Antares AutoTune user manual
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Auto-Tune UserÕs Manual41 Automatic Mode Controls ¥Pelog: This seven-tone Indonesian scale is more interesting than Slendro and is now the primary scale in Balinese music. ¥Arabic 1: This 17 tone scale is the original Arabic scale adopted from the Pythagorean scale. ¥Arabic 2 (chromatic): This twelve-tone scale is the modern version of the Arabic scale popular in Arabic music today. Contemporary Tunings: Equal tempered scales with a large number of tones are typically used to play common tonal harmony with greater purity of intervals and chords. The typical approach is to analyze a passage (or less) of music and select tones from a scale that will best approximate the desired pure intervals. ¥19 Tone: This scale has greater purity of minor thirds and major thirds (and conversely, minor and major sixths) than twelve-tone equal tem- perament. A disadvantage is that perfect Þfths and narrower than those found in twelve-tone equal temperament. ¥24 Tone: Also know as the quarter tone scale, this scale is used for vari- ety but has no advantage in terms of ratios that better approximate pure intervals. ¥31 Tone: In addition to intervals that better approximate pure intervals, this scale also contains good approximations to Indonesian pelog and slendro scales. ¥53 Tone: Related mathematically to the cycle of Þfths, the 53-tone scale has very pure major and minor thirds, and Þfths and fourths. ¥Partch: Harry Partch is considered the father of modern microtonality. This scale was devised by him and used in instrument building and per- formances. ¥Carlos Alpha: Wendy Carlos performed extensive computer analysis to devise a number of equal tempered scales with good approximations for the primary harmonic intervals and their inversions. This scale is good at approximating the primary intervals including 7/4. This scale divides the octave into 15.385 steps forming intervals of 78.0 cents. ¥Carlos Beta: This scale divides the octave into 18.809 steps forming intervals of 63.8 cents.
Auto-Tune Controls 42Auto-Tune UserÕs Manual ¥Carlos Gamma: This scale achieves perfect purity of the primary inter- vals 3/2, 4/3 and 5/4. This scale divides the octave into 34.188 steps forming intervals of 35.1 cents. ¥Harmonic (chromatic): This twelve-tone scale is created in the partials in the Þfth octave of the harmonic series. The scale degrees that correspond to the classic just intervals are the major second, major third, perfect Þfth and major seventh. The Key popup This determines the pitch of the Þrst tone of the scale according to the stan- dard A3 = 440 Hertz. For example, if you select D, the current scale will have D3 as its root and will be tuned to D3 = 440 * 2 / 3 = 293.33 Hz which is exactly 600 cents below A3 = 440 Hz. The Edit Scale button Press the Edit Scale button to see the scale editing dialog. Edits made using this dialog depend on the scale. That is, each scale retains its own edits sep-
Auto-Tune UserÕs Manual43 Automatic Mode Controls arate from the other scales. If a seven tone scale is being edited, the Edit Scale dialog appears: The top line shows the current scale as selected from the Scale popup. The second line shows the current key. The left most column is labelled Òdo not trackÓ. Clicking in this column places a ÒchkÓ indicator. This has the effect that when the pitch of the incoming sound is close to a tone so edited, the output pitch is not changed from the input. This is like a pitch dependent bypass. The next column is labeled ÒremoveÓ. Clicking in this column causes the tone to be removed from the scale, as if it were never there to begin with. The next column is the note name as derived from the key. The right col- umn is pitch in cents relative to the Þrst tone of the scale. Internally, these numbers are stored to two decimal places. If a scale with more than seven tones is being edited, the Edit Scale dialog appears:
Auto-Tune Controls 44Auto-Tune UserÕs Manual The Òset major scaleÓ button, when clicked, will check tones in the remove column such that the remaining scale is a major scale. Similarly for Òset minor scaleÓ. If a scale with more than twelve tones is edited, the Edit Scale dialog appears: The microtuning data at the bottom is presented as information to help you make decisions concerning what tones to include and exclude from the scale. The Scale Detune slider The Scale Detune slider allows the scale to be re-tuned. The values are cents (100 cents = a semitone). A value of zero implements the standard A3 = 440 Hertz. That is, if the key is D, the scale will have D as its root and will be tuned to D3 = 440 * 2 / 3 = 293.33 Hz which is exactly 600 cents below A3 = 440 Hz. Moving the Scale Detune slider up, say to 20, will cause the scale to be raised up twenty cents in pitch. This will have the effect of tuning a soloist to a sharper scale. If you have a tone you know that you want to use as the pitch standard, select that tone and play it in a loop. Adjust Scale Detune until the Change meter reads zero. (You may be required to use the Edit Scale dialog to remove adjacent tones so that Auto-Tune doesnÕt tune to the wrong tone.) You can Command-Click the Scale Detune slider to force it to zero.
