Antares AVOX 4 Owner`s Manual
AVOX
Antares Vocal Toolkit
Owner’s Manual
©2013 Antares Audio Technologies.
All rights reserved. Certified Isinglass-free.
™
All trademarks are property of their respective owners.
www.antarestech.com
The Obligatory Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
The Antares AVOX 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 AVOX software and
its documentation. Use of AVOX 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 AVOX 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.
AVOX License Agreement
Antares Audio Technologies grants you a
non-transferable, non-exclusive license to use
AVOX under the terms and conditions stated
in this agreement. Use of AVOX indicates
your agreement to the following terms and
conditions.
License
You may:
1. Use AVOX on only one computer at a
time. Authorization requires an USB iLok
Smart Key which must be purchased
separately.
You may not:
1. Make copies of AVOX or of the user
manual in whole or in part except as
expressly provided for in this agreement.
Your right to copy AVOX and the user
manual is limited by copyright law. Making
copies, verbal or media translations,
adaptations, derivative works, or
telecommunication data transmission
of AVOX without prior written
authorization of Antares, is prohibited by
law and constitutes a punishable violation
of the law.
2. Make alteration or modifications to AVOX
(or any copy) or disassemble or decompile AVOX (or any copy), or attempt
to discover the source code of AVOX .
3. Sub-license, lease, lend, rent, or grant
other rights in all or any portion of AVOX
(or any copy) to others.
Term of the Agreement
This agreement is eective 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 AVOX 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.
Product Installation and Required Activation
There are technological measures in the AVOX
that are designed to prevent unlicensed
or illegal use of the Software. You agree
that Antares Audio Technologies may use
these measures to protect Antares Audio
Technologies against software piracy.
Limited Warranty And Disclaimer
AVOX 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 AVOX
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 AVOX
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 stu.
Contents
Chapter 1 Getting Started 2
Chapter 2 Introducing AVOX 4
Chapter 3 Harmony Engine Evo Vocal Modeling Harmony Generator 8
Chapter 4 Mic Mod EFX Classic Microphone Modeler 8
Chapter 5 THROAT Evo Physical Modeling Vocal Designer 9
Chapter 6 DUO Evo Vocal Modeling Auto-Doubler 19
Chapter 7 CHOIR Evo Vocal Multiplier 23
Chapter 8 PUNCH Evo Vocal Impact Enhancer 26
Chapter 9 SYBIL Evo Variable Frequency De-Esser 28
Chapter 10 ARTICULATOR Evo Digital Talk Box 31
Chapter 11 MUTATOR Evo Extreme Voice Designer 40
Chapter 12 WARM Tube Saturation Generator 46
Chapter 13 ASPIRE Evo Aspiration Noise Processor 51
Index 55
vi
Welcome!
On behalf of everyone at Antares Audio Technologies, we’d like to oer both our
thanks and congratulations on your decision to purchase the AVOX Antares
Vocal Toolkit, a suite of uniquely powerful DSP tools for creating spectacular
vocal tracks. As an AVOX owner, you are entitled to receive notification of any
software updates, technical support, and advance announcements of upcoming products. But we
can’t send you stu unless we know who and where you are. So please, register.
At Antares, we are committed to excellence in quality, customer service, and technological
innovation. With your purchase of AVOX , 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
1
2
1: Getting Started
How to use this manual
The plug-ins that make up the AVOX suite have been designed with clear, consistent,
experience, you will find that most of their functions are self-evident and are extraordinarily easy
to use. However, since some of the AVOX tools do things that have never been done before (or do
them in new ways), a few aspects of their user-interfaces may not be immediately obvious.
friendly user-interfaces. If you come to AVOX with previous vocal processing
Consequently, we encourage you to at least
scan each of the individual plug-in’s chapters
for descriptions of their various parameters.
