Antares Auto-Tune 7 User Manual

Auto-Tune

World Standard Professional Pitch and Time Correction

Owner’s Manual

, Antares®, AVOX® and Harmony Engine® are registered trademarks of

™

Antares Audio Technologies. All trademarks are property of their respective owners. www.antarestech.com Printed in USA Rev 2.0 PN 23037-0311-M02

The Obligatory Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

The Antares® Auto-Tune® 7 software and this User’s Manual are protected by copyright law. Making copies, adaptations, or derivative works without the prior written authorization of Antares Audio Technologies, is prohibited by law and constitutes a punishable violation of the law.

Antares Audio Technologies retains all ownership rights to the Auto-Tune 7 software and its documentation. Use of Auto-Tune 7 is limited by the following license agreement.

Please carefully read all the terms and conditions of this license agreement. At the time of installation of the Auto-Tune 7 software you will be presented with a copy of the agreement and asked whether or not you agree to it. Continuing with the installation process beyond that point constitutes such agreement.

Auto-Tune 7 License Agreement

Antares Audio Technologies grants you a nontransferable, non-exclusive license to use AutoTune 7 under the terms and conditions stated in this agreement. Use of Auto-Tune 7 indicates your agreement to the following terms and conditions.

License

You may:

1. Use Auto-Tune 7 on only one computer at a time.

You may not:

1. Make copies of Auto-Tune 7 or of the user manual in whole or in part except as expressly provided for in this agreement. Your right to copy Auto-Tune 7 and the user manual is limited by copyright law. Making copies, verbal or media translations, adaptations, derivative works, or telecommunication data transmission of Auto-Tune 7 without prior written authorization of Antares, is prohibited by law and constitutes a punishable violation of the law.

2. Make alteration or modiﬁcations to AutoTune 7 (or any copy) or disassemble or de-compile Auto-Tune 7 (or any copy), or attempt to discover the source code of Auto-Tune 7.

3. Sub-license, lease, lend, rent, or grant other rights in all or any portion of Auto-Tune 7 (or any copy) to others.

Term of the Agreement

This agreement is effective until terminated by you or Antares. You may terminate the agreement at any time by notifying Antares and destroying all copies of the manual, and erasing Auto-Tune 7 from all machine-readable media, whether on-line or on archival copies.

In the event of breach of any of the terms of this agreement, you shall pay the attorney’s fees of Antares that are reasonably necessary to enforce the agreement plus resulting damages.

Limited Warranty And Disclaimer

AUTO-TUNE 7 AND ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Antares Audio Technologies does not warrant that the functions contained in the program will meet your requirements. The entire risk as to the use, quality, and performance of Auto-Tune 7 is with you.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM JURISDICTION TO JURISDICTION.

Limitation of Liability

IN NO EVENT WILL ANTARES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF DATA, LOST PROFITS OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INDIRECT DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OF AUTOTUNE 7 OR ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS. THIS LIMITATION WILL APPLY EVEN IF ANTARES OR ITS AUTHORIZED AGENT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE LICENSE FEE REFLECTS THIS ALLOCATION OF RISK. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Whew! Now that that’s over, let’s get on to the good stuff.

Chapter 1 Getting Started

What’s New in Auto-Tune 7 3 Installing and Authorizing 6 Technical Support 6

Chapter 2 Introducing Auto-Tune 7

Some background 7 So what exactly is Auto-Tune 7? 7 A little bit about pitch 7 How Auto-Tune 7 detects pitch 9 How Auto-Tune 7 corrects pitch 9 Automatic Mode 10 Graphical Mode 12 Pitch Shifting and Formant Correction 13 Time Shifting and Correction 14

Chapter 3 Auto-Tune 7 Controls

Common Controls 17 The Options Window 21 Automatic Mode Controls 24 Graphical Mode Pitch Controls 35 Pen Tablet Input 52 Graphical Mode Time Controls 53

Chapter 4 Auto-Tune 7 Tutorial

Tutorial 1: Automatic Mode Basics 63 Tutorial 2: Targeting Ignores Vibrato Function 64 Tutorial 3: Natural Vibrato Function 65 Tutorial 4: MIDI Functions 65 Tutorial 5: Transpose and Formant Control 66 Tutorial 6: Graphical Mode Basics 67 Tutorial 7: Precision 68

Tutorial 8: Make Curve Function 69 Tutorial 9: Import Auto Function 70 Tutorial 10: Make Notes Function 72 Tutorial 11: Time: Error Correction 74 Tutorial 12: Time: Creative Editing 75

Chapter 5 The Auto-Tune Vocal Effect 77

Chapter 6 The Auto-Tune 7 Scales 79

Index 81

Welcome!

On behalf of everyone at Antares® Audio Technologies, we’d like to offer both our thanks and congratulations on your decision to purchase Auto-Tune (and indisputably greatest) generation of the worldwide standard in professional pitch correction.

Before you proceed any farther, we’d like to strongly encourage you to register and authorize your copy of Auto-Tune 7. (You can skip ahead to the Authorization and Installation instructions on page

6. We’ll wait.) Also, if you’re planning on discarding that lovely Auto-Tune 7 box, it’s probably a good idea to write down the serial number that appears on the bottom of the box for future reference. (The inside cover of this manual would be a good place.)

At Antares, we are committed to excellence in quality, customer service, and technological innovation. With your purchase of Auto-Tune 7, you have created a relationship with Antares which we hope will be long and gratifying. Let us know what you think. You can count on us to listen.

Again, thanks.

The Whole Antares Crew

7, the latest

It’s about time.

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Auto-Tune 7, with its new-from-the-ground-up time manipulation capabilities, represents the most substantial advancement in functionality since Auto-Tune’s original introduction in 1997.

If you are new to Auto-Tune, we encourage you to read this manual and work through the tutorials in Chapter 4. It’s the quickest way to become familiar with what Auto-Tune 7 does and how it does it.

If you are upgrading from a previous version of Auto-Tune, you will ﬁnd that most of what you’re already doing will continue to work in Auto-Tune 7, only better. However, with the new time manipulation functions, there’s more new stuff in Auto-Tune 7 than in any previous Auto-Tune update. To get up to speed quickly, just check out the new feature overview below and then refer to related sections of in Chapter 3.

