Antares AutoTune 4 user manual

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Chapter 3: Auto-Tune 4 Controls
This chapter is a reference for all of the controls used in the Auto-Tune 4
interface. How these controls are used together for intonation correction is
demonstrated in Chapter 4, Auto-Tune 4 Tutorial.
If you are upgrading from Auto-Tune 3, you can probably skip ahead to
Chapter 5, New Feature Quick Start Guide.
Common Controls
The following controls and displays are visible regardless of which
operating mode is selected. Their settings affect both Automatic and
Graphical Modes.
SAMPLE RATE DISPLAY
This display indicates the sample rate of the current
audio file as reported to Auto-Tune 4 by the host
application.
NOTE: Auto-Tune 4 is high sample rate compatible. If your host applica-
tion and audio hardware are capable of dealing with up to 192 kHz
files, Auto-Tune 4 will process them correctly. However, it’s important
to remember that high sample rate files require substantially more DSP
power than 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz files, so the number of possible
simultaneous Auto-Tune 4 instantiations will be decreased.
ANOTHER NOTE: If you are using external A/D converters with indepen-
dently selectable sample rates, it can be possible to establish a mis-
match between the actual conversion sample rate and what the host
application thinks is the sample rate. If this happens, Auto-Tune 4 will
appear to be correcting pitch to the “wrong” key. If this seems to be
happening, check to be sure that your converter sample rate and your
host application sample rate (as displayed by Auto-Tune 4) match.T 
						

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INPUT TYPE
As a result of Antares research into the unique
characteristics of various types of audio
signals, Auto-Tune 4 offers a selection of
optimized processing algorithms for the most
commonly pitch-corrected inputs. Choices
include Soprano Voice, Alto/Tenor Voice, Low Male Voice, Instrument, and
Bass Instrument. Matching the appropriate algorithm to the input results in
even faster and more accurate pitch detection and correction.
To select the desired Input Type, click on the Input Type pop-up and then
select the desired type from the pop-up list.
NOTE: Choosing the wrong Input Type (or just forgetting to set it at all)
can result in compromised performance. Pay attention.
ANOTHER NOTE: When any Input Type other than Bass Instrument is
selected, Auto-Tune 4 is reliably able to detect pitches down to A0
(55Hz). Selecting Bass Instrument lowers the lowest detectable fre-
quency by about one octave to 25Hz. Since the lowest E string on a
bass guitar is approximately 41Hz, Bass Instrument (as its name so ably
implies) allows you to apply pitch correction to those pesky fretless bass
lines as well as other low bass range instruments. However, when Bass
Instrument is selected, pitches above A4 may be incorrectly tuned by a
perfect fifth, so be sure to select Bass Instrument only when correcting
bass range tracks.
CORRECTION MODE
Click the appropriate button to
select either Automatic or Graphical
Mode.
SELECT PITCH REFERENCE
Auto-Tune 4 provides the ability to pitch correct
stereo tracks while maintaining the tracks’
phase coherence. (Refer to your host
application’s manual for instructions on assign-
ing a plug-in to a stereo track.) Click the appro-
priate button to select which of the two stereo
tracks (left or right) Auto-Tune 4 will use as a pitch reference.
NOTE: If there is a marked difference in the two tracks, pick the
cleanest, most isolated track. For example, if one track is a close mic’d
vocal while the other is mic’d from farther away for ambience, or is
heavily processed, select the close mic’d track. 
						

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ANOTHER NOTE: Auto-Tune 4 will only pitch correct true stereo tracks.
If the second track (i.e., the track not selected as a pitch reference) is
simply an independent unrelated track, unpredictable (and potentially
unpleasant) sounds may result. On the other hand, something interest-
ing might happen. You never know.
When Auto-Tune 4 is instantiated on a mono track, this control is inactive
(grayed out).
BYPASS
Auto-Tune 4 does not include a dedicated Bypass control as that function is
typically provided by the host application’s plug-in interface. However, it is
worth noting that Auto-Tune 4 is designed such that switching the bypass
state will not cause any audio artifacts. It can safely be used in performance
or in the middle of a recorded track.
OPTIONS
Clicking the Options button will bring up a window
containing a number of settings that fall into the “set
and forget” category. They are:
BUFFER SIZEThis controls
the number of seconds of
memory buffer space that
are permanently reserved
for pitch tracking and
pitch correction data in
Graphical Mode. (There is
a separate buffer for each
plug-in occurrence.) To
change the buffer alloca-
tion, click in the data field
and enter the required
number of seconds.
NOTE: As buffer memory
is typically allocated from
within your host applica-
tion, for large buffers, it
may be necessary to
increase the memory
allocation of your host. 
						

