Vocal Modeling Harmony Generator Owner’s Manual
©2009 Antares Audio Technologies. All rights reserved. Certified Isinglass-free.™ All trademarks are property of their respective owners. Antares Audio Technologies 231 Technology Circle, Scotts Valley, California 95066 USA www.antarestech.com Printed in USA Rev 1.
The Obligatory Legal Mumbo-Jumbo The Antares Harmony EFX software and this User’s Manual are protected by copyright law. Making copies, adaptations, or derivative works without the prior written authorization of Antares Audio Technologies, is prohibited by law and constitutes a punishable violation of the law. Harmony EFX License Agreement Antares Audio Technologies grants you a non-transferable, non-exclusive license to use Harmony EFX under the terms and conditions stated in this agreement.
Term of the Agreement This agreement is effective until terminated by you or Antares. You may terminate the agreement at any time by notifying Antares and destroying all copies of the manual, and erasing Harmony EFX from all machine-readable media, whether on-line or on archival copies. In the event of breach of any of the terms of this agreement, you shall pay the attorney’s fees of Antares that are reasonably necessary to enforce the agreement plus resulting damages.
Contents Chapter 1 Getting Started How to use this manual Installing and Authorizing Technical Support Chapter 2 Introducing Harmony EFX What the heck is this thing? Chapter 3 Appendix 3 4 4 5 Harmony EFX Controls Original Input Harmony Voices Humanization Glide Harmony Modes Harmony Presets 9 10 12 14 14 22 Factory Presets and Tutorial Sessions 24 Index 25
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1 Welcome! On behalf of everyone at Antares Audio Technologies, we’d like to offer both our thanks and congratulations on your decision to purchase Harmony EFX, the most affordable, quickest, easiest-to-use tool for creating realistic vocal harmony. Before you proceed any farther, we’d like to strongly encourage you to register and authorize your copy of Harmony EFX. (You can skip ahead to the Authorization and Installation instructions on page 3. We’ll wait.
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3 Chapter 1: Getting Started How to use this manual We know you’re probably anxious to get some harmony going. While we’ve designed the Harmony EFX interface to be largely self-explanatory, Harmony EFX introduces some new concepts to the process of quickly and easily creating realistic harmonies, so, to really get the most out of Harmony EFX, we strongly encourage you to read this manual.
4 Authorizing Harmony EFX Technical Support Authorization is the process by which Harmony EFX is allowed to run on your computer. Detailed instructions covering the available authorization options will be found in the file “Authorization Read Me” which is included on the installation DVD ROM or with your software download. In the unlikely event that you experience a problem using Harmony EFX, try the following: NOTE: When initially installed, this software will run for ten days without authorization.
5 Chapter 2: Introducing Harmony EFX What the heck is this thing? Harmony EFX is an extremely affordable and easy-to-use version of our Harmony Engine Evo real-time harmony generating plug-in. Based on exactly the same Evo™ Voice Processing Technology that powers its big brother, Harmony EFX puts professional-quality vocal harmony arrangements within reach of any songwriter, producer, musician or engineer.
6 Humanize functions that provide selectable amounts of variation to each harmony voice for realistic, natural sounding results • A Harmony Preset matrix that lets you create up to 12 complete harmony settings and instantaneously recall them, in real time or via automation Whether you’re an experienced vocal arranger, a songwriter looking for that perfect backup vocal, or a composer experimenting with unique vocal effects, Harmony EFX gives you entirely new ways to create the harmony parts you hear in your
7 Chapter 3: Harmony EFX Controls This chapter is a reference for all of the controls used in the Harmony EFX interface. Controls Continuous controls in Harmony EFX are represented by virtual knobs or faders.
8 Note: Keep in mind that the input must not only be monophonic, but actually a solo voice or instrument (as opposed to a unison section). For example, a group of singers singing the same note will typically not be reliably tracked. Although even true solo voices can sometimes be challenging (for example, exceptionally breathy voices, or tracks recorded in unavoidably noisy environments), Harmony EFX’s Tracking control, described later in this chapter, can typically deal even with those.
9 When the Mute button is blue, Mute Mode in engaged. Click the button to toggle its state. Note: If both the Input Channel’s Solo and Mute buttons are pressed, Solo takes precedence. However, if Solo is then disengaged, the original input will then be muted. Pan Sets the original vocal’s location in the stereo spectrum when its output is not muted and Harmony EFX is assigned to a stereo output. If Harmony EFX is not assigned to a stereo track, this control will be disabled.
10 as octave errors or loss of pitch tracking), experiment until you get the best result. A Tip: One of the things that can cause tracking problems is excessive sibilance and/or other unpitched articulations. De-essing (prior to compression) can often alleviate these problems. Important Note: Like the Set Input Vocal Range setting, getting this setting right is critical for best performance. If you are experiencing problems, these are the controls to adjust.
11 When a Mute button is blue, that channel’s Mute Mode in engaged. Click a Mute button to toggle its state. Note: If both a channel’s Solo and Mute buttons are pressed, Solo takes precedence. However, if Solo is then disengaged, the channel will then be muted Throat Length This control uses Antares’ unique Throat Modeling technology to define the vocal quality of a Harmony Voice by actually varying the geometry of the channel’s model vocal tract.