In particular, Harmony Engine Evo oers new
(and extremely intuitive) ways to specify vocal
harmony, while THROAT Evo, ARTICULATOR
Evo and ASPIRE Evo oer entirely new
approaches to vocal processing, providing
capabilities that have simply never before
existed in a DSP plug-in. We strongly suggest
that you read their chapters in their entirety to
gain an understanding of what they can do.
If you just can’t wait to get some sound going,
feel free to load up some vocal tracks and play
around with the various AVOX plug-ins. (Be
sure to check out Harmony Engine Evo’s and
THROAT Evo’s collection of factory presets.
They’ll give you a good idea of what they’re
capable of as well as providing inspiration for
your own creations.) Then come back and dig
into the details.
The contents of this manual
Chapter 1: Getting Started
The chapter you are reading. Provides information on installing and authorizing AVOX .
Chapter 2: Introducing AVOX
This chapter provides an overview of the tools
that make up the AVOX plug-in suite.
Chapters 3–12
These chapters are reference information for
all of the controls used in each of the other
AVOX plug-in interfaces.
Installing AVOX
The AVOX installer will give you the option
of installing all, or any combination, of the 11
AVOX plug-ins. (While we can’t imagine why
you wouldn’t want to install all of them, you
at least have the choice.) If you do choose to
install only some of them, you can always run
the installer again later to install the rest.
The AVOX plug-ins are designed to function
in a wide variety of digital audio applications.
Please refer to your specific host application’s
user manual for more information on installing
and using plug-ins.
3
Authorizing AVOX
Authorization is the process by which
AVOX is allowed to 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.
AVOX authorization requires an iLok USB
smart key. If you already own other audio
plug-ins, you probably already have one. If not,
they can be purchased from many local music
stores as well as most online music technology
retailers.
NOTE: You will need to authorize
AVOX 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
1. Make sure you have the latest version of
the plug-in. You can download and install
the latest version of AVOX 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
the following web page:
http://portal.knowledgebase.net/article.
asp?article=174703&p=5764
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/
3. Check our web page for tips, techniques,
or any late-breaking information:
http://www.antarestech.com
4. Join the Antares Online Community at:
http://www.antarestech.com
The community provides a user forum
where you can ask for help and insight
from hundreds of other Antares product
users.
5. For the quickest access to new
developments, follow us on Twitter and
“Like” our Facebook pages:
http:/twitter.com/AntaresAudio
https://www.facebook.com/pages/
Antares-Audio-Technologies/68524457680
https:/www.facebook.com/pages/Auto-
Tune/81891651280
4
2: Introducing AVOX
The heart of any great song is a great vocal sound. With the AVOX Antares Vocal Toolkit, we’ve
combined eleven state-of-the-art vocal processing modules that open up an entirely new world of
vocal processing capabilities. AVOX gives you the power you need to create stunning vocal tracks
in any musical style as well as design unique vocal eects for audio post-production applications.
In the following chapters we’ll deal with each AVOX tool in turn, but first let’s take a brief look at
what’s in AVOX and how you might use the tools in combination.
5
AVOX Overview
The AVOX Antares Vocal Toolkit includes:
Harmony Engine Evo
Vocal Modeling Harmony Generator
Harmony Engine Evo is a real-time harmony
generating plug-in that puts professionalquality vocal harmony arrangements within
reach of any songwriter, producer, musician or
engineer.
With four independent harmony voices, a
variety of powerful harmony generating
modes, humanization features for natural
sounding performances, five integrated
channels of CHOIR Evo Vocal Multiplier, and a
flexible real-time preset system for harmony
and vocal type, Harmony Engine Evo provides
incredibly easy-to-use tools to quickly and
easily produce virtually any vocal arrangement
you can imagine.
Whether you’re an experienced vocal arranger,
a songwriter looking for that perfect backup
vocal, or a composer experimenting with
unique vocal eects, Harmony Engine Evo
gives you entirely new ways to create the
harmony parts you hear in your head. In fact,
experimenting with dierent harmonies is so
easy (and, dare we suggest, fun), you may find
yourself using Harmony Engine Evo to explore
harmonic alternatives you may have never
otherwise considered.
