Antares Auto-Tune Pro 11

Antares look to bring a little more harmony to their iconic pitch‑correction tool.

If any music technology product has earned the title ‘household name’, it has to be Auto‑Tune. The original pitch‑correction processor, it first arrived in 1997 for Pro Tools systems before making the move into hardware and then into the native plug‑in world. Over the years, it has faced serious competition from other plug‑ins and, increasingly, tools built into DAWs, but Antares haven’t rested on their laurels. Just 15 months after we reviewed Auto‑Tune Pro X (SOS March 2023: sosm.ag/antares-auto-tune-pro-x) they’ve delivered version 11.

It Goes To 11

Auto‑Tune Pro 11 runs in Windows and macOS hosts (there’s native Apple Silicon support) and supports the AAX Native, VST3 and AU plug‑in formats. There’s also ARA2 compatibility, so in suitable hosts there’s the prospect of deeper integration with your DAW. It can be bought outright, with a single‑payment perpetual licence, or through the Auto‑Tune Unlimited subscription (subscribers get automatic access to version 11, along with a suite of other plug‑ins). Naturally, there are upgrade options for owners of previous versions.

Before diving into this review, I’ll start with the briefest of refreshers, so if you’re already familiar with Auto‑Tune, you can skip this section. Auto‑Tune’s primary purpose is described by its name, and used in its Auto mode, it delivers what is arguably the best automatic pitch‑correction experience you can currently get in software. It does this with an easy‑to‑use control set that’s surprisingly flexible. Whether you just want to give your vocal a gentle nudge in a transparent way, go all Cher‑meets‑T‑Pain creative, or anywhere in between, you’ll find a suitable preset to get you started. You can tune chromatically or to a scale. When required, Auto mode can be used in real time, courtesy of a low‑latency option. And, rather neatly, if you have multiple instances of Auto‑Tune active in your project, a drop‑down menu at the top left allows you to switch between them — much more efficient than having to close and open multiple plug‑in windows!

Sometimes, though, you need to get more surgical with your pitch correction, and for that there’s Graph mode. This gives you full control over the pitch curve, pitch lines and note objects. Yes, such editing does require a little more time and effort from the user, but Graph mode offers a comprehensive toolset for corrective and creative editing of both pitch and timing within the performance.

Sweet Harmony?

Amongst a number of gentle cosmetic changes, the default size of v11’s GUI is larger than before, and that’s largely to accommodate some functional changes. For example, it enables the display of complete labels for all the controls. Antares have indicated that this move is also in response to user requests, but you can, of course, still resize the GUI to fit in the available screen space. The Preset Manager has also been revamped and new presets have been created, but this update is about more than cosmetic adjustments, and Auto mode has a number of new features.

First, if you are using the Transpose control (located towards the right end of the topmost set of controls) to apply a global pitch‑shift to your vocal, you now also get the Conform To Scale button (a musical clef symbol). If you have set a specific key/scale combination, with Conform To Scale active, any Transpose setting is applied with that key/scale taken into account, so you avoid any out‑of‑key notes.

Second, mapping Auto‑Tune’s various controls or buttons to a MIDI controller is now easier, thanks to a MIDI Learn feature. If you right‑click on any control, a pop‑up menu presents the required options and you can either pick a suitable CC number, or ‘learn’ a controller automatically. This works well enough, though there are some limitations when using the VST3 version of the plug‑in (as I was, within Cubase Pro 13 during testing), where the ‘learn’ option is not currently available. Hopefully, that’s something that will be added in an update at some stage. MIDI Learn is fully supported within the AU version, though, and it worked fine when I briefly tested it using Logic Pro.

Pro 11’s highlight addition is Auto mode’s new Harmony Player.

Third, we come to the undoubted headline feature of the Pro 11 release: Auto mode’s new Harmony Player. This provides you with up to four harmony voices that are generated in real time from the vocal input (it can be used with non‑vocal audio also!). If you’ve used Antares’ long‑standing Harmony Engine plug‑in, the underlying concept (and, I assume, some of the technology) is similar, but Harmony Player is intended to be more interactive and streamlined, so that the harmonies can be triggered (‘played’) in real time.

To access this functionality, you just hit the Harmony Player button (top centre, just beneath the preset browser). This changes the central portion of the display, moving the standard Auto Mode controls to a smaller panel on the left. The rest of this central part of the display then provides controls for up to four harmony voices (in the middle) and envelope, EQ, gate and stereo width controls (on the right) that can be applied to those harmonies. To make the controls active, you also need to switch on the Harmony Player button (found in the topmost control strip, alongside the Modern/Classic toggle button). It’s also worth noting that Harmony Player is only currently available if you have chosen a chromatic, major or minor scale type in the Key/Scale settings.

As shown here in Cubase, the Harmony Player’s triggers can be automated easily.