ONE BIG IMPORTANT NOTE

For those upgrading from older versions of Auto-Tune, is it critical to note the following:

Auto-Tune 7 will NOT open sessions created with Auto-Tune Evo. (The addition of the time

manipulation capabilities would require you to completely re-track your audio, effectively negating any previously made edits in the session.)

For that reason, we have conﬁgured Auto-Tune 7 such that it and Auto-Tune Evo can be active in your DAW simultaneously. Additionally, your Auto-Tune 7 license includes a bundled authorization for Auto-Tune Evo, so you can continue to use it to open saved sessions.

Auto-Tune 7 (like Auto-Tune Evo before it) will also NOT open sessions created with Auto-Tune 5 or earlier versions. The

improvements made to the core technology are so extensive that it just won’t work.

For that reason, we have also conﬁgured AutoTune 7 such that it and Auto-Tune 5 and all earlier versions of Auto-Tune can be active in your DAW simultaneously.

However, it’s important to note that AutoTune 5 (and earlier versions) have long been discontinued and we will not be releasing

future updates to any of them. Consequently, it’s inevitable that between computer OS advancements and host updates, those earlier versions will eventually stop working.

If you have current saved sessions with instances of Auto-Tune 5 or earlier that you may need to access into the indeﬁnite future, we offer the following suggestions:

•

If you are satisﬁed with the current Auto-

Tune settings, use whatever method your host offers (bouncing, ofﬂine editing, etc.) to permanently render the corrected tracks.

•

If you believe you will need to keep editing

into the future, remove the instances of the earlier versions of Auto-Tune and replace them with instances of Auto-Tune 7.

What’s new in Auto-Tune 7

The following are the key new features that have been added in Auto-Tune 7:

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The second generation of Evo Processing Technology

In 2008, Auto-Tune Evo introduced Antares’ seriously evolved Evo Voice Processing Technology, setting a new standard in pitch detection, pitch shifting, and formant processing performance. In the intervening years, Evo Voice Processing Technology has been integrated into Antares’ full line of vocal processing tools. Now, with Auto-Tune 7, we are introducing the second generation of Evo Voice Processing Technology, offering even more natural (if you want it to be) pitch shifting and throat modeling over a wider transposition range.

An extremely high quality and easy-to-use time correction and manipulation system

By far the most dramatic addition to AutoTune 7 is its entirely new time correction and manipulation system. Auto-Tune 7’s time control capabilities combine an extremely high-quality time shifting algorithm with an exceedingly intuitive user interface designed to make it quick and easy to correct timing errors or exercise your creative imagination.

Auto-Tune 7’s time manipulation functions include the ability to move a point in time within a selected range as well as move a range in time within a larger range. The time functions have their own Undo/Redo controls independent of the pitch correction controls and an Enable button that allows you to instantly switch between your original audio and your time shifted audio.

Enhanced Amplitude Envelope Display

Whenever time control is enabled, the Amplitude Envelope Display will display both the original audio (in the lower portion of the display) and the time-shifted audio (in the upper portion).

Data File Management System

Since Auto-Tune 7’s time control functions require Auto-Tune to operate on a copy of the audio you wish to manipulate, we’ve provided a convenient data management dialog that

Voice

allows you to establish or move the location of the data ﬁles, rename their folder, as well as delete them if they are no longer necessary (after bouncing the ﬁnal time-modiﬁed audio, for example).

The File Management System will also alert you if the data ﬁles are not where Auto-Tune 7 expects them to be and will provide information to help you ﬁnd them.

The ability to adjust Throat Length on an individual correction object basis

To give you maximum control over the timbre of your vocal tracks, Throat Length Adjustment is now an independent property of each individual correction object (Curve, Line or Note). While the overall Throat Length is still set by the master Throat Length knob, each correction object can have its own independent adjustment (either longer or shorter) as desired.

Since each object can have its own Throat Length adjustment setting, you will no longer need to automate Throat Length to get the optimum timbre for each note of a performance.

The ability to record MIDI note information in Graphical Mode and create Note Objects from it

When tracking pitch in Graphical Mode, AutoTune 7 will record any MIDI note information routed to it (either from another MIDI track or live from a MIDI controller) and (optionally) display the data on the Pitch Graph Display. You can then use the new Make Notes From MIDI function to convert the MIDI information into Note Correction Objects.

Enhanced Graphical Mode Adjust Vibrato function

In previous versions of Auto-Tune, the Graphical Mode Adjust Vibrato function would create its own correction curve, replacing any other correction object that had previously been created in the selected range. In Auto-Tune 7, the Adjust Vibrato function is additive, acting on any already existing correction object, thereby freeing you to work on pitch correction and vibrato adjustment in any order desired.

Smooth continuous scrolling of graphical audio data

If you have selected Auto Scroll in Graphical Mode, the graphical data will scroll smoothly across the screen during playback, maintaining the currently playing audio at the vertical center of the window.

Amplitude envelope in the graphical editing window

A display of the tracked audio’s amplitude envelope now appears as a background element in the graphical editing window. While its primary function is to help make precise selections for time shifting, since it is always visible in the center of the window, it provides a helpful indication of the presence of tracked audio, even if that audio is currently beyond the upper or lower boundaries of the window.

Expanded Key Binding shortcuts to incorporate the new time manipulation controls

What the title says. You can program custom keyboard access to all of the new time manipulation tools and controls.

The option to display the graphical timeline as bars and beats

Primarily designed as reference for time manipulation, you can now display the graphical timeline in either absolute time or as bars and beats relative to your project’s tempo.

NOTE: Bars and beats will only be

displayed for the range(s) of tracked audio.

Increased vertical zoom range in Graphical Mode

For ease of extremely precise pitch editing, you can now zoom all the way in to the one-centper-pixel level.

A display of the cursor’s position in time

Yup. A display of the cursor’s position in time. The display will read out in seconds or bars and beats, depending on the current Time Display setting.

