Antares Audio Technologies has announced the planned April release of AVOX 2, the second generation of the Antares Vocal Toolkit.

Building on the power of the original AVOX plug-in bundle, AVOX 2 adds an additional five state-of-the-art vocal processing modules, including the recently released Harmony Engine Vocal Modeling Harmony Generator, to give musicians, producers, and engineers the power they need to create "stunning" vocal tracks in any musical style as well as design unique vocal effects for audio post-production applications.

New plug-ins in AVOX 2 include:

• Harmony Engine Vocal Modeling Harmony Generator: A real-time harmony generating plug-in that puts professional-quality harmony arrangements within reach of any songwriter, producer, musician or engineer. The quickest, easiest tool for creating realistic harmonies.
• MUTATOR Extreme Voice Designer: MUTATOR provides a combination of tools for creating unusual, weird, or downright wacky voices. With high-quality pitch shifting, throat modeling, pitch-tracking ring modulator-based 'mutation,' and a mind-bending Alienization function, MUTATOR is the perfect tool for unique special vocal effects and post-production sound design.
• ARTICULATOR Vocal Formant and Amplitude Modeler: A modern-day version of the venerable talk box, ARTICULATOR lets a user extract the formant and amplitude information from a vocal (or other dynamic source) and apply it to any other audio track. Perfect for talking guitars, singing synths, and a wide range of special effects.
• WARM Tube Saturation Generator: Based on Antares' legendary Tube plug-in, WARM warms up vocals with Antares' world-renown tube modeling technology, while being so processing-efficient that it can be used on every track in a project with negligible impact on CPU usage.
• ASPIRE Aspiration Noise Processor: ASPIRE is the world's first tool for modifying a voice's breathiness independently of its harmonic content. Whether reducing a bit of vocal rasp or adding a bit of smokiness, ASPIRE allows the modification the amount and quality of a voice's aspiration noise (the component of every voice that's the result of air passing over the vocal chords) without otherwise affecting the vocal's harmonic characteristics.

These new additions join the original five AVOX plug-ins:

• THROAT Physical Modeling Vocal Designer: A radical new vocal tool that, for the first time, lets you process a vocal through a meticulously crafted physical model of the human vocal tract.
• DUO Vocal Modeling Auto-Doubler: Using a simplified version of THROAT's vocal modeling, along with variations in pitch, timing and vibrato depth, DUO automatically generates a doubled vocal part with unmatched ease and realism.
• CHOIR Vocal Multiplier: Turns a single voice into up to 32 distinct individual unison voices, each with its own pitch, timing and vibrato variations. Assign instances of CHOIR to voices singing harmony and voila, instant choir.
• PUNCH Vocal Impact Enhancer: Gives your vocal more dynamic impact, allowing it to cut through a dense mix with clarity and power.
• SYBIL Variable Frequency De-Esser: Tames vocal sibilance with a flexible compressor and a variable side-chain frequency to match any vocal performance.

AVOX 2 will be available in April for RTAS (Mac and PC), VST (Mac and PC) and Audio Units (Mac) for an MSRP in the USA of $599.00 (which represents a greater than 60% savings over the MSRPs of the individual plug-ins). Upgrades will be available to owners of Harmony Engine and the original AVOX bundle.