TazMan Audio Extractor/Leapfrog Rephrase

[Sielsynth]

Okay, I've just noticed that over the last couple of days there have been two Audio to midi convertors released. You got the TazMan Audio's "The Extractor" and Leapfrog's "Rephrase".

Now the TazMan product costs $34.95, The Leapfrog Costs $199.00,. Now other than the fact that the Leapfrog product seems to have built in effects aren't they kinda the same thing? I saw the Leapfrog a couple of days ago and thought "Man! I have to get that!." But, the I saw the other and wondered maybe if I could save a few bucks?

Anybody? Devon B.? or any of you beta testers out there?

[jens]

what makes you think that Rephrase is an audio-to-midi converter?

[Krakatau]

yeah

Rephrase is much more than that ...have a look closer !

[original flipper]

HI

I am playing with this at the moment and you need to think 'AUTO-TUNE' - it's really a pitch fix/modifier program (amongst other things) the reason it converts audio to midi is to simplify and seperate potentially complex material for simplified processing.

It's also a crazy tool for all kinds of wacky FX .

Flipper.

[Sielsynth]

jens wrote:

what makes you think that Rephrase is an audio-to-midi converter?

This posting:

Leapfrog Audio has released Rephrase, a powerful phrase editing VSTi for Windows (A MacOS version is scheduled for release in early 2005).
Using Rephrase your audio tracks become instruments in their own right. Rephrase imports monophonic audio phrases and automatically splits them into notes for playback via MIDI. Export the MIDI into your host for editing and let Rephrase play it back with all your pitch, timing and phrasing changes.

I can tell it has features in addition, but it seemed this was the chief function. What exactly else does it do? Does the midi have to be played back by Rephrase? couldn't you keep it and play it back with a VST? Hence the audio to midi conversion?

[original flipper]

HI

Don't get too sidetracked by comparing the midi aspect - with Rephrase you can load in say a vocal running at 100 bpm into a track at 90 bpm - you can slow the vox down and alter the pitch, you could also 'repair' a dud note /pitch in the singing at the same time - you have 'real time' control over these features, you can further mess with things like formant, add filtering and reverb, compression - but more interestingly you can get really funky with stretching, pitching, volume envelopes and stuff like that - these two programs are miles apart but both usefull in their own way.

Flipper.

[Sielsynth]

Okay, now I understand what the "Auto-Tune" reference was about. So you basically use the midi as an input medium to correct or change the audio? Sounds even better than I thought.

By the way, I heard a great interview/demonstration with the guy who created the Antares AutoTune software on public radio last week.

[original flipper]

HI

I wish I could work Antares out!

I am no expert on Rephrase - I have been demoing it for 2 days - I would say that the export midi feature is primarily for 'lining up' the audio file for bpm matching.

I am not sure how good the alogrithm is in comparing it with Antares or Melodyne as I don't have any 'dodgy' vocal files, the vocal files I have are all pretty spot on - but what I can say is it can be quite subtle and probably could do a decent job on the odd bum note - I mean, no pitch fixer is going to cure a REAL MESS!

Flipper.

[Beardedone]

Could someone post how to to set up this plugin in FruityLoops.

Thanks,
Gordon

[DwarfNebula]

HI
...
I am not sure how good the alogrithm is in comparing it with Antares or Melodyne ....

i tried the demo yesterday and was quite impressed by the quality. to me its at least similar too melodyne on time stretch, pitch shift and formant transform.
my first impression: high quality, easy to use, useful(!), good layout, low on cpu, maybe a bit pricey(?).
but ill do sum more testing this weekend.

[bermudagold]

ok....been reading and researching....i want to sing my instrument parts because since i'm not a keyboard player, I find it faster to get ideas from my head to track and more expressive to use voice than aftertouch and a pitch wheel on my controller.....that said using my voice as a controller for my vst synths may be asking too much...everyone says its the holy grail....does anyone know what works well for voice?....i'm not so much worried about latency as i can convert offline to midi although real time would be nice even if I had to use the interface's direct monitor.....but the translation has to be somewhat faithful...I've tried
midifier (vst) www.knzaudio.com
widi (standalone) www.widisoft.com
digital ear (standalone) www.digital-ear.com
rephrase (standalone)
akoff (standalone) www.akoff.com
solo explorer (standalone) www.recognisoft.com
melodyne1.5 (standalone)

none seem to work very well....and some of them are quite expensive...wrong notes,notes missing, wrong pitch,note length wrong, all vibrato,tremolo and expression lost......the best was solo explorer, follwed by akoff.....but beware the conversions in the app can sound a lot better than the midi file they export...learned that the hard way...so demos that dont allow you to at least export 1 or 2 midi files are worthless.....i think this was the case with "audio to midi" tallstick.com and intelliscore 5.1 www.intelliscore.net .....so dontreally know if they are any good.....anybody try them?....is midi the limitation?....does midi just not have enough parameters and increments to achieve this?....if so bring on open sound control please....tried some more
"sound 2 midi" (standalone)...couldnt get demo to work....anyway, now i'm hearing from u guys musiciendoz and the extractor.....anybody try them with voice and have good results?....dont want to waste any more money if this is a lost cause.....please let me know.....this workflow would be so amazing....jamming out each instrument track by track for the duration of the song responding to what the vocals and other instruments are doing,...breakdowns, key changes, freestyle variations on the melody.....all without having to sit at the piano transposing note by note whats in my head killin the vibe and the inspiration.....maybe its just a dream...lol