How to use this manual

If this is your ﬁrst experience of Auto-Tune, you will ﬁnd that Auto-Tune 7 has a very friendly user-interface and is extraordinarily easy to use. However, because Auto-Tune 7 does things that have never been done before, some aspects of the user-interface may not be immediately obvious. You should at least read either Chapter 3, Auto-Tune 7 Controls, or Chapter 4, Auto-Tune 7 Tutorial, to learn the essential information you will need to operate Auto-Tune 7.

The contents of this manual

Chapter 1: Getting Started

The chapter you are reading.

Chapter 2: Introducing Auto-Tune 7

This chapter presents some basic facts about pitch and how Auto-Tune 7 functions to correct pitch errors, as well as an introduction to AutoTune 7’s new time control features. The basic functionality of Auto-Tune 7 is discussed, and information you need in order to use it effectively is provided.

Chapter 3: Auto-Tune 7 Controls

This chapter is reference information for all of the controls used in the Auto-Tune 7 interface.

Chapter 4: Auto-Tune 7 Tutorial

This chapter introduces you to details of how Auto-Tune 7 works by guiding you through several tutorials. The tutorials will give you insight into how and when to use each of AutoTune 7’s key functions.

Chapter 5: The Auto-Tune Vocal Effect

What it is. How to do it.

Chapter 6: The Auto-Tune 7 Scales

Brief descriptions of the various scales available in Auto-Tune 7.

Installing Auto-Tune 7

Any unique instructions for installing Auto-Tune 7 for your speciﬁc host or plug-in format are located in the Auto-Tune 7 Read Me ﬁle that accompanies the plug-in. This ﬁle may also contain any last-minute Auto-Tune 7 information that didn’t make it into this manual.

Auto-Tune 7 is designed to work with a wide variety of digital audio applications. Please refer to your host application’s user manual for more information on installing and using plug-ins.

Authorizing Auto-Tune 7

Authorization is the process by which AutoTune 7 is allowed to permanently run on your computer. Detailed instructions covering the available authorization options will be found in the ﬁle “Authorization Read Me” which is included on the installation DVD ROM or with your software download.

NOTE: You will need to authorize

Auto-Tune 7 before you can run it in your host. If you plan to follow along

with the manual (a good idea), go do it now.

Technical Support

In the unlikely event that you experience a problem using Auto-Tune 7, try the following:

1. Make sure you have the latest version of the plug-in. You can download and install the latest version of Auto-Tune 7 from the following web page:

http://www.antarestech.com/download/

update.shtml

2. If you are having problems authorizing your software, be sure that you have the latest version of the PACE Interlok drivers. You can download and install the latest version for your operating system from www. paceap.com.

IMPORTANT! Windows users: After

downloading and installing the PACE drivers, you must reboot your computer before running your software.

If your problem is not resolved after taking the above actions, try the following:

1. Make another quick scan through this manual. Who knows? You may have stumbled onto some feature that you didn’t notice the ﬁrst time through.

2. Consult our searchable knowledgebase at:

http://www.antarestech.com/support/

index.shtml

3. Check our web page for tips, techniques, or any late-breaking information:

http://www.antarestech.com

4. Join the Antares Online Community. The Antares Online Community is a place where Antares product users can gather to exchange information, compare notes, and get to know other Antares users from around the world. Check it out at:

http://www.antarestech.net

5. For the quickest access to new developments, follow us on Twitter and “Like” our Facebook pages:

http://twitter.com/AntaresAudio

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Antares-

Audio-Technologies/68524457680

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Auto-

Tune/81891651280

Chapter 2: Introducing Auto-Tune 7

Some background

In 1997, Antares Audio Technologies ﬁrst introduced the ground-breaking Auto-Tune

vocals and other solo instruments, in real time, without distortion or artifacts, while preserving all of the expressive nuance of the original performance. Recording Magazine called Auto-Tune the “holy grail of recording.” And went on to say, “Bottom line, Auto-Tune is amazing… Everyone with a Mac should have this program.” (In fact, we know of quite a few people back then who bought kilo-buck Pro Tools

In the intervening years, Auto-Tune has established itself as the worldwide standard in professional pitch correction. Today, it’s used daily by tens of thousands of audio professionals around the world to save studio and editing time, ease the frustration of endless retakes, save that otherwise once-in-a-lifetime performance, or to create what has become the signature vocal effect of our time for many, many artists.

Auto-Tune is, in fact, the world’s largest-selling audio plug-in.

Now, well over a decade after its introduction, recognizing the enormous increase in the power of the computers we all use for audio recording, we’ve evolved Auto-Tune to the next level of performance.

With Auto-Tune 7, you now have control, not only of pitch, but of rhythm and articulation. Auto-Tune 7’s time manipulation capabilities combine an extremely high-quality time-shifting algorithm with an exceedingly intuitive user interface designed to make it quick and easy to correct timing errors or exercise your creative imagination. Auto-Tune 7 gives you the ability to polish every facet of your vocal tracks in one, integrated, easy-to-use environment.

So what exactly is Auto-Tune 7?

Auto-Tune 7 is a precision tool for correcting intonation and timing errors or creatively modifying the intonation or rhythmic articulation of a performance.

Pitch Correcting Plug-In. Auto-Tune was a tool that actually corrected the pitch of

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systems just to be able to run Auto-Tune.)

For pitch correction, Auto-Tune 7 employs state-of-the-art digital signal processing algorithms (many, interestingly enough, drawn from the geophysical industry) to continuously detect the pitch of a periodic input signal (typically a solo voice or instrument) and instantly and seamlessly change it to a desired pitch (deﬁned by any of a number of userprogrammable scales, MIDI input, or through the use of graphical editing tools).

To take maximum advantage of the power of Auto-Tune 7’s pitch correction functions, you should have a basic understanding of pitch and how Auto-Tune 7 functions to correct pitch errors. This chapter presents basic terminology and introduces Auto-Tune 7’s operating paradigm, giving you the background you need to use it effectively.

Later in the chapter, we’ll provide an overview of Auto-Tune 7’s new time manipulation features.

