Antares AVOX 2 user manual

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If you adjust the Throat Length and/or Throat 
Width sliders, you will see the entire red model 
plot move to reflect the changes. Length 
changes are self-evident. For width changes, 
any part of the model plot that lies above the 
original plot indicates a widening of the throat 
while any part of the model plot below the 
original plot indicates a narrowing of the throat.
Here are some things to consider when 
working with the Throat Shaping display:
• Point (1), which represents the vocal chords, 
serves as the anchor of the vocal tract. It can 
be adjusted for width but not length. 
• When you move points (2), (3), or (4) 
horizontally, you are adjusting the relative 
lengths of the adjacent sections. For 
example, if you move point (3) to the right, 
you are lengthening the section between (2) 
and (3) while shortening the section between 
(3) and (4). The overall length of the throat 
model remains the same. 
• Only by moving point (5) can you change the 
overall length of the model (apart from using 
the Throat Length slider, of course). 
• As we’ve mentioned, if you’re looking for 
“realistic” vocal characteristics, you would do 
well to start with relatively small adjustments 
that result in all control points and plot lines 
remaining in the central light blue area. 
• In addition to the plot point positions, watch 
the contour of the plot lines connecting 
them. It’s possible to place the points in 
positions relative to each other that cause 
the plot lines to bow out towards the edges 
of the display (or even pin against an edge of 
the display). This will almost always result in 
artifacts of one sort or another. (Of course, if 
it’s artifacts you’re looking for, they may be 
just what you want.)
• When you have created a custom model 
contour, the Model Throat Length and Width 
controls will adjust the overall throat length 
and width while retaining (and scaling) your 
custom contour. 
• Extremely striking effects can be created 
by moving plot points in realtime. You can 
do this manually (for one point at a time) or,  much more powerfully, you can use your 
host’s automation capabilities to program 
movements of all five points simultaneously. 
For the purposes of automation, each point 
is represented by two parameters, one 
for horizontal position (length) and one for 
vertical position (width).
In addition to the original and model plots, 
when THROAT is processing audio the display 
will also contain real-time representations of the 
original and modeled throat contours. As with 
the plots, the blue contour is the original throat 
and the red contour is the model throat.
As you begin to get familiar with the Throat 
Shaping display, trial-and-error will no doubt be 
the first order of the day. However, with a little 
experience, you will soon be able to predict 
what effect a particular plot adjustment will 
have. Checking out the factory presets, with 
a particular eye towards model plot shapes, 
should help you on your way.
Reset
Clicking the Reset button cancels any custom 
contour you have programmed, but retains any 
global Stretch and Width settings set by the 
Model Throat Length and Width controls. To 
reset those controls, Command (Mac)/Control 
(PC) click them to set them to their default 
values.
Output Gain
This control lets you adjust the output level of 
the modeled vocal over a range of +/- 24 dB. 
As you will discover, some models result in 
substantial level changes. This control is used 
to bring them back up or down to the desired 
level.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of 0 dB.
Level Matching
As mentioned above, some model settings 
result in substantial level changes. The Level 
Matching function attempts to compensate 
for level differences between the original and 
processed versions by automatically applying 
gain adjustments to the modeled version.  
						

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VEry Imp OrTa NT N OTE: This 
function is provided for ease of A/B 
comparisons with the original vocal. 
It inserts some processing into the modeled 
vocal path that can have a very small but 
nonetheless real effect on the overall audio 
quality. Once you have a model you like, turn 
the Level Matching function Off and use the 
Output Gain to adjust the proper level. 
Click the Level Matching button to toggle its 
state. The button will display On or Off as 
appropriate.
Bypass
This control is used to (you guessed it) bypass 
the plug-in. It has been designed to provide 
artifact-free bypass switching so that you can 
use it to seamlessly enable THROAT only 
where desired on a track.
Click the Bypass button to toggle its state. The 
button will display On or Off as appropriate. 
Keep in mind that “On” means that the Bypass 
function is on, i.e., the plug-in is bypassed.Usage Tips
•  THROAT is a monophonic processor.
• For best modeling performance, THROAT 
needs to be able to detect the pitch of the 
original performance. To do that, THROAT 
requires a clean, pitched, monophonic 
signal. If THROAT can not reliably detect 
the pitch of the input, either because of a 
noisy or effected signal or because the input 
is not a single monophonic voice, it will not 
fail, but will fall back to an alternative (but 
not quite as accurate) modeling method. 
• As has been mentioned several times 
already, for natural, “realistic” results, always 
start with relatively small adjustments 
to the various throat modeling controls, 
whether the Length and Width sliders, 
or the Graphic Display control points.
  The actual range of variation in human 
anatomy is quite small relative to the overall 
range offered by THROAT. When you’re first 
getting started, try limiting control changes 
to around +/- 15%. As you get a feeling for 
the effect of various settings, slowly increase 
the ranges until things start sounding weird 
(not that that’s necessarily a bad thing).
• If you just want to start playing, 
try the following brief tutorial.
  Start by assigning THROAT to a 
vocal part and set the above contour 
on the Throat Shaping display:
  Be sure you have set the proper Vocal Range 
and Source Glottal settings and leave all 
the other controls at their default values.
  Now, while listening to your vocal, slowly 
move the Model Throat Length slider from 
1.00 to 1.25. Note the effect. Depending, 
of course, on the source vocal, you might 
typically hear the vocal quality become 
subtly darker, more male, older, etc. 
  Then try moving it back to 0.75. Again note 
the effect. In this case the result might be 
subtly more bright, female, young, etc.
  Next, return the Model Throat Length slider 
to 1.00 and repeat the above with the Model 
Throat Width. 
						