The central Harmony Player controls are also divided into three sub‑sections. On the left, the Mixer button toggles the central portion between four large ‘toggle’ buttons and more detailed controls for each of the four harmony voices, with smaller trigger buttons. The Input buttons let you solo either the audio input (after pitch correction) or just the harmonies. Harmony Interval lets you choose between fixed or scale‑based harmony intervals, with the latter being more musical if you want to use something other than unison or octave harmonies based on the key/scale you have set. Finally, you can flip the pan mode between standard L‑R or stereo width options.

On the right side, the four knobs arranged vertically are global controls that adjust the degree of random variation between the harmony voices and the input voice. These enable you to create either very tight harmonies or go for a looser sound. Whatever their settings, the values of each parameter are randomised across any of the active harmonies to create a more natural result.

With the aforementioned Mixer button engaged, the central portion of the Harmony Player provides individual controls for each of the four voices. You can pick an interval, and adjust the formant, pan and level. Each voice also has a solo button. During playback, you can activate a harmony voice by pressing and holding the respective trigger button with your mouse. A global trigger button at the base of the panel lets you activate all four voices simultaneously. If you engage the padlock buttons, when clicked, the trigger switches stay on until clicked a second time.

Considering they’re being generated in real‑time, I have to say that the quality of the harmony voices is good.

Considering they’re being generated in real time, I have to say that the quality of the harmony voices is good. Auditioned in isolation, you may hear some occasional artefacts that reveal the harmonies’ artificial nature, but when placed in a mix the results are really rather impressive — up there with the best auto‑harmony software I’ve used. But what I found truly — and surprisingly — impressive was just how creative the whole triggering approach could be in use. For example, having configured the four slots to provide an octave above, unison, an octave below and a third above (along with suitable formant, pan and level adjustments), the ability to then just ‘play in’ these harmonies during playback, harmonising with short phrases or even single words from a lead vocal, was very effective indeed. It’s also a fun, not to mention very easy, way to create harmony parts, whether you intend to use the Auto‑Tune audio directly, or get your singer to recreate the ideas you generated in this way.

Auto‑Tune’s controls are fully automatable so, in the context of a project, you can easily record (and edit if required) the mouse‑based activation of each trigger pad, and this approach worked very smoothly for me in Cubase Pro 13. However, as far as I can see, Auto‑Tune Pro 11 only responds to MIDI CCs — you can’t, for example, activate the triggers using MIDI notes, and I reckon that would be a cool option to have compared with using a mouse to create automation data one trigger at a time, or the rather unwieldy option of turning four MIDI CC controllers through their full range to go from ‘on’ to ‘off’. Some DAWs may offer workarounds for this (Cubase, for example, has the MIDI Input Transformer, with options to convert MIDI note data into MIDI CC data), but it would be nice to see it as a native feature of the Auto‑Tune plug‑in. That observation aside, the Harmony Player is a great new string to the Auto‑Tune bow.

Less Graft In Graph Mode

While the overall functionality remains the same as in Pro X, the Graph mode has been treated to some useful refinements. A ‘helper’ screen now pops open on first use, and this offers a quick reminder of the steps involved in getting your audio into the Graph mode editor. Of more long‑term use are options to toggle on/off some toolbar elements — you can declutter the GUI if working on a more compact screen — and some new key command modifier options that allow you to quickly adjust the Per‑Object Retune Speed (R), Vibrato (V) and Formant (F) controls while dragging or scrolling with the mouse. Also useful is the new Zoom Outline feature at the bottom of the Graph mode display. While it’s a familiar concept that’s found in many other audio editing environments, that doesn’t stop it being very useful addition here for adjusting zoom and for navigation through your project.

Amongst other enhancements, Graph mode now includes a useful Zoom Outline function at the foot of the display.

Eleventh Heaven?

There has been more to Auto‑Tune Pro than auto‑tuning for quite some time, but in Pro 11 it’s now also about vocal harmonies. But setting aside the new Harmony Player feature set for a moment, I think it’s fair to describe the changes in this release as evolutionary rather than revolutionary. That’s no bad thing in my view, and I’m sure existing users will welcome the continued improvements that allow a speedier workflow with less by way of significant disruption.

Auto‑Tune Pro 11 is automatically available for Unlimited subscribers, but for those with a perpetual licence the key determining factor in an upgrade decision will be whether they can see themselves getting much use from the new Harmony Player. Personally, I think it’s a great addition and I’m sure many users will see a benefit from it too, because as well as delivering instant harmonies it’s a very creative tool for generating new harmony lines. Key to this is the ability to ‘perform’ with the triggers and record, and subsequently edit if needed, that performance as automation data. As I said above, being able to activate the triggers with MIDI notes would be a useful extra but, even so, this is a cool and genuinely useful tool.

For new prospective users, Auto‑Tune Pro 11 should remain every bit as desirable as it always has been, and it’s worth pointing out that while the purchase price remains the same as before you are now getting a better product for your money. As mentioned earlier, there are various alternative products for this range of pitch‑based tasks, each with their own pros and cons. But for its core tasks of pitch correction, rewriting vocal melodies, creative pitch effects — and, now, generating vocal harmonies — Auto‑Tune Pro 11 is an excellent choice.