A little bit about pitch

Pitch is traditionally associated with our perception of the “highness” or “lowness” of a particular sound. Our perception of pitch ranges from the very general (the high pitch of hissing steam, the low pitch of the rumble of Godzilla’s enormous footsteps as he stomps his way through Tokyo) to the very speciﬁc (the exact pitch of a solo singer or violinist). There is, of course, a wide range of variation in the

middle. A symphony orchestra playing a scale in unison, for example, results in an extremely complex waveform, yet you are still able to easily sense the pitch.

The vocalists and the solo instruments that Auto-Tune 7 is designed to process have a very clearly deﬁned quality of pitch. The sound generating mechanism of these sources is a vibrating element (vocal chords, a string, an air column, etc.). The sound that is thus generated can be graphically represented as a waveform (a graph of the sound’s pressure over time) that is periodic. This means that each cycle of waveform repeats itself fairly exactly, as in the periodic waveform shown in the diagram below:

Because of its periodic nature, this sound’s pitch can be easily identiﬁed and processed by Auto-Tune 7.

Other sounds are more complex. This waveform:

is of a violin section playing a single note in unison. Our ears still sense a speciﬁc pitch, but the waveform does not repeat itself. This waveform is a summation of a number of individually periodic violins. The summation is non-periodic because the individual violins are slightly out of tune with respect to one another. Because of this lack of periodicity, Auto-Tune 7 would not be able to process this sound.

Pitches are often described relative to one another as intervals, or ratios of frequency. For example, two pitches are said to be one octave apart if their frequencies differ by a factor of two. Pitch ratios are measured in units called cents. There are 1200 cents per octave. For example, two tones that are 2400 cents apart are two octaves apart. The traditional twelvetone Equal Tempered Scale that is used (or rather approximated) in 99.9% of all Western tonal music consists of tones that are, by deﬁnition, 100 cents apart. This interval of 100 cents is called a semitone.

The twelve equally-spaced tones of the Equal Tempered Scale happen to contain a number of intervals that approximate integer ratios in pitch. The following table shows these approximations:

INTERVAL CENTS NEARBY RATIO IN RATIO CENTS

minor second 100 16/15 111.75

major second 200 9/8 203.91

minor third 300 6/5 315.64

major third 400 5/4 386.31

perfect fourth 500 4/3 498.04

tritone 600

perfect ﬁfth 700 3/2 701.65

minor sixth 800 8/5 813.69

major sixth 900 5/3 884.36

minor seventh 1000 16/9 996.09

major seventh 1100 15/8 1088.27

octave 1200 2 1200.00

Some pitch terminology

The pitch of a periodic waveform is deﬁned as the number of times the periodic element repeats in one second. This is measured in Hertz (abbreviated Hz.). For example, the pitch of A4 (the A above middle C on a piano) is traditionally 440Hz (although that standard varies by a few Hz. in various parts of the world).

As you can see, the intervals in the Equal Tempered Scale are NOT equal to the harmonious integer ratios. Rather, the Equal Tempered Scale is a compromise. It became widely used because once a harpsichord or piano is tuned to that scale, any composition in any key could be played and no one chord would sound better or worse than that same chord in another key.

How Auto-Tune 7 detects pitch

In order for Auto-Tune 7 to automatically correct pitch, it must ﬁrst detect the pitch of the input sound. Calculating the pitch of a periodic waveform is a straightforward process. Simply measure the time between repetitions of the waveform. Divide this time into one, and you have the frequency in Hertz. Auto-Tune 7 does exactly this: It looks for a periodically repeating waveform and calculates the time interval between repetitions.

The pitch detection algorithm in Auto-Tune 7 is virtually instantaneous. It can recognize the repetition in a periodic sound within a few cycles. This usually occurs before the sound has sufﬁcient amplitude to be heard. Used in combination with a slight processing delay, the output pitch can be detected and corrected without artifacts in a seamless and continuous fashion. (Although it must be kept in mind that some plug-in protocols introduce a certain amount of inherent and unpredictable delay.)

Auto-Tune 7 was designed to detect and correct pitches up to the pitch C6. (If the input pitch is higher than C6, Auto-Tune 7 will occasionally interpret the pitch an octave lower. This is because it interprets a two cycle repetition as a one cycle repetition.) On the low end, Auto-Tune 7 will detect pitches as low as 25Hz (when the Bass Input Type is selected). This range of pitches allows intonation correction to be performed on virtually all vocals and instruments.

Of course, Auto-Tune 7 will not detect pitch when the input waveform is not periodic. As demonstrated above, Auto-Tune 7 will fail to tune up even a unison violin section. But this can also occasionally be a problem with solo voice and solo instruments as well. Consider, for example, an exceptionally breathy voice, or a voice recorded in an unavoidably noisy environment. The added signal is non-periodic, and Auto-Tune 7 will have difﬁculty determining the pitch of the composite (voice + noise) sound. Luckily, there is a control (the Tracking control, discussed in Chapter 3) that will let Auto-Tune 7 be a bit more casual about what it considers “periodic.”

Experimenting with this setting will often allow Auto-Tune 7 to track even noisy signals.

A NOTE: The above description has

been in pretty much every Auto-Tune

manual since the beginning. While it is still deﬁnitely true in the general case, it must be noted that Auto-Tune Evo did a much better job than any prior version of Auto-Tune with borderline troublesome material and Auto-Tune 7 does even better yet.

How Auto-Tune 7 corrects pitch

Auto-Tune 7 provides two separate and distinct ways to approach pitch correction: Automatic Mode and Graphical Mode. The basic functionality of each is described below.

Automatic Mode

Auto-Tune 7’s Automatic Mode works by continuously tracking the pitch of an input sound and comparing it to a user-deﬁned scale. The scale tone closest to the input is continuously identiﬁed. If the input pitch exactly matches the scale tone, no correction is applied. If the input pitch varies from the desired scale tone, an output pitch is generated which is closer to the scale tone than the input pitch. (The exact amount of correction is controlled by the Retune Speed and Humanize settings, described below and in Chapter 3.)

