is Melodyne horrible or I am doing something wrong?

[zak7]

Hi! i just import audio and then select the notes to correct ...then if I go just a half step higher sounds the note sounds plastic and horrible! ...so I am doing something wrong?
there si a prefrence or setting ??? do I have to set the song key or something????if yes what I have to do??

[hanuman]

What I've heard from Melodyne is just brilliant brilliance. Cannot say how it relates to the others but from what I have heard it will take a bright head to top that.

[zak7]

Yeah! I heard the same! but really sounds so artificial .....this is why I am asking if I am doing something wrong!

[zilver]

It might sound a bit artificial, but not horrible. Have you tried it "in context" (in the mix) ? Sometimes the problem is masked and disappears in the mix.

Good Luck, Hans

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by zak7

Hi! i just import audio and then select the notes to correct ...then if I go just a half step higher sounds the note sounds plastic and horrible! ...so I am doing something wrong?
there si a prefrence or setting ??? do I have to set the song key or something????if yes what I have to do??

yes you're doing something wrong - you can adjust formants to prevent the chipmunk effect. If you move the formant down a semitone as the vocal goes up, I think it should sound better.

Have a read of the manual - I can't remember how to do it offhand.

[robertshaw]

Melodyne can leave artifacts. Overall it is decent but I think Waves tune and Antares are better. Though Melodyne does have the best interface and is the most flexible.

If I need to tune quickly I use melodyne. If It's a critical acapella or acoustic style piece I would use something else. Nevermind the comments "you must not be using it correctly". The Melodyne engine is where Antares was 5 years a ago

[fontenele]

Perfect timing for this thread.
I was considering getting melodyne full version to use it as king of a vocal library editor to get my beats further.
zak, do you thing it would be possible to post little clips of b4 and after the half step or even one whole step edit?

I am curious.

[zak7]

I will post some bit with Melodyne and withoit....But yes I heard the Waves and is much .......much better!!

[AMIEL]

Same situation only in certain parts of the vocals ...specially with female singers in higher notes!!
in lower range works good!

[octatonic]

I tend not to move more than a semi-tone.
It is best for aligning to the closest note (ie if it is a bit sharp or flat).

I LOVE it for being able to remove unwanted note modulation- esp good for singers with poor control who put vibrato over everything.
You can remove almost all of the vibrato with no artifacts at all.

for Melodyne.

[obostic]

Originally Posted by zak7

the note sounds plastic and horrible! ...

That's what I hear as well! Now, I only use it to point out pitch problems to clients and we redo the parts using the pitch corrected track as a guide only.

[divingduck]

I've had very good results with Melodyne Uno on vocals.

Recently bought Melodyne Plugin, which introduced lots of artifacts and beating in a solo violin part I was tuning. Sounded awful, so I don't use the plugin version anymore.

Which version are you using?

[AllAboutTone]

I heard that UAD was super great....anyone?

[AMIEL]

Originally Posted by AllAboutTone

I heard that UAD was super great....anyone?

??????????????????????

[kingneeraj]

the plug-in version definatly has NASTY artifacts!!! use the standalone (studio)!!!

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by robertshaw

Melodyne can leave artifacts. Overall it is decent but I think Waves tune and Antares are better. Though Melodyne does have the best interface and is the most flexible.

If I need to tune quickly I use melodyne. If It's a critical acapella or acoustic style piece I would use something else. Nevermind the comments "you must not be using it correctly". The Melodyne engine is where Antares was 5 years a ago

That's interesting...I've always been an intensive Autotune user, but the rave comments I've heard from colleagues have encouraged me to try melodyne.

I've not really dug into the depths yet, but initial results have been very natural sounding - at the moment I just feel that I'm not totally in control of it, so I've not used it on any critical projects. I'm more comfortable using Autotune, since I feel I know it's limitations and I can predict what will work for particular notes better.

No one I know has nice things to say about Waves though.

[macleodgrant]

Originally Posted by kingneeraj

the plug-in version definatly has NASTY artifacts!!! use the standalone (studio)!!!

i noticed that too, in particular it definitely takes the air out of the vocals!!!

i haven't tried the studio version

[waltermusik]

I use Melodyne for classical vocal ensemble and it sounds great.

For optimum results, make sure you
- apply Melodyne to an as dry as possible track (First "melodyne" your vocals, then put reverb, compression, etc. onto them).
- if you use the Melo plugin, make sure it is in the very first insert slot of your track.
- check and if necessary correct the "detection" Melodyne does for your vocals (RTFM, it is some work necessary there)
- after you time-stretch larger passages, check the consonants and shorten them if necessary
- Do an "undo all pitch related changes" to consonants that sound artificial.

Please check out celemony_ :: Index. Very nice people there!

Cheers, Thomas
PS: I am neither an employee nor a shareholder nor a dealer of Celemony.
PS2: Melodyne and the UAD products do mutually very different things, they are not really comparable (I actually use UAD effects when I mix within Melodyne).
PS3: I don't have the Melodyne Plugin, but according to Celemony, the Plugin and the Studio version use identical algorithms.

[macleodgrant]

my experience is only with the plug-in

i noticed the loss of air and sheen even without changing a thing (detection was perfect). there was a post about this here recently and somebody else heard it too.

i experienced other issue too like random cached audio playing in the wrong places and in offline bounces the entire audio track would play earlier. i got too frustrated with the plug, luckily i didn't own it so will probably go with Waves Tune

[backtothemusic]

Originally Posted by zak7

Hi! i just import audio and then select the notes to correct ...

Hey just a word of caution if you're importing the whole thing...DON'T! Or if you do, delete the blobs that don't need any correction. Transferring the audio into Melodyne does take the highs out and you should only transfer the bits that you need to alter.

