Antares has released AutoTune Advanced, a new flagship real-time pitch correction plugin built around a vibrato-preserving engine called DVA.
Antares Audio Technologies has added a new top tier to its AutoTune range. AutoTune Advanced is a real-time vocal tuning plugin built on a rebuilt version of the AutoTune algorithm. It now sits above AutoTune Pro 11 and the standard AutoTune as the company’s flagship automatic correction tool.
The main addition is DVA, a patent-pending engine that detects a singer’s natural vibrato and leaves it intact. It works whether the plugin is set for subtle, transparent correction or for the hard-tuned effect. Antares CEO Jeff Wright presents it as a response to a long-standing criticism of the technology: “Since 1997, the complaint about pitch correction has been the same: it takes the singer out of the singing.”
A rebuilt Auto-Mode algorithm and vibrato engine
AutoTune Advanced concentrates on Auto-Mode, the real-time correction most users rely on. Graph Mode and detailed manual editing remain in AutoTune Pro 11. Antares calls the updated Auto-Mode algorithm its largest engineering investment in AutoTune since the software launched, and says it is the most accurate automatic tuning it has shipped.
DVA runs on top of that algorithm, and a real-time visualiser shows the vibrato the engine detects as it happens. Where a performance has no vibrato, a new Vibrato FX section can add it using sine, square, sawtooth or triangle waveforms, with rate and cut/boost controls.
Classic Mode remains for the familiar hard-tuned sound, and Modern Mode handles more natural correction. Established controls such as Flex Tune and Humanize carry over.
Latency modes and hands-on control
A new Live mode is designed for real-time monitoring. Antares quotes plugin latency of 0.84ms at 44.1kHz, although buffer size and host will affect the figure. Low Latency and High Quality modes are aimed at tracking and mixing respectively. The company also says it has rebuilt the engine for stability in long, complex sessions.
Other additions include:
- Updated Formant Designer for shaping vocal timbre
- Redesigned custom scale workflow
- 78-note Visual Keyboard for setting per-note behaviour
- MIDI Perform, which maps the main tuning controls and Vibrato FX to a MIDI controller for live use or for writing automation
- AutoKey 2 compatibility
- Presets from producers and engineers including Julian Marley, Ann Mincieli, Tom Norris and Benjamin Thomas
Mincieli, whose engineering credits include Alicia Keys, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, said the plugin “gives me the precision, speed, and flexibility I need while still allowing the emotion, individuality, and character of the performance to come through.”
Separating vibrato from pitch errors
With conventional automatic correction, fast retune speeds pull sustained notes firmly onto the target pitch. This tends to flatten vibrato along with genuine tuning errors. AutoTune’s Humanize and Flex Tune controls addressed this in part by relaxing correction on sustained notes or on notes sung close to pitch.
DVA tackles the problem more directly. According to Wright, the engine “can tell the difference between a pitch error and a decision the vocalist made, and it leaves the decision alone.” Producer and mixer Benjamin Thomas, whose credits include Pharrell Williams and Future, said the feature lets users “push the AutoTune hard, but also keep that natural vibrato”.
Formats and availability
AutoTune Advanced comes in VST3, AU and AAX formats for macOS and Windows. It is sold as a perpetual licence or as part of the AutoTune Unlimited subscription, and existing Unlimited subscribers get it at no extra cost. A free trial of AutoTune Unlimited is available.
Find out more on the AutoTune website.
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