VocAlign? or is there something that does this better?

[digitaldrummer]

My buddy gave me a license for Synchro Arts VocAlign Project 5 www.synchroarts.com/products/vocalign-p ... ?sku=VAPJ5 and I've been happily using this for the last year but now it shows it is expired (and this is exactly why I hate subscriptions). Apparently it was a 1 year "subscription" or trial that is now apparently expired. It was fun while it lasted. I actually found it useful sometimes (although sometimes it did product some weird results, and sometimes I had to undo and try it several times to get it to sound right). But when it worked, it worked, and saved time. Anyway, I see I can buy it for $99 right now (Sweetwater has it too) and it appears to be a full perpetual license.

But before I consider if I really need this, has anyone else found anything cheaper/faster/better (I know, pick 2...). I've done some manual editing with Melodyne (assistant) before but it takes a lot more effort. I think if I upgrade to full Melodyne it might do something similar (and more) but right now they want $450 for that upgrade (no thanks). Maybe I already have something that will do it and just didn't know it (it happens...)? I'm using Pro Tools (Studio, 2024.3) if it matters.

[Nick Sevilla]

Hi,

The cheapest and best, not the fastest: The Singer Singing it until it is right.

Barring that, how much is the Vocalign permanent license or subscription? Melodyne I don't think will align vocal s the same way. right now they have that Vocalign for 99 bucks. Not sure if that is cheap enough for ya.

[digitaldrummer]

Hi,

The cheapest and best, not the fastest: The Singer Singing it until it is right.

Barring that, how much is the Vocalign permanent license or subscription? Melodyne I don't think will align vocal s the same way.

there are singers that can do this 100% (and don't need the help) and there are some I've worked with that couldn't do it to save their life. And then there are some in between cases where it's really close but I want a little closer, or they are not actually in my studio so I can't ask them to do it again (i.e., just mixing). Vocalign has done the trick for me.

Melodyne has a "sync to reference track" in the expensive "studio" version but I don't know if or how well this works for vocals.

[trodden]

Hi,

The cheapest and best, not the fastest: The Singer Singing it until it is right.

Barring that, how much is the Vocalign permanent license or subscription? Melodyne I don't think will align vocal s the same way.

there are singers that can do this 100% (and don't need the help) and there are some I've worked with that couldn't do it to save their life. And then there are some in between cases where it's really close but I want a little closer, or they are not actually in my studio so I can't ask them to do it again (i.e., just mixing). Vocalign has done the trick for me.

Melodyne has a "sync to reference track" in the expensive "studio" version but I don't know if or how well this works for vocals.

Yeah, we all don't get the type of clients Nick gets. Fuck, I hate tracking vocals most times.

[digitaldrummer]

never bought anything from them before, but Thomann had it for $71 (download, no tax) so I went ahead and got the perpetual license. I know I'll use it.

[Nick Sevilla]

Yeah, we all don't get the type of clients Nick gets. Fuck, I hate tracking vocals most times.

Aw shucks...

Even the pros take time to get it right. At least with them, they know the target, study their harmonies, etc.

It always helps to write out the harmonies in music notation. And a cool trick is to have the singer(s) not listen to their previous takes that are keepers when doing harmonies, so they can focus on the notes they need to hit on each harmony part.

At the end, you turn it all on, and then you just find the notes that are not quite there, and punch them in.

[digitaldrummer]

I've used Melodyne to "create" harmonies (from the original vocal lines) and then use that so the singer can "hear" what the harmonies are supposed to be (can do a similar thing with a guitar or a keyboard). Then we track the harmony part until they hit it (and ditch the fake Melodyne harmonies). But sometimes you still need to tune and align the vocal - just depends on what kind of song and what kind of phrasing. Sometimes looseness is cool, and sometimes it is too distracting.

[vvv]

Every 4 or 5 songs, one of us comes in late on something

every 10 or so songs, there's a line I want re-aligned internally

I do it by copy, silence, paste

we mostly sing outta tune, anyway

2 alignments done in 6 songs, and you won't hear 'em :
https://vlayman.bandcamp.com/album/sweet-airhead-a-6p

[trodden]

I've used Melodyne to "create" harmonies (from the original vocal lines) and then use that so the singer can "hear" what the harmonies are supposed to be

This is a great idea. I've yet to crack open Melodyne to see what/how it does, I believe I got a version with my recent PT license.

[digitaldrummer]

I've used Melodyne to "create" harmonies (from the original vocal lines) and then use that so the singer can "hear" what the harmonies are supposed to be

This is a great idea. I've yet to crack open Melodyne to see what/how it does, I believe I got a version with my recent PT license.

it definitely has a learning curve, but once you do learn it then it's a fairly quick process to tune or to create other harmonies. I have the assistant version so I manually create any harmonies. nothing automatic for that in my version. just make a copy of the track and then use Melodyne to slide everything up a 3rd (or whatever) and then tweak any individual notes as needed (they don't always match the scale perfectly or sometimes the harmony is something different).

[roscoenyc]

VocAlign is pretty awesome. I've been using it for over 6 years and they keep improving it too. You can use it for all kinds of things.

When I first learned about it I downloaded a trial for a bluegrass hybrid project I was working on that had a ton of 3 part harmonies. Pretty good singers also. We had a day to do all of the harmonies and some other overdubs for 10 songs.
I showed it to the artist who asked "what does it do"?
My answer was that I could definitely get the performances needed out of the singers but it would probably take about 3 hours total per song for us to get there. Again "what does this plugin do"
It will help us get the same result in about 30 minutes per song.
Artist "aha"!

VocAlign is a huge time saver and it's also good for a lot of other things. It's amazing how when phrasing is more together with singers problems you thought were pitch related seem to go away. Amazing for creating doubled voices too.

Totally worth the money for me. Again it saves time and money.

[Antler23]

I've used Melodyne to "create" harmonies (from the original vocal lines) and then use that so the singer can "hear" what the harmonies are supposed to be (can do a similar thing with a guitar or a keyboard). Then we track the harmony part until they hit it (and ditch the fake Melodyne harmonies). But sometimes you still need to tune and align the vocal - just depends on what kind of song and what kind of phrasing. Sometimes looseness is cool, and sometimes it is too distracting.

I've not spent much time with Melodyne, just using it once in a while to make corrections, but your harmony-creation hint has made my day. I took a piece of music that was built on a tight, three-part harmony and processed the main vocal through the Partch scale... really nice result. Def not something I'd have come up with on my own.

[digitaldrummer]

....looks up Partch scale.

[Antler23]

....looks up Partch scale.

Yeah, it's one of the Experimental scales...