Antares AutoTune 8 user manual

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horizontal lanes that extend from the left-hand “keys” and are tinted to di(erentiate the sharps and/or flats. Note objects snap neatly into these lanes. They are particularly useful when you will be using Note objects to shift the pitch of individual notes.
NOTE: The Show Lanes option is only available when the Major, Minor or Chromatic scales are selected. In all other cases, the Show Lanes button will be disabled.
Click the Show Lanes button to toggle its state. The button will turn blue when Show Lanes mode is on (but of course when Show Lanes mode is on, the Pitch Graph is full of Lanes, so it’s pretty hard to get confused about which mode you’re in).
NOTE: You can switch back and forth between display modes at any time. Switching modes has no e!ect on any previous correction objects. So you could, for example, use the default graph mode for creating and tweaking some curves in one section of your track, and then switch to Lanes mode to create and edit some Notes objects in a di!erent section of the track. Your previously created and edited curves would remain una!ected.
Pitch Graph Scale
The Pitch Graph Scale Buttons control the horizontal (time) and vertical (pitch) scaling of the graph. Clicking the appropriate “+” button causes the view to zoom in, while clicking a “-” button causes it to zoom out.
NOTE: The horizontal scale buttons always control the Pitch Graph. They also control the Envelope Graph when it is set to “Tie” (see below).
Object Pitch Display
The Object Pitch Display will always show the exact target pitch of the correction object at the current cursor position. 
For Lines and Curves, this will correspond to the pitch indicated by the blue target pitch curve. 
For Notes, this will correspond either to the pitch of the graph line or lane on which the Note is situated, or, if Snap to Note has been turned o( and the Note has been o(set from the graph line or lane, it will display the note and the amount of o(set (in cents).
Output Pitch Display
The Output Pitch Display will always show the exact output pitch (the green curve) at the current cursor position. 
Detected Pitch Display
The Detected Pitch Display will always show the exact pitch of the tracked input data (the red curve) at the current cursor position. 
Cursor Time 
Display
The Cursor Time Display (as you’ve probably already guessed) will show the time at the current cursor position. The format of this display (either absolute time or bars and beats) will be the same as that set by the Time Display Format selector described in the Clock Controls section above. 
						

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The Envelope Graph Display
The Envelope Graph Display is visible whenever “SHOW ENVELOPE GRAPH” is checked in the Options window.
The Envelope Graph displays the amplitude (loudness) envelope of the sound whose pitch is shown in the Pitch Graph. Additionally, its central horizontal axis will display red in any range in which time has been tracked.
When Time Control is enabled, the Envelope Graph will display two envelopes, one above the other; the original envelope on the bottom and the (potentially) time-shifted envelope on the top. See the Time Controls section for details.
All/Tie Buttons
The Envelope Graph’s horizontal (time) scale is controlled by the “All” and “Tie” buttons.
Clicking the All button causes the envelope graph to display all of the currently tracked audio. This is useful for quickly locating and selecting various portions of audio spread over the duration of a song.
Clicking the Tie button slaves the position of the Envelope Graph to that of the Pitch Graph. When this setting is selected, the horizontal scale of the Envelope Graph is controlled by the Pitch Graph horizontal scale buttons.
NOTE: If the Envelope Graph Display has been hidden (by unchecking “SHOW ENVELOPE GRAPH” in the Options window), The All/Tie buttons will also be hidden.
Auto Scroll
When Auto-Scroll is on (the button is blue), Auto-Tune 8 will automatically scroll the Pitch Graph Display using the method selected in the Options window (I.e., either smooth or screen-by-screen scrolling).
When Auto-Scroll is o( (the button is pale gray), the display will not scroll to follow the play position.
NOTE: In addition to the above, if Auto-Scroll is o! while tracking pitch or pitch and time, when the transport is stopped to exit tracking mode, Auto-Tune 8 will not automatically scale the display to encompass all of the tracked audio, as it normally would. 
This is useful when you have zoomed in to a problematic bit of audio and want to track it a number of times with di(erent Tracking settings and observe the e(ects of the di(erent settings. If Auto-Scroll were on, Auto-Tune 8 would rescale the display after each tracking pass, annoyingly requiring you to zoom back in to the bit you were interested in each time. With Auto-Scroll (and therefore automatic rescaling) o(, that wouldn’t be necessary. 
