“Auto-tuning” vocals. What are my options?
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- KVRAF
- 15135 posts since 7 Sep, 2008
I never work with vocals so I’ve never had to learn this however for the latest track I have an extended vocal sample I intend to use.
The sample is a little off in pitch at times so I’d like to force it to a required note at the required time.
How does one go about this in 2018?
Tools I have at my disposal that could be useful:
- Cubase Pro 9.5
- Cubase Elements 9.5
- Ableton Live 9
- Waves Tune
I’m not averse to spending money (within reason).
Any advice for a tone deaf vocal newb would be most welcome.
The sample is a little off in pitch at times so I’d like to force it to a required note at the required time.
How does one go about this in 2018?
Tools I have at my disposal that could be useful:
- Cubase Pro 9.5
- Cubase Elements 9.5
- Ableton Live 9
- Waves Tune
I’m not averse to spending money (within reason).
Any advice for a tone deaf vocal newb would be most welcome.
"I was wondering if you'd like to try Magic Mushrooms"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"
- addled muppet weed
- 111306 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
get a better vocalist?

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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 15135 posts since 7 Sep, 2008
vurt wrote:get a better vocalist?
The vocalist is Ozzy Osbourne
"I was wondering if you'd like to try Magic Mushrooms"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"
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- Boss Lovin' DR
- 14312 posts since 15 Mar, 2002 from the grimness of yorkshire
Welll...
It depends how it's off pitch to certain extent. If it's off key, but only slightly, and there's not a lot of natural vibrato/pitch changes within words you want to preserve then any of the realtime ones will do a decent job quickly with minimum fiddling.
If on the other hand your vocal has pitch wobbling within notes/continuous phrasing (the bane of my singing existence..) then realitime correction will often not really cut it and you need to get in amongst it so to speak. This is where the higher end versions of melodyne etc come into play. Not cheap. If however it's a one off and you don't want to save the correction settings etc after you've done it then you could try Newtone in FL Studio as the demo will let you export wav files, just not save projects. Whilst not as featured as melodyne it will let you edit pitch slides/ramps/formants etc - i.e. most of the common stuff people need for vocals.
It depends how it's off pitch to certain extent. If it's off key, but only slightly, and there's not a lot of natural vibrato/pitch changes within words you want to preserve then any of the realtime ones will do a decent job quickly with minimum fiddling.
If on the other hand your vocal has pitch wobbling within notes/continuous phrasing (the bane of my singing existence..) then realitime correction will often not really cut it and you need to get in amongst it so to speak. This is where the higher end versions of melodyne etc come into play. Not cheap. If however it's a one off and you don't want to save the correction settings etc after you've done it then you could try Newtone in FL Studio as the demo will let you export wav files, just not save projects. Whilst not as featured as melodyne it will let you edit pitch slides/ramps/formants etc - i.e. most of the common stuff people need for vocals.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 15135 posts since 7 Sep, 2008
Great advice DT.
Can I repitch sections from one key to another?
Ideally I’d load the loop into a sampler and feed it a reference signal to track to. That’s pretty much what I’m looking for.
I’m sure there may be some artifacts but I’ll address them at the time.
Can I repitch sections from one key to another?
Ideally I’d load the loop into a sampler and feed it a reference signal to track to. That’s pretty much what I’m looking for.
I’m sure there may be some artifacts but I’ll address them at the time.
"I was wondering if you'd like to try Magic Mushrooms"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"
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- Boss Lovin' DR
- 14312 posts since 15 Mar, 2002 from the grimness of yorkshire
Ahh, that's slightly different. A lot of the realtime ones will allow you to feed in a midi input and will attempt to move the notes to that pitch. I don't know about Waves Tune, but it probably can do this. If not, try the free GSnap. One tip is rather than trying to play the midi file (or input it in the piano roll) you can extract the notes from the vocal to a midi file so you have the timing. Newtone and Melodyne can both do this. The results can be ok using this method, but it's always dependent on the vocal and especially the range - usually more useful for backing vocals.Mushy Mushy wrote:Great advice DT.
Can I repitch sections from one key to another?
Ideally I’d load the loop into a sampler and feed it a reference signal to track to. That’s pretty much what I’m looking for.
I’m sure there may be some artifacts but I’ll address them at the time.
The better quality, but more time consuming, option is to use one that has a VST plug-in (again melodyne I know does) or syncs to your track (Newtone for example in FL) and move the notes to where you want them manually.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 15135 posts since 7 Sep, 2008
Brilliant. Lots to play with tonight then.
Thanks!

Thanks!
"I was wondering if you'd like to try Magic Mushrooms"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"
- KVRian
- 652 posts since 2 Mar, 2015 from UK
I've been working with Melodyne on my vocals it does wonders and still allows a natural sound as long as the singer is not too bad to begin with. It can be used on instruments too, it's for great singers also everyone makes mistakes.
Move individual words sung to any key move them along the timeline pull vibrato into the key. Melodyne kind of converts a vocal track into midi notes but with other editable and controls added to it.
Move individual words sung to any key move them along the timeline pull vibrato into the key. Melodyne kind of converts a vocal track into midi notes but with other editable and controls added to it.
- KVRian
- 719 posts since 17 Aug, 2015 from Finland
Download the ReaPlugs plugin pack. It's available for free, and I believe it has the ReaTune plugin (which is a pitch correction/auto-tune plugin) in it.
EDIT: Nevermind, just double-checked and it looks as though it doesn't have ReaTune.
EDIT: Nevermind, just double-checked and it looks as though it doesn't have ReaTune.
My solo projects:
Hekkräiser (experimental) | MFG38 (electronic/soundtrack) | The Santtu Pesonen Project (metal/prog)
Hekkräiser (experimental) | MFG38 (electronic/soundtrack) | The Santtu Pesonen Project (metal/prog)
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 15135 posts since 7 Sep, 2008
Thanks guys, I’ll have a play over the weekend.
"I was wondering if you'd like to try Magic Mushrooms"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"
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- KVRAF
- 3506 posts since 12 May, 2011
VariAudio?Mushy Mushy wrote:I never work with vocals so I’ve never had to learn this however for the latest track I have an extended vocal sample I intend to use.
The sample is a little off in pitch at times so I’d like to force it to a required note at the required time.
How does one go about this in 2018?
Tools I have at my disposal that could be useful:
- Cubase Pro 9.5
- Cubase Elements 9.5
- Ableton Live 9
- Waves Tune
I’m not averse to spending money (within reason).
Any advice for a tone deaf vocal newb would be most welcome.
https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro_artis ... =variaudio
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- KVRAF
- 1703 posts since 19 Apr, 2003 from Copenhagen, Denmark
Yes, you have everything you need inside Cubase
___The Jepptunes___
"Accept All the Good"
Sound design for SQ8L and Alchemy
"Accept All the Good"
Sound design for SQ8L and Alchemy
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 15135 posts since 7 Sep, 2008
Googly Smythe wrote:VariAudio?
https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro_artis ... =variaudio
olepro wrote:Yes, you have everything you need inside Cubase
"I was wondering if you'd like to try Magic Mushrooms"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"