass amp and effects models, but also compatibility with — and direct wireless access to — Tone3000’s collection of more than 25,000 NAM A2 amp models. It doesn’t stop at the amp modelling, either. There’s a built‑in 12‑track ‘miniDAW’, an eight‑track looper, and over 700 backing tracks and drum loops, plus a range of educational videos and much more besides.

So, does it add up to more than a glorified tablet and interface? Yes, as I’ll explain below, I think it does: it will have obvious appeal for those playing at home, but there are also potential applications both on stage and possibly even busking!

One Switch, One Knob, One SHARC

Virtually all user interaction is via the full‑HD touchscreen, which is tiltable over a range of 0‑80 degrees. In fact, the STUDIO’s brushed‑aluminium enclosure carries only two physical controls: a non‑latching button that supports both a long press (to turn the unit on/off) and a short one (sleep/wake); and a master output level knob.

The main left‑right speakers sit behind the front‑panel grille, but on the back, with the line outputs, power inlet and USB‑C socket, is the port of a built‑in subwoofer.Beneath the screen: a quarter‑inch TS jack input and headphone out.The sole audio input is a mono, high‑impedance, quarter‑inch (6.35mm) TS jack on the front panel. By way of outputs, there’s a front‑panel stereo mini‑jack for wired headphones, and on the rear panel a pair of quarter‑inch unbalanced jacks to deliver mono or stereo line‑level signals. Also on the rear, there’s a USB‑C port and a connector for the included external 19V DC power supply. A 65‑100 Watt power pack that supports 20V USB‑C PD (Power Delivery) can be used instead and while there isn’t one supplied, this does mean there’s potential to use the LAVA STUDIO in locations where there’s no mains power available. The other ‘output’, of course, is the built‑in 2.1 stereo loudspeaker system, whose twin‑driver, rear‑ported ‘racetrack’ subwoofer and left and right satellites are concealed behind a large, dark‑coloured, front‑panel grille. This system is specified at 40W RMS and with a frequency range of 50Hz‑20kHz (though LAVA don’t offer any figures stating the deviation from flat at those extremes, so that doesn’t tell us much!).

In the real world, the STUDIO reproduces streamed music and live or recorded electric and acoustic guitars accurately, and with more than enough volume for home use. Despite the rear reflex port, to my ears the STUDIO’s woofer doesn’t move the amount of air required to deliver the low E of a live bass guitar with authority beyond a moderate volume level. But you do have the option of headphones for practice, and for more in‑room volume you could pair it with a powered cab. My guitars and bass sounded great through headphones and IEMs and I didn’t feel that I lost anything when using them.

The LAVA STUDIO’s DSP is powered by an 800MHz SHARC processor, which runs v1.7 of lavaOS. Wi‑Fi Internet access and a LAVA user account are required to activate the STUDIO and to upload, download and sync data to/from the LAVA Cloud. The core features of the STUDIO’s major functions (including the amp and effects modelling, eight‑track looping, miniDAW 12‑track recording, tuner and metronome) will run perfectly well without a Wi‑Fi Internet connection, of course, so you have the freedom to use it anywhere, but you do need to be online to access the full system functionality.

Touch & Go

Navigation and control via the touchscreen are largely icon‑based. This familiar paradigm keeps screens uncluttered, speeds navigation and delivers intuitive control. Icons in the centre of the menu bar found at the bottom of the main windows switch between the STUDIO’s operating environments: Sounds, LAVA+, miniDAW, Sharing and More. On the far right of the bar is an icon that accesses your LAVA account. A sixth icon (a duplet with a couple of stars) sits at the opposite end. This opens the Listening Module screen, where you’ll find date, time, transport controls, and a text display. Here, you can select, control, and play along to tracks from an external Bluetooth device, a USB‑C connected computer, the LAVA Cloud, or an installed third‑party app like Spotify. Leaving the Listening Module for a screen other than Sounds (where you might want to continue to play while building a guitar preset) stops playback.

