Can anyone compare - SynchroArts Vocalign Ultra and Melodyne 5

[Max Arwood]

Thanks - Max

[Max Arwood]

No one?

[ZincT]

@Max ArwoodDifferent products for different things. As usual with such products there is some overlap.

Melodyne is primarily for tuning a vocal (or other instrument) part in the greatest of detail. The version I have (Editor) can also adjust sibilance, timing, gain envelopes and a whole host of other things like audio to MIDI. For the full rundown see here --> https://www.celemony.com/en/melodyne/new-in-melodyne-5 

Vocalign Ultra is primarily for ensuring that multiple vocal tracks are aligned, timing wise with a main vocal part. It can now also do some pitch modifications but I wouldn't use it in place of Melodyne for that. It also now uses the same algorithms as their Revoice Pro product which is a step up from Vocalign Pro. See here for more information -->  https://www.synchroarts.com/products/vocalign-ultra/overview 

I demoed Revoice Pro but disliked it's workflow and messy UI. Vocalign Ultra is much slicker and does more than Vocalign Pro 4 (which I upgraded from). I  find I can do most things I need to with Melodyne Editor and Vocalign Ultra (and Pro 4 before it). 

There are no hard and fast rules but my typical workflow for using them both would be as follows (take it as read that I would also remove dead space/breaths etc in vocal tracks):

1. Record all the vocal tracks, main, harmonies, doubles etc.
2. Tune/edit the main vocal track as necessary using Melodyne. This might include breath control, sibilance, timing, pitch and gain etc.
3. Either use Autotune or, if necesary, tune any dub tracks as necessary with Melodyne (any that are not too bad you could use Vocalign Ultra to tune in step 4). 
4. Use Vocalign Ultra with the main vocal track as guide and all of the other vocal tracks (at least the ones that are supposed to align with the guide) as dub to align them. 
5. In Vocalign Ultra you could optionally adjust the timing and pitch of the dub tracks in comparison to the guide for creative effects (using manual adjustments or presets).

You could (and I did) use Melodyne alone to align the tracks with each other but that is a manual and time consuming process (not sure whether it's easier in the Studio version).  

Edited January 30, 2021 by ZincT

[Max Arwood]

That’s exactly the info I needed!  Can voice align align a vocal to a drum track or other instrumental track? Could I align Flute and clarinet from an orchestral piece?

Thanks again!!

[ZincT]

3 hours ago, Max Arwood said:

That’s exactly the info I needed!  Can voice align align a vocal to a drum track or other instrumental track? Could I align Flute and clarinet from an orchestral piece?

Thanks again!!

Glad it helped Max.

I have only ever used it for vocals and was going to say that it's really meant for vocals but then thought I would try out some instrument scenarios.

So first I recorded a 4 on the floor kick beat on one track (EzDrummer frozen to make audio) and myself singing notes deliberately out of time on another. To my surprise Vocalign Ultra was able to tidy up my vocals to be in sync with the kick drum. 

I then tried the same thing with a flute and trumpet part using Sampletank 4 instruments. I made the flute part perfectly in time and then copied the MIDI from that to the trumpet track and manually moved the notes around to make it out of sync with the flute. I then froze both track and used the audio with Vocalign Ultra. Initially the trumpet sounded weird and then I realised that match tuning was selected  After de-selecting match tuning it was able to match the timing and bring the trumpet back in sync with the flute apart from one note which I had probably gone too far with when I moved it out of sync. 

I have to say that I was slightly surprised and impressed with the results for non-vocal alignment although I guess the results  might vary depending on the specific situation.

[Max Arwood]

Ok thanks. I have a bunch of trouble with string sections. The slow attack always makes them late. I was wondering if it could fix this?

[ZincT]

4 hours ago, Max Arwood said:

Ok thanks. I have a bunch of trouble with string sections. The slow attack always makes them late. I was wondering if it could fix this?

Probably easier to start the notes earlier, assuming these are virtual instruments so you would just be nudging the start point slightly to the left. 
That's what I often do in this case either manually nudging the offending notes or using quantise with a negative offset.

[Max Arwood]

17 hours ago, ZincT said:

Probably easier to start the notes earlier, assuming these are virtual instruments so you would just be nudging the start point slightly to the left. 
That's what I often do in this case either manually nudging the offending notes or using quantise with a negative offset.

It is virtual.  Yes thanks, that's what I do.  It seems like notes that are louder seem to start sooner than softer notes, just like a real string instrument would do.  That is what makes it harder. Getting it close is not hard, but getting it right in the timing groove is tricky.