Auto-Tune UserÕs Manual45 Automatic Mode Controls The Retune slider The Retune slider controls how rapidly the pitch correction is applied to the incoming sound. The units are milliseconds. A value of zero will cause instantaneous changes from one tone to another and will completely sup- press a vibrato (note that any related volume changes will remain). Values from 10 to 50 are typical for vocals. Larger values let through more vibrato and other interpretative pitch gestures but also slow down how rapidly pitch corrections are made. The Tracking slider Auto-Tune requires a periodically repeating sound-wave, characteristic of a voice or solo instrument in order to track the pitch of the input. The Track- ing slider controls how much variation in the incoming waveform is allowed. Usually you can set the Tracking slider to 25 and forget it. This control is useful with difÞcult to track sounds, such as a breathy voice, wind noise or a ÒJimmy DuranteÓ kind of growling voice. However, tracking is not guaranteed and a ÒrelaxedÓ setting may introduce distortion and pop- ping. The Vibrato Section The Vibrato Section contains one popup and three sliders. The Vibrato popup allows you to select the shape of the vibratoÕs pitch variation through time. The choices are: (no vibrato), sine wave, square and saw- tooth. The Depth slider varies from 0 to 100 cents, controlling the amount of pitch variation in the vibrato. The Rate slider varies from .1 to 10.0 Hz and controls the speed of the vibrato. The Delay slider varies from 0 to 3000 mil- liseconds, controlling the speed of onset of the vibrato. For example, if it is set to 1000, the Þrst 500 milliseconds of a new tone will contain no vibrato and the next 500 milliseconds will make a transition from no vibrato to the full vibrato. The vibrato is re-started every time the Automatic Mode matches the incoming pitch to a different scale tone. Also, the vibrato is applied after the effects of the Retune slider. Hence, even with a slow retune value of 50, a square wave vibrato will make instantaneous changes in pitch.
Auto-Tune Controls 46Auto-Tune UserÕs Manual The Change meter The Change meter shows you how much the pitch is being changed, mea- sured in cents (100 cents = one semitone). Graphical Mode Controls The Arrow buttons The arrow buttons next to the Pitch Graph control the horizontal and ver- tical scaling of the graph. The arrow buttons next to the Envelope Graph control the vertical scales as expected, but the left and right arrows are replaced by ÒallÓ and ÒtieÓ. These control the horizontal scale: ÒallÓ shows the entire envelope recorded during pitch detection and ÒtieÓ slaves the scale and position of the Envelope Graph to that of the Pitch Graph.
Auto-Tune UserÕs Manual47 Graphical Mode Controls The Graphical tools These buttons are the graphical tools. They allow you to draw and edit the target pitch function. The Line tool Use this tool to click multiple points on the Pitch Graph. Line segments joining the points will be drawn. Any existing line or curve will be over- written. If you move the cursor outside the Pitch Graph during point entry, the graph will be automatically scrolled. To exit, double-click a point or press the on the keyboard. To erase the last point entered, press the on the keyboard. The Curve tool Select this tool, then click and hold down the mouse on the Pitch Graph. A curve will be drawn out as the mouse is dragged. Any existing line or curve will be over-written. To exit, lift up on the mouse. The Pointer tool This tool is used to select and drag target pitch function objects (lines and curves). When this tool is selected, clicking on white space in the Pitch Graph causes all objects to become de-selected. Clicking on white space and dragging causes object end points to become selected. Shift-clicking (and dragging) can also be used to select contiguous points. Dragging off the Pitch Graph automatically scrolls the graph. Every object (line or curve) has two end points. If both end points are selected, the object is said to be selected. If you click on an object which is not selected, it becomes selected. If you click on an object that is already selected, it (and anything else that is selected) stays selected so you can drag it. Dragging causes the selected objects to be moved. Any objects that have one end-point selected will be stretched during dragging. Dragging is con- strained by neighboring unselected objects.
