ANTARES AVOX
Jan 1, 2006 12:00 PM, BY DOUG EISENGREIN
DEEP BREATH >The flagship product of the Avox bundle is a plug-in called Throat. Notice the five points in the top graph. The red line represents the newly modeled vocal tract, and the blue line shows the original. In the bottom left, you can see the three selectors for the source voice: Vocal range, Source Glottal Waveform and Source Throat. The sliders to the right sculpt the new modeled vocal tract.
Antares — maker of various useful to unusual audio software and hardware and perhaps best known for its flagship plug-in, Auto-Tune — has lifted the curtain on Avox Antares Vocal Toolkit. Avox is a suite of five powerful plug-ins for Mac OS X and Windows that combines utilitarian and special effects vocal processing. Being a user of Antares Auto-Tune and Kantos myself and having a high regard for the quality of Antares software, I was quite pleased to dive into Avox. The plug-ins are not only built for VST, RTAS and Audio Units plug-in protocols but also support Mac OS 10.2.8 or later and Windows XP. The suite comprises Throat, a vocal physical modeler; Choir, a vocal multiplier; Duo, a vocal doubling processor; Punch, a vocal enhancer; and Sybil, a variable-frequency vocal de-esser. The entire batch fits on a single CD-ROM and comes with a slim 28-page manual and an iLok USB smart key.
USB PORT (AND PATIENCE) REQUIRED
I tested Avox on a few male and female vocal-projects-in-progress on both an Apple Mac G4/1.3GHz iBook and an older G4/500MHz tower; both machines were running Mac OS 10.4.3, Apple Logic Pro 7 and Steinberg Cubase SX3. I also checked it out on a Dell 2.4GHz notebook running Windows XP Professional with Ableton Live 5 for good measure. Installation was basically a trouble-free yet comparatively lengthy and complex affair due to the iLok key. Like many higher-end software packages, Avox uses a dongle copy-protection scheme, which means that in order to use the plug-ins, the iLok key must be plugged into a USB port at all times during use. The only exception is a 10-day grace period upon installation, during which time the plug-ins will be fully functional without the dongle; after that, the iLok key must be registered online and the software registered with the iLok. The difference here is that whereas most dongle-protected software simply needs to recognize the existence of its dongle, Avox's key must first be registered online (which requires an additional software download and install), and only then can you “synchronize” Avox with the dongle. Luckily, time-consuming though it is, the entire affair is a self-explanatory, wizard-driven process, and the plug-ins worked perfectly on each platform and in each test host.
The manual and the various included Read Me files are clearly written and straightforward. Together, they cover installation and iLok-key authorization; a general introduction; and detailed descriptions and creative ideas for the use of each plug-in, particularly Throat, the most complex of the bunch. The interfaces look clean and professional (they resemble typical Mac OS X graphics), but it seems that Antares opted to put its development efforts into the plug-ins' sound quality, where it mostly belongs. Throat is the exception: In addition to superb sound quality, it sports a 3-D rendering of a human head and cross-section of a windpipe. It should be mentioned that only two of five plug-ins in the Avox collection (Duo and Choir) are stereo processors; the others only work in mono.
DUPLICATE IT
Getting down to business, Duo is perfectly suited for stereo processing, but it can be used in mono, stereo or mono-to-stereo. Duo automatically creates a duplicate part from an existing vocal track and provides independent level and pan controls for each part. Processing controls provided for the duplicate voice include Vocal Timbre, Vibrato, Pitch Variation and Timing Variation. There is a selectable Vocal Range setting for the input that allows you to choose among Soprano, Alto/Tenor, Baritone/Bass and Instrument for nonvocals. Setting this correctly determines the plug-in's ability to best detect pitch, but in practice, any audible difference between them is slight.
