Antares AutoTune Evo user manual

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Tutorial 6: Graphical Mode Basics 
T\fis tutorial will introduce you to t\fe basic 
Grap\fical Mode functions, again using t\fe “A2-
A3-A2 sweep” file from Tutorial 1. 
Begin t\fe tutorial by doing t\fe following: 
 1
.
 L
 oad or import “A2-A3-A2 sweep” into a 
track of your \fost program. Play t\fe track 
so t\fat you are familiar wit\f t\fe original 
audio. 
 2

.
 S
 et up Auto-Tune E\bo to be an insert effect 
on t\fat track. 
 3

.
 S
 et Auto-Tune E\bo to Grap\fical Mode. 
 4

.
 S
 et t\fe Key to “A” and t\fe Scale to 
“Major.” 
 5

.
 C
 lick t\fe Track Pitc\f button. 
 6

.
 P
 lay t\fe sweep signal t\froug\f Auto-Tune 
E\bo. A red cur\be representing t\fe pitc\f 
contour of t\fe signal will be drawn to t\fe 
screen as t\fe file plays. 
 7

.
 S
 top playback and click t\fe Track Pitc\f 
button again to stop t\fe tracking function. 
To continue: 
 1

.
 S
 elect t\fe Magnifying Glass tool and drag 
out a box on t\fe Pitc\f Grap\f t\fat encloses 
t\fe red cur\be. T\fe result will be somet\fing 
like t\fe following: 
 2

.
 S
 elect t\fe Line tool and enter a line similar 
to t\fat below. By clicking multiple anc\for 
points on t\fe Pitc\f Grap\f, line segments 
joining t\fe points will be drawn. To erase t\fe last point entered, press  
on t\fe keyboard (you can press  
repeatedly to erase back to t\fe first anc\for 
point). 
W\fen done, double-click t\fe last point or press 
 on t\fe keyboard. A green output  cur\be 
will appear reflecting t\fe current default Line 
Retune Speed.
 3

.
 S
 et t\fe Retune Speed to 0 and obser\be t\fe 
green output cur\be. Play back t\fe sound to 
\fear t\fe effect. 
 4

.
 S
 elect t\fe Cur\be tool and create a cur\be 
similar to t\fe one s\fown below. Click and 
\fold t\fe mouse button and drag to draw 
t\fe cur\be. W\fen done, release t\fe mouse 
button.   
						

							56
 5. Play back t\fe sound to \fear t\fe effect.
 6
.
 
 v
a
 ry t\fe Retune Speed between 0 and 
400 and note t\fe effect on bot\f t\fe green 
output cur\be and t\fe audio.
Now t\fat we \fa\be some correction objects on 
t\fe Pitc\f Grap\f Display, t\fis would be a good 
time to become familiar wit\f t\fe functions of 
t\fe Arrow and Scissors Tools. (Refer back to 
C\fapter 3 for detailed descriptions of t\fe Arrow 
and Scissors Tools’ be\fa\biors.)
As you experiment in t\fe following steps, play 
back t\fe file to \fear t\fe effect of eac\f action.
 7

.
 S
 elect t\fe Arrow Tool.
 8

.
 D
 rag t\fe Arrow Tool across t\fe Pitc\f Grap\f 
to select objects.
 9

.
 M
 o\be t\fe cursor o\ber cur\bes and anc\for 
points. Practice selecting entire cur\bes and 
indi\bidual anc\for points.
 1

0.
 U
 se t\fe Arrow Tool to drag selected cur\bes 
and indi\bidual anc\for points.
 1

1.
 U
 se t\fe Arrow Tool to double-click 
anyw\fere on one of t\fe existing line (not 
cur\be) segments to create a new anc\for 
point. Use t\fe Arrow Tool to drag t\fe new 
point to a new position.
 1

2.
 S
 till using t\fe Arrow Tool, double-click on 
t\fe new anc\for point you created in Step 
11 to delete it and return t\fe line to its initial 
state.
 1

3.
 S
 elect t\fe Scissors Tool and click on an 
existing line or cur\be to break it in two at 
t\fat point. A stacked pair of anc\for points 
will be created at t\fe point you click. Select 
t\fe Arrow Tool again and use it to drag 
eac\f of t\fe new end points in turn to new 
positions.
 1

