Harmony EFX
Contents
1. Harmony EFX Controls Original Input Harmony Voices Humanization Glide Harmony Modes Harmony Presets Factory Presets and Tutorial Sessions S c FP A NO cO 24 25 vi 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 As a Harmony EFX owner you are entitled to receive notification of any software upgrades technical support and advance announcements of upcoming products But we can t send you stuff unless we know who and where you are So please register With your purchase of Harmony EFX you have created a relationship with Antares which we hope will be long and gratifying Let us know what you think You can count on us to listen Again thanks The Whole Antares Crew Chapter 1 Getting Started How to use this manual We know you re probably 4 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 most2. a value of 0 represents the center of the soundstage The default Pan values are different for each Harmony Voice channel as follows Channel 1 50 Channel 2 50 Channel 3 100 Channel 4 100 Option Mac Control PC clicking a Pan control returns it to its default value vibrato Amount Humanize perfect which is an interesting effect using this control to add the ideal for your music amount of variation will result in more realistic performances The Naturalize function s pitch component applies a random variation in pitch to each harmony voice The higher the Naturalize value the larger the maximum amount of allowable variation in each voice As mentioned above the actual amount of pitch variation will be different and continuously variable for each active harmony voice The Naturalize function s timing component applies a random timing variation to each harmony voice The higher the Naturalize value the larger the maximum amount of variation 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 NOTE In Fix
3. another track and then mute the original input in Harmony EFX T soprano Set Input Vocal Range Set Input Vocal Range In order to do its magic Harmony EFX needs to figure out exactly what pitches are being sung It will do its best job of pitch detection if it knows the general range of the vocal part You can help it out by clicking on the Set Input Vocal Range popup menu and selecting your track s vocal type The choices are Soprano Voice Alto Tenor Voice Baritone Bass Voice Instrument anything that isn t actually a voice IMPORTANT NOTE We really can t F5 stress this enough Getting this setting right is key in getting the best performance from Harmony EFX Choosing the wrong Vocal Range or just forgetting to set it at all will result in compromised performance Pay attention Original Input Gain The Gain fader controls the gain of the original vocal whenever the channel is not muted The default Gain value is 6dB Option Mac Control PC clicking the fader returns it to that value Solo Engaging Solo Mode causes the original vocal signal to appear at the output and simultaneously mutes all Harmony Voice channels that are not also soloed When the Solo button is yellow Solo Mode in engaged Click the button to toggle its state Mute Engaging Mute Mode causes the original input signal to be muted from the output When the Mute button is blue Mute Mode in engaged Click the button
4. the new preset s default name could possibly end up being the sarne as the original preset s name In that case it s usually a good idea to manually change one of the names to help you remember how the two presets differ 23 To delete an existing preset El rel Assign Delete 1 Click the Delete button The button will flash red 2 Click the button whose preset you want to delete The selected preset will be erased and its button will return to the gray unassigned state IMPORTANT NOTE Harmony Presets F 5 are local to the instance of Harmony EFX in which they are created If you want to share a set of Harmony Presets among various instances of Harmony EFX save the plug in state as a preset in your host so that it can then be recalled as a starting point in any instance of Harmony EFX 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 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 The Factory Presets Guide includes brief descriptions of each of the presets as well as suggestions for modifying them for your particular use Since it is
5. actual pitch of the original track The original can be out of tune or even a monotone for that matter but the harmony notes will still be perfectly in tune with the A 440 pitch reference Harmony Control Har BJQ i Inversion Assign Delete Chord Degrees vs Chord Names Why use one versus the other The advantages of Chord Names are that if you have a lead sheet with written chord names it s extremely simple to quickly define and assign all of the chords you need to Harmony Preset buttons Additionally the Chord Names mode offers a wider variety of chord types The advantages of Chord Degrees are that some people are more familiar with that naming convention especially if they studied formal harmony in an academic environment More usefully if you are early in the song creation process and the song s final key may eventually change if you ve used Chord Degrees mode it s only necessary to change the Key popup to the new key and all the rest of your work will still be applicable Chord via MIDI y Source Key Root gt y Chord 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 s
6. an existing preset 23 To edit an existing preset 23 25 Harmony Voices 1 4 10 Gain 10 Interval 11 Mute 10 Pan 12 Solo 10 Throat Length 11 ow to use this manual 3 umanization 12 Naturalize 12 Vibrato Controls 13 Input Audio 7 Installing Harmony EFX 3 Key Harmony EFX features 5 License Agreement iii Original Input 9 Gain 9 Mute 9 Pan 9 Solo 9 Tracking 9 Routing 8 Routing MIDI to Harmony EFX 22 Scale Interval Mode 15 Register amp Spread 16 Semitones Scale Interval 11 Set Input Vocal Range 8 26 Technical Support 4 Tutorial Sessions 24 Welcome 1 What s it do 5 What s it got 5 What the heck is this thing 5