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ANOTHER NOTE: Some host applications allow Auto-Tune 4 to display
all tracked pitch information at their correct times within the track. If
your application supports this capability, setting the buffer to the
length of the entire song and tracking the pitch in one pass will allow
you to quickly and easily move to each section of audio to be corrected
as necessary.
GRAPHICAL MODE COLOR SCHEMEThis setting lets you select one of
three color scheme options for the Graphical Mode Pitch and Envelope
Display:
CLASSIC: Just like Auto-Tune 3. A dark green background with red
detected pitch curves and yellow target pitch curves.
ALTERNATE: The same background color as Classic, but with blue
detected pitch curves and bright green target pitch curves (selected
for readability by people with the most common types of Red/Green
color blindness).
BLACK AND WHITE: A white background with red detected pitch
curves and black target pitch curves. Not too pretty, but the ultimate
high contrast display (as in the original Auto-Tune)
KNOB CONTROLLets you select how you want to control the “knobs”
in the Auto-Tune 4 interface:
VERTICAL: Position the cursor over a knob, press and hold the left
mouse button (or the only mouse button, if you’re using a one-
button mouse) and move the cursor up to turn the knob clockwise
or down to turn the knob counterclockwise. The current value of the
knob’s parameter appears in its associated numeric display.
HORIZONTAL: Position the cursor over a knob, press and hold the
left mouse button and move the cursor to the right to turn the knob
clockwise or to the left to turn the knob counterclockwise. The
current value of the knob’s parameter appears in its associated
numeric display.
RADIAL: Click anywhere around the circumference of the knob,
press and hold the left mouse button and “rotate” the knob in the
desired direction. The current value of the knob’s parameter appears
in its associated numeric display.
CUSTOM CURSORSClick the check box to use Custom Cursors in
Graphical Mode.
Normally, Auto-Tune 4 displays different cursor shapes in the Pitch
Graph Display to help you grab and drag objects (e.g., the object
cursor, the anchor point cursor, etc.). However, some host applications
mistakenly think that they own the cursor when it is in a plug-in
window. This may cause the cursor to flash as the host and Auto-Tune 4
alternately try to set the cursor shape. If this annoys you, unclick this
check box. It will stop the flashing, but you will no longer see Auto-
Tune 4’s custom cursors. 
						

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NUMBER OF UNDOS Auto-Tune 4 provides multiple Undo/Redo
capability in Graphical Mode. Select the maximum allowable number
here (up to 20). Choosing a higher number allocates more memory for
saving intermediate states.
Automatic Mode Controls
KNOBS
All of Auto-Tune 4’s continuous parameters are represented as
knobs. Depending on your preference, you can control knobs
by vertical, horizontal or radial mouse movement. Set your
preference in the Options dialog described above.
Double-clicking on a knob will return it to its default value. In some host
applications, Command/Control clicking on a knob will also reset it to
default (see the Auto-Tune 4 Read Me and/or your host application manual
for details).
KEY SELECTION
To select the desired key, click on the Key
pop-up and then select the desired note from
the pop-up list. This determines the pitch of
the first note of the scale according to the
standard A3 = 440 Hertz.
SCALE SELECTION
To select a scale, click on the Scale pop-up
and then select the desired scale from the
pop-up list.
NOTE: To avoid having to deal with scales containing those annoying
double flats, double sharps and notes like Cb, E#, Fb and B#, Auto-Tune
4 will automatically choose the simpler of two enharmonically equiva-
lent scales. For example, if you select Db Major, the Edit Scale Display
will duly display the Db Major scale. However, if you then go to the
Scale selection pop-up and select Minor, the Key will automatically be
changed to C# and the Edit Scale Display will, in fact, display the much
friendlier C# Minor scale. This will also be reflected on the Pitch Graph
Display in the Graphical Mode. 
						