Scales

The heart of Automatic Mode pitch correction is the Scale. Auto-Tune 7 lets you choose from major, minor, chromatic or 26 historical, ethnic and micro-tonal scales. Individual scale notes can be bypassed, resulting in no pitch correction when the input is near those notes. Individual scale notes can also be removed, allowing a wider range of pitch correction for neighboring pitches. The scale can be detuned, allowing pitch correction to any pitch center.

For added ﬂexibility, you can also select the target pitches in real time via MIDI from a MIDI keyboard or a pre-recorded sequencer track.

Retune Speed

Auto-Tune 7 also gives you control over how rapidly, in time, the pitch adjustment is made toward the scale tone. This is set with the Retune Speed control (see Chapter 3 for more details).

Fast Speed settings are appropriate for short duration notes and for mechanical instruments, like oboe or clarinet, whose pitch typically changes almost instantly. A fast enough setting will also minimize or completely remove a vibrato, as well as produce the iconic Auto-Tune Vocal Effect.

Slow Speed settings, on the other hand, are appropriate for longer notes where you want expressive pitch gestures (like vibrato) to come through at the output and for vocal and instrumental styles that are typiﬁed by gradual slides (portamento) between pitches. An appropriately selected slow setting can leave expressive gestures intact while moving the average pitch to the correct tonal center.

Vibrato

Auto-Tune 7 allows real-time adjustment of the depth of any natural vibrato present in the input.

Auto-Tune 7 can also add a vibrato to an input that does not naturally exhibit one. You can program the vibrato rate along with individual vibrato depths for pitch, amplitude (loudness) and formant (resonant frequencies). You can also specify delayed vibrato with independently programmable onset delay and onset rate.

By combining a fast Retune Speed setting with Auto-Tune 7’s Vibrato settings, you can even remove a performer’s own vibrato and replace it with Auto-Tune 7’s programmed vibrato, all in real time. Also, unusual combinations of Vibrato Waveform, Rate and Depth settings can be used for some interesting special effects

An Example of Automatic Mode Correction

As an example, consider this before-andafter graphic representation of the pitch of a vocal phrase that contains both vibrato and expressive gestures.

C# 3

10.0 10.5 11.0

CORREC TED BY AUTO-TUNE 7

ORIGINAL PERFORMANC E

In the original performance, we can see that although the ﬁnal note should be centered around D, the vocalist allowed the tail of the note to fall nearly three semitones ﬂat. The “after” plot is the result of passing this phrase through Auto-Tune 7’s Automatic Mode programmed to a D Major Scale (with C# and B set to ”Remove”) and a Retune Speed setting of 25. That Retune Speed causes the pitch center to be moved to D, while still retaining the vibrato and expressive gestures. (Setting C# and B to ”Remove” is necessary to keep Auto-Tune 7 from trying to correct the seriously ﬂat tail of the last note to those pitches. See Chapter 3 for more details.)

Graphical Mode

The Graphical Mode is similar to the Automatic Mode in that it also continuously tracks the pitch of the incoming sound and modiﬁes the output pitch to be closer to a desired pitch. But in the Graphical Mode, the desired pitch is not a predeﬁned scale tone, but rather is a graphical representation of your desired pitch (called a “correction object”).

As in Automatic Mode, the rate of change towards the desired pitch is controlled by the Retune Speed control, but in Graphical Mode you can assign a different Retune Speed to each individual correction object, ensuring that any pitch change is as natural (or as wacky) as you desire.

The key feature of Graphical Mode is the Pitch Graph display. On this display, the vertical axis represents pitch (with higher notes towards the top) while the horizontal axis represents time. Depending on your host, you can resize the Graphical Mode window up to the limit of your monitor size.

On the Pitch Graph, the red curve represents the original pitch contour of the input track, while the desired target pitch or pitch contour (as deﬁned by one of the three possible Correction Objects described below) is indicated in blue. The green curve displays the exact output pitch based on the current setting of the Retune Speed for each correction object.

The horizontal grid lines (or Lanes, when Show Lanes in selected) represent scale pitches. The key annotation, scale name, and scale detune value are those deﬁned by the common area controls at the top of the interface. They do not affect the computations of the Graphical Mode in any way. They are merely a reference to guide you in setting the target pitches.

Graphical Mode also includes the Envelope Graph, which displays the amplitude (loudness) envelope of the sound whose pitch is shown in the Pitch Graph. The horizontal scale of this graph will either 1) show the envelope of the entire extent of the pitch-detected sound or 2) align with the horizontal scale and position of the Pitch Graph above it.

To deﬁne the desired pitches, Graphical Mode provides three different Pitch Correction Objects: Lines, Curves and Notes. You can draw desired target pitches using the Line and Curve drawing tools, selectively modify the existing pitch contours using the Make Curve function, or use Note Objects to display and modify the pitch of each individual target note. The different Objects can be freely intermixed on a track to accomplish different tasks, or just to allow you to work in whichever way feels easiest.

In addition, Auto-Tune 7 introduces the ability to deﬁne target pitches using MIDI. Similar in concept to the Target Notes Via MIDI function in Automatic Mode, when tracking pitch in Graphical Mode, Auto-Tune 7 will record any MIDI note information routed to it (either from another MIDI track or live from a MIDI controller) and (optionally) display the data on the Pitch Graph Display. You can then use the new Make Notes From MIDI function to convert the MIDI information into Note Correction Objects.

Complete image scaling and scrolling controls are provided, along with a selection of graphical tools which allow easy editing, including cut, copy and paste functions.

Given the power of the tools, there is a huge variety of possible Graphical Mode workﬂows, but the basic steps you will typically perform in Graphical Mode are:

•

In your host application, select some sound

for processing.

•

Bring up Auto-Tune 7. Set the buffer length

to at least the number of seconds from the beginning of the track to the end of the audio you are going to process. Press the Track Pitch button, then play back the audio. The pitch will be detected and then displayed in the Pitch Graph as a red curve.

•

When you have tracked all the audio you

want to work with, stop the transport to exit Track Pitch mode.

•

Deﬁne target pitches using any combination

of Correction Objects (Lines, Curves or Notes) and the graphical tools and adjust each object’s Retune Speed and vibrato depth for the desired effect.