						

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Editing Tools
Editing Modality  
With Auto-Tune 8, you are free to use the graphical editing functions while correcting pitch. This can be particularly useful if you edit specific sections while looping them, as you can immediately hear the results of an edit without having to stop and restart the transport.
You can, for example: 
• Draw new correction objects while you are correcting pitch. 
• Edit existing correction objects while correcting pitch — even when the position indicator is passing over the object you’re editing (in which case the edit takes e(ect as soon as you release your mouse button).
• Click Make Curve, Import Auto or Make Notes while correcting pitch. 
• Cut, copy or paste correction objects while correcting pitch.
Now, just because you can do something, doesn’t necessarily mean you would want to (or that it even makes sense to), but with this functionality, you have a lot of flexibility in developing whatever workflow works best for you.
The Graphical Tools
The graphical tools are used in conjunction with the edit buttons to create or modify the desired correction objects.
NOTE: The two tools dedicated to time correction and manipulation will be described in the Time Controls section later in this chapter.
ANOTHER NOTE: In addition to clicking on the various tools, if your host passes key presses to plug-ins, you can assign selected tools to QWERTY number keys using the Key Binding function in the Options dialog.
The Line Tool
The Line Tool is used to draw multi-segment straight lines on the Pitch Graph. Start the process by selecting the Line Tool and clicking anywhere on the Pitch Graph to set an anchor point. As you move the cursor, a line will extend from the anchor point to the cursor position. Click again to set a second anchor point and define the first segment of your pitch contour. Continue clicking and defining lines until your contour is complete. End the process by double-clicking on the final anchor point or pressing esc on your keyboard.
Pressing Option/Alt on your keyboard during line entry will force the current segment to be perfectly horizontal.
NOTE: Due to issues in Pro Tools for PC that are beyond our control, using the Alt key to constrain a line segment to horizontal does not function in those versions. However, you can get an equivalent e!ect by using the Snap To Note function (see below) to constrain a line segment to a semitone, and then using the Arrow Tool to move that horizontal line segment to any intermediate pitch. 
						

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If you have enabled Snap To Note mode (see below), each segment will automatically snap to the nearest semitone. Pressing the Shift key on your keyboard while drawing a line temporarily toggles the state of the Snap To Line button. I.e., if Snap To Note mode is not enabled, pressing Shift will enable it for as long as Shift is pressed. Conversely, if Snap To Note mode is enabled, pressing Shift will disable it for as long as Shift is pressed.
If you move the cursor outside the Pitch Graph during point entry, the graph will automatically scroll.
To delete the last anchor point entered, press delete on your keyboard (you can do this repeatedly back to the very first anchor point).
Only one pitch correction object (Line, Curve, or Note) can exist at any time point on the Pitch Graph. When you complete the entry of a line object, any object(s) that previously existed at the same time will be deleted.
NOTE: If, while the Line Tool is selected, you move the cursor onto the Envelope Graph Display, it will temporarily change to the Magnifying Glass Tool, allowing you to quickly and easily move to any other point in your audio and then resume editing without needing to manually change tools.
The Curve Tool
The Curve Tool is used to draw arbitrary curves on the Pitch Graph. Start the process by selecting the Curve Tool and clicking anywhere on the Pitch Graph to set an anchor point. Hold down your mouse button and move the cursor to draw the desired pitch contour curve. End the process by releasing your mouse button.
Unlike the Line Tool, the Pitch Graph will not scroll if you attempt to move the Curve Tool cursor outside the current display area.
The Snap To Note mode does not a(ect the Curve Tool.
Only one pitch contour object (Line, Curve, or Note) can exist at any time point on the Pitch Graph. When you complete the entry of a Curve object, any object(s) that previously existed at the same time will be deleted.
NOTE: If, while the Curve Tool is selected, you move the cursor onto the Envelope Graph Display, it will temporarily change to the Magnifying Glass Tool, allowing you to quickly and easily move to any other point in your audio and then resume editing without needing to manually change tools.
The Note Tool
The Note Tool is used to draw new Notes (duh!). Simply click and drag near the desired horizontal graph line or lane (depending on the current display mode) to create a new Note. 