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 Finally, experiment with various 
combinations of the two controls. As you 
become familiar with their effects, try 
more extreme settings of the controls.
• Speaking of weird, it may be useful to 
understand just why extreme models are 
perceived as “unrealistic” or strange.
  As mentioned above, the range of human 
vocal anatomy is actually relatively small. In 
order that we can differentiate between the 
voices of the many people we encounter in 
our lives, the auditory processing function 
in our brains is extremely sensitive to very 
small differences in vocal timbre within the 
typical range of variation. But as a result 
of this, we have no frame of reference 
for vocal timbres that fall outside of the 
range of common human anatomy. We 
can’t picture the person who would sound 
like that. So we think more in terms of 
“filtered,” “tubular,” or whatever. Trust us, 
if there were people with vocal tracts of 
the more extreme dimensions THROAT is 
capable of, this is what they’d sound like.
• While THROAT has been designed for voice, 
experiments here have shown that it can 
produce quite striking effects when used on 
other instrumental tracks. Try it with drums, 
guitars, bass, in fact pretty much anything. 
(In particular, applying it to a drum loop and 
then following that up with PUNCH has 
resulted in some truly twisted beats. Give   
it a try.)
•  Play, play, play.
A few words about the THROAT 
factory presets
Unlike synth presets, which will always 
sound the same for all users, the THROAT 
presets are heavily dependent on the vocal 
tracks that you use them on. Consequently, 
they serve primarily as starting points 
for various general effects, with the 
expectation that you will tweak them to 
work best with your particular audio.
Specifically, they all contain the default 
settings for Vocal Range and Source 
Glottal Waveform controls. After calling 
up a preset, you should be sure set each 
of those controls to reflect your  track.
Also, although some presets are named 
to give a general idea of their intent, feel 
free to experiment with any preset on 
any source track. Their are no rules. 
						

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DUO makes use of Antares’ 
unique vocal modeling and vibrato 
processing technologies to create 
a doubled part that actually 
sounds like another singer. 
						

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Chapter 5: DUO
Vocal Modeling Auto-Doubler
The DUO Vocal Modeling Auto-Doubler automatically generates a doubled vocal 
part from any existing monophonic vocal. Unlike conventional doublers that simply 
apply pitch and delay variation to the original part, DUO makes use of Antares’ 
unique vocal modeling and vibrato processing technologies to create a doubled 
part that actually sounds like another singer. There is no easier or quicker way to create a realistic 
doubled vocal part.
Controls
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.
To select the desired Vocal Range, click on 
the Vocal Range pop -up and then select the 
desired range from the pop -up list. 
N OTE : Choosing the wrong Vocal 
Range (or just forgetting to set it 
at all) can result in compromised 
performance. Pay attention.
Vocal Timbre
Behind this unassuming slider lies a compact 
version of the THROAT vocal modeler. When 
this control is set to 0, the doubled voice will 
have exactly the same character as the original 
voice. As you move the slider up or down, 
DUO sends the doubled voice through a 
progressively more extreme vocal model. I.e., 
near 0, the timbre is very close to the original 
voice. As the control approaches .40 or -.40, the 
vocal timbre undergoes a fairly radical change.
As you might imagine, this slider 
simultaneously controls a number of 
vocal modeling parameters. We’ve linked 
them together to give you quick and easy 
access to a range of useful timbres. Although the exact effect of any setting 
will depend a good deal on the vocal being 
processed, in general:
• 
Selecting a positive value will result in a 
lengthening of the vocal tract and hence 
an older/darker/more male vocal quality.
• Selecting a negative value will result in a 
shortening of the vocal tract and hence a 
younger/brighter/more female vocal quality.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of 0.
Vibrato
The Vibrato control allows you to select the 
amount of variation in vibrato depth applied to 
the doubled voice. 
Selecting a positive value increases the 
doubled voice’s vibrato depth relative to the 
original voice. 
Selecting a negative value decreases the 
doubled voice’s vibrato depth relative to the 
original voice.
Imp OrTa NT N OTE: Unlike vibrato 
controls on most vocal processors, 
this function does not simply use 
an LFO to apply a synthesized vibrato. DUO 
actually analyses the original vocal part to 
identify its vibrato and modify its depth. As a 
result, the modified vibrato will still reflect the 
overall contour of the original vibrato. As an 
additional consequence however, the Vibrato 
control will only have affect if the original vocal 
contains vibrato. It will not add vibrato to a 
performance that does not originally have it.  
						