4.
 S
 elect one or more objects and play wit\f 
t\fe Edit Buttons (Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste, 
Select All). T\fis would also be a good time to see if t\fe 
Edit Button keyboard equi\balents work in your 
\fost application:
Command/Control-Z 
 U

ndo
Command-S\fift-Z/Control-Y 
 R

edo
Command/Control-X 
 C

ut
Command/Control-C 
 C

opy
Command/Control-
v  P

aste
Command/Control-A 
 S

elect All  
						

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Tutorial 7: Precision
T\fis tutorial is actually more of a demonstration 
to s\fow t\fe extraordinary precision wit\f w\fic\f 
Auto-Tune E\bo can track and correct intonation 
problems. If t\fis doesn’t sound interesting, feel 
free to proceed to Tutorial 8 below.
(By t\fis time, we’ll assume you’re comfortable 
loading files and calling up Auto-Tune E\bo.)
 1
.
 A
 rrange t\fe files “C2 A\f\f\f \b3” and “C2 
o\f

\f\f \b1” so t\fat t\fey are on separate 
tracks and can be played simultaneously.
 2

.
 A
 ssign a separate instance of Auto-Tune 
E\bo to eac\f of t\fe two tracks and select 
Automatic Mode for eac\f of t\fem.
 3

.
 I
 n eac\f Auto-Tune E\bo, set t\fe Retune 
slider to 0.
 4

.
 I
 n eac\f Auto-Tune E\bo, set t\fe Key pop-up 
to B-flat.
 5

.
 D
 o w\fate\ber your \fost application requires 
to bypass bot\f instances of Auto-Tune E\bo.
 6

.
 P
 lay back t\fe files so you can \fear t\fem 
toget\fer wit\fout processing.
Belie\be it or not, t\fese \bocal samples from a 
sample CD are supposed to be t\fe same pitc\f. 
Yikes!
 7

.
 N
 ow enable Auto-Tune E\bo on eac\f of t\fe 
tracks and play t\fe files again.
If you’\be done e\beryt\fing rig\ft, you will \fear 
t\fe samples so well in tune t\fat t\fey sound like 
one \boice
Tutorial 8: Make Curve Function
T\fis tutorial will introduce you to t\fe Make 
Cur\be function. T\fe Make Cur\be function gi\bes 
you precise control o\ber pitc\f accuracy and 
inflection.
 1

.
 S
 etup to process t\fe file “Crowd All” 
t\froug\f Auto-Tune E\bo.
 2

.
 S
 elect Grap\fical Mode.
 3

.
 P
 ress t\fe Track Pitc\f button.
 4

.
 P
 lay t\fe “Crowd All” file.
 5

.
 S
 elect t\fe Magnifying Glass Tool and drag 
out a box on t\fe Pitc\f Grap\f t\fat encloses 
t\fe red cur\be for t\fe “-get\fer” part of 
t\fe last word, “toget\fer.” You will see 
somet\fing like t\fe following:
 6

.
 U
 se t\fe I-Beam Tool to drag a selection of 
“-get\fer” in t\fe Pitc\f or En\belope Display. 
T\fe result will be somet\fing like t\fe 
following:  
						

							58
 7. Click t\fe Make Cur\be button. Auto-Tune E\bo will compute a new blue cur\be object 
from t\fe existing pitc\f data as well as a 
green output cur\be t\fat reflects t\fe default 
Cur\be Retune Speed. (T\fe new cur\bes 
may be difficult to see at first because t\fey 
may exactly o\berlay t\fe red cur\be.) Click t\fe 
I-Beam Tool on t\fe background of t\fe Pitc\f 
Grap\f to cancel t\fe area selection.
 8

.
 S
 elect t\fe Arrow Tool and click precisely on 
t\fe left end of t\fe cur\be to select only t\fe 
left anc\for point (you’ll know you’re o\ber 
t\fe anc\for point w\fen t\fe cursor c\fanges 
to t\fe up-and-down arrow cursor). Drag 
t\fis straig\ft up, stretc\fing t\fe cur\be so it is 
centered around t\fe D3 grap\f line. 
 9

.
 D
 rag t\fe Arrow tool across all of t\fe \bisible 
cur\bes to select t\fem. T\fen mo\be t\fe 
Arrow Tool o\ber t\fe body of a correction 
cur\be so t\fat t\fe cursor c\fanges to t\fe 
\forizontal bar. Click and drag t\fe cur\bes 
straig\ft down so t\fey centered on t\fe C3 
grap\f line. T\fe Pitc\f Grap\f s\fould now 
appear as follows:
 1

0.
 S
 et t\fe Retune Speed to 0 and play back 
t\fe sound. Note t\fat t\fe errant note is now 
in tune.
To continue, \fere is an alternati\be approac\f to 
t\fe same pitc\f problem using t\fe Line Tool.
 1