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THE SCALES
Auto-Tune 4 comes with 29 preprogrammed scales. The first three scales are
equal tempered. These are the ubiquitous scales typically found in Western
tonal music. The other scales are historical, ethnic, and microtonal scales.
An in-depth discussion of these scales and their history is beyond the scope
of this manual. The interested reader will find more information in Tuning
In — Microtonality In Electronic Music by Scott R. Wilkinson, published by
Hal Leonard Books.
The following is a brief synopsis of the scales:
MODERN EQUAL TEMPERAMENT:
•major: a seven-tone equal tempered major scale.
•minor: a seven-tone equal tempered minor scale.
•Equal Tempered chrom.: a twelve-tone equal tempered chromatic
scale.
HISTORICAL TUNINGS:
•Ling Lun: a twelve-tone scale dating from 2700 B.C. China.
•Scholar’s Lute: a seven-tone scale dating from 300 B.C. China.
•Greek diatonic genus: a seven-tone scale from ancient Greece.
•Greek chromatic genus: a seven-tone scale from ancient Greece.
•Greek enharmonic genus: a seven-tone scale from ancient Greece.
•Pythagorean: a twelve-tone scale dating from 600 B.C. Greece. This
scale is derived by tuning twelve pure perfect fifths upward and
adjusting the octaves downward. This leads to some pure intervals
and some very impure intervals.
•Just (major chromatic): a twelve-tone scale. Just intonation tunes the
most frequently used intervals to be pure (integer ratios in fre-
quency). These tunings depend on the mode (major or minor) and
the key. This scale is tuned for major mode.
•Just (minor chromatic): (See Just (major chromatic), above)
•Meantone chrom.: a twelve-tone scale. This tuning is a combination
of Pythagorean and just tunings so that music in a wider variety of
keys could be usable.
•Werckmeister III chrom.: a twelve-tone scale. This scale was a first
attempt (about Bach’s time) to allow an instrument to be played in
any scale. It was in response to this scale that Bach wrote Well-
Tempered Clavier.
•Vallotti & Young chrom.: a twelve-tone scale. Another derivative of
the Pythagorean scale designed to allow arbitrary keys.
•Barnes-Bach (chromatic): a twelve-tone scale. A variation of the
Vallotti & Young scale designed to optimize the performance of
Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. 
						

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ETHNIC TUNINGS:
•Indian: This 22 tone scale is used in India to perform ragas.
•Slendro: This five-tone Indonesian scale is played by ensembles
called gamelans.
•Pelog: This seven-tone Indonesian scale is more interesting than
Slendro and is now the primary scale in Balinese music.
•Arabic 1: This 17 tone scale is the original Arabic scale adopted from
the Pythagorean scale.
•Arabic 2 (chromatic): This twelve-tone scale is the modern version of
the Arabic scale popular in Arabic music today.
CONTEMPORARY TUNINGS:
Equal tempered scales with a large number of tones are typically used
to play common tonal harmony with greater purity of intervals and
chords. The typical approach is to analyze a passage (or less) of music
and select tones from a scale that will best approximate the desired
pure intervals.
•19 Tone: This scale has greater purity of minor thirds and major
thirds (and conversely, minor and major sixths) than twelve-tone
equal temperament. A disadvantage is that perfect fifths are
narrower than those found in twelve-tone equal temperament.
•24 Tone: Also know as the quarter tone scale, this scale is used for
variety but has no advantage in terms of ratios that better approxi-
mate pure intervals.
•31 Tone: In addition to intervals that better approximate pure
intervals, this scale also contains good approximations to Indonesian
pelog and slendro scales.
•53 Tone: Related mathematically to the cycle of fifths, the 53-tone
scale has very pure major and minor thirds, and fifths and fourths.
•Partch: Harry Partch is considered the father of modern
microtonality. This scale was devised by him and used in instrument
building and performances.
•Carlos Alpha: Wendy Carlos performed extensive computer analysis
to devise a number of equal tempered scales with good approxima-
tions for the primary harmonic intervals and their inversions. This
scale is good at approximating the primary intervals including 7/4.
This scale divides the octave into 15.385 steps forming intervals of
78.0 cents.
•Carlos Beta: This scale divides the octave into 18.809 steps forming
intervals of 63.8 cents. 
						