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The Vibrato control may be used by itself to 
modify the vibrato of a performance. See the 
Usage Tips below for details.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of 0.
Pitch Variation
The Pitch Variation control lets you select the 
amount of random variation in pitch applied 
to the doubled voice. The higher the value, 
the larger the maximum amount of allowable 
variation.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of 10.
Timing Variation
The Timing Variation control lets you select the 
amount of random variation in timing applied 
to the doubled voice. The higher the value, 
the larger the maximum amount of allowable 
variation.
DUO’s timing variation is completely 
independent of pitch variation. To get a good 
idea of the effect of timing variation, use the 
level controls to listen only to the doubled voice. 
set Vibrato to 0 and Pitch Variation to 10. Set 
Timing Variation to maximum and process a 
rhythmic vocal performance. Pretty weird.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of 10.
Original Level
Sets the level of the original voice.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of 0.
Original Pan Position
Sets the original voice’s location in the stereo 
spectrum. This control only functions in Stereo 
or Mono -> Stereo modes.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of -100 (far left).
Double Level
Sets the level of the doubled voice.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of 0.
Double Pan Position
Sets the doubled voice’s location in the stereo 
spectrum. This control only functions in Stereo 
or Mono -> Stereo modes.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of 100 (far right).
Usage Tips
• DUO is available in mono and stereo 
versions and, depending on the capabilities 
of your host program, a mono -> stereo 
version (which in most cases is the 
preferred routing). In the case of the 
stereo version, DUO processes only the 
left channel. DUO is dramatically more 
effective with the original and doubled 
parts panned apart, so if at all possible, 
try always to use it with stereo output.
• For best performance, DUO requires 
a clean, pitched monophonic signal. If 
DUO can not reliably detect the pitch of 
the input, either because of a noisy or 
effected signal or because the input is not 
a single monophonic voice, it will apply 
Vocal Timbre and Timing variations only.
• Experiment with various Pitch and Timing 
settings. Different combinations can result 
in distinctly different stylistic effects. 
• DUO’s Vibrato function can be used by 
itself to modify the vibrato depth on a 
recorded track. If you have a track with too 
deep a vibrato (or too shallow, although 
that’s a much rarer problem), assign DUO 
to the track and set the mixer so that 
only the doubled track is heard. Set Vocal 
Timbre to 0 and Pitch and Timing to their 
minimum values. While listening to the 
track, adjust the Vibrato slider to reduce 
or expand the vibrato depth as desired. 
Notice that while you are modifying the 
vibrato depth, the expressive contour of 
the singer’s original vibrato is retained. 
						

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Chapter 6: CHOIR
Vocal Multiplier
CHOIR is a unique 
processor that turns a 
single monophonic 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. When 
multiple instances of CHOIR are 
assigned to individual harmony parts, 
the result is an amazingly realistic 
large vocal ensemble. 
 
 
Controls
Choir Size
This control allows you to select the number 
of individual voices that will be generated from 
the original voice. Choices are 4, 8, 16, and 32 
voices.
Vibrato Variation
The Vibrato control allows you to select the 
range of variation in vibrato depth applied to 
the generated voices. Each voice is individually 
assigned a vibrato variation relative to the 
original voice. The higher the value of this 
control, the greater the possible vibrato 
variation.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of 30.
Pitch Variation
The Pitch Variation control lets you select 
the range of the random variation in pitch 
applied to each generated voice. Each voice  is individually assigned a pitch variation 
relative to the original voice. The higher 
the value of this control, the larger the 
maximum amount of allowable variation.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of 30.
Timing Variation
The Timing Variation control lets you select 
the range of the random variation in timing 
applied to each generated voice. Each voice 
is individually assigned a timing variation 
relative to the original voice. The higher 
the value of this control, the larger the 
maximum amount of allowable variation.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of 100.
Stereo Spread
This control selects the extent to which the 
generated voices are spread across the stereo 
spectrum. At a setting of 0, all of the voices  
						