Mic Mod EFX
Classic Microphone Modeler
Mic Mod EFX lets the mics you own sound like
the mics your wish you owned.
Using our patented Spectral Shaping Tool™
technology, we’ve created precise digital
models of a wide variety of historical classic
and exotic microphones. Simply tell Mic Mod
EFX what microphone you are actually using
and what microphone you’d like it to sound
like. It’s as simple as that.
With over 125 microphones models included
in Mic Mod EFX, you can aord to record each
track through a model of the specific mic
that will best produce that ideal sound you’re
looking for. Or use it in live performance to get
the sound of mics you’d never consider using
on stage. You can even use it during mixdown
to eectively change the mic on an already
recorded track.
THROAT Evo
Physical Modeling Vocal Designer
THROAT Evo is a revolutionary new vocal
tool that lets you process a vocal through a
meticulously crafted physical model of the
human vocal tract. THROAT Evo begins by
neutralizing the eect of the original singer’s
vocal tract and then gives you the ability to
specify the characteristics of the modeled
vocal tract.
THROAT Evo’s controls allow you to modify
the voice’s glottal waveform as well as globally
stretch, shorten, widen or constrict the
modeled vocal tract. For even more detailed
control, THROAT Evo’s graphical Throat
Shaping display allows you to individually
adjust the position and width of five points
in the vocal tract model, from the vocal
chords, through the throat, mouth and out to
the lips. THROAT Evo’s Breathiness controls
let you add variable frequency noise to the
model, resulting in a range of vocal eects
from subtle breathiness, to raspiness, to a
full whisper. Finally, THROAT Evo allows you
to shift the pitch of the voice up or down an
octave to create a wide range of alternative
vocal characters.
While THROAT Evo has been designed to
allow subtle modifications to a voice’s vocal
quality, the range of the controls also allows
the creation of vocal tract models well beyond
the limits of physical human anatomy, oering
the possibility of vocal characteristics that are
simply unattainable by any other means.
DUO Evo
Vocal Modeling Auto-Doubler
DUO Evo automatically generates a doubled
vocal part from an existing vocal. In addition
to allowing programmable variation in pitch,
timing and vibrato depth, for even more
realism, DUO also includes a simplified version
of THROAT Evo’s vocal modeling to provide
timbral variation for the doubled part. DUO
Evo’s output section gives you independent
control of the level and stereo position of the
original and doubled voices.
6
CHOIR Evo
Vocal Multiplier
Neither a harmonizer nor a conventional
chorus eect, CHOIR Evo is a unique processor
that actually turns a single voice into 4, 8, 16, or
32 distinct individual unison voices, each with
its own pitch, timing and vibrato variations.
The voices can, if desired, be spread across the
stereo spectrum. Assign an instance of CHOIR
Evo to each of four voices singing four-part
harmony and voilà, instant choir.
PUNCH Evo
Vocal Impact Enhancer
PUNCH Evo is a unique processor that, as its
name implies, lets you quickly and easily give
your vocal more dynamic impact, allowing it
to cut through a dense mix with clarity and
power.
SYBIL Evo
Variable Frequency De-Esser
SYBIL Evo tames vocal sibilance with
threshold, ratio, attack and decay controls
as well as a variable sidechain high pass
frequency to match any vocal performance.
ARTICULATOR
Evo Digital Talk Box
A modern-day version of the venerable talk
box, ARTICULATOR Evo lets you extract the
formant and amplitude information from a
vocal (or other dynamic source) and apply
it to any other audio track or to a built-in
broadband noise generator. Perfect for talking
guitars, singing synths, and a wide range of
special eects.
