This basic GarageBand tutorial looks at how to use the app’s built-in effects to create a T-Pain AutoTune effect.

via PirateSk00l:

This quick tutorial will show you how to take your crap voice and put it in tune.

Antares Audio Technologies has introduced Harmony EFX, a tool for generating up to five part vocal harmonies from a single vocal line.

Harmony EFX is a streamlined version of Antares’ Harmony Engine Evo Vocal Modeling Harmony Generator.

Key Harmony EFX features:

• Ev Voice Processing Technology for fast, accurate pitch detection; smooth, artifact-free pitch shifting; and seamless, natural-sounding (if you want it to be) throat modeling
• Four high-quality, formant-corrected harmony voices with independent pan settings
• Antares Throat Modeling technology that lets you process each harmony voice through a physical model of the human vocal tract
• A variety of innovative Harmony Control modes, from fully automatic to individual control of every note:
• Fixed or Scale Intervals: Simply set the key and harmony voice intervals and let Harmony EFX do the rest
• Chord Degrees or Chord Name: Define your harmony chord-by-chord, complete with inversions and variable vocal ranges
• Chord by MIDI: Define your harmony in real time via a MIDI controller or pre-recorded MIDI track
• MIDI Omni: Directly “play” the four harmony voices as if they were voices of a synth or sampler
• MIDI Channel: Use four separate MIDI channels for absolute control over each note of your vocal arrangement
• Spread and Register controls that allow you to quickly and intuitively set the pitch range and harmony style of your vocal arrangement
• Humanize functions that provide selectable amounts of variation to each harmony voice for realistic, natural sounding results
• A Harmony Preset matrix that lets you create up to 12 complete harmony settings and instantaneously recall them in real time or via automation

Harmony EFX will be available for RTAS (Mac and PC), VST (Mac and PC), and Audio Units in mid-October. As an introductory special, from its release in mid October through the end of November, Harmony EFX can be purchased for $49.00.

Note: Harmony EFX authorization requires a spawn of hell iLok USB smart key (sold separately) and the ability to access ilok.com (from any computer).

Klon takes your voice and adds up to 16 different copies of your voice, in realtime. This lays the ground for an impressive amount of applications like:

• Choir generator
• Harmonizer
• Voice doubler
• Change voice’s gender
• Pitch corrector
• Extreme voice manipulation

KLON is available for purchase for the introductory offer of 99 EUR until October 31st, 2009 (regular price 169 EUR). It is free with every purchase of Take Five FX (incl. Bark, Matrix, Reflect, TDesign and VTape) before October 31st, 2009.

You can preview a demo of VirSyn Klon below:

The 16 pitch shifters inside KLON are divided into 4 groups making it easy to build up large choral parts from a simple, single vocal line. The four separate, switchable groups have their own dedicated set of controls. These controls include an x-y pad for fast, easy control of pitch and panorama. Each group can be altered in real time while music is playing or can be by-passed, edited and switched back on when required. The pitch for each group can be shifted by up to +/- two octaves with adjustable formant control retaining voice quality even at extreme settings. All of those controls are available for host automation for unsurpassed dynamic voice manipulations.

KLON includes a flexible and adaptive pitch correction to any given scale or external MIDI notes and chords. Think of playing a chord to immediately harmonizing your vocal input.

The realtime manipulation possibilities together with the low latency operation makes KLON the ideal live plugin for vocals.

Kenaxis has released version 3.1 of Kenaxis, for Mac and Windows -  the namesake product in its line of real-time audio performance software. The update adds OSC (Open Sound Control) compatibility and an FFT Phase Vocoder.

KenaxisOSC enables Kenaxis to communicate with a variety of hardware and software interfaces including consumer devices as familiar as the iPod touch, the iPhone and Wii remotes. Combining OSC with the powerful audio-design tools of Kenaxis opens a whole new range of possibilities for musicians and artists working in live audio performance.

In addition, while Kenaxis 3.1 is loaded with its trademark Granular Synthesis tools, the new FFT Phase Vocoder offers an alternative technique for sonic time stretching and freezing. The Phase Vocoder will appeal to musicians who desire more organic, analog-sounding textures in their performances and compositions, says Kenaxis Creative.

