Waves Tune Real Time Manual

[Elva Stuller]

WavesTune Real-Time is a software audio processor that corrects pitch in vocal performances, in real time. It enables you to perform straightforward pitch corrections or nuanced touch-ups, and is suitable for live performances as well as studio projects. Waves Tune Real-Time delivers excellent results in any form of music, including non-Western musical scales. Vocalists, producers, and engineers facing pitch-correction problems will benefit from its extraordinary quality and flexibility.

The plugin does not process polyphonic sounds.LatencyWaves Tune Real-Time reports zero latency to any host. However, delay can be imposed by the detection/correction process. The latency is dynamic, from 0 ms to 4 ms, based on the pitch/frequency of the current input note. Lower-pitched sounds have longer periods than do higher-pitched sounds, so their latency is longer.

WaveShell technology enables us to split Waves processors into smaller plugins, which we call components. Having a choice of components for a particular processor gives you the flexibility to choose the configuration best suited to your material.

When the source signal is stereo, detection for pitch correction is based on a summed signal: Sum (L+R) / 2.Quick Start Guidee recommend that the Waves Tune Real-Time plugin precede any effects processing on the source and that it be your first insert on the track

TimeThis sets the amount of time that a note must hold beyond the 50 cents pitch detection threshold to allow Note Transition to occur. So if Time is set to 100ms, and Cents control is Off, then Note Transition time will kick in only after the note passes +/- 50 cents for 100ms. Brief, intentional, vocal embellishments can result in unwanted correction if tolerance is not set appropriately. Settings depend largely on the accuracy of the singer and the desired effect.

Generally, tolerance prevents correction to a different target from the previously detected note, either by increasing the range from the previously detected note, or waiting the desired amount of time outside the stipulated range.

These define the root note for the selected scale. The default scale is a twelve semitone (half-step) equal-tempered chromatic scale. Since the notes in a scale define the correction grid, a selected scale preset will adjust the pitch intervals of notes, as well as the Note Status (legal vs. illegal). An asterisk next to the Scale name indicates that the scale has been modified.

You can change the range of detection simply by narrowing or enlarging the grayed-out area on the on-screen keyboard. This is done by placing the mouse over the current range border until the pointer changes into a resize tool. Click-drag to adjust the detection range boundary.Important: Any Note detected outside the Range (in the grey area) will be bypassed. No correction will be applied.Keyboard

Legal Note: Can correct to this note.

Illegal Note: The note is illegal and the output should be tuned to the nearest legal note.

Illegal Note, Pitch Up: Corrects to the nearest legal note above this note.

Illegal Note, Pitch Down: Corrects to the nearest legal note below this note.

Bypass Note, Legal Note: Bypass the fix (no pitch correction).Once a Key and Scale are selected, the keyboard will display a legend of legal and Illegal Notes. When an input pitch is detected it will be corrected to the closest Legal note, in real time, according to your Speed settings. By clicking the grid above the keyboard you can toggle notes between five status states. This allows you to customize the correction to your needs

Group OctavesWhen this button is active, any edit to a note in a scale will be applied similarly to the corresponding note in all octaves. When the button is disengaged, an edit will apply to a specific note on a specific octave.

The Chromatic Scale selection is the opposite of the User Scale. When Chromatic Scale is selected, all notes are legal. The user can then declare notes illegal as needed.There are many, many more scales available from the drop-down menu.

Connecting a MIDI Track or MIDI KeyboardWhen opening the plugin a MIDI Node is created. This is common to all MIDI-enabled Waves plugins. Connect the MIDI device to output to this instance of Waves Tune Real-Time. The MIDI input can be either a MIDI keyboard or a MIDI track.

An example: If the plugin detects A4, and you play C4, then the vocal will be shifted up. The speed of the correction is determined by the Speed and Note Transition controls. An incoming note that is not within the Range cannot be pitched shifted.

Wave System ToolbarUse the bar at the top of the plugin to save and load presets, compare settings, undo and redo steps, and resize the plugin. To learn more, click the icon at the upper-right corner of the window and open the WaveSystem Guide.