Permanently visible at the top right, three icons confirm connections: instrument input, Bluetooth and Wi‑Fi. Next to these, in Settings, you’ll find the STUDIO’s housekeeping functions: language, time zone and keyboard layout; Bluetooth and Wi‑Fi setup; global audio settings; and management of the STUDIO’s 64GB of memory. Also in Settings, two small, unlabelled icons allow you to take a snapshot, or a real‑time video plus audio capture, of the STUDIO’s touchscreen. To my knowledge, the STUDIO is the first guitar‑related workstation to provide such features, and I think it’s more than a gimmick — I can see the potential for social media content creation and potentially as a source of video and clean‑feed audio for education and post‑production.

Choosing Sounds & Presets

When you first open Sounds, its screen displays the last‑used amp, cab and effects (all of which the manual refers to collectively as ‘effects’), together with a list of 10 pre‑loaded presets. The Library icon conceals another 500 downloadable presets, sorted into 13 style categories. From this screen, you can also access a tuner and a metronome, and manage the optional Bluetooth footswitch.

The signal path is always easy to see, even with more advanced controls in view.

A preset consists of a single chain of eight effects, an amp and a cab. Any effect, amp or cab can be loaded into or moved to any slot, although only one instance of each can be loaded in a preset. Selecting an empty slot and tapping ‘Add the Effect’ brings up a list of all 51 LAVA‑modelled effects, sorted into eight categories. Tap an effect and it loads in the selected slot, and if you want to change the loaded effect you simply select it, tap the Switch icon, and pick another (or the blank slot icon).

It’s a similar process for amps: select an amp slot, and the ‘Add the Amp’ box has a list of 41 LAVA V1 and V2 AI amplifiers, each with an associated cab, as well as any Tone3000 NAM A2 amp captures you’ve loaded into the LAVA STUDIO previously. For additional choices, tap the ‘Discover More’ icon — this opens a page for browsing and downloading NAM A2 captures directly, from the Tone3000 website or the LAVA Cloud, or from NAM files that you’ve already downloaded onto the STUDIO.

Again, adding a cab is similar: tap ‘Add a Cab’ to bring up 28 guitar and eight bass cab options. You’ll also see the IR loader, which displays any LAVA Cloud IRs you’ve downloaded and used previously, while a ‘My IR’ tab displays your downloaded third‑party IRs, and lets you download more.

In short, other than for the time you take to audition these things, choosing amps, cabs and effects is all pretty quick and easy, and building a preset is equally simple. You just pick and position up to eight effects, plus one amp and one cab (without exceeding the DSP limit, indicated on screen as a percentage). When you select an effect or amp, its control panel appears and, for all amps and some effects, there’s an Advanced tab that carries the basic controls, plus model‑dependent additions (reverbs get the most). For both amps and effects, these can include additional tone controls, ±18dB pre and post gain adjustment, a high‑shelf EQ, a variable low‑pass filter, resonance and presence boost, a power on/off switch, and, depending on the chosen model, an Output Normal switch... Oh, and possibly also an Input Tone switch.

To expand an amp model’s versatility, you can store up to three Scenes in the same preset. Scenes are variants of the amplifier control settings, so this allows you access to three amp sounds from the same rig, and it’s a global option: either all presets have no Scenes (so just one setting) or they all have three Scenes. The amplifier control settings, of course, are preset‑/scene‑specific. You can also set or tap a bpm value per preset, for delays and other time‑variant effects. A row of three horizontal dots brings up a More menu where you can, amongst other tasks, clone the current preset, switch Scenes on/off, and set slide or rotate operation for the on‑screen controls. The overall quality of the onboard sounds used in these presets is good — more on that in the LAVA Flow section below.

Backing, Looping & More

But, as I said above, the LAVA STUDIO is about more than just the amp, cab and effect models, and for those wanting a practice and rehearsal tool, the backing track facility will hold significant appeal. Using the touchscreen, you can access 700 high‑quality factory backing tracks that are organised in two categories: full‑band Improvs, and drum‑only Loops. The former are for use in the miniDAW, and the latter in either the miniDAW or the looper.

