Which pitch/time software (or hardware) do u recommend?

[grexter]

Hi everyone,

I use Cubase SX with a PC. I'm looking for the best quality pitch/time shift software. Serato's Pitch 'n Time looked very nice cuz it seems to have all the features I wanted (ability to do Time stretching wihtout affecting the pitch with apparently no artifacts? + VARIABLE time and pitch option. However it's only for Pro Tools. Most of my voices (cartoon like project) will be going through some pitch shifting so I wanted something of professional quality. What software (or hardware?? ) would you recommend?

What I need:

1) High quality pitch shifting to get a chipmunk effect without any artifacts (as opposed to shift pitch and get a “natural” sound) – this is for cartoon like voiceovers.
2) If possible, ability to do time stretching/contraction (say 90- 95%) without affecting the pitch, without any artifacts – is that even possible?? (serato seems to have it, so they say) Some radio commercials seem speeded up, how do they do that?
3) Again, if possible, (serato seems to have it too), time/pitch shift that would be variable over time.

ps: - does Auto Tune 5 respond to the above mentioned 3 criteria?
- is there gonna be seratos Pitch N Time for non-Pro Tools?
- is there some hardware unit that is even better than software?
- anything by TC helicon?
thanx, greg.

[basskater87]

check out melodyne. Thats my favorite. Really easy to use and in my opinion can do the most the fastest. check it out, download the free demo they have on their site, and see what you think!

[drBill]

Too bad Pitch N Time doesn't work for your setup. It really is excellent.

[grexter]

i wonder how come Seratos Time N Pitch doesnt have something for non-PT users

i have a demo cd of Melodyne, but i find that the pitch change sounds weird... (like somewhat metallic, and kind of like as if they were trying to make it sound natural. - i dont need "natural" i just need "chipmunky" but without any artifacts. + independend time contraction would be nice...

[Rufuss Sewell]

Hey Grexter, Melodyne automatically changes the formant for you when you change the pitch. Generally this is very helpful, but if want chipmunking just turn off the formant correction.

[Kiwiburger]

Have you tried the pitch shift and time stretching in Cubase SX? From what you are asking for, I think it does it all. It's an offline process - and on the highest quality setting I find it works very well. I've done some insane multiple pitch conversions with sinewaves (just to test for artifacts) and found it to be extremely good - sines still look like sines.

Simple pitch stretching (with time compression turned off) is very pure. This is just like tape varispeed. Raising the speed (aka sample rate) raises the pitch and shortens the time naturally. The artifacts only come when you try to change pitch but not time, or time but not pitch. That is very different from simple varispeed/sample rate conversion. That forces the algorithmn to either make up multiple pieces of audio data (to fill in time) or throw away multiple selections of data (to reduce time). The effectiveness of that depends on the quality of the algorithmn and the time and resources the CPU can use.

These processes are best done off-line.

For more advanced stuff - like auto tune or harmonies, then Melodyne has been released as a VST plugin.

[doubledecker]

Timefactory is the best

[grexter]

Originally Posted by Rufuss Sewell

Hey Grexter, Melodyne automatically changes the formant for you when you change the pitch. Generally this is very helpful, but if want chipmunking just turn off the formant correction.

Thanks, just tried that. But i still have a question here: when Melodyne changes the pitch, it seems to always keep the duration of the track the same (by default). Is there an option that allows you to alter the pitch and let the duration of the track change accordingly by itself (ie. increased pitch = proportionally increased speed...)

Also, does Melodyne allow you to do things like say only reduce the time duration of the track by say 10%?

[grexter]

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

Have you tried the pitch shift and time stretching in Cubase SX? From what you are asking for, I think it does it all. It's an offline process - and on the highest quality setting I find it works very well. I've done some insane multiple pitch conversions with sinewaves (just to test for artifacts) and found it to be extremely good - sines still look like sines.

Simple pitch stretching (with time compression turned off) is very pure. This is just like tape varispeed. Raising the speed (aka sample rate) raises the pitch and shortens the time naturally. The artifacts only come when you try to change pitch but not time, or time but not pitch. That is very different from simple varispeed/sample rate conversion. That forces the algorithmn to either make up multiple pieces of audio data (to fill in time) or throw away multiple selections of data (to reduce time). The effectiveness of that depends on the quality of the algorithmn and the time and resources the CPU can use.

These processes are best done off-line.

For more advanced stuff - like auto tune or harmonies, then Melodyne has been released as a VST plugin.

I did try Cubase, i'm happy with the simple pitch shifting - I was disappointed with I tried to change the time without changing the pitch. The negative artifacts became audible immediately so that's why I was wondering if there was something else that does a very good job at that and is able to say reduce the time by say 10% without audible distortion. I guess its hard to attain.

ps: kiwiburger, when u did your testing with changing pitch with Cubase SX, did you notice any quality difference between Mode1, Mode 2, Advanced Mode and MPEX?

[Steve MacMillan]

I use ProTools HD on the mac.

Waves Tune - this is what I use to correct lead vocals. Simply the best and most tweakable. Best tracking & formant preservation.

Waves Timeshifter - this is the best sounding time compression & expansion I've heard (yes better than Prosonic). Does not suffer from the Pitch n Time reverse envelope artifact.

Celomony Melodyne - very useful for adjusting the timing of vocals, creating harmonies, and riffs where there weren't any.

AutoTune 5 - great for quickly autotuning background vocals (in auto mode). King of realtime correction.

I own all of the other tools, but don't use them.

STeve

[JonCraig]

Originally Posted by grexter

2) If possible, ability to do time stretching/contraction (say 90- 95%) without affecting the pitch, without any artifacts – is that even possible?? (serato seems to have it, so they say)

serato can and does. i use it EVERY day for just that.

--jon

[Kiwiburger]

ps: kiwiburger, when u did your testing with changing pitch with Cubase SX, did you notice any quality difference between Mode1, Mode 2, Advanced Mode and MPEX?

Huge differences - I always use the highest quality (depends on which version of Cubase you have - I use Cubase4 now).

My comment about the sinewaves being preserved over multiple extreme pitchshifts relates only to pure pitchshifting (with timestretching and formant shifting turned off). I was investigating tape varispeed emulation, and I was very pleased with the results. So in that case, none of the above algorithmns are used. It's simply sample rate conversion - and you can either do it as a Sample Rate Conversion process, and use your calculator - or, you can do it via the Pitch Shift process, which allows you to select precise intervals. The sound quality is the same either way.

But yeah - as soon as you want time stretching as well, the artifacts begin.

[jdjustice]

Originally Posted by Steve MacMillan

Waves Timeshifter - this is the best sounding time compression & expansion I've heard (yes better than Prosonic). Does not suffer from the Pitch n Time reverse envelope artifact.

STeve

Steve, have you had a chance to check out Digidesign's X-Form for this task?
that plugin really impresses me and when i did the demo i preferred it to Waves' solution.



cheers.
~j.d.

[ericwall]

I played around with Melodyne a bit after hearing what a "miracle-maker" it was supposed to be.

With already great performances in need of pitch-shift (or key-shift) I'd say it's the smoothest operator I've tried.

With really bad performances e.g. not hitting notes, sliding around notes etc. I must say I ended up with the same artifacts and robotsounding stuff I've encountered when drawing curves in Autotune.

Anyone who's straightened out/corrected for instance the gliss from a vocal that started a halfnote below the desired note with success?

Maybe it's just a skill thing with the Melodyne. I don't know.