7. to toggle its state ES 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 Command Mac Control PC click the control to reset it to its default value of O center Tracking As previously mentioned for best performance Harmony EFX requires a clean pitched monophonic signal Specifically in order to accurately identify the pitch of the input Harmony EFX requires a periodically repeating waveform characteristic of a voice or solo instrument The Tracking control determines how much variation is allowed in the incoming waveform for Harmony EFX to still consider it periodic If you are working with a clean well isolated solo signal you can typically set the Tracking control to 25 and forget it hence that s the default value If on the other hand your signal is noisy or not well isolated as might be more common in a live performance situation or a track with headphone bleed or you are dealing with a particularly breathy or guttural voice it may be necessary to adjust the tracking for best performance Interestingly to us anyway we ve discovered that it is almost imposs
8. up the chord that the Register and Spread controls will voice Harmony Control MIDI omni Key Root Scale Chord 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 FEY only four available harmony voices so limit your MIDI input to no more than four notes at a time That s easy to do when creating a MIDI track but if you re playing a controller live watch out for sloppy fingering as having five or more notes playing at once will result in voice stealing that may or may not be objectionable A TIP Keep in mind that there are F IMPORTANT NOTE In MIDI Omni mode there is no way to guarantee that a particular note will be assigned to a particular harmony voice channel While Harmony EFX does its best to assign the lowest note to the highest numbered active channel depending on your fingering that may not always be possible Setting different harmony voices to different Gain Pan and or Throat Length settings will almost certainly result in harmony lines jumping from timbre to timbre which may or may not be acceptable As a result this mode is most useful or at least most predictable when all active harmony vo
9. what Harmony EFX is all about and gives an overview of Harmony EFX s key features Chapter 3 Harmony EFX Controls This chapter is reference information for every control used in the Harmony EFX interface Appendix Factory Presets amp Tutorial Sessions A brief discussion of the accompanying Factory Presets Guide and the Tutorial Sessions Guide Installing Harmony EFX Harmony EFX is designed to function as a plug in in a wide variety of digital audio applications Please refer to your specific host application s user manual for more information on installing and using plug ins Although in most cases simply double clicking the Harmony EFX installer and following the resulting directions will be all you need to do Authorizing Harmony EFX 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 ES NOTE When initially installed this software will run for ten days without authorization So even if you can t authorize it right away you can still use your software in the meantime During this period click the Continue button whenever you are presented with the Trial Period screen at launch But don t procrastinate too long After those ten days are up you will no longer be able t
10. ESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE Antares Audio Technologies does not warrant that the functions contained in the program will meet your requirements The entire risk as to the use quality and performance of Harmony EFX is with you SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM JURISDICTION TO JURISDICTION Limitation of Liability IN NO EVENT WILL ANTARES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES INCLUDING LOSS OF DATA LOST PROFITS OR OTHER SPECIAL INCIDENTAL CONSEOUENTIAL OR INDIRECT DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OF HARMONY EFX OR ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS THIS LIMITATION WILL APPLY EVEN IF ANTARES OR ITS AUTHORIZED AGENT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE LICENSE FEE REFLECTS THIS ALLOCATION OF RISK SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU Whew Now that that s over let s get on to the good stuff Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Appendix Index Getting Started How to use this manual Installing and Authorizing Technical Support Introducing Harmony EFX What the heck is this thing
11. antares t Harmonye 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 0 PN P31031 0809 MO01 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 Antares Audio Technologies retains all ownership rights to the Harmony EFX software and its documentation Use of Harmony EFX is limited by the following license agreement Please carefully read all the terms and conditions of this license agreement At the time of installation of the Harmony EFX software you will be presented with a copy of the agreement and asked whether or not you agree to it Continuing with the installation process beyond that point constitutes such agreement 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 Use of Harmony EFX indicates your agreement to the following terms and conditions Licen
