Antares Vocal Express user manual

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Values above 1.00 represent a widening of the throat while values below 1.00 represent 
a narrowing of the throat. The actual values 
represent the percentage change in the throat 
width. For example, a value of 1.20 represents 
a 20% increase in throat width, while a value of 
0.80 represents a 20% decrease in throat width.
NOTE : As with the Throat Length 
control above, if you are going 
for “realism,” limit yourself to 
modifications of about +/- 20%. For special 
effects, anything goes.
To adjust Throat Width, click on the knob and 
move the cursor up to turn the knob clockwise, 
or down to turn it counterclockwise. The numeric 
display will indicate the percentage   
of change.
Command (Mac)/Alt (PC) clicking on the knob will 
reset it to its default value of 1.00.
M UTATE S ECTION
Having created your basic vocal characteristic 
with the Voice Design controls, the Mutate 
section let’s you turn that voice into a variety of, 
how shall we put it, alternative entities (i.e., weird 
creatures).
Mutation
The Mutation 
control allows you 
to select among 
24 different 
varieties of 
mutation, as well 
as being able to 
select “0,” which, not surprisingly, will result in no 
mutation effect.
Although the sound of each mutation setting 
depends to a great extent on the characteristics of 
the specific voice being processed, as a general 
rule, odd-numbered settings will typically result in 
more enharmonic overtones being added to the 
voice (i.e., weird growly or grunginess) than even-
numbered settings. When first experimenting, try 
starting with “8” and then work out from there.
Beyond that, there are really no rules for 
predicting how a particular setting will affect a 
particular voice. Trial and error is the method of 
the day.
varying the length of the voice’s model vocal tract. 
It can be used in combination with the Shift Pitch 
control to modify gender and/or vocal quality.
Values above 1.00 represent a lengthening of 
the throat while values below 1.00 represent 
a shortening of the throat. The actual values 
represent the percentage change in the throat 
length. For example, a value of 1.20 represents 
a 20% increase in throat length, while a value of 
0.80 represents a 20% decrease in throat length.
In addition to simply changing vocal timbre, 
increasing throat length is useful when the original 
input is female and you are shifting it down and 
want it to sound male. Conversely, decreasing 
throat length is useful when the original input is 
male and you want to shift it up to sound female 
or childlike.
N
OTE : While this control gives you 
the ability to radically change the 
throat length, keep in mind that 
the variation in the length of human vocal 
tracts is rarely more than about 20% in either 
direction. If you are looking for a “realistic” 
vocal characteristic, start with modest settings 
of this control. More extreme settings can 
produce dramatic results, but probably not 
what anyone would call “realistic.”
To adjust Throat Length, click on the knob and 
move the cursor up to turn the knob clockwise, 
or down to turn it counterclockwise. The numeric 
display will indicate the percentage of change.
Command (Mac)/Alt (PC) clicking on the knob will 
reset it to its default value of 1.00.
Throat Width 
As you might imagine, this control is similar the 
the Throat Length control described above, but 
instead modifies the width of the modeled throat. 
						

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NOTE : For the technically curious, 
what’s going on here is a unique 
variation of the technique called ring 
modulation, a staple of early analog synthesizers. 
What makes MUTATOR Evo’s mutation process 
special is that MUTATOR Evo is constantly 
detecting the pitch of the input voice and shifting 
the relative pitch of the modulating signal to 
match, thereby preserving the basic mutation 
quality regardless of pitch changes in the input. 
A setting of “8” sets the modulation signal to 
the same frequency as the input voice. “4” sets 
it an octave lower and “16” an octave higher. 
Intermediate settings result in more complex 
ratios and more complex harmonic structures.
To select a Mutation variety, click on the knob and 
move the cursor up to turn the knob clockwise, 
or down to turn it counterclockwise. The numeric 
display will indicate the mutation number.
Command (Mac)/Alt (PC) clicking on the knob will 
reset it to its default value of 0 (no mutation).
Mutant Mix 
This control allows you to set a mix between the 
original unprocessed voice and the voice after 
being processed by the Mutation control. This 
mix is then sent on to the Alienize section.
When this control is set to the extreme “Original” 
end of its range, only the original unprocessed 
voice will be sent. At the extreme “Mutated” 
end, only the processed voice will be sent. In the 
middle of the range, a selectable mix of the two 
will be sent.
To set the Mutant Mix, click on the knob and 
move the cursor up to turn the knob clockwise, 
or down to turn it counterclockwise. The numeric 
display will indicate the percentage of the 
Mutated signal in the mix.
Command (Mac)/Alt (PC) clicking on the knob 
will reset it to its default value of 100 (all mutated 
signal).
A LIENI zE S ECTION
The Alienize section lets you give your speech 
the quality of an alien language by chopping it up 
into small segments and playing each segment in 
reverse. (The effect is kind of hard to describe in 
words, so just try it. You’ll see.)
Alienize
The Alienize switch lets you activate  
and deactivate the Alienization 
process. Click anywhere on the 
switch to toggle its state between 
On and Off. It turns blue when 
Alienization is On and gray when it is Off.
Dialect
This control sets the length of the speech 
segments that are reversed. You can choose one 
of two Dialect modes, Internal or Tempo Sync. 
Internal Mode
  When using Internal Mode (i.e., when the Temp Sync button is not engaged), 
the Dialect control sets the length (in time) 
of the speech segments that are reversed. 
Low numbers result in short segments, 
while progressively higher numbers result in 
progressively longer segments. At very low 
numbers, the segments are so small that you can 
still easily understand the original spoken or sung 
words. At higher numbers intelligibility becomes 
progressively worse, until at very high numbers, 
each segment can include one or more entire 
words.
Tempo Sync Mode
 To engage Tempo Sync Mode, click the Tempo Sync button so that it 
turns blue. 
In Tempo Sync Mode, the length of the speech 
segments are synced to beats or fractional beats 
relative to your host’s tempo. With the host’s 
transport running, the Receiving Clock “LED” will  
						