Better explained in this thread: celemony_ :: View topic - Plugin changes sound even with no processing - how? why?

[macleodgrant]

Originally Posted by backtothemusic

Hey just a word of caution if you're importing the whole thing...DON'T! Or if you do, delete the blobs that don't need any correction. Transferring the audio into Melodyne does take the highs out and you should only transfer the bits that you need to alter.

Better explained in this thread: celemony_ :: View topic - Plugin changes sound even with no processing - how? why?

i tried this but then it was too noticeable when it changed so i processed the entire track and added logic's exciter to regain what was lost

[DAWgEAR]

Originally Posted by macleodgrant

i experienced other issue too like random cached audio playing in the wrong places and in offline bounces the entire audio track would play earlier.

I get this a lot in Cubase 4 on PC. I thought I was alone. Which host do you use? Does anyone know of any link (possibly on the Celemony forum) where this issue is discussed? I have searched but haven't found anyone else (besides macleodgrant) describing this symptom.

This issue has rendered the plugin absolutely unusable for me and I wish I could find a fix or workaraound.

[Rufuss Sewell]

LISTEN UP!

Melodyne is very sensitive to recording quality. I've placed ads that offer vocal tuning to home studios, so I've worked with many poor recordings. If you start out with a crappy sounding track, Melodyne will render it completely horrible and artificial sounding. If you start out with an excellent track recorded VERY dry (no room sound) Melodyne will be close to the original, even with fairly extreme settings. It will take out a bit of the air on a track, but I find it's usually easy enough to EQ back into the track. Sooo.... if you think you may need to use MElodyne on a vocalist, try putting up some extra baffles and eliminate the room sound as much as possible.

As for Antares and the others.... yuck! Melodyne rules. (but that's just me)

[jeronimo]

you're probably doing something wrong.
I've used Melodyne and AT a lot, and if you think Melodyne sounds horrible, you should listen to what AT does to your tracks

[AMIEL]

Originally Posted by Rufuss Sewell

LISTEN UP!

Melodyne is very sensitive to recording quality. so I've worked with many poor recordings. If you start out with a crappy sounding track, Melodyne will render it completely horrible and artificial sounding. If you start out with an excellent track recorded VERY dry (no room sound) Melodyne will be close to the original, (but that's just me)

I think you must be correct! in a track I got the vocal was TOO HOT in certain places!! to a degree that you could feel some saturation......I guess with those type of sounds Melodyne really makes a horrible sound!!!!
Actually I will try to use the same vocal part with and without saturation and see what happens!...seems that Melodyne do not handle well at all vocal tracks with some saturation......anyway to get vocals like that really sucks.....some people can not record some vocals at least in a descent way!

[AlexLakis]

Originally Posted by Rufuss Sewell

LISTEN UP!

Melodyne is very sensitive to recording quality. I've placed ads that offer vocal tuning to home studios, so I've worked with many poor recordings. If you start out with a crappy sounding track, Melodyne will render it completely horrible and artificial sounding. If you start out with an excellent track recorded VERY dry (no room sound) Melodyne will be close to the original, even with fairly extreme settings. It will take out a bit of the air on a track, but I find it's usually easy enough to EQ back into the track. Sooo.... if you think you may need to use MElodyne on a vocalist, try putting up some extra baffles and eliminate the room sound as much as possible.

As for Antares and the others.... yuck! Melodyne rules. (but that's just me)

Preach on, brotha-man!

[DanGo]

I second the opinions about Melodyne and source material quality: if your audio is muddy or too bass-heavy, etc., you're going to get poor results. GIGO, as they say: garbage in, garbage out.

I've found that Melodyne plug-in is easier to use and works better than Melodyne Uno, but perhaps that's because Uno was less straightforward to me! I used to use Speed to pitch shift, but it's not so good, especially compared to Melodyne.

Melodyne definitely alters the tone of your track and like compression, darkens it, occasionally adding unfortunate low and low-mid frequency artifacts. The best solution to pitch problems is still the oldest: re-record it!

But if you can't, make sure your source material sounds as good as it can and clean out any muddy junk from it first. Then, as somebody else suggested, just import and alter the offending note(s), not the whole track.

In my experience, the longer the source material file, the worse the artifacts, so if you have lots of lines to fix, try fixing them one bar at a time and then bouncing those lines and put them on a second track before moving on to the next line.

[macleodgrant]

i wish they would adopt a similar system that waves uses, where you can locate the playhead in the plugin itself using rewire which is really cool and far more user friendly

[AlexLakis]

Originally Posted by DanGo

In my experience, the longer the source material file, the worse the artifacts, so if you have lots of lines to fix, try fixing them one bar at a time and then bouncing those lines and put them on a second track before moving on to the next line.

I find this comment strange. Obviously, the more you import into a program, the more potential artifacts...But are you saying that Melodyne somehow introduces more artifacts the longer it is in transfer mode receiving audio? I have not found this to be the case by any means...Would you care to clarify or elaborate on your statement? I'm all for just using the Melodyne'd file for the spots that need to be fixed, but I usually transfer the entire file, then pick and drag in Pro Tools...

[TheRealRoach]

I've been hired to come into sessions in the past simply to do the vocal corrections using melodyne. The program is fairly complex and requires that a person knows what it is and isn't capable of... just like any piece of hardware really.

I've even tuned a jazz record (yeah, i know) and I couldn't even tell you what was corrected and what was original... It's that close.

You can get away with a WHOLE lot in melodyne if you're comfortable with the abilities of all of the tools. This is not a quick and dirty method of tuning/editing tracks... that's what auto-tune is for. It generally takes me a good hour to tune a whole vocal from beginning to end.