Pitch correction goes away while mixing

[chunkdz]

So I'm mixing away and I notice that while I am writing fader automation on a track that has a lot of pitch correction, the pitch correction does not play back correctly, essentially forcing me to mix to an out of tune vocal, then when I playback it goes back in tune.

Weird huh?

[FMiguelez]

.

Weird, indeed.

Hey, Chunkdz, could you please comment about DP6's pitch-correction quality? Have you noticed an improvement on the algorithm, or is it still the same?

I swear that every time I use it it always introduces what sounds like a bit of distortion, even when used in minimally. What are you hearing?

Thanks!

[chunkdz]

I'm still on DP5 at the moment. But aside from this anomaly I've discovered, I love DP's pitch correction. I've only used it on vox, but I've even been able to change the melody (up to a whole step) without noticeable artifacts. Have you checked whether you are using the instrument algorithm or the vocal algorithm? That might make a difference.

However, the Transpose Audio command has had pretty poor results for me.

[FMiguelez]

.

Hmmmm. I just checked. All the soundbites are, by default, marked as using Pure DSP...

It's always been that way. I also went through all the preferences, and checked the SB mini-menu, but I can't find where to change the default mode for pitch correction. Where do I do that? (DP4.61). I have it the way it should be... errrr, correct??? Because the other option is just Regular DSP, and that sounds even worse...

So you did find a bit of improvement in the pitch correction between DP5x and DP6, at least for vocals?

[willheim]

i find DP pitch just so so - i use it only a little, rest of time i use melodyne, vastly superior, but an expensive separate program...

[chunkdz]

Fmiguelez,

Try The Audio menu, Audio Pitch Correction, Set Track Pitch Mode, Vocals/Instrument

See if it improves performance.

[pcm]

.

Weird, indeed.

Hey, Chunkdz, could you please comment about DP6's pitch-correction quality? Have you noticed an improvement on the algorithm, or is it still the same?

I swear that every time I use it it always introduces what sounds like a bit of distortion, even when used in minimally. What are you hearing?

Thanks!

That is my experience as well. It is particularly noticeable when the singer sings harder, and higher up in his/her range. So noticeable, I can easily hear it in my car. Clients often pick it out with ease. The user interface is great, but the result is sonically flawed. The question I have, why hasn't this been fixed? It been at least a couple of years, no? It's a great feature, but with a deal-breaking defect. It's puzzling to me that motu would not prioritize fixing what is otherwise a great feature.

As an aside, I bought Waves Tune, which has a similar interface, but with absolutely no sonic hit.

[Mr_Clifford]

So I'm mixing away and I notice that while I am writing fader automation on a track that has a lot of pitch correction, the pitch correction does not play back correctly, essentially forcing me to mix to an out of tune vocal, then when I playback it goes back in tune.

Once you get to mixing stage it's probably a good idea to duplicate the take and perform a 'merge soundbites' on the whole track. That will render the pitch correction into the audio.

[Tritonemusic]

It is particularly noticeable when the singer sings harder, and higher up in his/her range. So noticeable, I can easily hear it in my car.

I've had great success using the Pitch feature but, at the moment, I'm dealing with a male vocalist who has a rough, growling character to his voice. It is almost impossible to use DP's Pitch Correction. I just can't seem to avoid the artifacts that seem to be inescapable with the kind of voice he has. I don't mind his voice; I just wish he could sing in tune, in the first place.

Still, I want to reiterate how handy and effective this feature has been in the past.

Oh, and getting back on topic; I've noticed that it seemingly starts and stops working quite randomly. I try to Merge to avoid losing the changes but that's not something I always want to do.

[FMiguelez]

.

Fmiguelez,

Try The Audio menu, Audio Pitch Correction, Set Track Pitch Mode, Vocals/Instrument

See if it improves performance.

I have already tried everything inside out. Don't get me wrong. It DOES work, and it has saved my butt TOO MANY times... but I always hear some loss of definition and some artifacts, especially when I solo the vocals. Once they are in the context of the whole mix it becomes much less obvious, but they are still there. A newer, hipper algorithm is past due, IMO.

.

Weird, indeed.

Hey, Chunkdz, could you please comment about DP6's pitch-correction quality? Have you noticed an improvement on the algorithm, or is it still the same?

I swear that every time I use it it always introduces what sounds like a bit of distortion, even when used in minimally. What are you hearing?

Thanks!

That is my experience as well. It is particularly noticeable when the singer sings harder, and higher up in his/her range. So noticeable, I can easily hear it in my car. Clients often pick it out with ease. The user interface is great, but the result is sonically flawed. The question I have, why hasn't this been fixed? It been at least a couple of years, no? It's a great feature, but with a deal-breaking defect. It's puzzling to me that motu would not prioritize fixing what is otherwise a great feature.

As an aside, I bought Waves Tune, which has a similar interface, but with absolutely no sonic hit.