12 17 = perfect 11th 18 = aug 11th 19 = perfect 12th 20 = minor 13th 21 = major 13th 22 = minor 14th (rarely used) 23 = major 14th (rarely used) 24 = 2 octaves Pan These controls set each harmony voice’s position on the stereo soundstage when the voice is not muted and Harmony EFX is assigned to a stereo output. The control range is from -100 (panned full left) to 100 (panned full right). Not surprisingly, a value of 0 represents the center of the soundstage.
13 in each voice. Again, the actual amount of variation will be different (and continuously variable) for each active harmony voice. The third effect of the Naturalize function is to control how much of the original vocal’s inherent pitch variations, either vibrato or expressive pitch gestures like scoops and bends, will appear in the harmony voices. At a setting of 0, none of the input vocal’s pitch variation will be present in the harmony voices.
14 Harmony Control The controls in this section allow you to choose the method by which Harmony EFX decides which harmony notes are assigned to each harmony voice. These controls, in combination with the Harmony Preset buttons described below, is where the truly unique power of Harmony EFX lies. Glide The Glide function allows you to control the speed at which harmony voices transition from note to note during legato phrasing.
15 Fixed Interval Mode When Fixed Interval mode is selected, the Interval popups in the individual harmony voice channels are enabled and all of the other controls in the Harmony Control section (apart form the Assign and Delete buttons) are disabled. In this mode, each enabled harmony voice tracks the original input at the interval defined by the number of semi-tones up or down selected in the voice’s Interval popup.
16 To use Scale Interval mode, select your song’s key with the Key/Root popup. Note that sharp/flat keys are specified as flats with the exception of F#. If your song is in an unlisted key, you should choose the enharmonic equivalent: Db = C# Eb = D# F# = Gb Ab = G# Bb = A# The Scale popup offers three variations of the major and four variations of the minor scales as follows: Major (Major) Major with no 7th (Maj/no7) Major with a flat 7th (Maj/b7) Natural minor (Minor) Harmonic minor (Har.
17 If you adjust this control while a chord is sounding (again, for instructive purposes), you will hear all but the lowest note of the chord move apart or together in response to your adjustments.
18 Chord Degrees Mode When Chord Degrees mode is selected, the Key/Root, Scale, Chord, Inversion, Register, and Spread controls are enabled and the Interval popups in the individual harmony voice channels are disabled. In Chord Degrees mode, the harmony notes are generated by the combination of the settings of the Key, Scale, Chord, Inversion, Register, and Spread controls. This mode is specifically designed to be used with the Harmony Preset buttons described below.
19 Chord Names Mode When Chord Names mode is selected, the Key/Root, Chord, Inversion, Register, and Spread controls are enabled, while the Scale popup and the Interval popups in the individual harmony voice channels are disabled. Chord Names mode is almost identical to Chord Degrees mode, with the exception that instead of setting a key and scale and then defining the chords by scale degree, you define each chord by its explicit name, independent of the scale or key.
20 Chord via MIDI Mode When Chord via MIDI mode is selected, the Register and Spread controls are enabled, while all other section controls (apart form the Assign and Delete buttons) and the Interval popups in the individual harmony voice channels are disabled. Chord via MIDI is very similar to the two preceding modes, except that instead of defining chord names by some combination of popups, they are defined in real time by all “On” MIDI notes appearing on an assigned MIDI channel.
21 MIDI Omni Mode When MIDI Omni mode is selected, all other section controls (apart form the Assign and Delete buttons) and the Interval popups in the individual harmony voice channels are disabled. In MIDI Omni mode, you are in fact directly “playing” the harmony channels (again, either live from a controller or via a pre-recoded MIDI track). A Tip: Keep in mind that there are only four available harmony voices, so limit your MIDI input to no more than four notes at a time.
22 About Routing MIDI to Harmony EFX In order to use the MIDI Harmony Control modes described above, you must be able to route MIDI data to Harmony EFX. The method of routing MIDI to a plug-in varies pretty dramatically (both in technique and ease) among various hosts. If you are unsure how to do it in your particular host, you should refer to your host’s manual for instructions.
23 If you assign the new preset to a button that already has a preset assigned to it, the new preset will overwrite the old one. To delete an existing preset: If you click the Assign button and then, for some reason, change your mind, simply click it again to exit Assign mode. Preset Names When you assign a preset to a button, Harmony EFX will create a preset name based on the values of the key parameters of the selected harmony mode.
24 Appendix: Factory Presets and Tutorial Sessions As mentioned back at the beginning of the manual, you will find two additional learning tools on the installation DVD (if you’ve purchased a boxed copy) or included with your download: the Factory Presets Guide and the Tutorial Sessions Guide. Factory Presets Tutorial Sessions Harmony EFX comes with a selection of factory presets that configure Harmony EFX to let you quickly and easily interact with its various modes and functions.
25 Index A Antares Audio Technologies ii Authorizing Harmony EFX 4 C Chord Degrees vs. Chord Names 19 Controls 7 E Effects 8 F Factory Presets 24 G Glide 14 Transition Rate 14 H Harmony Control 14 Chord Degrees Mode 18 Chord Degrees vs.
26 T Technical Support 4 Tutorial Sessions 24 W Welcome! 1 What’s it do? 5 What’s it got? 5 What the heck is this thing? 5