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•Carlos Gamma: This scale achieves perfect purity of the primary
intervals 3/2, 4/3 and 5/4. This scale divides the octave into 34.188
steps forming intervals of 35.1 cents.
•Harmonic (chromatic): This twelve-tone scale is created in the
partials in the fifth octave of the harmonic series. The scale degrees
that correspond to the classic just intervals are the major second,
major third, perfect fifth and major seventh.
THE EDIT SCALE DISPLAY
The Edit Scale Display is used to create custom scales or to modify any of
the preset scales. Edits made using this display are associated with each
scale. That is, each scale retains its own edits independent of the other
scales. For example, if you select C Major and Remove or Bypass certain
notes and then change to C Minor and make other edits, when you return
to C Major your previous edits associated with C Major will be restored.
The Edit Scale window displays each note of the currently selected scale in
the currently selected key. If the selected scale includes more than twelve
notes, Up and Down arrows will appear to allow scrolling through all of the
available notes.
Beside each note name are two buttons: a Bypass button and a Remove
button. Click on a button to toggle its state. The button will light to
indicate that its mode is active.
If neither of these buttons are lit, Auto-Tune 4 treats this note as a normal
scale note, i.e., when the input pitch is close to this note, Auto-Tune 4 will
correct the pitch to this note at the rate set by the Retune Speed control. 
						

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If the scale selected in the Scale popup contains exactly 12 notes (e.g.,
Chromatic, Pythagorean, Meantone Chromatic, Just, etc.), the Virtual
Keyboard (see below) will be active and any edits to the scale notes made
in the Edit Scale Display will also be reflected on the Virtual Keyboard.
NOTE: Although Auto-Tune 4 allows setting scale note behaviors in
individual octaves, any edits made via the Edit Scale Display will affect
all octaves. To edit notes in individual octaves, use the Virtual Key-
board.
BYPASS
If the Bypass button is lit, when the input pitch is close to
this note the input will be passed through with no
correction.
Why set Scale notes to “Bypass?”
There are two main reasons to set one or more scale
notes to “Bypass.”
1. If a performance includes pitch gestures around one
or more specific notes that you want to preserve with
no modification whatsoever, you can set just those
notes to Bypass. This lets Auto-Tune 4 correct any
pitch problems elsewhere in the scale but passes
everything near the bypassed notes completely
unprocessed.
2. If a performance contains only a single error, you can
set all notes to Bypass except the one “sour” note.
Auto-Tune 4 will then pass the entire performance
through unprocessed except for the sour note, which
will be corrected.
REMOVE
If the Remove button is lit, then the note is simply removed
from the current scale. For example, selecting the Chromatic
scale and then setting C#, D#, F#, G#, A# to Remove would
cause a C Major scale to remain. In that case Auto-Tune 4
would always retune the input to the closest note of the C
Major scale.
Why set Scale notes to “Remove?”
To understand why it is sometimes necessary to set even
correct scale notes to ”Remove,“ let’s look again at the
example from Chapter 1. 
						

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This phrase is in D Major and, if all
the pitch errors were no greater
than about 49 cents, would work
fine with a standard D Major scale
(D, E, F#, G, A, B, C# ). However,
the pitch error of three semitones
at the end of the last note is so
large that with B and C # present
in the Scale, as the pitch fell, Auto-
Tune 4 would see first C# and then
B as the target pitch and therefore
allow the error to remain. With C#
and B removed from the Scale,
Auto-Tune 4 continues to see D as
the target pitch for the entire
duration of the note and therefore
pulls the phrase up to the correct
pitch.
CENTS
The number in the Cents column is the associated
note’s interval, in cents, from the root note of the
scale. It’s provided for reference purposes and to
help you choose which notes of a microtonal scale
to include or remove.
10.0 10.5 11.0 D3
B2
ORIGINAL
PERFORMANCE CORRECTED BY 
AUTO-TUNE 4
C#3
SET ALL
Clicking this button sets all notes in the
current scale to Scale Notes in all octaves.
This function is useful as a Reset button to
instantly erase all previous Remove and/or Bypass settings and reset an
edited scale to its default state.