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light to indicate that MUTATOR Evo is in fact receiving the clock signal from your host. 
In Tempo Sync Mode, the Dialect control lets you 
select what division or multiplier of the beat will 
define the length and position of each speech 
segment. The choices are:
4/4 (4 beats)
3/4 (3 beats)
2/4 (2 beats)
1/4. (dotted quarter note)
1/4 (quarter note)
1/4T (quarter note triplet)
1/8. (dotted 8th note)
1/8 (8th note)
1/8T (8th note triplet)
1/16. (dotted 16th note)
1/16 (16th note)
1/16T (16th note triplet)
1/32. (dotted 32nd note)
1/32 (32nd note)
1/32T (32nd note triplet)
NOTE : It should be noted that Alienize 
is a real-time function, i.e., it doesn’t 
simply analyze and reverse sections of 
a pre-recorded track. You could, in fact, connect 
a microphone and have MUTATOR Evo Alienize 
your voice as you speak or sing. Try it. It’s fun. 
A N OT hER  NOTE : Because the Alienize 
function needs to store up a small bit of 
your speech before it can start Alienizing it, there 
will be a short delay between the beginning of 
the audio and when the alienized voice begins to 
sound (the exact delay depends on the selected 
Dialect setting). Conversely, depending on exactly 
when your audio ends, the alienized voice may 
continue for a very brief time after you stop while 
the last alienized segment is completed. (Think of 
it as Alien Timeshift.)
To set the Dialect, click on the knob and move the 
cursor up to turn the knob clockwise, or down to 
turn it counterclockwise. The numeric display will 
indicate the segment length (in arbitrary units or 
beat divisions depending on Dialect mode).
Command (Mac)/Alt (PC) clicking on the knob will 
reset it to its default value of 10.
INPUT /OUTPUT S ECTION
Here’s where you can adjust the output level, 
bypass the entire plug-in, and get a visual 
representation of the before and after versions of 
your audio.
Output Volume 
This control applies 
gain or attenuation 
to the output signal. 
Since MUTATOR Evo’s 
various functions can 
substantially increase or 
decrease the level of the 
input, you can use this 
control, in combination 
with the output level 
meter, to ensure that 
your output is at an 
appropriate level without 
clipping. 
To adjust output volume, 
click on and move the 
fader to the desired 
position. The numeric 
display will indicate in dBs 
the exact amount of gain 
or attenuation applied.
Command (Mac)/Alt (PC) 
clicking anywhere in the 
fader track will reset the 
control to its default value 
of 0dB.
Output Level Meter
Use this meter in 
combination with the 
output level control to 
set the optimum output 
level. Ideally, the meter 
should peak in the 
upper area of its range 
without repeatedly 
pegging at 0 dB. 
						

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Bypas
The Bypass control lets you 
completely bypass the plug-in. 
When the Bypass button is blue, 
the plug-in is processing normally. 
When it is red, it is bypassed. Click the button to 
toggle its state.
Audio Display
The Audio Display gives you a visual indication of 
the original and processed versions of your audio 
(and is just kind of cool to watch). The blue plot 
is the waveform of the original audio, The red 
plot is the processed audio. For hours of fun, try 
changing the various controls while watching their 
effect on the red plot.
Usage Tips
The effects of the various MUTATOR Evo 
functions are so dependent on the nature of 
each individual voice, it’s hard to give useful 
general guidelines. If there was ever a plug-in that 
rewarded just messing around, this is it.
With that caveat:
•  If you’re looking to create the voice of a demon,  try shifting pretty much any voice down 8-12 
semitones (depending on how low the voice 
is to begin with), set Throat Length to 1.10, and 
set Mutation to “2”. Then tweak as desired.
•  To turn a woman into a child, shift the voice up 5 semitones, set Throat Length to 1.30, and set 
Throat Width to 0.60. Then tweak as desired.
•  The effect of Alienization Dialect settings are entirely dependent on the specific speech it’s 
applied to. However, for an interesting musical 
effect, use a long cycle period and try matching 
the period to the tempo of your song.