12. between overlapping note transitions The control reads out in milliseconds and represents the time it takes to get halfway to the destination pitch F2 NOTE Glide only takes effect when successive notes overlap or butt up against each other If there is any silence between two notes even a few milliseconds worth no glide will be applied The range of the control is from 0 milliseconds essentially instant transitions to a maximum of 1000 milliseconds The default Transition Rate is 125 milliseconds Option Mac Control PC clicking the knob returns it to that value 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 While Harmony EFX offers the usual extremes of automatic fixed and smart scale interval modes on one hand very easy to use but with little creative control and the ability to completely specify every note of each harmony voice via MIDI on the other ultimate control but requiring solid expertise in note by note vocal arranging it s the powerful new options in the middle that we believe will provide you with innovative and downright entertaining ways of creating the harmony arrangements you hear in your mind The desired harmony mode is selected with th
13. d the desired inversion from the Inversion popup Finally set the chord s voicing with the Register and Spread controls as described in the previous section ES NOTE As mentioned in the Register and Spread section the harmony notes will be assigned to the various harmony channels such that the lowest pitched note will be assigned to the highest numbered active channel and the progressively higher pitched notes will be assigned in order to the progressively lowered numbered active channels Once you get everything the way you want it assign the settings to a Harmony Preset button as described below Repeat the process for each of the chords in your song If your song modulates you can either create a new host preset in the new key or use automation to change the Key and or Scale setting to the new key which will automatically transpose all of the chords to the new key A TIP Keep in mind that you can for E example assign the same chord but with different Register and Spread settings to multiple Harmony Preset buttons so that you can have different harmony voicings for the same chord depending on where it appears in your song When you have programmed all of the chords and any alternate voicings you re ready to play your song and simply select the various Harmony Presets at the appropriate times either manually by clicking the buttons or better yet via automation Fe IMPORTANT NOTE In Chord Degrees m
14. e Harmony Source popup menu Depending on which mode you select various of the other controls in this section will be either activated or disabled as necessary Rather than discuss each control separately we ll look at all of the controls that function in each mode Here s how they all work Key Root Inversion Assign Delete 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 Interval 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 Harmony Control rv ov Scale Since no allowance is made for diatonic scale tones using this mode in conventional diatonic harmony with any intervals aside from octaves will almost certainly result is dissonant out of scale notes As a result this mode is best for drones chants and other applications where absolutely parallel harmony is desired F9 NOTE In Fixed Interval mode all of the input audio s pitch gestures are followed regardless of the Naturalize setting Increasing the Naturalize setting above 0 will actually expand the range of those gestures Key Root Scale Interval Mode When Scale Interval mode is selected the Ke
15. e highest to channel 1 This ensures that you can use each channel s Throat Length control to define a voice type confident of that channel s general range In the example above for instance since harmony channel 4 will always be assigned the lowest note you might choose to lengthen the Throat setting a bit to reinforce its identity as a bass voice In the end this is all actually a lot easier to see and hear than it is to describe so just play with the controls for a bit and you ll understand what s happening Key Root Harmony Control v Maj b7 Scale Inversion Assign Delete 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 Start by setting the song s Key and Scale in the same way as described above for Smart Interval mode Again if your song is in an unlisted key use the enharmonic equivalent Db C Eb D F Gb Ab G Bb A Next for each chord that appears in your song select the chord from the Chord popup specified as a degree of the selected key and scale an
16. ed Interval mode only ES5 the harmony voices will always parallel all of the original input s vibrato and pitch gestures Setting the Naturalize function above 0 in that case will actually accentuate i e expand the range of the vibrato and gestures The range of the control is from 0 no pitch or timing variation or input vibrato or pitch gestures to a maximum of 100 lots of pitch and timing variation and harmony voices duplicate the input vibrato and or pitch gestures except in Fixed Interval mode as mentioned above Option Mac Control PC clicking the knob returns it to its default value Vibrato Controls The following two controls are used to add a programmable vibrato to each Harmony Voice In using these controls it s useful to consider the following principles f the original vocal does not contain its own natural vibrato you can feel free to do pretty much whatever you want with the Vibrato controls f the original vocal does contain its own natural vibrato and the Humanize control has been set to allow it to be present in the Harmony Voices or you are using Fixed Interval mode using the Vibrato controls may cause interference between the natural and programmed vibratos with unnatural sounding results This is not to say that this can t be an interesting effect only that it is unlikely to sound realistic e If the Input Audio contains its own natural vibrato and the Humanize control is