Only one pitch contour object (Line, Curve, or Note) can exist at any time point on the Pitch Graph. When you complete the entry of a new Note, any object(s) that previously existed at the same time will be deleted.
NOTE: New Notes will always be drawn precisely on semitone or scale note graph lines or lanes (depending on the display mode), regardless of the setting of the Snap To Note button. If you wish to create a note that is o!set from a line or lane, first draw the note on the nearest line or lane, then ensure that Snap To Note mode is o! and use either the Arrow tool or the Nudge buttons to move the Note to the desired pitch.
ANOTHER NOTE: If, while the Note Tool is selected, you move the cursor onto the Envelope Graph Display, it will temporarily change to the Magnifying Glass Tool, allowing you to quickly and easily move to any other point in your audio and then resume editing without needing to manually change tools (is this beginning to sound familiar?).
The Arrow Tool
The Arrow Tool is used to select and drag or edit existing correction objects (Lines, Curves, or Notes) as well as to add or delete anchor points to existing lines.
The Arrow Tool behaves as follows: 
						

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MANIPULATING LINES AND CURVES  Clicking on the background of the Pitch Graph and dragging horizontally selects objects’ anchor points. Shift-clicking extends the selection.
Dragging beyond the Pitch Graph boundaries automatically scrolls the graph.
Moving the Arrow Tool over a Line or Curve causes the cursor to change to the object cursor (a horizontal bar). Clicking on an unselected curve or line segment with the object cursor causes the curve or segment and its anchor points to become selected and allows that object to be dragged. Clicking on an already selected curve or line segment with the object cursor allows that object, along with all other selected objects, to be dragged.
By default, when you click to drag an object, you will be restricted to vertical movements only (the cursor will indicate this state). The e(ect of this is to allow you to modify the pitch contour while preserving the object’s location in time. This is particularly handy after using the Make Curve  or Import Auto buttons.
In some host applications, holding down the Option/Alt key and then clicking to drag will allow movement in both vertical and horizontal directions.
Moving the Arrow Tool over a Line or Curve anchor point (whether that point is currently selected or not) causes the cursor to change into the anchor point cursor (four diagonal arrows). Clicking on an anchor point with the anchor point cursor deselects all other objects and anchor points and selects that anchor point so that it can be dragged. Dragging an anchor point stretches or compresses the correction object relative to the nearest unselected anchor point(s).
The extent to which you can drag selected objects is constrained by the position of neighboring unselected objects.
Clicking on the background of the Pitch Graph deselects all selected objects.
ADDING AND DELETING ANCHOR POINTS Moving the Arrow Tool over an existing line segment and double-clicking will add an intermediate anchor point at that point. The cursor will change to the anchor point cursor and the new anchor point can then be dragged.
Moving the Arrow Tool over an existing anchor point (except for end points) and double-clicking will remove that anchor point and cause a straight line to be drawn between the now adjacent anchor points.
The Arrow Tool will not add or delete anchor points on curves, only on lines created with the Line Tool.
MANIPULATING NOTE OBJECTS The Arrow tool is used to modify the pitch of a Note object (i.e., move it up or down on the Pitch Graph) or to modify the start and/or end points of a Note (i.e., adjust those points forward or backward in time).
When you move the Arrow tool over a Note object, the cursor will change to one of two states, depending on where over the Note it is positioned. 
When the cursor is over the central area of a note, the pitch shift cursor (vertical up and down arrows) will be displayed. Clicking on the Note when the pitch shift cursor is displayed will allow you to drag the note up or down to a new pitch. If the Snap To Note function is active, the Note’s movement will be constrained to the grid lines or lanes of the Pitch Graph. If the Snap To Note function is not active, you can move the note to any arbitrary pitch.
If “PLAY AUDIO FOR SELECTED NOTE OBJECT” is checked in the Options window, clicking and holding on a Note object will result in a tone sounding at the current pitch of the Note object. Continuing to hold the mouse down and moving the Note object up or down will result in the tone changing to match the position of the Note. Releasing the mouse button will end the tone. 
						

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A TIP: When moving a Note with Snap To Note o!, you can refer to the Object Pitch Display to determine the Note’s exact pitch at any position. If “PLAY AUDIO FOR SELECTED NOTE OBJECT” is checked, you will also hear the pitch of the note as you move it.