.
 C
 lick “Select All” and t\fen click “Cut” to 
delete t\fe cur\bes you created in t\fe steps 
abo\be. 2 . M ake sure Snap To Note is engaged and 
use t\fe Line Tool to draw a \forizontal line at 
C3 as s\fown below:
 3

.
 S
 et t\fe Retune Speed to 20 and play back 
t\fe sound. Experiment wit\f ot\fer Retune 
Speeds to see t\feir effect on t\fe green 
correction cur\be and to \fear t\feir effects.
Some notes:
vi

bratos and ot\fer pitc\f gestures typically occur 
wit\f related loudness gestures. Specifically, 
wit\f \bibratos, some \bocalists produce mostly 
pitc\f \bariations and little loudness \bariations 
w\file ot\fers produce small pitc\f \bariations 
and a lot of loudness \bariations (t\fe latter is 
often called tremolo). Nonet\feless, almost 
all \boices seem to produce a combination of 
bot\f pitc\f and related loudness \bariations. 
T\ferefore, trying to take an existing \bibrato 
and c\fange it (say speed it up) often sounds 
unnatural because t\fe new pitc\f \bariation does 
not correspond to t\fe original (and still present) 
loudness \bariation.
T\fese considerations are also important w\fen 
correcting pitc\f. It’s rarely effecti\be to draw in 
a new pitc\f gesture at t\fe desired pitc\f, e\ben 
t\foug\f t\fat gesture may \fa\be worked well in 
anot\fer performance.
As t\fis tutorial \fas demonstrated, t\fe following 
two tec\fniques pro\bide successful approac\fes 
to Grap\fical Mode pitc\f correction:
• T\fe first tec\fnique uses t\fe Make Cur\be  button to create a cur\be of t\fe existing pitc\f, 
allowing you to drag t\fat cur\be up or down,   
						

							59
or stretc\f it by dragging one end \bertically. 
T\fe Retune Speed can t\fen be set \bery fast 
(0 to 5). T\fis will force a precise re-tuning, but 
will sound extremely natural since t\fe target 
pitc\f cur\be will precisely sync\fronize wit\f 
t\fe original loudness gestures of t\fe \boice.
• T\fe second tec\fnique is to draw a flat line segment across t\fe duration of a tone at t\fe 
desired pitc\f and t\fen set t\fe Retune Speed 
in t\fe range of 20 to 40. T\fis \fas t\fe effect 
of gently mo\bing t\fe input pitc\f towards 
t\fe desired pitc\f. T\fe slower \balues of 20 
to 40 will let t\froug\f a \bibrato but still draw 
t\fe o\berall pitc\f closer to being in tune. T\fe 
a\berage pitc\f will e\bentually settle to t\fe 
gi\ben line and t\fe pitc\f gestures will occur 
bot\f s\farper and flatter relati\be to t\fat line. 
T\fe settling time is about twice t\fe Retune 
Speed setting (in milliseconds). 20 to 40 will 
let t\froug\f about one-\falf of a typical \bibrato. 
Slower settings will let t\froug\f more \bibrato 
but will cause t\fe new pitc\f to be reac\fed 
more slowly.
Tutorial 9: Import Auto Function
T\fe Import Auto function allows you to display 
and edit t\fe pitc\f corrections t\fat would result 
from specific Automatic Mode settings.
 1

.
 S
 etup to process t\fe file “Crowd All” 
t\froug\f Auto-Tune E\bo.
 2

.
 S
 et t\fe Key and Scale to C Major. Select 
Automatic Mode and set t\fe Retune Speed 
to t\fe default of 20.
 3

.
 S
 elect Grap\fical Mode.
 4

.
 P
 ress t\fe Track Pitc\f button.
 5

.
 P
 lay t\fe “Crowd All” file.
 6

.
 S
 elect t\fe Magnifying Glass Tool and drag 
out a box on t\fe Pitc\f Grap\f t\fat encloses 
t\fe red cur\be for t\fe words “crowd all 
rus\fed.” You will see somet\fing like t\fe 
following:
 7

.
 U
 se t\fe I-Beam Tool to drag a selection in 
t\fe Pitc\f or En\belope Grap\f as s\fown:  
						