Key Features:

• Intuitive Performance Interface: 6 loop players, mixer and master mixer. Clear, compact display of all parameters allows the musician to monitor and manipulate every aspect of the performance.
• Powerful Tools: pitch modulation, delay, granular synthesis, convolution, analog synthesis, 12 band parametric EQs, automated envelopes and filters, random file players and VST support – allows for sonic possibilities not possible with hardware components, at a fraction of the cost.
• Adjustable Crossfades and Insert Silence features: allows for maximum real-time loop manipulation – eliminate clicks, create drones or sparse textures.
• Multiple Audio Sources: Drag and drop sound files, synthesize sounds or capture live sound on the fly.
• OSC and MIDI compatible: Faster and with higher resolution than MIDI, OSC (Open Sound Control) allows the musician to ‘play’ Kenaxis with the iPod, iPod Touch, Wii controller, Lemur and other OSC devices and software.
• FFT Phase Vocoder: An organic and “more analog-sounding” time-stretching alternative. Pinpoint sounds in the spectrum analysis tool to stretch, freeze and manipulate.

Kenaxis is available for Windows and Mac OS X, and is priced at $135. Kenaxis Bundle costs $185 (includes Kenaxis, Kenaxis Surround and Kenaxis Visualizer). Site License pricing is available.

This is a vintage audio demo of the rare Synton Syntovox Vocoders.

via VoiceEncoder:

Copyright Synton Electronic of Holland, Inc.

All Rights Reserved.For listening pleasure only.

• Melodyne assistant, which offers the Melodyne technology for the editing of vocals and monophonic instruments in a more affordable format, and
• Version 2 of the bundle edition Melodyne essential, which now runs directly as a plug-in in the Pro Tools environment and brings with it numerous improvements over the previous incarnation.

Melodyne essential 2 is scheduled to appear at the beginning of November. It will be available only as part of Digidesign’s Ignition Pack software bundle and cannot be acquired separately.

Celemony Software Melodyne assistant will bow in November and will cost $249 / €199. More information on Celemony Software Melodyne.

Details below.

Melodyne assistant is the most affordable entry into the world of Melodyne and ideal for the correction and optimization of monophonic and rhythmic audio material. The user can use Melodyne assistant to correct intonation or timing problems by hand, transposing notes, moving them forwards or backwards in time, deleting them, adjusting their amplitude and their formants, as well as copying them to new locations.

Melodyne assistant works as a plug-in directly in compatible hosts, allowing you to use Melodyne’s possibilities in a particularly convenient manner, and the user can conduct all editing in the context of the other tracks of his project. For the swift editing of a sample between times, Melodyne assistant can also be used as a stand-alone application.

Also new is Version 2 of Melodyne essential, which offers the basic Melodyne functions for the editing of monophonic or rhythmic audio material. It is intuitive and simple to operate as well as offering the same sound quality as the new Melodyne editions editor and assistant.

Version 2 now operates directly in Pro Tools as an RTAS plug-in. That makes it still easier to enjoy the rewarding editing possibilities Celemony affords. And not only that: in Melodyne essential 2 you will also find the tried-and-tested Melodyne macros for pitch and time correction.

This video demonstrates how you can do basic vocoding using Photoshop and Photosounder (an application for Windows & Mac that translates sounds to images and vice-versa):

• The carrier signal (a saw wave) and the modulator (HAL 9000’s voice) are turned into images using Photosounder.
• Then in Photoshop, the voice is vertically blurred as to fuse the different harmonics together, then it’s pasted on top of the image of the saw wave by multiplication.
• The result is then loaded into Photosounder in lossless mode with the sound of the carrier as a reference signal, giving the vocoded voice as a result.

Why use Photoshop as a vocoder?

This is an example of how Photosounder lets you use image-editing tools to look at sound design in a new way.

More details are available at the Photosounder site.

via Photosounder

Now you, too, can sing like T-Pain on monster classics like, I’m Sprung, and the immortal I’m N Luv (Wit A Sripper).

Better yet – you can share your T-Pain with the world via MySpace, FaceBook or email.

WTF? They missed Twitter!

Maybe that’ll be in the “pro” version! Lulz.

The I Am T-Pain iPhone App (App Store link) is brought to you courtesy the good people at Smule.

Artists using I Am T-Pain

Click here to view the embedded video.

Even Ryan Can Sing Like T-Pain

Click here to view the embedded video.

BOSS has introduced a twin-pedal stompbox for performing vocalists, the VE-20 Vocal Performer.

Features:

• Specialized effects for vocalists, including Harmony, Double-Track, Dynamics, Reverb, Delay, and more
• Create the total of 3-part harmonies and layers
• Realtime pitch-correction tools
• Special FX, including Distortion, Radio and Strobe
• Phrase Looper with 38 seconds (mono) of recording time
• Phantom power for condenser microphones
• Runs on six AA-batteries or AC adaptor (PSA)
• Easy operation, road-tough BOSS construction

Description:

The VE-20 is designed for all types of vocal expression, including traditional singing, narration, and beat boxing. With the click of a footswitch, lush vocal doubling and harmonies, real-time pitch correction, delay, reverb, limiting, and special effects — such as Distortion, Robot, Chromatic, Radio, and Strobe — can be added. Layers and loops can also be created in real time with the onboard Phrase Looper.