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appear in the center of the stereo soundstage. 
As the value is increased, the voices spread 
out from the center until, at the maximum 
value, they appear across the entire stereo 
soundstage.
This control only functions in Stereo or Mono-> 
Stereo modes.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of 100.
Usage Tips
• CHOIR is available in mono and stereo 
versions and, depending on the capabilities 
of your host program, a mono -> stereo 
version (which in most cases is the 
preferred routing). In the case of the stereo 
version, CHOIR processes only the left 
channel. CHOIR is dramatically more 
effective with the voices panned across 
the stereo spectrum, so if at all possible, 
try always to use it with stereo output.
• The real power of CHOIR comes not as a 
processor for one voice, but as a processor 
to assign to each of a number of harmony 
parts. Even if you have only one singer, have 
them overdub the basic harmony parts and 
then process those parts through THROAT 
to give each the character of different voices. 
Then assign an instance of CHOIR to each of 
those parts and create your vocal ensemble.
• Alternatively, create harmony parts 
by processing a single vocal part 
through a harmonizer and then 
assigning each individual harmonizer 
output to an instance of CHOIR.
• Keep in mind that the greater the 
number of voices, the greater the CPU 
usage. If you will be using multiple 
instances of CHOIR, it might be wise to 
limit each instance to 4 or 8 voices.
• Along those same lines, even if you 
have tons of CPU power, more is not 
always better. Match the choir size to 
the style of your music. Not every song 
needs the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
• Experiment with different combinations 
of the Pitch and Timing controls. They 
can create dramatically different vocal 
ensembles. With Timing at its minimum 
and substantial Pitch Variation, you have 
a choir that’s rhythmically tight but a bit 
loose with intonation. Conversely, reversing 
those settings gives you a group that’s 
solidly in tune, but rhythmically loose. 
And there are of course many variations 
in between. Match the performance 
style to the style of your music.
• For best performance, CHOIR requires a 
clean, pitched monophonic signal. If CHOIR 
can not reliably detect the pitch of the input, 
either because of a noisy or effected signal or 
because the input is not a single monophonic 
voice, it will apply Timing variations only. 
						

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Chapter 7: PUNCH
Vocal Impact Enhancer 
PUNCH is a processor 
that is designed to 
optimize the level of a 
vocal track to allow it to 
cut through a dense mix 
with power and clarity. 
It provides a combination of 
compression, gain, limiting, and 
overload protection with a user 
interface designed for speed and 
simplicity.
Controls
Input Level
This meter displays the input level of the signal 
to be processed. 
NOTE : This display is for reference 
purposes only. None of the following 
controls affect the input level. The 
result of all processing will be reflected on the 
Output Level display described below.
Gain
This control allows you to increase the gain of 
your vocal. It will typically be set in combination 
with the Impact control below.
The effect of this control will be reflected on 
the Output Level display.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of 0.0.
Impact
This control lets you select the amount of 
“punch” that is added to the vocal. As you 
increase the value of this control, level variations 
in the vocal performance are equalized and their 
level raised. The effect of the control will be 
reflected on the Output Level display.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control to 
reset it to its default value of 0.
Ceiling
This control allows you to attenuate the signal 
after all other processing. 
Although PUNCH allows you to create a full-
level signal without risk of ugly distortion, it 
will usually be wise to apply at least a little 
attenuation here to allow yourself some room 
for any further processing that might apply gain. 
The default setting of -3.0 dB is a good starting 
point, and you can always come back and add 
in more if necessary as you continue processing 
and the mix takes shape. 
						

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Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control 
to reset it to its default value of -3.0 dB.
Output Level
This meter displays the level of the signal 
after all processing by PUNCH. The Gain, 
Impact, and Ceiling controls should be set in 
combination such that no clipping occurs. 
Usage Tips
• PUNCH is available in mono and stereo 
versions.
• Since the point of PUNCH is to optimize 
the impact of your vocal track in the mix, 
it makes sense to set the controls while 
listening to the track in the context of the 
entire mix.
• Every vocal performance is unique. Finding 
the optimum settings for PUNCH is very 
much a matter of experimentation. Luckily 
there are only two controls that really matter, 
so the prospect is not exactly daunting.
• The Impact control has been purposely 
designed with a wide enough range to 
produce some pretty odd effects at its 
extreme. If you’re looking for that sort of 
thing, check it out.
• While PUNCH has been designed for the 
voice, it can perform its magic effectively 
on pretty much any recorded part. It will 
even do interesting things to entire recorded 
mixes. Check it out.