When the cursor is near either end of a note, the length adjustment cursor (horizontal left and right arrows) will be displayed. Clicking on either end of a Note when the length adjustment cursor is displayed will allow you to drag the selected end point left or right to a new position, e(ectively lengthening or shortening the Note.
Unlike Lines and Curves, whose movement is constrained by adjacent objects, extending a Note’s start or end point will replace any other correction objects that currently exist in the extended time range. 
NOTE: When extending a Note, as long as you are dragging the end point (i.e., as long as you hold your mouse button down), moving the end point over an existing object will cause it to be overwritten, but then moving it back to its original position will cause the overwritten object to reappear. However, once you release the mouse button and finalize the move, the overwritten object is gone forever. Subsequently dragging the Note’s end point back to its original position will not cause the overwritten object to reappear.
ANOTHER NOTE: When extending a Note, any new pitch material that becomes part of the lengthened Note will inherit the original Note’s Retune Speed (as displayed by its green output curve). As a result, it may  (or may not) be necessary to adjust the Retune Speed to achieve the best result with the additional material.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE: When we talk about moving a Note Object’s end points in time, it’s important to understand that what we’re doing is adjusting the time range during which that Note defines the target correction pitch of the audio. We are not shifting the time of the audio itself. To shift the time of the audio, use the Time Control tools described later in this chapter. 
A TIP: If you are working on a performance with such wide vibrato that even with Number of Note Objects set to its lowest setting you still end up with a series of notes rapidly alternating between the desired pitch and the upper and lower adjacent pitches, instead of manually moving each upper and lower note back to the desired central pitch, just grab the appropriate end of the first or last central pitch Note and drag it over all of the other Notes. You’ll end up with a single Note on the desired frequency whose vibrato you can tame with a single adjustment of the Note’s Retune Speed.
While all of the above may seem a bit mind-boggling on first reading, in practice it’s quite intuitive. Spend a minute or two playing with the Arrow Tool and all will become clear.
NOTE: If, while the Arrow Tool is selected, you move the cursor onto the Envelope Graph Display, it will temporarily change to the Magnifying Glass Tool, yadda, yadda, yadda…
Scissors Tool 
Moving the Scissors Tool over an existing Curve, Line, or Note object and clicking will break the object in two at the point clicked. Both of the new objects will be unselected.
For Curves and Lines, although it will look like there is only one anchor point created at the break point, there are actually two (one for each of the two newly created line or curve segments). Simply use the Arrow Tool to move the top anchor point to reveal the other one.
NOTE: Scissors Tool, Envelope Graph Display, temporarily Magnifying Glass Tool. Yup.
Magnifying Glass
In the Pitch Graph, use the Magnifying Glass to click and drag a box around an area of interest. Dragging o( the Pitch Graph automatically scrolls the graph. When you release the mouse button, the scale and position of the Pitch Graph will be changed to display the area enclosed by the box. 
						

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When the Magnifying Glass cursor is displaying the default “+”, clicking the Magnifying Glass anywhere in the pitch display will increase the display’s horizontal and vertical zoom factors one step (if possible).
Pressing Option(Mac)/Alt(PC) will cause the cursor to change to “-”. In this state, clicking anywhere in the pitch display will decrease the display’s horizontal and vertical zoom factors one step (if possible).
Dragging the Magnifying Glass in the Envelope Display will cause the selected time range to appear in the Pitch Display (most useful for navigating when the Envelope Display is in “All” mode). The pitch range of the Pitch Display will be automatically scaled such that all of pitch information in that time range is visible on the screen.
I-Beam Tool
Drag the I-Beam Tool in either the Pitch or Envelope Display to select an area to apply Make Curve, Import Auto, Make Notes, or Number of Note Objects. The selection area will be reflected in both displays.
Double-clicking with the I-Beam tool in either the Pitch or Envelope Display will highlight the range of all currently tracked audio.
If the Envelope Display is set to All, using the I-Beam Tool to make a selection anywhere in the Envelope Display will cause the selected audio to appear in the Pitch Display. This is handy for quickly moving around your track to make various edits.
NOTE: This I-Beam Tool is applicable to pitch editing only. Selections for the purpose of time shifting are made by the dedicated time control tools described later in this chapter.