With stereo XLR outputs, ¼” and XLR inputs, and a simple user interface, the VE-20 is perfect for serious live-performance or recording.

“More and more bands are incorporating vocal effects into their live and studio performances,” says Paul Youngblood, President of BOSS. “We’re pleased to bring high quality BOSS effects to vocal performers everywhere.”

The VE-20 will be available in November 2009.

Synthtopia regular and fellow blogger Torley demonstrates how AutoTune EFX works, delivering a few jolts of audio pain and fun along the way.

via Torley

Frieze Magazine has published a article that takes a contrarian look at the musicality of Auto-Tune.

Author Jace Clayton first recognizes the fact that many musicians hate AutoTuned vocals:

Vocal purists hate Auto-Tune. They hear in its robotic modulations some combination of sugar-rush novelty, bulldozed nuance, jejune synthetics, loss of ‘soul’, disdain for innate vocal talent, teen-optimized histrionics, emotional anemia, and/or widespread musical decline. It’s ugly.

Discussing US R&B singer T-Pain’s Auto-Tune-aided hits in 2007, music critic Jody Rosen declared that, ‘T-Pain represents a kind of symbolic severing of African-American music from its traditional emotionalism […] the impassioned melismas that have powered black popular singing for decades are smoothed into synthetic gasps.’

Clayton goes on, though, to suggest that Auto-Tune is leading to a Man-Machine hybrid vocal style:

In an era of powerful computers that allow one to audition all manner of effects on vocals after the recording session, recording direct with Auto-Tune means full commitment. There is no longer an original ‘naked’ version. This is a cyborg embrace. In Cyborg Manifesto (1991), Donna Haraway notes that ‘the relation between organism and machine has been a border war.’ Auto-Tune’s creative deployment is fully compatible with her ‘argument for pleasure in the confusion of boundaries and for responsibility in their construction.’

What do you think? Are there artists that you think are using Auto-Tune to create cyborg art?

In Harmony is an Electro-Harmonix Voice Box demo video.

The Voice Box is an intelligent vocal harmony machine/ vocoder. Details below.

via EHX:

The Voice Box packs a multi-functional vocal synth processor into a tough and compact chassis. Sing, and you’ll have a troupe of backup singers following you in perfect harmony. Or use the built-in vocoder to unleash classic synth-robot sounds.

Diana Ross had the Supremes, Brian Wilson had the Beach Boys, Kraftwerk had The Robots. You have the Voice Box.

The harmony processor creates 2- to 4-part harmonies directly from your vocals, in the same key as your accompanying instrument. Studio-quality reverb lets you independently add depth to your dry and harmony vocals.

The focused 256-band articulate vocoder, designed by the same EMS genius who made vocoding famous, features adjustable harmonic enhancement and controllable formant shift.

Plug in your mic and your instrument, and let your new voice — or voices — be heard!

* Harmonically matches any electric instrument you plug into it

* Professional quality pitch shifting algorithm produces realistic harmonies

* The Low & High Harmony independently produces two harmony notes: 3rd and 5th

* 9 accessible programmable presets

* Natural Glissando

* Gender Bender knob allows for male/female formant modification

* Built-In Mic Pre with Phantom Power & Gain Switch

* Balanced XLR Line Output: Interface directly with any mixing board or A/D converter

* US96DC-200BI power supply included

TC-Helicon’s Laura Clapp talks about what the latest voice synthesis effects that she is demoing at the 2009 Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany.

Unfortunately, no demo was included!

Voxengo Voxformer v2.0 is a multi-functional vocal channel strip plug-in designed to be a comprehensive vocal processing tool.

Description:

Voxformer is a multi-functional vocal channel strip plug-in for professional audio applications.  Combining several professional quality processing modules, Voxformer was designed to be a comprehensive solution for all your vocal processing needs – be it spoken or sung vocals.

The coolest feature of Voxformer is its one-knob vocal compressor.  Using only a single knob, you can get a tight, open and definitive professional vocal sound with an excellent articulation in no time.  You do not have to worry about common ratio and make-up gain controls since they are automatically selected by the advanced compression algorithm while attack and release parameters are stored in a mode preset.  Moreover, Voxformer features two compressors of this type, allowing you to apply either a two-band or a two-stage (serial) vocal compression.  For two-band compression Voxformer splits the audio signal into two spectral parts, by means of a crossover filter.

