Over the last decade, autotune has evolved from a subtlety producers and engineers use to alter vocals and correct out of tune notes to a full-blown identity for certain musicians. Now, predominantly used in the realms of trap and left-field pop music, fans will even be able to identify an artist just by the way their distinct autotune sounds. There are a variety of plugins available which can generate these desired sounds, so to help you get to grips with what autotune does and the best tools for the job, we’ve put together a list of the best autotune plugins on the market.

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What is Autotune?

Autotune essentially is a piece of digital software which can alter the pitch of a singer’s voice during a live performance or afterwards in post-production. The way autotune works is by changing the speed of the vibration of a certain note to increase or decrease the pitch. To create a seamless and smooth sound, autotune can then remove or add vibrations to keep the duration of the note the required length. Although this highly sought after robotic effect can be created by a vocoder and talkbox it’s important not to get them confused. The vocoder, which was invented in 1938, synthesizes human speech using different band frequencies whereas a talkbox lets musicians shape the sound of an instrument using their mouth and a plastic tube.

Autotune for Ableton Live (Free Download) Beat Lab We've modded Cycling 74 Autotuna which is included in Max 7 Pitch and Time Machine pack. Now you can easily select which scale you want to pitch correct. For most common pitch problems (and correcting live performances in real time), Autotune Evo's Automatic Mode instantaneously detects the pitch of the input, identifies the closest pitch in a user-specified scale.

1. Antares Audio Technologies Auto-Tune

As the original developers and registered trademark owners of the autotune effect, it only seems right to head up our list with Antares Audio Technologies Auto-Tune. Since its initial release in 1997 Antares Auto-Tune plugins have come a long way. They now have a number of different versions available such as their flagship Auto-Tune Pro ($399) which is the most complete and advanced edition of Auto-Tune to their affordable Auto-Key ($49) and everything in between. Antares Auto-Tune is great for both detailed transparent tuning and creating that extreme autotune effect using a MIDI keyboard. Check out their different audio devices here.

2. Waves OVox

Our partners, Waves Audio, are renowned for the quality of their audio plugins – and their autotune plugin is no different. OVox is an all in one powerhouse which enables you to pitch, tune, harmonize and arpeggiate vocals as well as create classic vocoder & talkbox effects. The Note Mapper allows you to easily work with chords, scales and harmonies adding Daft Punk-style robotic tones to your vocals.

3. Melodyne

Although Antares were the first to create the autotune effect, Celemony developed their own stand-out take on the effect with Melodyne. Melodyne enables music producers and sound engineers to edit audio in crystal clear ways by editing notes directly. The ability to manipulate the pitch, formants, dynamics and timing of the on-screen notes allows you to reimagine and edit vocals, piano, guitar, synth and more hours, weeks or even years after the recording session. Although not the best for extreme autotune effects the 99€ essential version is great for detailed transparent tuning.

4. The Mouth

From Tim Exile, the man who brought us ‘The Finger‘, The Mouth helps generate melodies and harmonies out of any audio you feed into it. Whether you’re a singer, beatboxer, bass guitarist or synth player, you’ll be able to channel your sounds into The Mouth. The plugin is able to detect the pitch of an incoming audio source, autotune it and transform it into a scale or customised melody from MIDI notes.

5. Logic Pro’s Flex Pitch

Logic Pro’s inbuilt Flex Pitch is a stock plugin which can yield fantastic results. When activated, Flex Pitch splits your vocal or audio sample up into separate pitches so it’s easy to see which notes are being triggered by the sound. Once editing your audio samples you’ll be able to automate the volume, adjust vibrato, the formant and more giving you complete control of how your sound will end up. Take it to the extreme or keep your edits subtle with Logic’s Flex Pitch.

6. BeatLab’s Autotune for Ableton Live

Our friends over at BeatLab have modded Cycling 74 Autotuna which is included in Max 7 Pitch and Time Machine pack. Now, with BeatLab’s moded autotune, you can easily select which scale you want to pitch correctly. It’s incredibly simple and easy to use – see for yourself by watching the video here.

The above list is by no means exhaustive and represents just a small amount of the very best of the wealth of autotune plugins available to producers today. Though the above plugins are, in our opinion, our favourite and most-used in our own productions, it’s always best to experiment with others to find out what works for you.

If you’re interested in learning more about how VSTs work, as well as the likes of Ableton, Logic Pro and more, you can register to study with us at Point Blank online.

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Autotune For Ableton Live 8

In today’s article, you’re going to see how to build and set up live auto tune for worship.

We’ll be covering:

• Uses and purpose of auto tune in worship

• Gear required for auto tune

• Setting up auto tuning

• Testing the signal flow

Before we jump in, don’t forget to check out and download our Worship Ministry Toolkit. This will provide you with a list of all the gear we talk about so it will help you follow along.

Uses and Purpose of Auto Tune in Worship

We know that auto-tune can be a divisive issue, but here are a couple things to keep in mind:

Auto-tune should never be used to compensate for poor singing

Auto-tune is not, and should not be used to ‘make up’ for wildly incorrect pitches, it is only there to give that extra push if necessary. We’re all for excellence in worship, and we encourage our band to practice and be the best that they can. Auto-tune is just a tech-savvy way of eliminating small mistakes or distractions.