Hand Tool
Drag the Hand Tool in any direction in the Pitch Display to move the area displayed.
If you move any selected cursor into the left-hand “key” area, it will temporarily change to the Hand tool, allowing you to quickly scroll the Pitch Display up or down as desired.
POP QUIZ:  If, while the Hand Tool is selected, you move the cursor onto the Envelope Graph Display, what happens? (Send your answer to [email protected] with the words “Pop Quiz” in the subject line.)
The Edit Buttons
Once some audio has been tracked and/or correction objects created, they can be a(ected or edited in various ways with the Edit Buttons.
The Edit Buttons are context sensitive, i.e., only the buttons that are applicable to the current state of the pitch display are active. If a particular button does not have a valid function relative to the current pitch display state, it will be “grayed out” (i.e., colored dark gray).  If it does have a valid function, it will appear pale gray.
NOTE: Other than the Clear All button, which really does clear everything, these edit buttons are applicable specifically to correction objects and pitch edits. Time shifting has its own set of edit functions, described below.
The Clear All Button
Clicking the Clear All button erases all tracking (both pitch and time) and correction information, whether or not it is currently visible on the Pitch Display. Since you can not undo this function (and accidentally executing it could be catastrophic), you must confirm your intent in a warning dialog.
NOTE: If you’re absolutely certain you want to clear everything and don’t want to be bothered by the confirmation dialog, Option-click the Clear All button to bypass the warning. 
						

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The Undo Button
The Undo button becomes active whenever you move or modify a target pitch contour object. Clicking the Undo button once will undo the most recent change. If you have made multiple changes, you can continue to click Undo to undo additional changes up to the limit that you set in the Options dialog.
The Redo Button
The Redo button becomes active whenever you have executed at least one Undo. Clicking the Redo button once will redo the most recent undone change. If you have executed multiple undos, you can continue to click Redo to redo additional changes up to the limit that you set in the Options dialog.
The Snap To Note 
Button
Press this button to enable Snap To Note mode when using the Line Tool or moving Note objects. In Snap To Note mode, each line segment will automatically snap to the nearest semitone and Notes can only be moved to exact semitones (or exact scale notes for microtonal scales).
Pressing the Shift key on your keyboard while drawing a line or moving a Note object temporarily toggles the state of the Snap To Note button. I.e., if Snap To Note mode is not enabled, pressing Shift will enable it for as long as Shift is pressed. Conversely, if Snap To Note mode is enabled, pressing Shift will disable it for as long as Shift is pressed.
The Select All Button
The Select All button causes all correction objects, whether currently visible on the Pitch Graph view or not, to become selected.
The Cut And Copy Buttons
The Cut and Copy buttons become active whenever one or more correction objects are selected. Cut removes selected objects. Both Cut and Copy copy selected objects to the Auto-Tune 8 clipboard. You can then paste the objects elsewhere in the Pitch Graph display.
The Paste Button
The Paste button becomes active whenever one or more objects have been Cut or Copied to the clipboard. 
To   p a s t e   o b j e c t (s)   f r o m   t h e   c l i p b o a r d:
• Navigate to the general area where you want to paste the object(s.) 
• Click the Paste button (the cursor will turn into the Paste cursor). 
• Press and hold your left (or only) mouse button. A graphic representation of the object(s) to be pasted will appear.
• While holding down the mouse button, drag the objects to the exact location where you wish to paste them. 
• Once they are at the proper location, release the mouse button to complete the paste.
NOTE: Since only one correction object (Line, Curve, or Note) can exist at any time point on the Pitch Graph, any object(s) that previously existed at the time where an object is pasted will be deleted. Hence, before you complete the paste, be sure that the area you’re pasting into does not contain any correction object(s) that you want to keep.
A TIP: When pasting an object, the object retains the Retune Speed(s) of the originally copied object. That speed may or may not be appropriate for the pitch data at the object’s new location. Observe the resulting green output pitch curve and adjust the Retune Speed as necessary. 
						

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The Nudge Buttons
The Nudge buttons allow you to move all currently selected correction objects up or down in precise one-pixel increments.