Voxformer also features the de-esser with selectable center frequency and threshold.  Multi-band noise gate is available, which, in a manner similar to the compressor, was designed to bring ease of tuning while providing excellent sonic results.  For those who like a saturated vocal sound, Voxformer implements a special module which applies a smooth saturation.  Another useful feature Voxformer has to offer is the presence boosting module, which you can use to add some shine and space to the vocals.

To simplify the control over these processing modules, Voxformer implements residue listening, which allows you to hear what gets removed during de-essing and noise gate operation, and what is being added by the presence module.  Beside that, almost all modules offer “mode editor” panels where you can fine-tune specific module’s operation.  In most cases this allows you to use Voxformer for processing of a wide range of instruments beside vocals.

As a finishing touch, Voxformer offers you a flexible easy-handling 5-band equalizer (pre/post selectable) with a real-time output stage fast Fourier transform (FFT) spectrum analyzer display.  Each equalizer band can be switched to a parametric, low-shelf, high-shelf filtering mode, or a low-pass or high-pass mode of a selected steepness.

If you’ve used Voxengo Voxformer, leave a comment with your thoughts!

Changes in Voxformer 2.0

• Smoother compression sound
• De-breath gate algorithm
• Multi-channel and multi-platform support
• Wet/dry mix
• Mid/side processing
• Processing mode editors
• Selectable oversampling level
• Undo/redo
• Routing matrix
• Preset manager
• User interface coloration and re-scaling
• Channel grouping
• Plug-in instance naming
• Bypass switch

Voxformer is available for Windows and Mac (VST/AU) for a one-month introductory price of $55.95 USD (20% off the regular price). An upgrade from the previous version costs $34.95 USD (there is a 90 grace period). The demo version of Voxformer can be downloaded here.

A clip from R. Luke DuBois and Lesley Flanigan’s Bioluminescence performance at Issue Project Room in NYC.

Two performers, one singing and one processing, create a dense pallet of sound and imagery derived entirely from voice.

For $129, everybody can now sound like T-Pain and Cher. 

Do you believe in Pain? Get ready for an explosion of the Auto-Tune effect in YouTube videos!

Designed to make almost everything automatic, Auto-Tune EFX provides two different flavors of the Auto-Tune Vocal Effect, as well as real-time pitch correction. Users select their desired effect type, set the key and scale of their track, and Auto-Tune EFX does the rest.

For songs with complex chord progressions or modulations, one can optionally set up custom scales or use their host’s automation facility to allow the processing of virtually any vocal line.

Note that Auto-Tune EFX requires an iLok USB key, which is included – but plan on kissing a USB slot goodbye. 

“In addition to its position as the professional-standard pitch correction tool, Auto-Tune has gained renown as the tool of choice for what has become one of the signature vocal sounds of our time,” said Marco Alpert, Antares VP of Marketing. “Most recently, its use by T-Pain (and many others in the pop, R&B and hip-hop communities) has ignited intense interest in the effect and introduced the magic of Auto-Tune to an even larger community of musicians and producers. As a result, we designed Auto-Tune EFX to be an affordable, easy-to-use tool that will allow pretty much anyone to use genuine Evo Voice Processing Technology to create these effects and perform basic real-time pitch correction.”

Auto-Tune EFX is available now for RTAS (Mac OS X and PC), VST (Mac OS X and PC) and Audio Units (Mac OS X) at a U.S. MSRP of $129.00. All Macintosh versions are universal binaries.

TAL-Vocoder is a vintage vocoder emulation with 11 bands that emulates the sound of vocoders from the early 80’s.

Here’s a demo of Tal-Vocoder in action:

It includes analog modeled components in combination with digital algorithms such as the SFFT (Short-Time Fast Fourier Transform).

This vocoder does not make a direct convolution of the carrier and modulation signal as other digital vocoders maybe do. It includes an envelope follower for every of the eleven bands.

This vocoder is optimized for voice processing and includes some algorithms for consonants to make the voice more intelligible.

The carrier signal is a VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator) with a Pulse, Saw, Noise and SubOsc. But it’s also possible to use the left stereo input as carrier. This way every sound source can be used as carrier signal. This plug-in supports every sample rate.

via MakingMusic

Smule’s Sonix Vox is a $.99 iPhone app that lets you do real-time audio processing. Sonic Vox shifts and contorts your voice while you are talking, letting you sound like Darth Vader or a chipmunk.