The Improvs and Loops plus the onboard looper and miniDAW apps combine to make the LAVA STUDIO an excellent practice and improvisation tool.

The 485 Improvs span 26 popular music genres, the major and minor keys, 4/4, 6/8 and 12/8 time signatures, and a range of fixed tempos from 40 to 195 beats per minute. Most Improvs comprise eight bars of 4/4, but you’ll also find some in odd and even lengths from four to 32 bars. While you can’t create your own Improvs to access in the same fashion, you can of course record and import tracks into the miniDAW to use in a similar way.

Selecting an Improv takes you to a new screen that can display its chord sequence, and lets you loop it forever and record a once‑through pass over it. Once armed, recording starts and stops automatically at the start and end of the loop. Before saving your recording to your Drafts folder and exporting it to the LAVA Cloud, you can change its volume and preset. It’s a slick and simple process.

Although Improvs can’t be used in the looper, which might have been nice, you can loop them in the miniDAW. Improvising over the Improvs’ variety of keys, styles and tempos was fun and rewarding. Improvs (and their on‑screen chord charts) also double as an easy‑to‑navigate learning platform for anyone wanting to practice arpeggios, scales and triads.

The drum‑only loops cover 27 genres and, at time of writing, there’s already a huge choice with, again, different time‑signature options. You get: 212 loops in 4/4, seven in 6/8, four in 12/8, one in 5/4 (think ‘Take Five’), and one in 3/4. A drum loop’s tempo can be varied by ±10 bpm, and the bar length can be increased or decreased: four bars can be extended in four‑bar increments to 16 bars, eight bars can be doubled to 16 bars, and 16 bars can be shortened to eight.

Unlike with Improvs, Loops are intended for use in the looper, but they can also be loaded in the miniDAW. Note, though, that any change to a loop’s tempo and/or length must be made before you import it; neither destination can make those changes. By default, selecting a loop opens the looper, where you can record up to six tracks over that stereo drum loop, or eight tracks over the drumless loop’s metronome. You can change the volume and preset of each track; colour code it; and save the result to your Drafts folder and the LAVA Cloud. Novices and old hands alike will appreciate the looper’s simplicity and ease of operation.

Once in the Cloud, Improv and Loop recordings can be uploaded to the global LAVA community (or that for your territory — I’m in the UK, for example, and had the option of UK‑only sharing). There, you can also listen to other users’ feeds and record and share your responses to their music, and they can do the same with yours. You’ll also find a wide range of free and paid‑for video lessons in the LAVA+ Lessons tab, with prices ranging from 40 credits per lesson to 200 credits for a collection. $10 buys you 160 credits, so a single lesson can cost $2.50. I bought an 18‑lesson collection for 150 credits ($9.38) — roughly 50 cents a lesson. From what I’ve watched so far, the standard of these videos seems to be pretty good and worth the price of entry.

miniDAW

The STUDIO’s 12‑track miniDAW is, at this time, still a work in progress — I’m told that much more is on its way. But already it’s a useful and surprisingly powerful tool. The basic editing functions (copy, paste, split, loop, fade and snap to grid) are there, but there are some more advanced features too, including a stem splitter. To help put together tracks that you can record over, you can import any of the Backing Tracks section’s Loops and Improv tracks. There are also another 260‑plus drum kits, covering 15 genres and four time signatures (4/4, 3/4, 6/8 and 12/8).

The miniDAW has Wi‑Fi access to the LAVA Cloud, and this allows you to import CD tracks or mixes that you’ve uploaded, and to use them as the basis for a new recording. And the STUDIO’s AI Stem Isolater can split mixes into six stems (Vocal, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Piano and Other). As always with splitters, I found that the degree of success varied somewhat with different source material. LAVA’s own demo track is a clean, clear mix and that separated out cleanly, even if the electronic keyboard part was split across Piano and Other. Splitting a more cluttered instrumental Improvs track resulted in some artefacts, but the result was still usable. Of course, guitarists’ needs are likely to be different from those of remixers and mix engineers, and obviously this facility provides a quick route to guitar‑free backing tracks for practice.