•

If desired, set a transposition interval, engage

formant correction, or modify overall vocal character with the Throat Length control. Then use the Throat Length Adjust control to individually set the vocal timbre of each note.

•

Play back the track. The pitch will be

corrected or shifted as speciﬁed.

Pitch Shifting, Formant Correction and Throat Modeling

Auto-Tune 7’s Pitch Shifting, Formant Correction, and master Throat Modeling functions are located in the common control area and available in both Automatic and Graphical Modes.

Pitch Shifting

In addition to any pitch correction applied by either Automatic or Graphical Mode, Auto-Tune 7 provides a Transpose function that lets you shift the overall pitch of your performance over a two octave range (+/- an octave), selectable in precise semitone increments.

In Automatic Mode, this transposition is accomplished in real time.

In Graphical Mode, this function does not affect the Pitch Edit Display. It provides overall transposition after any pitch shifting accomplished with the graphical editing tools.

Although you can also accomplish overall transposition in Graphical Mode by selecting all the correction objects in your track and manually moving them up or down, in most cases, using the Transpose function will provide superior results.

Formant Correction

A sound’s ”formants” are the combined acoustic resonances that result from the physical structure of whatever is producing the sound.

In the case of a human voice, air from your lungs is forced through your vocal chords, causing them to vibrate. From there, the voice is propagated through the throat, the mouth and out through the lips. It is the shape of these structures that create the resonant characteristics that deﬁne your unique vocal identity.

When a vocal is pitch-shifted by large intervals without formant correction, not only is the pitch of sung notes shifted, but the formants are shifted as well. The resulting effect is not just of a person singing higher or lower notes, but of a person who is literally growing or shrinking (depending on the direction of the shift). While this can be useful for producing singing chipmunks, it typically does not produce realistic pitch-shifting over ranges larger than a semitone or two.

Engaging Auto-Tune 7’s Formant Correction prevents the shifting of a voice’s resonant frequencies to ensure that its vocal characteristics are preserved over the pitch shift range.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE: Over the very

small intervals usually associated

with basic pitch correction, formant shifting is essentially inaudible and AutoTune’s classic pitch adjustment technology still provides the optimum results. Formant Correction is designed to be used with overall transposition or on tracks where notes are shifted by large intervals.

Throat Modeling

As mentioned above, the shape of a singer’s throat is a prime contributor to their vocal character. Auto-Tune 7’s Throat Length control

lets you use Antares’ unique throat modeling technology to modify a voice’s character by passing it through a precise physical model of the human vocal tract.

New to Auto-Tune 7 is the ability in Graphical Mode to individually modify the throat modeling for each note or correction object, offering an entirely new level of creative control.

Time Shifting and Correction

By far the most dramatic addition to AutoTune 7 is its entirely new time correction and manipulation system. We’ve designed AutoTune 7’s time control capabilities to combine an extremely high-quality time-shifting algorithm with an exceedingly intuitive user interface designed to make it quick and easy to correct timing errors or exercise your creative imagination.

Time Tracking

In order to do its time shifting magic, Auto-Tune 7 must ﬁrst create a copy of the audio you wish to edit. This is accomplished with the Track Pitch and Time function. To help manage this audio data, we’ve provided a convenient Data File Management dialog that allows you to establish or move the location of the data ﬁles, rename their folder, as well as delete them if they are no longer necessary (after bouncing the ﬁnal time-modiﬁed audio, for example).

The File Management System will also alert you if the data ﬁles are not where Auto-Tune 7 expects them to be and will provide information to help you ﬁnd them.

Time Tools

Although allowing for an enormous amount of ﬂexibility, Auto-Tune 7’s time shifting functions make use of two easy-to-use tools; the Move Point tool and the Move Region tool.

The Move Point tool allows you to select a range of audio and pick any point in the range and move it forward or back in time, compressing and expanding the audio around it.

The Move Region tool is designed for moving notes, words, or phrases while preserving the timing of the moved element. As with the

Move Point tool, you ﬁrst select a range of audio and then select the region within that selection that you want to move and move it forward or back in time, again compressing and expanding the audio around it.

Both tools are context sensitive. That is, they change function (from selection to moving, for example) depending on what lies beneath them on the screen. As a result, the time manipulation process becomes smooth and intuitive, never breaking your creative ﬂow with the need to switch tools or remember some command key to temporarily change function.

The time functions also have their own Undo/ Redo controls independent of the pitch correction controls and an Enable button that allows you to instantly switch between your original audio and your time shifted audio.

Enhanced Amplitude Envelope Display

To help you visualize the affects of your edits, whenever time control is enabled the Amplitude Envelope Display will display both the original audio (in the lower portion of the display) and the time-shifted audio (in the upper portion). Additionally, the display’s horizontal axis will turn red to indicate the ranges of audio that have been time-tracked, so you will always know which ranges are currently available for time editing.

Non-destructive Editing

Since Auto-Tune 7 works on a copy of your audio, time editing always leaves your original audio intact. At any point you can simply turn off the Time Control Enable button to instantly return to your track’s original timing.

NOTE: Due to the architecture of TDM

systems, time shifting is not available

in the TDM versions of Auto-Tune 7. If you wish to use the time shifting function on a TDM system, be sure to select the RTAS version of Auto-Tune 7.

Chapter 3: Auto-Tune 7 Controls

This chapter is a reference for all of the controls used in the Auto-Tune 7 interface. How these controls are used together for pitch correction and time shifting is demonstrated in Chapter 4, Auto-Tune 7 Tutorial.

If you are upgrading from Auto-Tune Evo, you can probably just skip ahead to Chapter 5, New Feature Quick Start Guide

Continuous Controls

Auto-Tune 7’s continuous controls are represented graphically as virtual knobs. Depending on your preference, you can control knobs by vertical, horizontal or radial mouse movement. Set your preference in the Options dialog described below.

Double-clicking on a knob will return it to its default value. In some host applications, Command (Mac)/Control (PC) clicking on a knob will also reset it to default (see the AutoTune 7 Read Me and/or your host application manual for details).

Common Controls

The following controls and displays are visible regardless of which operating mode is selected. Their settings affect both Automatic and Graphical Modes.

