which is the best to buy?
Awhile ago there was a thread discussing various pitch correction plugins. I remember reading the discussion, but didn’t have a need for one at that time. Now I do. Unfortunately, it looks as though much of the older threads have disappeared.
What would you suggest for a good quality pitch correction plugin (like auto-tune)?
Paul
All the major recording magazines just did shoot-outs between Antares AutoTune and Melodyne (which now comes as a plugin)
Worth going to the library’s back-issue stack or looking through what’s still on the bookstore shelves…
Most of the reviewers still though Auto-Tune was the industry standard but saw the usefullness of Melodyne. So it’s probably more what looks comfortable to you.
Antares Auto-Tune is relatively “old-scool” when compared with Melodyne, but by no means bad or inferior to Melodyne. I have used both, and prefer Melodyne because the results makes more sense musically IMHO. The Antares plug-in “just” corrects pitches - and does it well - but Melodyne can really tweak a vocal or melody line, make it flatter or sharper, add or subtract vibrato and intonation, change pitches around in a sequencer-like fashion (great for on-the-fly harmony line creation!), shorten or lengthen notes etc.
If you just need to correct pitches easily and flexibly, go for Antares Auto-tune. If you need to do more with a melody line - and are prepared to spend some time learning to get it to sound like you want it - Melodyne is your choice.
regards, Nils
Might want to play with a free one first:
http://www.gvst.co.uk/gsnap.htm
Melodyne is not cheap, last time I looked anyway.
Eyup!
Another vote for Gsnap.
Steve
Not sure if is this still available, but Akai has a VST called Pitch Right:
http://www.akaipro.com/prodVSTplugins.php
I used OB-Tune, which was the Antares AutoTune but only with auto mode – you couldn’t draw in pitch corrections, or use a MIDI instrument to set the pitch for each note. It was $45 at the time and a bargain. However, it uses PACE Interlok copy protection, and with that every time I get a new computer I had to email them for a new key. The links never worked. Well, they stopped responding to the email too, which sucks. I got my money’s worth, but it’s annoying to have any product where if the company goes out of business, you can no longer get a new computer!
More recently I tried Gsnap, which works much like OB-Tune. IMHO, it didn’t work as well, but definitely did more good than harm (used sparingly). I had to use it more sparingly than OB-Tune.
With any pitch correction software, you get fine results with a good strong voice that happens to be just a bit off key or hits a bad note here or there. With weak, wavery voices that don’t hold good tone or pitch (even the wrong pitch), it’s useless. It tries to correct the uncorrectable, and the results sound even worse than the original.
One thing I really liked about using pitch correction, though. My voice is in the ‘barely strong enough’ category to use pitch correction. Normally when recording I’m stressing about good intonation. When I knew I had the software as a back-stop, I relaxed and concentrated much more on good tone. Interestingly, this helped my pitch a bit. More importantly, my singing sounded better and the software worked better on it.
I guess the lesson there is that intonation should be something you should work on when training and forget about when performing!
Eyup!
Spot on Jeff, that’s what I found too. It gave me more confidence and as a result I needed it less.
I also had the same experience with OBtune and it is now consigned to software heaven.
Gsnap is much more powerful than OBtune, as well as using midi notes to correct pitch, you can also draw pitch, like Antares Autotune. I think Gsnap is a really good piece of free software.
Steve
Thanks everyone for this fabulous info. As always, this forum is “worth its weight in gold” so to speak. I’ll checkout the recording mags, Melodyne and of course GSnap (have it, but forgot all about it). Unfortunately, to checkout the Akai plugin, I have to find a local dealer.
Finally, thanks for the tips on using them, particularly the GSnap. The group that is requesting it has very strong voices that are quite close to pitch IMHO. But they wanted to try tweaking the recordings to get better quality.
Paul
I was just thinking that this info would be invaluable in the wiki. I had searched there before asking, but found nothing. So if someone that is an expert with the wiki (I’m not) could re-work this info and get it in there, it would be greatly appreciated, especially if and when the older threads disappear again.