Has anyone used Autotune?
Is it any good? Is it easy to use?
As it's a plugin, can it plug into Audacity?
There seems to be 3 versions of it at vastly different prices. Is the cheapest one any good?

What about Melodyne and Waves Tunes? Are they any better than Autotune?
Are there any other similar pieces of software?

Sorry for all the questions but I think I am in the right place to ask.

Justin

Try this for free http://www.gvst.co.uk/gsnap.htm

I wouldnt personally pay for it

yeah weve got gsnap but ive never got it to do anyhting but make our singer sound like cher or any of the million pop records that followed it... i cant say its ever actaually corrected any wrong notes... but isnt all this technology designed by guys for guys & designed to not work when women touch it

the best way to get a good vocal in my experience is what i already told you 

The thing about things like this, is that they only work well on performances that are good to start with. Otherwise you end up in pitch, but sounding like Cher. If the performance is already good, then they can be pretty good at tightening things up to face up to the scrutiny of listening in your home (rather than at a gig) and still be transparent. The minute you want them to change the pitch by more than a handful of cents, the side effects become clear.

Having said that, there are plenty of things you can do before resorting to autotuning. (Assuming you after the tuning aspect of it and not the weird cher-effects). Proper warming up before singing is one. And also having the melody clearly marked out. Before our singer(s) record, we have written down the melody and gone through it on the piano a hundred times - I dont mean with a piano accompaniment, but with the piano actually playing the melody aswell.
When it comes to recording, we record each part about 10 times and then I edit the final track together with the best parts of each take. (This is called 'comping' by engineers, I dont know why...)

Doing this, 8/10 times I dont bother to tune anything. The other 2 I only go in to adjust a couple of notes or so.


Also note that there are 2 variations of tuning things. Ones like autotune which act in real time - adjusting the notes as they are played back. Then there are the manual editors. Melodyne (I think), or vari-audio in cubase. These are where you actually go in and manually adjust the pitch of each note. These manual editors are said to have more transparent results... 

I wouldn't use anything of that kind. I played with them but to be honest, the time spent setting them up would be better spent rehearsing.
You can either sing well enough to get into tune with practice or you're voice is so far out that no technology can fix you, in which case develop a singing style that works for you.
 If you want to use it as an "effect" carry on, but I think that "Cher" sound has been played out now.

It's because you're making a composite track.

PS here's a pitch-correction tutorial article that should help you set up your autotune for the best results http://tweakheadz.com/pitch_correction.html

Facepalm :S

I've used Autotune 5 and its really good, you can control how hard it works and to what extent it pulls pitches pack into line so you can gently correct notes or slam them in for that "Cher" sound.

I don't know about price... for me its a useful tool to have but i would put it right at the back of the queue for what's important to buy, if that makes sense.

Melodyne has some great features that aren't on autotune and so it might be the better option (it has a transpose feature and some other stuff that I cna't remember) but I haven't used it. A friend of mine really recommends it though.

I'd say that if you've got the money to spend then get the best one that you can but if you're looking towatch the pennies then i'd give it a miss - other plug-ins (decent mastering tool or a great reverb plug-in) will give your mix more than autotune for the same money.

Thank you all for your feedback.

I don't want to sound like Cher, I just want to get my vocals in tune.

I don't have much money to spend so I would rather spend it on hardware rather than software. I think I'll invest in a good mic and pre-amp instead.

Justin

a recording engineer i know, who is a lecturer at Birmingham Conservatoire suprised me when he said it is standard in the commercial industry to autotune everything, bass, guitars, vocals, when time is money, saves having to spend hours and hours trying to get everything bang on. Also auto tune gives you that rock solid sound that you only get in commercial recordings. But, a industry standard plugin costs A LOT!

Personal opinion when it comes to using it, use in moderation. I always go on the premise that if an effect is noticable then there is too much of it. I like to be able to turn an effect OFF and then notice it, if that makes sense?

Chris 

Wow! I realised it was standard across the recording industry for vocals, but I had no idea they used it for everything else too. Is it just me or does anyone else find that slightly disturbing? I mean, there's polish, and there's polish. If I bend a note on the guitar, I might want it to be slightly out of tune to get the right feel.

I'm with you Chris, I like to be able to notice an effect if I'm going to use it, or else, what's the point!?

hi tone

i guess it must be a generalisation, and must depend on style. Although it is possible to program the amount of auto tune you want and to what extent expression is retained.

Chris

F**k autotune in all it's forms.

Apologies if that seems reductive but it's just my opinion.  I'd rather be slightly out but full of character than use it and sound soulless.

 
all a question of style and using for a purpose?