MUTATOR Evo
Extreme Voice Designer
MUTATOR Evo provides a combination of
tools for creating unusual, weird, or downright
wacky voices. With high-quality pitch
shifting, throat modeling, pitch-tracking ring
modulator-based “mutation,” and a mindbending tempo-synced Alienization function,
MUTATOR Evo is the perfect tool for unique
special vocal eects and post-production
sound design.
WARM
Tube Saturation Generator
Based on Antares’ legendary (at least among
those of us who work here and, based on
the volume of emails we’ve gotten since we
discontinued it, a fair number of others as well)
Tube plug-in, WARM, warms up your vocals
with Antares’ world-renown tube modeling
technology, while being so processingecient, you can put an instance on pretty
much every track in your project and still
barely see your CPU meter twitch. (And yes,
that’s probably the longest single sentence in
this manual.)
ASPIRE Evo
Aspiration Noise Processor
ASPIRE Evo is the world’s first tool for
modifying a voice’s breathiness independently
of its harmonic content. Whether reducing a
bit of vocal rasp or adding a bit of smokiness,
ASPIRE Evo lets you modify the amount
and quality of a voice’s aspiration noise (the
component of every voice that’s the result
of air passing over the vocal chords) without
otherwise aecting the vocal’s harmonic
characteristics.
What’s New in AVOX
The following are the key new features that
have been added in AVOX :
64-bit Compatibility
All of the AVOX plug-ins have been rewritten
to support -bit hosts.
Mic Mod EFX
Mic Mod EFX Classic Microphone Modeler has
been added to the AVOX bundle
VST3 Support
The VST versions of the plug-ins now support
the VST standard.
AAX Support
In addition to RTAS versions, AAX -bit
versions (for Pro Tools ) and AAX -bit
versions (for Pro Tools and later) are now
included.
7
AVOX Processing Guidelines
While it might seem to be convenient to
consolidate all of the AVOX functions in one
huge integrated plug-in, some of the AVOX
functions use quite a bit of processing power.
By organizing them as separate plug-ins, you
can choose to instantiate only those you need
for each particular vocal track, thereby using
only as much of your computer’s DSP power as
you absolutely need.
While it’s not likely that you’ll be using all ten
plug-ins on every track, it is likely that you’ll
often be using more than one. When that’s the
case, keep the following in mind:
General Guidelines
•
In general, you should progress from the
cleanest possible source vocal through
successive stages of processing. Harmony
Engine Evo, THROAT Evo, ARTICULATOR
Evo, MUTATOR Evo, ASPIRE Evo, DUO Evo
and CHOIR Evo in particular are designed to
process pitched monophonic voices and will
function much more eectively with clean
input signals.
•
If you’re using Mic Mod EFX to change your
microphone sound, start with that.
•
If a track requires de-essing, use SYBIL Evo
as the first of the AVOX plug-ins.
•
Next in line would be one of the “Voice
Creation/Modification” plug-ins, i.e.,
THROAT Evo, MUTATOR Evo and/or ASPIRE
Evo.
•
Once you’ve tweaked the voice exactly as
you want it, you can double, multiply, or
harmonize it with DUO Evo, CHOIR Evo or
Harmony Engine Evo.
•
Finally, WARM and PUNCH Evo work well
with pretty much any input, so they would
typically be the last of the AVOX plug-ins
in the chain.
•
Eects like reverb and conventional chorus
or flanging should typically be applied after
processing by the desired AVOX plug-ins.
Special Cases
•
While you will usually choose between
DUO Evo or CHOIR Evo, you can use
them together for a really huge vocal
section. Assign DUO Evo to your track
and pan the original and doubled
voices to opposite tracks. Then assign
separate instances of CHOIR Evo to
each of the two tracks. Humongous!
•
If you will be using Harmony Engine to
generate harmonies from a single vocal
line, start with Mic Mod EFX, then SYBIL (if
necessary) and then THROAT and then feed
its output to Harmony Engine.