Input Type

As a result of Antares research into the unique characteristics

of various types of audio signals, Auto-Tune 7 offers a selection of optimized processing algorithms for the most commonly pitch-corrected inputs. Choices include Soprano Voice, Alto/Tenor Voice, Low Male Voice, Instrument, and Bass Instrument. Matching the appropriate algorithm to the input results in even faster and more accurate pitch detection and correction.

To select the desired Input Type, click on the Input Type pop-up and then select the desired type from the pop-up list.

able to detect pitches down to A0 (55Hz). Selecting Bass Instrument lowers the lowest detectable frequency by about one octave to 25Hz. Since the lowest E string on a bass guitar is approximately 41Hz, Bass Instrument (as its name so ably implies) allows you to apply pitch correction to those pesky fretless bass lines as well as other low bass range instruments. However, when Bass Instrument is selected, pitches above A4 may be incorrectly tuned, so be sure to select Bass Instrument only when correcting bass range tracks.

requires a periodically repeating waveform, characteristic of a voice or solo instrument. The Tracking control determines how much variation is allowed in the incoming waveform for Auto-Tune 7 to still consider it periodic.

If you are working with a well-isolated solo signal (e.g., tracking in a studio or off of a multitrack master) you can typically set the Tracking control to 50 and forget it.

NOTE: Choosing the wrong Input

Type (or just forgetting to set it at all) can result in compromised performance. Pay attention.

ANOTHER NOTE: When any Input

Type other than Bass Instrument is selected, Auto-Tune 7 is reliably

Tracking

In order to accurately identify the pitch of the input, Auto-Tune 7

If, on the other hand, your signal is noisy or not well-isolated (as might be more common in a live performance situation) or you are dealing with a particularly breathy or guttural voice, it may be necessary to allow more signal variation (higher Tracking numbers). However, under these circumstances tracking is not guaranteed and a too “relaxed” setting may introduce distortion and popping.

NOTE: The improved pitch detection

technology in Auto-Tune 7 (in

combination with the Input Type selection described above) results in noticeably more reliable pitch detection compared to previous versions of Auto-Tune. If you have used older versions of Auto-Tune, you may ﬁnd that situations that previously required constant modiﬁcations of the Tracking control now track perfectly at the default setting.

Select Pitch Reference

Auto-Tune 7 provides the ability to pitch

correct stereo tracks while maintaining the tracks’ phase coherence. (Refer to your host application’s manual for instructions on assigning a plug-in to a stereo track.) Click the appropriate button to select which of the two stereo tracks (left or right) Auto-Tune 7 will use as a pitch reference.

NOTE: If there is a marked difference

in the two tracks, pick the cleanest,

most isolated track. For example, if one track is a close mic’d vocal while the other is mic’d from farther away for ambience, or is heavily processed, select the close mic’d track.

ANOTHER NOTE: Auto-Tune 7 will

only pitch correct true stereo tracks.

If the second track (i.e., the track not selected as a pitch reference) is simply an independent unrelated track, unpredictable (and potentially unpleasant) sounds may result. On the other hand, something interesting might happen. You never know.

When Auto-Tune 7 is instantiated on a mono track, this control is inactive (grayed out).

Key Selection

This control lets you select the key of the track you plan to process.

To select the desired key, click on the Key pop-up and then select the desired note from the pop-up list. This determines the pitch of the ﬁrst note of the scale according to the standard A3 = 440 Hertz.

Scale Selection

This control is used in combination with the Key selection above to deﬁne the scale of the track you plan to process.

To select a scale, click on the Scale pop up and then select the desired scale from the pop-up list.

NOTE: To avoid having to deal with

scales containing those annoying

double ﬂats, double sharps and notes like Cb, E#, Fb and B#, Auto-Tune 7 will automatically choose the simpler of two enharmonically equivalent scales. For example, if you select Db Major, the Edit Scale Display will duly display the Db Major scale. However, if you then go to the Scale selection pop-up and select Minor, the Key will automatically be changed to C# and the Edit Scale Display will, in fact, display the much friendlier C# Minor scale. This will be reﬂected on both the Auto Mode Scale Edit display and the Pitch Graph Display in the Graphical Mode.

Auto-Tune 7 comes with 29 preprogrammed scales. The ﬁrst three equal-tempered scales, chromatic, major, and minor, are the ubiquitous scales typically found in Western tonal music. The other scales are historical, ethnic, and micro-tonal scales. An in-depth discussion of these scales and their history is beyond the scope of this manual. The interested reader will ﬁnd more information in Tuning In — Micro-tonality In Electronic Music by Scott R. Wilkinson, published by Hal Leonard Books.

A brief description of each scale can be found in Chapter 6, The Auto-Tune 7 Scales.

Scale Detune

The Detune parameter allows you to

change the pitch standard of Auto-Tune 7 from the default A = 440Hz. The value is set in cents (100 cents = 1 semitone). The range of adjustment is from -100 to +100 cents. For convenience, the detune amount is also displayed in Hertz relative to A440.

The Detune function can be used to tune a vocal performance to some irreparably out-of-tune instrument (a piano or organ, for example), or to allow correction to other than the conventional 440Hz standard.

It should be noted that this control functions differently in Automatic and Graphical modes:

AUTOMATIC MODE In Automatic Mode, the

Scale Detune control shifts the pitch reference by the set amount.

GRAPHICAL MODE In Graphical Mode, the

Scale Detune control shifts the position of the horizontal graph pitch reference lines (or lanes, if Show Lanes is selected), such that any correction objects created or adjusted relative to those reference lines will reﬂect the Scale Detune setting.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: If you

create any pitch correction objects

and subsequently adjust the Scale Detune setting, this will NOT change the output pitches of the existing objects. If you will be working in Graphical Mode on a track that requires scale detuning, set the proper detune amount BEFORE beginning pitch correction.

A TIP: If you have a tone that you

want to use as the pitch standard,

select that tone and play it in a loop. Adjust Scale Detune until the Change meter reads zero. (You may be required to use the Edit Scale Display to remove adjacent notes so that Auto-Tune 7 doesn’t tune to the wrong note.)