Auto-tune works best with great singers

It can ‘tune’ them up to make dense, difficult harmonies that much better. Not everyone sings perfectly on pitch all the time and auto-tune is able to take those small inconsistencies and correct them in a natural, non-artificial sounding way. A part of gospel-centered worship is crafting the best ministry we can and we believe that auto-tune has a place in that vision.

Gear Required for Auto-Tune

I’m going to give you a brief overview of the gear you’ll need to set up auto-tune. I’ll go more in-depth in the next section, but the Ultimate Guide to Worship Tech 3-pt. Series will be helpful if you don’t already have some of this gear.

Auto-tune Plug In For Ableton Live

Digital Mixing Console

You’ll need a console that is comparable to the Midas X32 or M32. We use the M32R at our church, but you can use your preferred console so long as it can do the following:

• Can connect to computer via USB or Dante

• Has multiple inputs and outputs

• Can send raw audio data to the computer and then receive it back once it’s tuned

Pretty much any modern digital mixing console can do this, but just be aware so you don’t spend money on the wrong gear.
Dante Expansion Card

Now, this is not necessary, but it is extremely helpful for getting your auto-tune up and running. Dante helps you manage your inputs and outputs in a really straightforward way, making it easy for setup. You don’t need to use it, and can do just fine via regular USB connection, but we do think it makes managing your signal flow a lot easier.

Here’s a brief overview of our signal path:

• Signals from the three vocalists come from the sound console via Dante, to Ableton

• Signals get tuned and sent back to the sound console

• The sound console sends those signals and the tuned vocals come out of the PA

By utilizing the Dante network, all our gear can talk to each other and create the flow that you need. We put our auto tuning in Ableton, but on a computer that’s completely separate from our slides, clicks, tracks, etc. Because we have Dante, the computers can talk to each other and the mixing console so that they all work together and keep our signal paths uncluttered.

Auto Tune Plug-Ins

The two most popular tuning plug-ins are Auto-Tune and Waves Tune by Waves. We recommend Waves because it does everything Auto-Tune does but for a fraction of the price. Install the Waves Plug-In into Ableton and you’ll have vocal tuning up in no time.

Setting Up Auto Tuning

Now that we’ve gone through all of the gear, we’ll walk you through how to set up auto-tuning for one vocal mic.

Building in a Safety Net

This step isn’t necessary, but is a good practice just in case anything goes wrong. What we do is create two channels, one for the raw vocals and one for the tuned vocals. This is so if anything goes wrong with Ableton, the sound engineer can easily mute the tuned vocals and turn up the raw signal. Again, it’s not necessary but might be good to keep in mind when building your setup.

So here’s how we set up those channels:

• Raw signal from our stage box goes into our sound console (we also use this for the in-ear monitoring because it’s not good to monitor your tuned sound)

• The second, tuned signal is coming from the back of the board into Ableton where it’s tuned

• It’s then fed back into the console and goes out to the PA system

Routing Overview

Routing the signal to the stage box:

• Mic takes the sound and it goes to the XLR cable and into the stage box

• The stage box then goes to the back of the mixing console

Sending Audio to Ableton

• Since we’re using Dante, we send the signal from the mixing console through the Dante network

• The network picks up the signal and goes into the Dante Sound Card and into Ableton Live

• This gives you the ability to see and modify all of your channels with ease

Sending Signal Back to the Console

• You’ll be able to see the Dante Sound Card plug-in in Ableton

• It will give you access to all of the inputs/outputs, and you can modify which channels you want

• Once you’ve done that in the preferences, the signals will go back through the Dante Network and into the console

Configuring Your Auto Tuning Preferences

Now that you’ve made sure all of your channels and routing are correct, you’re ready to dive into Waves.

• Go into the Ableton Plug-Ins tab and drag Waves down into the screen

• Once it’s open, hit the ‘wrench’ icon to open up your settings

• Now you can modify your pitch correction for your desired effects

Once your in the settings, you can play with everything from the tuning mode to the speed of the note transition. You can set them to anything you want, but we’ve found that the default settings already sound pretty natural. Any further tinkering is all to need or taste.

We’ve kept ours in the chromatic mode, which will correct the pitch to the closest chromatic note. We have competent singers so 99.99% of the time, the tuning corrects a slightly sharp or flat note to the desired pitch.

Testing the Signal Flow

Before you start using auto-tuning in your services, you’ll want to test it first.

Go back into Dante and make sure all of your channels, inputs, and outputs are correct. You should be able to see your inputs match up properly so that they’re all routed into the sound console. If you’ve done two channels like we do, you’ll be able to turn up or down each channel so you can hear the difference between the raw and tuned signal.

Autotune For Ableton Live 10 Lite

Wrap-up

Best Autotune For Ableton Live 10

The great thing about this setup is that you can customize it to exactly what you need. Auto-tune can empower even the best musicians sound even just a bit better, helping you to craft a gospel-centered and tech-savvy worship service.

To continue building a great worship ministry, feel free to connect with me and my team at Worship Tech School.