You can export from the miniDAW both as individual tracks and a Master Mix (stereo or mono) to the LAVA Cloud, as either 32‑bit 48kHz WAV or 320kbps MP3 files. Your recordings can also be backed up in the LAVA Cloud or to a USB‑connected computer. One final point to note is that the STUDIO always records non‑destructively — by which I mean, it always records the clean ‘DI’ rather than post‑processing signal, so you can go back to any recording and change its guitar and bass presets as many times as you wish.

LAVA Flow

OK, I’ve discussed most of the functions and their main benefits above, but what is this thing actually like in use? Once I’d familiarised myself with the STUDIO’s icon‑based interface, most operations quickly became intuitive. That’s good in any case, but more so because while the online Owner’s Manual (v2 at present) is good in many ways, it does lack detail in places — I often found myself learning by doing, rather than by reading.

The combination of the NAM A2 compatibility and access, via the Tone3000 website, to over 25,000 different setups is an absolutely killer feature.

LAVA’s own V1 and V2 AI‑modelled amps and effects sound good and feel so to play. I’d say they hold their own against any other modelling or profiling system I’ve heard, in fact, and despite the generous number of presets I generally found it quick and easy to find what I wanted. Should they not take you quite where you wish to go, though, you have the whole world of NAM captures to explore, and as I’ve said in previous articles that’s a wonderful technology and there are some tremendous captures out there. The combination of the NAM A2 compatibility and access, via the Tone3000 website (www.tone3000.com), to over 25,000 different setups is an absolutely killer feature that — especially if you pair the NAM captures with the LAVA STUDIO’s onboard effects and IRs — goes a long way to future‑proofing the LAVA STUDIO. It means it already caters for pretty much every sound you could want.

The STUDIO’s audio performance — whether through its 2.1 speakers, headphones or in‑ear monitors — belies this unit’s diminutive dimensions. Yes, the speakers can’t really convey the loud punch of a bass guitar’s lowest notes, but there’s no such issue over the line and headphone outputs, and the speakers work very well for guitar. Oh, and on a practical note, the optional stand (which is height‑adjustable between 32 cm and 115 cm) allows for optimal positioning when standing or sitting.

Latency is always a consideration with digital audio devices that are intended for live playing, of course, and the STUDIO’s latency performance is very respectable. I measured a sub‑5ms latency from audio input to either audio output. Whether playing along to backing tracks or recording in the miniDAW, latency was simply never an issue for me. To help compensate for any issues that may arise when overdubbing an Improv or looping over a drum Loop in the looper, the STUDIO also provides a fully variable 0‑50 ms latency window. I didn’t notice any issues in either of those scenarios, but I wasn’t using DSP‑hungry presets.

Before and after: the LAVA STUDIO includes a powerful stem splitter that can be used, amongst other things, to create guitar‑ or bass‑free backing tracks.

Conclusion

If you’re a guitarist or bassist looking for a great‑sounding, easy‑to‑use, one‑box amplifier and effects modeller and multitrack recording workstation, with built‑in 2.1 loudspeaker system, that also features a backing‑track player for practice and jamming... plus an eight‑track looper and a stylish, touchscreen‑based aesthetic that won’t look out of place in any home, then I highly recommend LAVA Music’s LAVA STUDIO. It represents absolutely excellent value for money when you consider what you’d have to spend on other equipment to duplicate all those features and facilities. Yet, this is only one part of its value proposition...

The word ‘gamechanger’ is overused by influencers and marketing departments. But that’s precisely what the LAVA STUDIO has been for me. It boots up faster and is much more portable and convenient to use around the house than my guitar rig. Its backing tracks’ styles, keys and chord progressions are inspiring to play over, and recording is fast and easy when I‘m feeling creative. Since the LAVA STUDIO arrived, I’ve played guitar more often, and with more purpose and focus than before. There’s no way I will be sending this unit back!