•
If you have a vocal with problematic
vibrato (either too much or too little), you
can use DUO Evo for vibrato modification.
Assign DUO Evo to the track and use only
the doubled output. Set all parameters to
their minimum eect and use the Vibrato
function to adjust the performance’s vibrato
depth. See Chapter 6 for more details.
•
For maximum control of the timbre of
doubled voices (at the cost of increased CPU
requirements), assign DUO Evo to your vocal
and pan the original and doubled voices to
opposite tracks. Then assign an independent
instance of THROAT Evo to each part and
create a unique timbre for each voice.
But all that being said, always feel free to
ignore any of the above suggestions. The
AVOX tools oer entirely new realms of
creative possibilities. There is no wrong way.
Now on to the details.
8
3: Harmony Engine Evo
VOCAL MODELING HARMONY GENERATOR
You’ll find a separate Harmony Engine Evo PDF manual included with your AVOX download. Read
it, try out the factory presets, and play with the included tutorial sessions.
4: Mic Mod EFX
CLASSIC MICROPHONE MODELER
You’ll find a separate Mic Mod EFX PDF manual included with your AVOX download. Read it.
5: THROAT Evo
PHYSICAL MODELING VOCAL DESIGNER
9
THROAT Evo is a revolutionary vocal tool
that lets you process a vocal through a
meticulously crafted physical model of the
human vocal tract. THROAT Evo begins by
neutralizing the eect of the original singer’s
vocal tract and then gives you the ability to
specify the characteristics of the modeled
vocal tract.
THROAT Evo’s controls allow you to modify
the voice’s glottal waveform as well as globally
stretch, shorten, widen or constrict the
modeled vocal tract. For even more detailed
control, THROAT Evo’s graphical Throat
Shaping display allows you to individually
adjust the position and width of five points
in the vocal tract model, from the vocal
chords, through the throat, mouth and out to
the lips. THROAT Evo’s Breathiness controls
let you add variable frequency noise to the
model, resulting in a range of vocal eects
from subtle breathiness, to raspiness, to a
full whisper. Finally, THROAT Evo allows you
to shift the original pitch of your vocal up or
down a full octave in semitone intervals.
While THROAT Evo has been designed to
allow subtle modifications to a voice’s vocal
quality, the range of the controls also allows
the creation of vocal tract models well beyond
the limits of physical human anatomy, oering
the possibility of vocal characteristics that
10
are simply unattainable by any other means.
In order to understand what THROAT Evo is
doing and how you can use it to process your
vocal tracks, it helps to know how our throats
actually work to create what we perceive as
unique vocal qualities.
Vocal production starts with the vocal chords.
Air from our lungs is forced through the vocal
chords, causing them to vibrate. The contour
of this vibration is the glottal waveform. The
actual shape of the waveform is aected
by each individual’s anatomy as well as the
pressure applied to the vocal chords. From
there, the voice is propagated through the
throat, the mouth and out through the lips.
It is the shape of these structures, both their
length and width, that create the resonant
characteristics that combine with the glottal
waveform to define a unique vocal identity.
With THROAT Evo, for the first time, you have
individual control over each of the elements
that go into creating a distinct vocal character.
Whether you are a producer or engineer
looking to subtly enhance a in pursuit of a
totally new vocal eect, THROAT Evo will
give you creative capabilities that have simply
never before existed.
Controls
SETTINGS
In order for THROAT Evo to do the best
possible job of modeling, it needs to know
some basic things about the source audio.
The following three controls are used to
characterize the vocal that you will be
processing:
Vocal Range
Use this control to select the range of the
track you will be processing. Choices include
Soprano Voice, Alto/Tenor Voice, Bass/
Baritone Voice and Instrument (a general
setting for anything that isn’t actually a vocal).
Matching the appropriate algorithm to the
input results in faster and more accurate pitch
detection and more accurate modeling.