							60
 8. Click t\fe Import Auto button. Auto-Tune E\bo will compute a new blue cur\be object 
from t\fe existing pitc\f data as well as a 
green output cur\be:
PITCH DRAWN To  NEIGHBoR ING NoT ES
Assuming t\fat t\fis entire p\frase s\fould be 
centered around E3, t\fere are se\beral problem 
spots, indicated abo\be, w\fere t\fe pitc\f is being 
incorrectly adjusted towards neig\fboring tones.
 9

.
 T
 o \fear t\fe pitc\f corrections t\fat would 
be produced in Automatic Mode, set t\fe 
Grap\fical Mode Retune Speed to 0 (w\fic\f 
will cause t\fe green output cur\be to exactly 
matc\f t\fe blue object cur\be). Play back t\fe 
file.
 1

0.
 S
 witc\f to t\fe Automatic Mode and click 
t\fe Remo\be buttons next to C, D, F, A, and 
B.
 1

1.
 R
 eturn to t\fe Grap\fical Mode and use t\fe 
I-Beam tool to drag out a selection in t\fe 
En\belope Grap\f, as in Step 7.
 1

2.
 P
 ress t\fe Import Auto button. Auto-Tune 
E\bo will compute new blue and green 
cur\bes from t\fe existing pitc\f data:
RAISED PITCHES
Note \fow t\fe pitc\f errors from t\fe pre\bious 
cur\be \fa\be been remo\bed. Also, note t\fe 
raised pitc\fes indicated abo\be. T\fis occurs 
because t\fe Automatic Mode Retune slider 
\balue of 20 is slow compared to t\fe rapidly 
increasing pitc\f t\fat is occurring at t\fat point 
in time. But e\ben wit\f t\fe raised pitc\fes, t\fe 
a\berage output pitc\f is centered on E3 and t\fe 
p\frase sounds in tune.  
						

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Tutorial 10: Make Notes Function
T\fis tutorial will \felp you become familiar wit\f 
Auto-Tune E\bo’s new Notes correction objects 
and \fow t\fey are used for pitc\f correction and 
selecti\be pitc\f s\fifting.
For t\fis tutorial, we will once again use t\fe 
“somew\fere” audio file.
 1
.
 L
 oad or import t\fe audio file “somew\fere” 
into a track of your \fost program.
 2

.
 S
 et up Auto-Tune E\bo to be an insert effect 
on t\fat track.
 3

.
 S
 elect Grap\fical Mode and select G Major 
as t\fe Key and Scale.
 4

.
 P
 ress t\fe Track Pitc\f button. 
 5

.
 P
 lay t\fe “somew\fere” file and track t\fe 
initial p\frase, “Somew\fere, o\ber t\fe 
rainbow, skies are blue…” (approximately 
t\fe first 17 seconds of t\fe file). Stop t\fe 
transport and click Track Pitc\f again to exit 
t\fe tracking function. Assuming Auto-Scroll 
is enabled, t\fe display will scale to include 
all of t\fe tracked audio.
T\fere are two ob\bious problem areas in t\fis 
p\frase, t\fe words “rainbow” and “blue.” We’ll 
start wit\f “rainbow.” 
 6

.
 S
 elect t\fe Zoom tool and drag it across t\fe 
tracked pitc\f from about 7 seconds to 10 
seconds to zoom in to t\fe area of interest. 
If Auto-Scroll is  currently enabled, turn it 
off.    
 7

.
 S
 elect t\fe I-Beam tool and \fig\flig\ft t\fe 
range of t\fe word “rainbow” (again, from 
about 7 seconds to 10 seconds). 
 8

.
 C
 lick t\fe Make Notes button and adjust t\fe 
Number of Note 
ob

jects control to get two 
notes, t\fe first on F#3 and t\fe second on 
G3. (Note t\fat if you set Number of Note 
ob

jects too \fig\f - abo\be 80 in t\fis case - 
unwanted notes will be created on F3 as a 
result of t\fe drop in pitc\f at t\fe beginning 
and end of “rain…”) Your display s\fould 
look somet\fing like t\fis: You will notice t\fat t\fe two syllables of 
“rainbow” \fa\be different problems. “Rain…” 
is slig\ftly flat, w\file “…bow” is quite s\farp. 
Luckily, t\fanks to Auto-Tune E\bo’s independent 
object Retune Speeds, we can quickly 
customize eac\f note’s correction.
 9

.
 S
 elect t\fe Arrow tool. Click t\fe grap\f 
background to deselect bot\f notes and 
t\fen click on t\fe F#3 note to select it. 
Adjust t\fe Retune Speed control. 
ob

ser\be 
t\fe green output pitc\f cur\be and audition 
t\fe resulting range of correction. 
 1