Auto-Tune Controls 48Auto-Tune UserÕs Manual If you hold down the option key and then click to drag, the cursor will be restricted to vertical only movements. This is particularly handy after using the ÒMake CurveÓ button, discussed below. The Zoom/Select tool Use the zoom/select tool in the Pitch Graph to press and drag a zoom box. After you lift the mouse, the scale and position of the Pitch Graph will be changed to show the area enclosed by the box. Dragging off the Pitch Graph automatically scrolls the graph. This tool can also be used in the Envelope Graph to select a range of time, which allows the Make Curve button to become active. The Undo button This is the Undo button. It becomes active whenever the target pitch curve is modiÞed. Clicking it allows you to undo and redo the last change. The Cut and Copy buttons The Cut and Copy buttons active whenever an object is selected. Cut removes selected objects. Cut and Copy move selected objects to the Auto- Tune clipboard. You can then paste the objects, elsewhere, in any Auto-Tune window. The Paste Button The Paste button is active after objects have been cut or copied to the clip- board. Pressing it places the contents of the clipboard in the middle of the current Pitch Graph view. Hence be careful the Pitch Graph view does not contain anything you want to keep before you press paste.
Auto-Tune UserÕs Manual49 Graphical Mode Controls The Select All Button The Select All button causes all target pitch function objects to become selected. Keyboard equivalents: The following are keyboard equivalents to the respective Graphical Mode buttons: The Make Curve button The Make Curve button is enabled whenever there is any input sound pitch (red) data. If a range of time has been selected by applying the zoom/select tool in the Envelope Graph, the Make Curve button works in the selected time range only. Pressing the Make Curve button causes curve objects to be created from input sound pitch (red) data. These curve objects can then be dragged and stretched for very effective pitch correction. This technique is described in Chapter 3. The Make Auto button The Make Auto button is enabled whenever there is any input sound pitch (red) data. If a range of time has been selected by applying the zoom/select tool in the Envelope Graph, the Make Auto button works in the selected time range only. Pressing the Make Auto button causes curve objects to be Command (Apple)Key Function a Select All zUndo xCut cCopy vPaste TABLE 3. Edit Control Keys
Auto-Tune Controls 50Auto-Tune UserÕs Manual created from input sound pitch (red) data. The Make Auto computation uses the input sound pitch curve to precisely create target pitch function curves that are equivalent to the pitch of the Automatic Mode output. That includes the Scale edits, the Detune slider, the Retune slider and the Vibrato section. Note that the Automatic Mode Tracking slider is not involved, because its function is used to determine the input sound pitch. In Graphical Mode, the input sound pitch has already been determined, (e.g. the red sound pitch curve), hence the Automatic Mode Tracking slider is not involved in the Òmake autoÓ computation. After you use the Make Auto button, you may choose to hear the sound that would be produced in Automatic Mode. To do this, move the Retune slider to 0 (fast). This will faithfully reproduce the effect of the computed curve. The Tracking slider The DSP computes the pitch of the incoming sound during pitch tracking and pitch correction. The Graphical mode Tracking slider is similar in func- tion but separate from the Tracking slider in the Automatic Mode. In both modes, it controls how much variation in the incoming waveform is allowed. Usually you can set the Tracking slider to 25 and forget it. This control is useful with difÞcult to track sounds, such as a breathy voice, wind noise or a ÒJimmy DuranteÓ kind of growling voice. However, tracking is not guaranteed and a ÒrelaxedÓ setting may introduce distortion and pop- ping. Be cautious about changing the Tracking slider after performing the Track Pitch function. Auto-Tune uses the Tracking slider setting during Track Pitch and during Correct Pitch functions. Changing the Tracking slider set- tings will cause different parts of the sound to be pitch corrected. If you change this slider before Pitch Correction, your target pitch function may inadvertently make corrections you did not intend, possibly resulting is strange artifacts.