To select vocal range, click on the Vocal Range
pop-up and then select the desired range from
the pop-up list.
NOTE: Choosing the wrong Vocal
Range (or just forgetting to set it
at all) can result in compromised
performance. Pay attention.
Source Glottal Waveform
The glottal waveform is the waveform
produced by the vibration of the vocal
chords. The range of an individual’s possible
waveforms is defined by their particular
anatomy. Within that range, the waveform
can change pretty dramatically depending
on the performer’s singing style. Imagine,
for example, the progression from a breathy
whisper, to a straight-ahead pop vocal, to hard
rock or full-on operatic aria.
A lot of subtle factors influence the glottal
waveform, but for ease of setting, we have
characterized the choices as loudness.
Typically, as loudness increases, so does the
pressure applied to the vocal chords and
with that change in pressure a corresponding
change in glottal waveform.
When setting this control, select the loudness
level (soft, medium, loud, intense) that most
closely matches the performance you are
processing. If you’re not sure where your
performance lies on this scale, don’t worry.
11
There is no need to obsess over subtle
distinctions. If in doubt, just pick one. Once
you have set up a model, you can always
come back and try another setting and see if it
makes a (positive) dierence.
To select vocal type, click on the Vocal Type
pop-up and then select the closest stylistic
character of the vocal performance from the
pop-up list.
Source Throat Precision
If you’ve already been poking around the
THROAT Evo interface, you might be asking
yourself, “What the heck is throat precision?”
And a good question it is.
As it happens, this control works a bit dierently
than the previous two. Here, you’re not being
asked to tell THROAT Evo something about
the input, but instead to tell THROAT Evo how
precise to be in its attempt to calculate the
characteristics of the input based on the type
of modeling you intend doing (the choices
being subtle, medium, or extreme). So why
not always leave it at “subtle”? Another good
question. The answer is that THROAT Evo’s most
precise analysis results in extremely accurate
characterization of the source throat, which
works well for models that are within the
general range of human anatomy (i.e. subtle
modifications). However, for more extreme
models, the “subtle” setting can in some cases
result in artifacts — most often a sort of
“whistling.” In those cases, such artifacts can
often be reduced or eliminated by choosing a
dierent setting for this control. As a result, the
strategy for this control should be to always
start with “subtle” (which is the default) and, if
a particular model results in artifacts (and you
don’t actually like those artifacts), change the
precision one step at a time (i.e. to medium and
then extreme) until you get the desired eect.
To select throat precision, click on the Source
Throat Precision pop-up and then select the
appropriate model type from the pop-up list.
PITCH
The Pitch control is
a new addition to
THROAT Evo that
allows you to shift
your entire vocal
up or down up to
an octave in either
direction in semitone
increments. In
combination with
the various modeling
functions, this allows
the creation of voices
that range from tiny
creatures (or children)
to growling monsters
(as well, of course, as
more subtle options).
In practice, you
should typically set
your pitch shift range
first and then adjust the modeling controls to
create your desired vocal timbre.
To adjust pitch shift, simply click and hold on the
fader and move it to the desired position.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC)/Option (Pro
Tools) click the fader to reset it to its default
value of 0.
The next two controls allow you to add a
variety of breathiness eects to your modeled
voice:
ADD BREATHINESS
Breathiness Mix
This control lets you select the amount of
breathiness component mixed into your
modeled voice. With a setting of 0, there will
be no breathiness (apart from what might be in
the original vocal). At a setting of 100, the model
will be all breathiness, with none of the original
vocal characteristic present at all. Intermediate
settings will produce mixes of the original vocal
and the breathiness component.
12
The sonic character of the breathiness will
depend both on the articulation of the original
vocal and, more dramatically, the setting of the
Highpass Frequency control described below.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC)/Option (Pro
Tools) click the control to reset it to its default
value of 0.