17. ely 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 What s it do Traditionally harmony tools offer two basic operating modes On one hand are fully automatic modes based on either parallel or smart scale based intervals These are relatively easy to set up but offer very little in the way of creative control On the other hand assuming organisms with two hands are MIDI modes that provide control of each individual note of each individual harmony voice While these techniques offer absolute control they also demand that you be skilled in the intricacies of vocal arranging as well as having the time and patience to enter every note into a MIDI track hardly a trivial undertaking With Harmony EFX we set ourselves the task of creating a tool that would let anyone who could hear the harmonies they wanted in their mind quickly and easily create those harmonies in a song or other project While Harmony EFX offers all of the traditional harmony generation methods it adds a variety of new operating paradigms that allow you to approach the harmony generation process from a purely musical point of view What s it got With four independent harmony voices uti
18. extreme settings can produce dramatic results but probably not what anyone would call realistic NOTE While this control gives you Command Mac Control PC click the control to reset it to its default value of 1 00 F5 IMPORTANT NOTE This function is specifically for changing the existing quality of a voice not for manual formant compensation for pitch shifting Harmony EFX automatically applies appropriate formant correction when it shifts a channel s pitch Interval The Interval popup sets a Harmony Voice s pitch interval relative to the original vocal in Fixed Interval and Smart Interval modes In both modes the range is plus or minus two octaves In Fixed Interval mode the popup displays half steps in the range 24 to 24 In Smart Interval mode the popup displays scale degrees in the range 16va to 16vb This control is inactive in all Chord Name and MIDI modes ES the most recent Interval settings for each of the two interval harmony modes So if you select Fixed Interval and set a harmony voice to 3 semitones and then change to Smart Interval and set that same harmony voice to 5th if you then change back to Fixed Interval the Interval setting will return to 43 semitones NOTE Harmony EFX remembers For reference here are the equivalent scale intervals for each semitone interval SEMITONES SCALE INTERVAL 1 2 minor 2nd 2 major 2nd 3 minor 3rd 4 major 3rd 5 perfect 4
19. extremely unlikely that any factory preset will be immediately useful for any of your personal projects we have designed the presets to demonstrate various ways of using Harmony EFX Simply start with a vocal track whose key and chord progression you know and run through the presets while reading their descriptions in the Guide Tutorial Sessions As mentioned in Chapter 1 the composers who produced some of the Harmony EFX demo compositions have been kind enough to allow us to include the actual sessions for you to load into your host and experiment with In each case we ve provided versions of each demo for a number of the most popular host applications The Tutorial Sessions Guide provides information about how to make use of the tutorial sessions as well as providing insight into how Harmony EFX was used in each session Open them up Check out the Harmony EFX settings Tweak some controls and see what happens Index Antares Audio Technologies ii Authorizing Harmony EFX 4 Chord Degrees vs Chord Names 19 Controls 7 Effects 8 Factory Presets 24 Glide 14 Transition Rate 14 Harmony Control 14 Chord Degrees Mode 18 Chord Degrees vs Chord Names 19 Chord Names Mode 19 Chord via MIDI Mode 20 Fixed Interval Mode 15 MIDI Channels Mode 21 MIDI Omni Mode 21 Scale Interval Mode 15 Harmony Presets 22 Preset Names 23 To assign a new preset to a button 22 To create a new preset based on an existing preset 23 To delete
20. he source vocal Harmony EFX can be instantiated on a mono or stereo track but since it processes only a single channel of audio if you instantiate it on a stereo track the two channels will be mixed together before being processed Harmony EFX s output can be mono or stereo Unless you have some overriding reason for using a mono output we highly recommend using it in stereo output mode since in mono mode all panning controls are disabled This prevents you from positioning the harmony voices across the stereo soundstage and dramatically impacts in a not so swell way the overall effect Effects The cleaner the input signal the easier Harmony EFX s task of reliably detecting its pitch For this reason effects designed to improve the quality of the input e g de essing noise reduction etc should be applied to the audio before it is input to Harmony EFX F5 NOTE If you will be using both de essing and compression on your vocal track it has been our experience that using the de esser before the compressor provides improved results in Harmony EFX Effects like chorus or reverb can negatively affect Harmony EFX s ability to reliably detect the pitch of the input audio As a result you should not apply these effects to the input audio before it is routed into Harmony EFX Either apply them to the Harmony EFX output or if you only want them on the original audio apply them to a copy of the original audio on