Tuning vocals is now easy with software and many tuning apps are also capable of that Auto-Tune effect which is still incredibly popular across many music genres. In this round-up we have the best pitch correction plugins and apps, all capable of both naturally tuning your vocals to perfection or for creating that distinctive synthetic vocal sound.

If you want that Auto-Tune effect then the original is still, in many ways, the best, with Antares Auto-Tune still doing its thing in an even more slick environment some 24 years after Cher made it famous. The Pro version gets you all the bells and whistles and 'live' tuning for onstage, and instant tuning on vocal recordings.

For more refined pitch editing, Celemony's Melodyne will always be the black magic plugin that impresses with its abilities. But it does cost, so if you are after its basic functionality and a whole lot more, we have to throw iZotope's Nectar 3 Plus in as a great option, which gives you module upon module of vocal editing options, the miraculous Vocal Assistant feature and even a version of Melodyne!

Advanced view has a few extras like Create Vibrato, ideal for adding a bit of wobble via an LFO, plus options to set minor and major modes, edit across multiple octaves, and MIDI input editing features.

Auto-Tune Pro is the most powerful, usable incarnation of this standard yet, and easily maintains the software's position as one of the best retuning solutions available, and may well prove to be the ultimate pitch-manipulating toolbox.

bx_crispytuner works best with bx_crispyscale (included free of charge), the latter allowing you to determine and apply a scale to the former, although crispyscale is by no means essential. Using the two in tandem, however, will allow you to apply a scale to multiple instances of crispytuner, which is great for large vocal sessions.

The Speed dial can, as with so many plugins of this ilk, be set to fast (zero) for the robotic Cher effect should you wish. Used in conjunction with the Transition dial, both can easily be used to create that effect, only this time you are doing it on live vocals. Waves Tune Real Time is therefore probably the first choice of the Waves Tune plugin range for that more unnatural effect, whereas the standard Tune will get you more natural results with ease.

If there's one plugin that comes up more often than any other in our producer interviews as an all-time favourite, it's Soundtoys Little AlterBoy. This simple but cheap plugin only boasts a few controls but can deliver wide-ranging results on any audio, but is specifically aimed at vocals for both pitch and formant editing.

The Formant option can, again very naturally, sweep a male vocal into a female, or vice versa. It's pretty incredible to hear it in operation because one of AlterBoy's main attractions is the fact that it does it with no nonsense, one dial with all the science bits hidden away. It just gets on with it, with brilliant results.

The central Modes are where things get even more interesting. After a simple Transpose option, you get Quantize, where notes are forced to the nearest semi-tone for that Auto-Tune like effect. It works well and incredibly simply, although you'll probably get more finesse and tweakability out of the real-deal Auto-Tune.

However, for no nonsense results, this is great. Finally here you also get Robot Mode, where the pitch is frozen to one note, no matter what the original input is singing. This pitch, and indeed the formant, can still be changed with the left hand dials.

Recent additions include a Melodic algorithm that allows editing of noise-based sibilants to be carried out separately from pitch-based parts. Vocal pitch editing is also now incredibly natural due to features like a Levelling Macro that balances quiet and loud elements, and even the tiniest of pitch deviations can be tweaked.

Melodyne 5 Studio offers the full panoply of multitrack polyphonic editing options, but, if you mainly work with monophonic material, the more affordable Melodyne 5 Assistant still delivers many of the essential features. Whatever version, Melodyne is powerful and remains an exceptional tool for manipulating vocals and other audio in functional and creative ways.

Voloco describes itself as a mobile recording studio, although it really focuses on automatic tuning, harmony creation and vocoding. It comes with 50 effect presets spread over 12 packs covering all sorts of vocal effects.

On top of this you get a free beat library, rudimentary multi-track recorder and the ability to import your own beats and export any creations you produce as WAV or AAC files, or share your efforts with other users.

APT (Automatic Performance Transfer) lies at the heart of what makes Revoice Pro so special. Having done your tuning work on the selected tracks, you simply call up the APT dialogue and select one of the presets (you can also make your own), tell it which is the guide and apply it to any track you wish to edit. This is great for backing vocals, for example, where you can add tracks and align not just the pitch and timing but also the dynamic.

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