The Vocal Timbre control is the least subtle of the lot; it is a compact version of the Throat vocal modeler and sweeps between a thin, almost chipmunklike tone to a boomy, Barry White — type timbre. At the extremes, it can definitely sound unnatural, especially on the thinner side, where a metallic whistling was introduced. Pushing toward the deeper end produced excellent results in my tests with both male and female vocals. The next less-subtle control is Timing Variation, which applies an increasing degree of random timing variation to the cloned voice, much like randomized time-stretching. At the extremes, it also can sound unnatural, but when applied carefully, it can really make the vocal duet sound true to life. The Vibrato and Pitch Variation controls are the subtler ones of the lot. With Vibrato, you can enhance or dampen the original vibrato present in the processed voice relative to existing vibrato in the original signal (that is, an unnatural LFO is not used). Pitch Variation, like Timing Variation, applies an increasing degree of random pitch variation, yet its subtlety reminds me of the fine-tune controls of old-school synthesizers. Finally, I found the pan and level controls of this plug-in to be crucial to getting the sound just right. The one control I felt was missing was an adjustable delay for the cloned voice, but Duo overall sounded great.
MULTIPLY IT
Choir does exactly what the name implies: It creates four-, eight-, 16- or 32-voice choirs from a single monophonic or stereo voice. The manual indeed mentions that Avox can be processor-intensive, and Choir was my first serious indication of this. Both Macs were able to run Choir, yet the older G4 tower could barely handle only one instance of the plug-in in 32-voice mode whereas that same setting drove the brand-new 1.3GHz iBook's CPU to between 60 and 70 percent usage in Logic. With the 500MHz machine, I could run a max of five Choir instances in four-voice mode with no other tracks playing. Granted, I was not using top-shelf dual-processor Macs, but if you plan to put heavy mileage on Choir, you better have a newer machine with a strong processor — or multiple processors.
Aside from the Choir Size setting, the plug-in's controls include Vibrato, Pitch, Timing Variation and Stereo Spread. Vibrato, Pitch and Timing affect the cloned voices in much the same way as those previously described for Duo, except that the sliders alter the effect amount on each voice relative to one another rather than acting globally across all voices. In other words, the more you increase the Vibrato Variation, the more the vibrato applied to each voice varies, for example. The sum of these controls can produce everything from a natural-sounding, tight chorus to what sounds like a minimally rehearsed grade-school concert.
SQUEEZE IT
Punch, as its name implies, is designed to give vocal tracks more impact in the mix. Functionally similar to and looking like a basic limiter, Punch features LED-style input and output level meters along with three simple controls: Gain, Impact and Ceiling. Gain is self-explanatory. With it, you can add a healthy total of 30 dB. Impact, the main ingredient in Punch, essentially acts as a single-control compressor; it decreases dynamics while increasing volume. The Ceiling control basically acts as a brick-wall limiter with a default setting at -3 dB.
First, I tested Punch with a very soft background-vocal track in a finished song, just to see it work. All three controls were sensitive and responsive. I achieved the best results when Gain and Impact were used together; using one without the other was lackluster by comparison. Because Punch immediately seemed to be a formidable tool, I also decided to try it out as a compressor/limiter on other source material, including electronic kick drum, snare and bass. On kick drum, though, Punch acted more on the higher end of the bass frequencies (in this case, approximately 250 to 500 Hz). I liked it so much that I decided to do another mix of a track that I had just completed — enough said. On the bass, which was a sub ranging from 20 Hz to about 125 and centered around 50, Punch was less effective, which confirmed that it is better designed for midrange, typical of vocals. It fared a bit better on a different bass that was an octave up. On snare, it was sweet. The attack was brought out, and the entire sound was pushed forward. One of the things that I felt myself yearning for in Punch was the ability to bypass each of the controls, and it occurred to me that that would be a nice addition to all of the plug-ins. I hate to say this so early in the game, but is there going to be a version 2?