21. ible to predict just from listening what setting will work best This led to our choice of labels for the extremes of the control s range As the labels imply there is no hard and fast rule for what settings will work well with what kinds of input If you re having a problem such as octave errors or loss of pitch tracking experiment until you get the best result A TIP One of the things that can F 5 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 F Input Vocal Range setting getting this setting right is critical for best performance If you are experiencing problems these are the controls to adjust rn I e j Interval Throat Length Gain L mem 100 Harmony Voices 1 4 Each of the four Harmony Voice channels are functionally identical and contain identical controls It may be useful to think of the four Harmony Voices as being similar to the voices of a four voice synthesizer Each voice has independent controls for setting its vocal quality pan and level The method by which pitches are assigned to voices varies with the Harmony Modes selected in the Harmony Control section In this section we ll describe the Harmony Voice controls The Harmony Modes will be discussed later in this chapter NOTE As mentioned below in ES the Harmony Contro
22. ices are set to the same settings Harmony Control Key Root Scale MIDI Channels Mode When MIDI Channels 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 This is the mode to use when you want to have absolute control over every note of your harmony arrangement In MIDI Channels mode channels 1 4 of the MIDI bus assigned to Harmony EFX are routed to the matching numbered harmony voice channels While it s conceivable that you could split a controller into four zones and use it live in this mode its main purpose is for executing harmony arrangements where you can be assured that individual harmony lines will always be realized by the desired harmony voice 21 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 Additionally you can open one of the Tutorial Sessions that make use of one of the MIDI modes as described in the Tutorial Sessions Guide and simply observe how it is done Fm Am6 eee eee eee eT Cae fPSeePe PPP eee Harmony Presets The Harmo
23. l section harmony notes will be assigned to the various harmony channels such that the lowest pitched note will be assigned to the highest numbered active channel and the progressively higher pitched notes will be assigned in order to the progressively lowered numbered active channels For example for a four note chord the lowest note will be assigned to harmony channel 4 the next higher to channel 3 the next higher to channel 2 and the highest to channel 1 Gain Each Gain fader controls the gain of its Harmony Voice channel whenever that channel is not muted In the various MIDI Harmony Modes the Gain control sets the maximum gain level for its channel i e the gain at MIDI velocity value 127 The default Gain value is 6dB Option Mac Control PC clicking a fader returns it to that value Solo Engaging a channel s Solo Mode causes that channel s signal to appear at the output and simultaneously mutes any other channels Harmony Voice and or Input Voice that are not also soloed When a channel s Solo button is yellow Solo Mode in engaged on that channel Click a button to toggle its state Mute Engaging a Harmony Voice channel s Mute Mode causes that channel s signal to be muted from the output 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 ES Mute buttons are pressed Solo takes precedence However if Sol
24. lected button will turn or remain blue and its preset name text will be displayed 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 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 In most cases this should be sufficient to help you remember what each preset is about However you can easily create your own custom preset names Simply double click any button with an existing preset and modify or replace the existing preset name as you wish To edit an existing preset 1 Click the existing preset s button to call up its control settings 2 Edit the controls as desired 3 Click the Assign button and then the preset s button The updated values will be recorded you change the preset s default name may change in response You can of course modify the name as desired NOTE Depending on which controls To create a new preset based on an existing preset 1 Click the existing preset s button to call up its control settings 2 Edit the controls as desired 3 Click the Assign button and then the preset button to which you want to assign the new preset ES5 A TIP Depending on which controls you change
25. lizing our advanced Evo Voice Processing Technology a variety of powerful harmony generating modes humanization features for natural sounding performances and a flexible real time harmony preset system Harmony EFX provides incredibly easy to use tools to quickly and easily produce virtually any vocal arrangement you can imagine Key Harmony EFX features include Four high quality formant corrected harmony voices featuring Evo Voice Processing Technology with independent vocal character and pan settings Antares Throat Modeling technology that lets you process each harmony voice through a physical model of the human vocal tract A variety of innovative Harmony Control modes from fully automatic to individual control of every note Fixed or Scale Intervals Simply set the key and harmony voice intervals and let Harmony EFX do the rest Scale Degree or Chord Name Define your harmony chord by chord complete with inversions and variable vocal ranges Chord by MIDI Define your harmony in real time via a MIDI controller or pre recorded MIDI track MIDI Omni Directly play the four harmony voices as if they were voices of a synth or sampler MIDI Channel Use four separate MIDI channels for absolute control over each note of your vocal arrangement Spread and Register controls that allow you to quickly and intuitively set the pitch range and harmony style of your vocal arrangement Humanize functions tha
