Cubase Variaudio

[Ericlingus]

I noticed if I change the note completely of a vocal line(say it was sung as an F but needed to be F#) that I can only make it perfectly in tune. Is there a way to have more control over that? Normally I have control over how much I want to tune the note but if I change the note to a different one entirely I can only tune it 100%. Anyone know if there is a way around this?

 

[exoslime]

you need to hold the shift key while you are moving the element, than it will not fall into the grid and you can move it free around

 

[Ericlingus]

awesome thanks a ton! I knew there must of been a way to keep it from just snapping to grid when moving the note.

 

[Ericlingus]

while on the subject, what do you guys think of variaudio? Anyone here use it? It's the only pitch correction I have so it's either this or nothing. I've been using it a little bit lately and I don't think it's too bad although I have nothing else to compare it to.

 

[egan.]

JeffTD uses it a ton and does pro work. Perhaps he'll chime in.

 

[Ericlingus]

that's cool to hear.

 

[exoslime]

i have used it alot in the past and i like the integrated workflow within cubase, but last year i switched to melodyne, which does sound slightly better to my ears, but the workflow with melodyne within cubase is not as nice as it was with variaudio. everytime i apply variaudio to, for examples a vocal line, i notice a subtle degradation of the audio material, kinda like loosing some of presesce and upfrontness, it can be very subtle but if you A/B you notice it.. i think the loss of audio quality with melodyne is a bit more subtle than on variaudio.
but anyways i think variaudio works pretty good!

which version of cubase do you use? i´m still at 6.5 but according to the cubase feature list they have updated the variaudio codecs since version 7 or 7.5

 

[Keregioz]

I agree with exoslime. Variaudio is really convenient and I use it often for demos or small corrections, but melodyne definitely sounds better and it's my main "go to" program for pitch correction. You can definitely get away with using varioaudio, though, if you don't have other options.

 

[JeffTD]

Note: This is speaking strictly about C6.5's VariAudio (VA) - I'm on C8 now for my own stuff but the place I work out of now runs C6.5; I have a feeling C8's will be much improved but I haven't tested that yet.

It's the only tuner I use while tracking, but it only makes a final product like 10% of the time. It's great for getting a crappy singer roughly in tune to track harmonies or doubles, for writing harmony lines off of copy/pasted original parts for the guy to use as a reference to sing to, but I always abandon the changes and tune with Autotune Evo (AT) for the final thing.

I've found that if I A/B a track done with VA and AT, the VA track might sound a touch more realistic, but it also sounds more out of tune for sure. You'd have to do VA 2-3 times to match the accuracy of AT, and then it's just going to sound super fake.

The other real issue with VA is that the segment detection is really bad and you have to chop rises/falls in pitch off of every note for it to sound realistic. That, and you'll probably already have noticed that it's not great at always giving you two distinct notes when the singer obviously changed pitch, and you have to manually chop the tuning region into separate parts (hit tab to quickly switch between tune/segment modes) which really sucks compared to AT.

FWIW I also prefer AT to Melodyne, but more for workflow in Cubase than fidelity or timbre or accuracy. I still use Melodyne's standalone program to tune bass DIs, however (VA has no chance at that, can't detect low pitches very well).

Again - I'm guessing it's better in C8, but I can't say for certain.

 

[Mattayus]

The other real issue with VA is that the segment detection is really bad and you have to chop rises/falls in pitch off of every note for it to sound realistic

This. And it's really fucking time-consuming.

 

[Ericlingus]

thanks guys. When you use pitch correction, how much do you use it? Do you apply it to the whole track or just notes here adn there? Also how much do you correct the pitch? In VA I usually don't correct the pitch 100%. What about when just quickly applying to track harmonies? Do you pitch correct everything 100% then? Crappy about it not working on bass. I haven't tried myself though. I use Cubase 6.5 btw. What are the major changes from 6.5 to 8 other than the mixer? Wish they added more soft synths.

 

[Keregioz]

As long as it sounds realistic and I can get away with it I always go for 100% correction. The general rule is to just use your ears, whatever sounds good.

 

[JeffTD]

100%. in AT my default retune speed is 40 but its always 100% on point.

 

[Ericlingus]

Routine speed? There isn't an option in VA like that right?

 

[JeffTD]

It's how fast (in ms) the tuner will correct a note to proper pitch when it isn't in tune - adjusting this gives more or less the same end-result as adjusting the 2nd control in VA (underneath quantize %, totally blanking on what it's called but it's the one that flattens vibrato).

 

[Ericlingus]

okay I know what you mean now. Why not have it at the fastest time? What do you usually use for that setting on VA? Lots of questions regarding this stuff. I've never pitch correction before this. Thanks for replying btw.

 

[Ericlingus]

okay I know what you mean now. Why not have it at the fastest time? What do you usually use for that setting on VA? Lots of questions regarding this stuff. I've never pitch correction before this. Thanks for replying btw.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

The other real issue with VA is that the segment detection is really bad and you have to chop rises/falls in pitch off of every note for it to sound realistic.

I have this problem with melodyne sometimes.

Or my favorite is when it glues 2 notes together as one. THE BEST.

 

[JeffTD]

okay I know what you mean now. Why not have it at the fastest time? What do you usually use for that setting on VA? Lots of questions regarding this stuff. I've never pitch correction before this. Thanks for replying btw.

Fastest time = fakest sound. 40 is a good medium of "in tune" and "natural sounding" - faster retune kills vibrato and you end up with a synthy sounding vocal. Try it with VA; set both the quantize/straighten pitch controls to 100% and listen to how unnatural the vocal sounds despite being in tune.

 

[JeffTD]

If you're really interested in honing your editing chops, check out [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Multi-Platinum-Pro-Tools-Nathan-Adam/dp/0240520238"]this book[/ame]. It's written with ProTools as the example DAW but the techniques explained and (more importantly) the theory/reasoning behind the editing processes are universally applicable and incredibly important. Virtually every key you hit or mouse click you make should have a specific, well-reasoned purpose behind it.