Highpass Frequency
This control lets you set the high pass frequency
of the breathiness component (i.e., the
frequency above which the breathiness will be
present). This frequency determines the audio
range and character of the breathiness eect.
At high settings, the eect will be rather
whispery and ethereal (depending, of course,
on the original vocal and the Mix amount). At
lower settings, the eect is more of a raspiness
(again, depending on the mix). Experimentation
is the best way to become familiar with the
possibilities.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC)/Option (Pro
Tools) click the control to reset it to its default
value of 4000 Hz.
The remaining controls are used to define the
model vocal tract:
THROAT
MODELING
Model Throat
Length
The Throat
Length control
allows you
to globally
lengthen or
shorten the
modeled throat.
Values above
1.00 represent a
lengthening of
the throat while
values below
1.00 represent
a shortening of
the throat.
The actual
values represent
the percentage
change in the throat length. For example,
a value of 1.20 represents a 20% increase in
throat length, while a value of 0.80 represents
a 20% decrease in throat length.
Changes made to this control are reflected on
the Graphic Throat Display described below. If
you have used that display to create a custom
throat contour, this control will preserve the
overall contour while scaling it by the selected
amount.
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 25%
in either direction. If you are looking for a
“realistic” vocal characteristic, start with
modest settings of this control. (As a visual
reference, this range is indicated by color on
the control scale.) More extreme settings can
produce dramatic results, but probably not
what anyone would call “realistic.”
Command (Mac)/Control (PC)/Option (Pro
Tools) clickthe control to reset it to its default
value of 1.00.
Model Throat Width
The Throat Width control allows you to
globally widen or constrict the modeled
throat. Values above 1.00 represent a
widening of the throat while values below 1.00
represent a narrowing
of the throat.
The actual values represent the percentage
change in the throat width. For example, a
value of 1.20 represents a 20% increase in
throat width, while a value of 0.80 represents
a 20% decrease in throat width.
Changes made to this control are reflected on
the Graphic Throat Display described below. If
you have used that display to create a custom
throat contour, this control will preserve the
overall contour while scaling it by the selected
amount.
NOTE: Similar to the Length control
above, this control gives you the
ability to radically change the throat
width. Again, if you are looking for
a “realistic” vocal characteristic, start with
modest settings of this control. (And again, this
range is indicated by color on the control scale.)
More extreme settings can produce dramatic
results, but probably not what anyone would
call “realistic.”
Command (Mac)/Control (PC)/Option (Pro
Tools) click the control to reset it to its default
value of 1.00.
MODEL GLOTTAL WAVEFORM
As was explained above in the Source Glottal
Waveform section, the glottal waveform
is the waveform produced by the vibration
of the vocal chords. We used the Source
Glottal Waveform control to help THROAT
4 neutralize the eect of the original vocal’s
glottal waveform. The Pulse Width and
Voice Type controls let you define the glottal
waveform you want to model.
Glottal Voice Type
This control is the converse of the Source
Glottal Waveform control described above.
We used that control to tell THROAT Evo the
characteristic of the original performance. We
13
use this control to tell THROAT Evo what kind
of characteristic we would like to model.
The choices here are the same as the choices
for the Source Glottal Waveform control
(i.e., soft, medium, loud, and intense). If you
want to preserve the stylistic character of
the original vocal, set this control to the
same voice type as you set the Source Glottal
Waveform (e.g., if you set Source Glottal
Waveform to “soft,” set this control to “soft”).
As mentioned below, this control interacts
with the Glottal Pulse Width control. Each of
the Voice Types sets a default Pulse Width
that is associated with it. Once a Voice Type
is set, the pulse width may then be adjusted
separately..
NOTE: Despite the value names
(soft, loud, etc.), this control does not
necessarily change the actual level
of the signal (although the “intense” setting
does sometimes result in some level gain). Its
purpose is to model the glottal waveform that
would result from the various styles of singing.
If you want to adjust the level, use the Output
Gain control described below.
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