26. move the control you will see the lower boundary of the graphic range display change in response If you adjust this control while a chord is sounding not recommended during a real performance but instructive for understanding what it s doing you will hear the lowest note of the chord move up or down by octaves in response to your adjustments Spread The Spread control sets the closeness of the generated harmony notes Lower settings result in the harmony notes being spaced tightly together while higher settings result in the harmony notes being spaced progressively farther apart As you move the Spread control you will see the upper boundary of the graphic range display change in response 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 Here are some example settings Wide harmony 17 F IMPORTANT NOTE When using Register and Spread the harmony notes will be assigned to the various harmony channels such that the lowest pitched note will be assigned to the highest numbered active channel and the progressively higher pitched notes will be assigned in order to the progressively lowered numbered active channels For example for a four note chord the lowest note will be assigned to harmony channel 4 the next higher to channel 3 the next higher to channel 2 and th
27. ny Preset system allows you to assign combinations of harmony control settings to each of 12 buttons for instant recall either manually or via automation It is a powerful tool both for ease of creating vocal arrangements and as a creative tool for quickly and easily experimenting with a variety of harmonic approaches Particularly in Chord Degrees or Chord Names modes assign a variety of chords to the preset buttons and with just a few clicks audition your vocal with an almost limitless combination of harmonic structures Here s how it works Harmony Presets store the value of the following controls Harmony Source Key Root Scale Chord Inversion Register Spread Harmony Voice Intervals Note that not all of the above controls are available in every mode When assigning a Harmony Preset to a button only those controls that are active in the selected Harmony Mode are remembered In normal operation a button with a preset assigned to it is blue and displays the preset s name either automatically generated or customized by you A button with no preset assigned to it is gray and displays no text To assign a new preset to a button Assign Delete 1 Select a Harmony Source and set the controls listed above as desired 2 Click the Preset Assign button The button will flash red 3 Click on the Harmony Preset button to which you want to assign the preset The Assign button will stop flashing and the se
28. o 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 It is used in combination with the various forms of pitch shifting to define gender and or vocal quality The Throat Length control allows you to engthen or shorten its Harmony Voice channel s modeled throat The range of this control is 5 to 1 50 Values above 1 00 represent a engthening of the throat while values below 1 00 represent a shortening of the throat The values represent the percentage change in the throat length For example a value of 1 20 represents a 20 increase in throat ength while a value of 0 80 represents a 20 decrease in throat length n addition to simply changing vocal timbre increasing throat length is useful when the original input is female and you want the Harmony Voices that are being shifted down to sound male Conversely decreasing throat ength is useful when the original input is male and you want the Harmony Voices that are being shifted up to sound female or childlike ES the ability to radically change the throat length keep in mind that the variation in the length of human vocal tracts is rarely more than about 20 in either direction If you are looking for a realistic vocal characteristic start with modest settings of this control More
29. o launch Harmony EFX until it s authorized Technical Support In the unlikely event that you experience a problem using Harmony EFX try the following 1 Make sure you have the latest version of the plug in You can download and install the latest version of Harmony EFX from the following web page http www antarestech com download update shtml 2 If you are having problems authorizing your software be sure that you have the latest version of the PACE Interlok drivers You can download and install the latest version for your operating system from the following web page http portal knowledgebase net article asp article2174703 amp p 5764 If your problem is not resolved after taking the above actions try the following 1 Make another quick scan through this manual Who knows You may have stumbled onto some feature that you didn t notice the first time through 2 Consult our searchable knowledgebase at http www antarestech com support index html 3 Check our web page for tips techniques or any late breaking information http www antarestech com 4 Join the Antares Online Community The Antares Online Community is a place where Antares product users can gather to exchange information compare notes and get to know other Antares users from around the world Check it out at http www antarestech net Chapter 2 Introducing Harmony EFX Whatthe heck is this thing Harmony EFX is an extrem