NOTE: If Snap To Note mode is enabled, Note objects can not be nudged. If you want to nudge a Note object, first turn o! Snap To Note. After nudging the Note to its new pitch, you can re-engage Snap To Note. The nudged note will remain at its o!set pitch (unless you subsequently use the Arrow tool to move it, in which case it will once again be constrained to scale notes).
The actual pitch interval for each Nudge step depends on the current vertical zoom setting of the Pitch Graph. When the display is zoomed far out, the interval is larger than when zoomed in. The extremes of the nudge intervals are as follows:
When zoomed all the way out: 20 cents per nudge
When zoomed all the way in: 1 cent per nudge
For maximum control, zoom in as close as possible to your object(s) of interest before using the Nudge buttons.
Keyboard Equivalents
Some host applications support the following keyboard command equivalents for the above Edit Buttons. Others reserve these commands for their own use. Consult your host application’s manual for details (or just try them and see if they work).
Command/Control-Z  Undo 
Command-Shift-Z/Control-Y  Redo 
Command/Control-X  Cut 
Command/Control-C  Copy 
Command/Control-V  Paste 
Command/Control-A  Select All
Pitch Shifting, Formant Correction 
and Throat Modeling
To use the Pitch Shifting, Formant Correction and/or Throat Modeling functions in Graphical Mode, refer to the descriptions of the Transpose, Throat Length, and Formant controls in the Common Controls section earlier in this chapter.
Pen Tablet Input
If you do a lot of your pitch correction using Graphical Mode, you may want to consider using a USB pen tablet like the Wacom Bamboo or Intuos.
A pen tablet lets you control Auto-Tune 8’s graphical tools (as well as all the other controls) using a familiar pen-style input device. Once you become comfortable with one (which usually only takes a few minutes), a pen tablet typically o(ers increased drawing accuracy with less wrist stress in long sessions. Some tablets also include programmable function keys for often-used keyboard commands. 
						

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Time Shifting Overview
As mentioned back in Chapter 2, in order to do its time shifting magic, Auto-Tune 8 must first create a copy of any audio you wish to edit. As you might imagine, these audio files can be quite large. Unlike the pitch data generated by the traditional Track Pitch function, which is always stored with the instances of Auto-Tune in your session, the audio recorded for time shifting by the Track Pitch + Time function is saved as one or more separate files elsewhere on your computer. 
You will find detailed information about these files in the Tracked Data Management section below, but here are some basic guidelines to keep in mind:
• If you always work on one computer and never transfer your projects to other computers, you don’t really have to worry about this. Everything will typically take care of itself. 
 The one exception is that’s it’s wise to delete any tracked audio files once you no longer need them (after bouncing or freezing a processed track, for example), as they will otherwise end up sitting on your computer forever, just  taking up space. See below for details.
• If you do transfer your sessions to other computers, any tracked audio files must be transferred with them. Again, see the Tracked Data Management section below for instructions.
• If you know from the beginning that you won’t be doing time shifting on a track, use the Track Pitch function. There’s no point in recording large files you’ll never need.
• If you will be doing time shifting in only a small region of your track, use Track Pitch + Time only in that region. You can do a separate Track Pitch pass for any other regions that only require pitch correction. 
• Auto-Tune 8’s time shifting is completely nondestructive. Since Auto-Tune 8 works on a copy of your audio, time editing always leaves your original audio intact. At any point you can simply switch o( the Time Control Enable button to instantly return to your track’s original timing.
Time Shifting Limits
For both of the time editing tools described below, the total amount of time compression or expansion that can be applied to a range of audio is limited to a 10:1 ratio. That is, a range can be expanded up to 10 times its original length or compressed down to 1/10th of its original length. Once that limit is reached, further compression or expansion (depending, of course on which limit we’re talking about) is not possible.
NOTE: The compression and expansion limits are cumulative. So, if you find yourself unable to make a small time shift, it will almost certainly be because the region you are editing has previously been shifted to (or near) its limit.
Data File Status Indicator
The Data File Status indicator lights whenever Auto-Tune 8 is accessing a tracked audio data file. If all is well, the indicator lights green. If Auto-Tune 8 is, for some reason, unable to read the file in the time available, the indicator lights red. See the next section for suggestions on how to deal with any such situations.
Computer Power and the Data File  
Status Indicator
In addition to the limits described above, there are a two other related issues that can a(ect the useful range of time compression: computer speed and session complexity.