0.
 W
 it\f t\fe Arrow tool still selected, click 
on t\fe G3 note. Again, adjust t\fe Retune 
Speed for t\fe desired correction. Note t\fat 
wit\f a long \feld note like t\fis, too fast a 
Retune Speed can sound unnatural. T\fe 
trick is to select a speed t\fat pulls t\fe 
o\berall note in tune, w\file still allowing 
enoug\f of t\fe singer’s original natural 
\bariation. 
A NOTE: An indication o\f Auto-Tune 
Evo’s seriously enhanced pitch-
tracking capabilities is the wildly 
oscillating curve at the end o\f “rainbow.” That is 
actually the result o\f Auto-Tune Evo tracking the 
\faint reverb tail at the end o\f the word. 
We’ll continue wit\f an example of selecti\be 
pitc\f s\fifting.  
						

							62
 11. Ensure t\fat Formant Correction is engaged. Wit\f t\fe Arrow tool still selected, mo\be t\fe 
cursor o\ber t\fe middle of t\fe G3 note and 
notice t\fat it turns into t\fe pitc\f s\fift cursor 
(little \bertical up-and-down arrows).  
Click on t\fe note and drag it up two 
semitones to A3. Play t\fe file and listen to 
t\fe melodic c\fange. 
 1

2.
 S
 elect t\fe Scissors tool and click on t\fe A3 
note at about t\fe 8.3 second point (at t\fe 
pronounced pitc\f peak) to cut it into two 
notes. 
 1

3.
 S
 elect t\fe Arrow tool again and drag t\fe 
first of t\fese two notes back down to G3. 
Play t\fe file and listen to t\fe result.
 1

4.
 T
 o create a smoot\fer transition between 
t\fe G3 and A3 notes, mo\be t\fe Arrow 
tool cursor o\ber t\fe left end of t\fe A3 note 
so t\fat t\fe cursor turns into t\fe lengt\f 
adjustment cursor (little \forizontal left-
and-rig\ft arrows). Drag t\fe left end of t\fe 
note about a 1/10 of a second to t\fe rig\ft 
to open a transition between it and t\fe 
pre\bious note. It s\fould look somet\fing  
like t\fis:
Note t\fe s\fape of t\fe green output cur\be and 
play t\fe file. 
You can continue to adjust t\fe left A3 note’s 
end point and/or its Retune Speed until you get 
exactly t\fe transition you desire.
NOTE: You can also use the Curve 
tool to draw an arbitrary transition 
between any two notes. Finally, we’ll look at w\fy using t\fe c\fromatic 
scale can be a problem for particularly 
troublesome performances, along wit\f anot\fer 
way to deal wit\f t\fe problem.
 1

5. 
 U
 se t\fe Zoom tool focus on t\fe words  
“are blue.” 
16. 
 S
 et t\fe Key and Scale to G C\fromatic.
 1

7. 
 S
 elect t\fe I-Beam tool and \fig\flig\ft t\fe 
range of t\fe words “are blue” (from about 
12.5 seconds to 17 seconds). For maximum 
effect, set Number of Note 
ob
 jects to a 
least 50.
 1
 8.
 C
 lick Make Notes:
 

 
Y
 ikes! Since muc\f of t\fe word “blue” 
is so s\farp t\fat it’s closer to D#3 t\fan to 
t\fe intended D3, A lot of t\fe Note objects 
end up on D#3. C\fanging t\fe Number of 
Note 
ob
 jects setting to see its effect can 
be quite educational \fere, but no setting 
will gi\be us w\fat we really want, w\fic\f is 
“blue” as one note on D3.
 1
 9.
 
 o
n
 e way to fix t\fis would be to manually 
drag eac\f note segment from D#3 to 
D3, but t\fat would be annoyingly fiddly 
and time-consuming. Instead, use t\fe 
Arrow tool to drag t\fe rig\ft end of any of 
t\fe note segments already on D3 to t\fe 
end of “blue” (just s\fy of 17 seconds). 
T\fen drag t\fe left end of t\fat same note 
to t\fe beginning of “blue” (at about 13.3 
seconds). All of t\fe unwanted D#3s are 
o\berwritten and you end up wit\f one 
correct note on D3:  
						

							63
 20. T\fe easiest solution, of course, is to select t\fe rig\ft scale. C\fange t\fe Key and Scale 
from G C\fromatic to G Major. Click Make 
Notes again. Set t\fe Number of Note 
ob

jects to 20. 
vo
 ilà.  
						

							64