We FINALLY agree on something, PCM

BTW, how happy are you with Waves' Tune? I have it too, but haven't used it much. I just never seem to have the time to learn to use it. Would you say it is MUCH better than DP in terms of results and quality?
How about workflow?

[pcm]

.

Fmiguelez,

Try The Audio menu, Audio Pitch Correction, Set Track Pitch Mode, Vocals/Instrument

See if it improves performance.

I have already tried everything inside out. Don't get me wrong. It DOES work, and it has saved my butt TOO MANY times... but I always hear some loss of definition and some artifacts, especially when I solo the vocals. Once they are in the context of the whole mix it becomes much less obvious, but they are still there. A newer, hipper algorithm is past due, IMO.

.

Weird, indeed.

Hey, Chunkdz, could you please comment about DP6's pitch-correction quality? Have you noticed an improvement on the algorithm, or is it still the same?

I swear that every time I use it it always introduces what sounds like a bit of distortion, even when used in minimally. What are you hearing?

Thanks!

That is my experience as well. It is particularly noticeable when the singer sings harder, and higher up in his/her range. So noticeable, I can easily hear it in my car. Clients often pick it out with ease. The user interface is great, but the result is sonically flawed. The question I have, why hasn't this been fixed? It been at least a couple of years, no? It's a great feature, but with a deal-breaking defect. It's puzzling to me that motu would not prioritize fixing what is otherwise a great feature.

As an aside, I bought Waves Tune, which has a similar interface, but with absolutely no sonic hit.

We FINALLY agree on something, PCM

BTW, how happy are you with Waves' Tune? I have it too, but haven't used it much. I just never seem to have the time to learn to use it. Would you say it is MUCH better than DP in terms of results and quality?
How about workflow?

I'm extremely happy with it. First off, it has none of the distortion that I hear with DP's pitch correction. Next, the interface is pretty much the same, but with more and better controls. Whereas Auto Tune and DP allow you to set a few global parameters, here you can set such things on a note-by-note basic, simply by selecting the note(s), and tweaking controls that set: 1- how many milliseconds until tuning takes effect (like setting "attack time" on a compressor), how transitions BETWEEN notes are handled (more scoop / less scoop), and "ratio" which affects how far to 100% the tuning is applied. These three things are handled by three big knobs, and only affect notes that you have selected first. This is in addition to all the tools DP has. There's more, of course, but I don't want to sound like a Waves ad, lol. Of course the problem with the Waves ads is they don't even tell you as much as I have.

But to get back to your question, I love it to death. Part of my livelihood is getting the vocal right, and this allows me to do just that. That it's easy and fun to use is a bonus. Spend the afternoon correcting vocals?, sure, I'd love to...

[FMiguelez]

I'm extremely happy with it. First off, it has none of the distortion that I hear with DP's pitch correction. Next, the interface is pretty much the same, but with more and better controls. Whereas Auto Tune and DP allow you to set a few global parameters, here you can set such things on a note-by-note basic, simply by selecting the note(s), and tweaking controls that set: 1- how many milliseconds until tuning takes effect (like setting "attack time" on a compressor), how transitions BETWEEN notes are handled (more scoop / less scoop), and "ratio" which affects how far to 100% the tuning is applied. These three things are handled by three big knobs, and only affect notes that you have selected first. This is in addition to all the tools DP has. There's more, of course, but I don't want to sound like a Waves ad, lol. Of course the problem with the Waves ads is they don't even tell you as much as I have.

But to get back to your question, I love it to death. Part of my livelihood is getting the vocal right, and this allows me to do just that. That it's easy and fun to use is a bonus. Spend the afternoon correcting vocals?, sure, I'd love to...

Awesome!
Thank you so much for this report. Now you make me feel like spending a few hours learning to use the plug, and I will definitely try it out in my next vocal session.
I LOVE writing lots of tensions/dissonance on my vocal parts. And unless the tuning is tight, it sounds like crap. My main singer is very close to giving me great takes, but I always find them "perfectable" in terms of tuning. So I'll give Waves a spin and see how it goes.

Thanks for the heads up

[pcm]

Cool. I should add that I change the defaults - they sound a bit to manipulated to me. I change the 15ms "speed" setting to 50ms, and change the "ratio" setting from 100% to 80%. This sounds more natural to me.

Another important difference is that Waves Tune will make tuning corrections automatically after the initial scan, ala Auto Tune (albeit much better), whereas DP will make NO changes until you make them yourself. Which technique is better is probably a matter of personal preference, but I find it time-saving to simply tweak what WT has done rather than do it all from scratch. The workflow I settled on is:

- let it scan the entire vocal
- do a "select all" (that's within the plugin window, not in DP itself)
- change the two settings above
- start tweaking phrase by phrase, in a loop mode

It took me a couple of months of regular use to settle on this, so I hope I have saved you some time!

[FMiguelez]

.

I'm sure it will save me a lot of time. Next time I edit vocals, which should be pretty soon, I'll post back here and let you know how it went.

Thanks for the tips!