Features:

• Alter your voice with a swipe of your finger. Want to cross over to the Dark Side? Slide your finger to the left. Now say it. You know you want to. “Luke, I am your…”
• Or maybe you are feeling conflicted about having lost a “preciousssss” ring? Move your finger back and forth horizontally and go ahead, rant on
• Transform your voice even more. Simply swipe your finger up and down and hear what happens, hear what happens…
• Use it like a phone, with headphones, through an amplifier, or over Skype

Looks dumb but fun!

Like previous versions of Auto-Tune, Auto-Tune Evo provides the ability to correct the pitch of a voice or solo instrument in real time, without distortion or artifacts, while preserving expressive nuance.

Auto-Tune Evo includes an Automatic Mode for real-time pitch correction as well as a Graphical Mode that displays the pitch envelope of the audio to be corrected, along with a selection of graphical tools that allow precise manipulation of the performance’s pitch.

Auto-Tune Evo is available now for TDM (Mac OSX and PC), RTAS (Mac OSX and PC), VST (Mac OSX and PC) and Audio Units (Mac OS X) at a U.S. MSRP of $399.00 for the Native versions and $649.00 for TDM versions. All Macintosh versions are universal binaries.

Upgrades to Auto-Tune Evo are available for purchase and download by current registered Auto-Tune owners.

Details below.

New Features

GENERAL FEATURES

• Dramatically enhanced core technology. Evo(tm) Voice Processing Technology takes advantage of the power of today’s computers to provide powerful new features and enhanced tracking and correction capabilities.
• Redesigned user interface. Continuing the process begun with Auto-Tune 5, Antares has once again refined the Auto-Tune user interface to allow for smoother, more intuitive workflow.
• Reorganized common controls. With the addition of the new pitch shifting, formant correction, and throat modeling capabilities, Antares has reorganized the common control area to ensure that all of the parameters used by both Automatic and Graphical correction modes are easily available at all times.

AUTOMATIC MODE FEATURES

• Real-time pitch shifting (Native versions only). Auto-Tune Evo’s new Transpose control provides extremely high-quality real-time pitch shifting over a two-octave range.
• Formant correction (Native versions only). While Auto-Tune’s classic pitch adjustment technology still provides the optimum results for the very small intervals typical of conventional pitch correction, for larger intervals or outright pitch-shifting, engaging Auto-Tune Evo’s Formant Correction function preserves vocal character over a much wider pitch-shift range.
• Throat modeling (Native versions only). Utilizing the latest incarnation of Antares’ Ao unique throat modeling technology, the new Throat Length control actually allows you to modify vocal character by passing it through a variable-length physical model of the human vocal tract.

GRAPHICAL MODE FEATURES

• Massively resizable Graphical Mode window. In most hosts, Auto-Tune Evo’s Graphical Mode window can be resized in real-time, limited only by the size of the user’s monitor.
• New Note-based pitch correction and pitch shifting. In addition to Lines and Curves, Auto-Tune Evo introduces an entirely new method of pitch editing: Note Objects. When using Note Objects, Auto-Tune Evo analyzes the tracked audio and creates graphic representations of the target notes. These objects can then easily be edited, shifted in pitch, and individually pitch corrected or retuned.
• Object-based Retune Speed settings. In one of Auto-Tune Evo’s functionally most powerful changes, Retune Speed is now an independent property of each individual correction object (Curve, Line or Note), making it easy to get the optimum rate for each note of a performance.
• Real-time display of output pitch. In addition to Auto-Tune’s traditional Tracked Pitch, Line, and Curve plots, Auto-Tune Evo provides a new real-time Output Pitch plot that displays the exact output pitch based on the current Retune Speed.
• Comprehensive programmable keyboard shortcuts. For ease of editing workflow, Auto-Tune Evo’s new Key Binding system lets virtually any Graphical Mode function to be assigned to each of the QWERTY number keys.
• New Pitch Graph display mode. A new “Lanes” display mode is particularly useful when using Note Objects for pitch correction or pitch-shifting individual notes.
• Graphical Paste function. The new Paste function displays a graphic representation of copied data and lets a user visually place it at the desired destination before finalizing the Paste. Perfect for copying Note Object-based edits to other parts of a track.
• Enhanced pitch displays. Auto-Tune Evo provides simultaneous displays of Tracked Pitch, Correction Object Pitch, and the resulting Output Pitch at the current cursor location.
• Nudge controls for pitch correction objects. To aid precise editing, the new Nudge controls let a user move selected object(s) up or down in precise one pixel increments.