The default Scale Detune setting is 0 cents. Double-clicking or Command (Mac)/Control (PC) clicking the Scale Detune knob will reset it to that value.

Transpose

In addition to any pitch correction applied by either Automatic or Graphical Mode, the

Transpose control lets you shift the overall pitch of your performance over a two octave range (+/- one octave), selectable in precise semitone increments.

In Automatic Mode, this transposition is accomplished in real time.

In Graphical Mode, this function does not affect the Pitch Edit Display. It provides overall transposition on top of any pitch shifting accomplished with the graphical editing tools.

As noted above, although you can also accomplish overall transposition in Graphical Mode by selecting all the correction objects in your track and manually moving them up or down, in most cases, using the Transpose function will provide superior results.

NOTE: If you are transposing

more than a semitone or two

and your intent is to preserve the performer’s vocal character, be sure to engage the Formant Correction function described below. Transposing large intervals (especially transposing higher) without formant correction will result in the “munchkinization” effect familiar from tape speed changing and early digital sampling. (Of course, if singing chipmunks are what you’re going for, leave Formant Correction off.)

The default Transpose setting is 0 semitones (i.e., no transposition). Double-clicking or Command (Mac)/Control (PC) clicking the Transpose knob will reset it to that value.

Throat Length

As mentioned above, the shape of a singer’s throat is a prime contributor to their

vocal character. AutoTune 7 lets you modify the vocal quality of a performance by actually varying the geometry of a physical model of the human vocal tract and processing the original performance through that model.

The Throat Length control lets you modify the length of the modeled throat. The range of the control is 50 to 180. Values above 100 represent a lengthening of the throat while values below 100 represent a shortening of the throat.

The actual values represent the percentage change in the throat length. For example, a value of 120 represents a 20% increase in throat length, while a value of 70 represents a 30% decrease in throat length.

NOTE: This control is only active when

Formant Correction is engaged.

When Formant Correction is not engaged, this control is disabled (grayed out). Since Formant Correction is not available in the TDM versions of Auto-Tune 7, Throat Length is also not available in the TDM versions. If you wish to use the Throat Length function on a TDM system, be sure to select the RTAS version of Auto-Tune 7.

In addition to simply changing vocal timbre, increasing throat length is useful when the original performance is female and you want to transpose it down and have it sound more male. Conversely, decreasing throat length is useful when the original input is male and you want to transpose it up and have it sound female or childlike.

NOTE: While this control gives you the

ability to radically change the throat

length, keep in mind that the variation in the length of human vocal tracts is rarely more than about 20% in either direction. If you are looking for a “realistic” vocal characteristic, start with modest settings of this control. More extreme settings can produce dramatic results, but probably not what anyone would call “realistic.”

Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control to reset it to its default value of 100.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This function is

speciﬁcally for changing the existing

quality of a voice, not for manual formant compensation for pitch shifting. Auto-Tune 7 automatically applies appropriate formant correction when it shifts pitch with Formant Correction Enabled.

ANOTHER NOTE: This control sets the

overall Throat Length for your entire

track. Additionally, Throat Length can be adjusted on a note-by-note basis in Graphical Mode using the Throat Length Adjust function described in the Graphical Mode section below.

Formant Correction

Click the Formant button to toggle Auto-Tune 7’s formant correction function on and off.

The button will turn blue when formant correction is active and will be pale gray when it is inactive.

Engaging Auto-Tune 7’s Formant Correction prevents the shifting of a voice’s resonant frequencies to ensure that its vocal characteristics are preserved over the pitch shift range. (For a more complete explanation of formant correction, refer to the Pitch Shifting and Formant Correction section in Chapter 2.)

AN IMPORTANT NOTE: Over the very

small intervals usually associated

ANOTHER NOTE: Formant Correction

is not available in the TDM versions

of Auto-Tune 7. If you wish to use the Formant Correction function on a TDM system, be sure to select the RTAS version of Auto-Tune 7.

Correction Mode

Click the appropriate button to select either Automatic or Graphical Mode.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Switching

between Automatic and Graphical

Modes while your DAW’s transport is running will almost certainly result in audio artifacts or other unexpected weirdness. Don’t do that.

Options

Clicking the Options button will bring up a window containing a number of settings that fall into

capability, setting the buffer to the length of the entire song and tracking the pitch in one pass will allow you to quickly and easily move to each section of audio to be corrected as

necessary.

NUMBER OF UNDOS Auto-Tune 7 provides

multiple Undo/Redo capability in Graphical Mode. Select the maximum allowable number here (up to 20). Choosing a higher number allocates more memory for saving intermediate

states.

NOTE: The value selected here

applies independently to both pitch correction Undo/Redos and time control Undo/ Redos. For example, if you set this value to 15, you will have 15 levels of undo for pitch correction actions and an additional 15 levels for time control actions

the “set and forget” category. They are:

BUFFER SIZE This controls the number of

seconds of memory buffer space that are permanently reserved for pitch tracking and pitch correction data in Graphical Mode. (There is a separate buffer for each plug-in occurrence.) To change the buffer allocation, click in the data ﬁeld and enter the required number of seconds.

The maximum buffer length is 14,400 seconds

(i.e., 4 hours).

NOTE: For hosts that provide valid

time information, Auto-Tune 7 will display all tracked pitch information at its correct time within the track. If your host supports this

KNOB CONTROL Lets you select how you

want to control the “knobs” in the Auto-Tune 7 interface.

VERTICAL: Position the cursor over a knob,

press and hold the left mouse button (or the only mouse button, if you’re using a one-button mouse) and move the cursor up to turn the knob clockwise or down to turn the knob counterclockwise. The current value of the knob’s parameter appears in its associated numeric display.

HORIZONTAL: Position the cursor over a

knob, press and hold the left mouse button and move the cursor to the right to turn the knob clockwise or to the left to turn the knob counterclockwise. The current value of the knob’s parameter appears in its associated numeric display.

RADIAL: Click anywhere around the

circumference of the knob, press and hold the left mouse button and “rotate” the knob in the desired direction. The current value of the knob’s parameter appears in its associated numeric display.

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