30. ode the harmony notes are generated independently of the actual pitch of the original track The original can be out of tune or even a monotone for that matter but the harmony notes will still be perfectly in tune with the A 440 pitch reference 19 Key Root 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 In Chord Names mode the Key Root popup is used to define the root note of the chord And yes this is where the discussion of enharmonic equivalents that we ve already included twice above would go If you don t already know it by heart check it out in the Chord Degrees section The Chord popup is used to define the type of chord and the Inversion popup not unexpectedly defines the inversion The Register and Spread controls function exactly as described above As in the Chord Degrees mode assign all the chords and voicings you need to Harmony Preset buttons and harmonize away IMPORTANT NOTE In Chord Names ES mode the harmony notes are generated independently of the
31. ome combination of popups they are defined in real time by all On MIDI notes appearing on an assigned MIDI channel These notes are treated as if they were a chord whether they are actually an official chord or not and are re voiced by the settings of the Register and Spread controls such that the lowest note played will always be the lowest pitched note and will be assigned to the highest numbered active harmony voice The MIDI notes can of course be played in real time from a controller or recorded into a MIDI track that is then routed to Harmony EFX Harmony Control Inversion Assign Delete F2 NOTE Each time there is a change in the currently On MIDI notes Harmony EFX will re voice the harmony based on the Register and Spread controls If the MIDI data has notes that start or end at slightly different times each such change will cause the harmony to be re voiced potentially shifting existing notes one or more octaves and resulting in unwanted changes If you re playing the chords manually play precisely If you re creating a MIDI track ensure that all notes of a chord start at exactly the same time NOTE There are only four available F5 harmony voices so limit your MIDI input to no more than four notes at a time ANOTHER NOTE Keep in mind that F5 you are not actually playing the harmony channels in this mode that s what MIDI Omni mode is for but simply defining the notes that make
32. out of Harmony EFX we strongly encourage you to read this manual Of course you re welcome to just launch your host and play around with Harmony EFX for a while but to get a good idea of Harmony EFX s capabilities and how to accomplish various basic tasks you should at least Check out the Factory Presets Guide PDF that you will find on the installation DVD or included with your download We ve included a variety of presets that configure Harmony EFX to let you quickly and easily interact with its various modes and functions and the guide will help you discover what they re about Check out the Tutorial Sessions Guide that you will also find on the installation DVD or included with your download The Tutorial Sessions let you see and hear exactly how Harmony EFX was used to create some of the audio demos on our web site and on the installation DVD The demos composers have been kind enough to allow us to include the actual sessions for you to load into your host and experiment with Open them up Check out the Harmony EFX settings Tweak some controls and see what happens Finally when you re ready to learn everything Harmony EFX can do check out Chapter 3 for detailed descriptions of every function The contents of this manual Chapter 1 Getting Started The chapter you are reading Provides information on installing and authorizing Harmony EFX Chapter 2 Introducing Harmony EFX Provides a brief introduction to
33. ppears in its associated numeric display HORIZONTAL Just like Vertical but move the mouse right for clockwise rotation and left for counterclockwise rotation For faders simply click on the thumb of the fader and move it to the desired setting Option Mac Control PC clicking a control returns it to its default value NOTE The specific modifier ES key may vary from host to host Steinberg hosts on the Mazc for example use the Command Apple key instead of the Option key Input Audio For accurate harmony generation and best modeling performance Harmony EFX needs to be able to detect the pitch of the original performance To do that Harmony EFX requires a clean pitched monophonic signal In this context clean refers both to lack of noise and lack of processing with effects like chorus reverb etc F2 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 Routing Harmony EFX should typically be instantiated as an insert effect on the track that will supply t
34. se You may 1 Use Harmony EFX on only one computer at a time You may not 1 Make copies of Harmony EFX or of the user manual in whole or in part except as expressly provided for in this agreement Your right to copy Harmony EFX and he user manual is limited by copyright law Making copies verbal or media ranslations adaptations derivative works or telecommunication data ransmission of Harmony EFX without prior written authorization of Antares is prohibited by law and constitutes a punishable violation of the law 2 Make alteration or modifications to Harmony EFX or any copy or disassemble or de compile Harmony EFX or any copy or attempt to discover the source code of Harmony EFX 3 Sub license lease lend rent or grant other rights in all or any portion of Harmony EFX or any copy to others 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 Limited Warranty And Disclaimer HARMONY EFX AND ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPR
35. set to 0 preventing the pitch component of the natural vibrato from being present in the Harmony Voices any loudness component of the natural vibrato will still be present in the Harmony Voices Depending on the amount of loudness variation there might still be interference with programmed vibrato However unless the loudness variation is fairly extreme it is unlikely to be a problem Vibrato Rate This control sets the rate of the vibrato in Hz The range is from 1 0 Hz to 9 0 Hz In the interest of realism the actual rate applied to each harmony voice will slightly and randomly vary from the set amount The default Vibrato Rate is 5 Hz Option Mac Control PC clicking the knob returns it to its default value Vibrato Pitch Amount This control sets the depth of the vibrato s pitch and amplitude modulation The range is from O no variation to a maximum of 100 As with the Vibrato Rate control above the actual range applied to each harmony voice will slightly and randomly vary from the set amount The default Pitch Amount value is 0 i e no vibrato Option Mac Control PC clicking the knob returns it to that value Transition Rate Glide The Glide function allows you to control the speed at which harmony voices transition from note to note during legato phrasing Transition Rate This control lets you set a selectable amount of glide or for those who grew up with synthesizers portamento
36. t 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 head In fact experimenting with different harmonies is so easy and dare we suggest fun you may find yourself using armony EFX to explore harmonic alternatives you may have never otherwise considered armony EFX is quite simply the quickest easiest tool for flexible realistic harmony creation Chapter 3 Harmony EFX Controls HARMONY EPR va shigenuq mircuces paapa antares i Flache Eni a 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 Knobs can be controlled by either vertical or horizontal movement VERTICAL Position the cursor over a knob press and hold the left mouse button or the only mouse button if you re using a one button mouse and move the cursor up to turn the knob clockwise or down to turn the knob counterclockwise The current value of the knob s parameter a
37. th 6 aug 4th dim 5th 7 perfect 5th 8 aug bth min 6th 9 major 6th 10 minor 7th 11 major 7th 12 octave 13 minor 9th 14 major 9th 15 minor 10th 16 major 10th 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 If Harmony EFX is not assigned to a stereo track these controls will be disabled Vibrato Rate iir manm A Ps Naturalize allg Humanization The functions in the Humanize section are designed to allow you to add a selectable bit of random variation to each harmony voice as would be typical of four individual singers singing together Each of these controls affect all active harmony voices However they affect each harmony voice individually i e if you set a certain range of variation the actual amount of variation will be a bit different for each active harmony voice Naturalize This control selects the amount of pitch and timing variation as well as how much of the original input s vibrato and pitch gestures will be present in the harmony voices Unless you want the harmony voices to be unnaturally The control range is from 100 panned full left to 100 panned full right Not surprisingly
38. ws Major Major Major with no 7th Maj no7 Major with a flat 7th Maj b7 Natural minor Minor Harmonic minor Har min Minor with a natural 6th Min nat 6 Minor with a major 7th Min Maj7 There aren t really any hard and fast rules for picking one over the others Depending on the structure of your particular song one may offer better results Trial and error is the method of the day NOTE In Scale Interval mode it is F2 particularly important that the original input be properly in tune before being input to Harmony EFX If the original falls between scale notes you can get annoying results as the harmony voice flips back and forth between two adjacent harmony notes If in doubt pitch correct the original using Auto Tune first Register amp Spread The Register and Spread controls are used together with their associated graphic display to define the general range and closeness of the harmony notes in Chord Degrees Chord Name and Chord via MIDI modes They provide an amazingly easy and intuitive method of arranging your harmonies in almost any desired style Since they function identically in all three modes we ll describe their use here and then just reference them in the individual mode descriptions that follow Register The Register control sets the general range of the lowest generated harmony note with the leftmost setting being the lowest and the rightmost setting the highest As you
39. y Root and Scale popups are enabled along with the Interval popups in the individual harmony voice channels and all of the other controls in the Harmony Control section apart form the Assign and Delete buttons are disabled In Scale Interval mode each harmony voice tracks the original input at the interval defined by the scale degree selected in its Interval popup in combination with the Key and Scale settings In contrast to the Fixed Interval mode this mode always chooses harmony notes that fall Harmony Control Scale Inversion Assign Delete in the selected key and scale For example If you have selected C Major as the key and set a harmony voice s Interval popup to 3rd when the input is C the harmony voice will sound at E a major 3rd However when the input is D the harmony voice will sound at F a minor 3rd ES IMPORTANT NOTE An exception to the above is when Unison or any Octave interval is selected In that case the harmony voice will track the input note for note regardless of whether they are scale notes or not 15 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 Cft Eb Dst F Gb Ab G Bb A The Scale popup offers three variations of the major and four variations of the minor scales as follo
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