Vocal Software Question (noob)

[haffner1]

I tried on my usual forum - sevenstring.org, but no one has any suggestions so far. I am mainly a guitarist, but due to the lack of interest in metal in my neck of the woods, I have decided of late that I will have to branch out and write vocals and all for my songs rather than just write the standard rhythm and lead guitar stuff and hope for someone to work something over the verse parts later. My problem is this: My voice sucks, and I unfortunatly don't have the time to work on it like I would like to. I have a good bit of vocals with the melody and harmonies worked out, but when it comes to recording leads, I pretty much sound like ass. On a good day, I can do a halfway decent job on the backing vocals, but for leads, I really just don't have the projection or versatility. I need to get some software to help me out so I can at least get the stuff down on track so it is listenable to the point that my song ideas come across and I can get a more serious vocalist interested in what I am doing.
This is what I am hoping to find:
$500 or less
pitch correction
some sort of timbre shaping/tone assistance
doubling -or some sort of help for choral type voices without recording 20 different tracks of the same thing.
Very important here- NO ILOK REQUIREMENT. I absolutly hate that stuff. I have enough computer problems as it is, and I don't need some mistrustful software company bypassing my OS and jacking up my stuff just to show that I paid for what I already own.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[arv_foh]

celemony melodyne

 

[P-E]

Try GSnap, it's free. http://www.gvst.co.uk/gsnap.htm
It's basically a free autotune.

Timbre shaping/tone assistance I couldn't really say. Practice makes perfect.

For choral stuff, you'd be better off recording many tracks IMHO (or it won't really sound natural), you just don't need 20.
Some of the way more experienced guys in here would be able to help you better for sure.

edit : If you wanna pay, I second the Melodyne recommendation.

 

[TheDean84]

Melodyne is great!

 

[haffner1]

Thanks for the input. I looked at the melodyne briefly, but I didn't really check out the interface or anything. I will read up on it some more. I rather liked what the Antares had to offer after looking at the interface and such, but after reading up on the ilok, I decided strongly against it. Hopefully Melodyne has similar stuff. I will check out the free plug in too. I am using Sonar 7 in both 32 and 64 bit versions, but I probably can't use whatever I get on both computers, so in a pinch I will put it on the 32 bit one (desktop) and then just mix down before I put the bundle on the 64 bit version (laptop) to take to the practice studio. I seem to have problems with plug-ins on the 64 bit version anyway.

 

[DasReich]

Just bear in mind that the learning curve on vocals is really steep, its not like the years you need to spend to get better at an an instrument ... within months you might be suprised how much progress you can make.