CLEAN IT UP
Next up to bat is Sybil. With its cute pet name, Sybil effectively tames sibilance like a traditional de-esser outfitted with a highpass filter and a sidechain. There is a continuous Gain Reduction meter on the right that displays 0 to -30 dB, and controls include HighPass Freq, Threshold, Compression, Attack Time and Release Time. HighPass ranges from 100 Hz to 15 kHz; this is certainly a wider span than you'll need. Threshold ranges from 0 to -80 dB. Compression (ratio, essentially) spans 1:1 to 99:1 — again, way more than you'll ever need. Attack Time ranges from 3 to 100 ms whereas the Release Time ranges from 3 to 200. The manual explains that Sybil uses a complex algorithm to accomplish its duties, and I believe it. This plug-in is sensitive and accurate, with controls that far exceed the necessary parameters; in short, it successfully manages its mission.
SCULPT IT
Last but not least is Throat. Unlike any plug-in that I'm aware of, Throat provides tools to neutralize the sound of a singer's natural vocal tract and apply custom physical modeling of the human vocal tract. With it, you can alter a voice's glottal waveform (the original source of sound from the vocal chords before passing through the throat and out through the lips), add breathiness and change the length and width of a modeled vocal tract. Throat occupies the most real estate in the manual, and there is an exclusive Read Me file for it, as well. In addition to allowing you to subtly or radically alter the characteristics of five points along the vocal tract on a graph, Throat provides three settings for the source vocal: Vocal Range (Soprano, Alto and so on), Source Glottal Waveform (Soft, Medium, Loud, Intense) and Source Throat Precision (Subtle, Medium, Extreme). Modeling controls include Add Breathiness (Mix and HighPass Frequency), Model Throat (Length and Width) and Model Glottal (Pulse Width and Voice Type.) Finally, Output controls include Gain, Level Matching (on/off) and Bypass (on/off.) The five-point Throat Shaping graph also includes a reset button.
I processed a variety of soft to loud female and male vocals, and following the directions of the manual as well as my common sense, I started with subtle alterations and got more extreme as I progressed. The Add Breathiness controls are interesting; with them, you can achieve nice minimal whispering characteristics or extreme raspiness. The Model Throat Length and Width settings can deepen or narrow a voice's characteristics, like turning Barry White into Steve Perry or vice versa. As the human vocal tract typically only varies by 25 percent and these two controls go way beyond that, a shaded area indicates the “normal” range. The Model Glottal controls sweep through soft to intense voice types. The outer limits of what you can do with this plug-in are intriguing. You can indeed mold otherworldly voices that simply don't exist in human beings. When used in the most precise, subtle way, Throat can perform some subtle sonic surgery, as well. In the middle ground, however, Throat tends to sound like, well, a plug-in. It can render some voices brittle, and components such as Add Breathiness, when heavily applied, tend to sound like granular synthesis. Throat is a processor after all, and it can sound like one.
Antares has created an excellent toolkit for vocal (or other) processing. Both Duo and Choir are harmonic gems, Sybil gets the de-essing job done right, and Punch is a rock-solid compressor that can have many faces. Throat is marvelous in scope and can be subtle or extreme, though I found it to be less than superconvincing in some cases. However, for gravelly or slightly more breathy voices, it was very cool. Although at the extremes Avox can sound artificial, Antares knows this and invites you to experiment. Overall, for tracking and especially postproduction, Avox is an excellent set of tools for getting extra-creative with or polishing up your vocals.
ANTARES
AVOX > $599
Pros: Stable and easy to use. Mac and PC versions on one CD. Useful for everyday vocal touch-ups and highly creative work. Clear and inspirational documentation.
Cons: iLok key requires USB port. Lengthy installation process.
Contact: www.antarestech.com
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
MAC: G4/500; 256 MB RAM; Mac OS 10.2.8; VST-, RTAS- or AU-compatible host (Pro Tools LE 6.2 or later required for RTAS)
PC: Intel-compatible/500; 256 MB RAM; Windows XP; VST- or RTAS-compatible host (Pro Tools LE 6.2 or later required for RTAS)
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