Antares AVOX 4 user manual

							Owner’s Manual
Antares Vocal Toolkit
AVOX  4 
						

							©2013 Antares Audio Technologies.   
All rights reserved. Certified Isinglass-free.™   
All trademarks are property of their respective owners.  
www.antarestech.com   
						

							The Obligatory Legal Mumbo-Jumbo 
The Antares AVOX 4 software and this User’s 
Manual are protected by copyright law. 
Making copies, adaptations, or derivative 
works without the prior written authorization 
of Antares Audio Technologies, is prohibited 
by law and constitutes a punishable violation 
of the law.
Antares Audio Technologies retains all 
ownership rights to the AVOX 4 software and 
its documentation. Use of AVOX 4 is limited by 
the following license agreement.
Please carefully read all the terms and 
conditions of this license agreement. At the 
time of installation of the AVOX 4 software 
you will be presented with a copy of the 
agreement and asked whether or not you 
agree to it. Continuing with the installation 
process beyond that point constitutes such 
agreement.AVOX 4 License Agreement
Antares Audio Technologies grants you a 
non-transferable, non-exclusive license to use 
AVOX 4 under the terms and conditions stated 
in this agreement. Use of AVOX 4 indicates 
your agreement to the following terms and 
conditions.
License
You may:
  1.    Use AVOX 4 on only one computer at a 
time.  Authorization requires an USB iLok 
Smart Key which must be purchased 
separately.
You may not:
  1.    Make copies of AVOX 4 or of the user  manual in whole or in part except as 
expressly provided for in this agreement. 
Your right to copy AVOX 4 and the user 
manual is limited by copyright law. Making 
copies, verbal or media translations, 
adaptations, derivative works, or 
telecommunication data transmission 
of AVOX 4 without prior written 
authorization of Antares, is prohibited by 
law and constitutes a punishable violation 
of the law.
  2.    Make alteration or modifications to AVOX  4 (or any copy) or disassemble or de-
compile AVOX 4 (or any copy), or attempt 
to discover the source code of AVOX 4.
  3.    Sub-license, lease, lend, rent, or grant  other rights in all or any portion of AVOX 4 
(or any copy) to others. 
						

							Term of the Agreement
This agreement is effective until terminated 
by you or Antares. You may terminate the 
agreement at any time by notifying Antares 
and destroying all copies of the manual, and 
erasing AVOX 4 from all machine-readable 
media, whether on-line or on archival copies.
In the event of breach of any of the terms of 
this agreement, you shall pay the attorney’s 
fees of Antares that are reasonably necessary 
to enforce the agreement plus resulting 
damages.
Product Installation and Required Activation
There are technological measures in the AVOX 
4 that are designed to prevent unlicensed 
or illegal use of the Software.  You agree 
that Antares Audio Technologies may use 
these measures to protect Antares Audio 
Technologies against software piracy.
Limited Warranty And Disclaimer
AVOX 4 AND ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS 
ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANT Y 
OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, 
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY 
AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICUL AR PURPOSE.
Antares Audio Technologies does not warrant 
that the functions contained in the program 
will meet your requirements. The entire risk as 
to the use, quality, and performance of AVOX 
4 is with you.SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW 
LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED 
WARRANTY LASTS, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION 
MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANT Y 
GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. YOU MAY 
ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM 
JURISDICTION TO JURISDICTION.
Limitation of LiabilityIN NO EVENT WILL ANTARES BE LIABLE 
FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF 
DATA, LOST PROFITS OR OTHER SPECIAL, 
INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INDIRECT 
DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OF AVOX 
4  OR ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS. THIS 
LIMITATION WILL APPLY EVEN IF ANTARES OR 
ITS AUTHORIZED AGENT HAS BEEN ADVISED 
OF THE POSSIBILIT Y OF SUCH DAMAGE. 
YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE LICENSE FEE 
REFLECTS THIS ALLOCATION OF RISK. SOME 
JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATION OR 
EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR 
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE 
LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
Whew! Now that that’s over, let’s get on to the 
good stuff.  
						

							Contents
Chapter 1 Getting Started   2
Chapter 2  Introducing AVOX 4  4
Chapter 3  Harmony Engine Evo Vocal Modeling Harmony Generator  8
Chapter 4  Mic Mod EFX Classic Microphone Modeler  8
Chapter 5  THROAT Evo Physical Modeling Vocal Designer  9
Chapter 6  DUO Evo Vocal Modeling Auto-Doubler  19
Chapter 7  CHOIR Evo Vocal Multiplier  23
Chapter 8  PUNCH Evo Vocal Impact Enhancer   26
Chapter 9  SYBIL Evo Variable Frequency De-Esser  28
Chapter 10  ARTICULATOR Evo Digital Talk Box  31
Chapter 11  MUTATOR Evo Extreme Voice Designer  40
Chapter 12  WARM Tube Saturation Generator  46
Chapter 13  ASPIRE Evo Aspiration Noise Processor  51
  Index   55 
						

							vi  
						

							1
Welcome!
On behalf of everyone at Antares Audio Technologies, we’d like to offer both our 
thanks and congratulations on your decision to purchase the AVOX 4 Antares 
Vocal Toolkit, a suite of uniquely powerful DSP tools for creating spectacular 
vocal tracks. As an AVOX 4 owner, you are entitled to receive notification of any 
software updates, technical support, and advance announcements of upcoming products. But we 
can’t send you stuff unless we know who and where you are. So please, register.
At Antares, we are committed to excellence in quality, customer service, and technological 
innovation. With your purchase of AVOX 4, you have created a relationship with Antares which 
we hope will be long and gratifying. Let us know what you think. You can count on us to listen.
Again, thanks.
The Whole Antares Crew  
						

							2
1:  Getting Started
Consequently, we encourage you to at least 
scan each of the individual plug-in’s chapters 
for descriptions of their various parameters. 
In particular, Harmony Engine Evo offers new 
(and extremely intuitive) ways to specify vocal 
harmony, while THROAT Evo, ARTICUL ATOR 
Evo and ASPIRE Evo offer entirely new 
approaches to vocal processing, providing 
capabilities that have simply never before 
existed in a DSP plug-in. We strongly suggest 
that you read their chapters in their entirety to 
gain an understanding of what they can do.
If you just can’t wait to get some sound going, 
feel free to load up some vocal tracks and play 
around with the various AVOX 4 plug-ins. (Be 
sure to check out Harmony Engine Evo’s and 
THROAT Evo’s collection of factory presets. 
They’ll give you a good idea of what they’re 
capable of as well as providing inspiration for   
your own creations.) Then come back and dig   
into the details. 
How to use this manual
The plug-ins that make up the AVOX 4 suite have been designed with clear, consistent, 
friendly user-interfaces. If you come to AVOX 4 with previous vocal processing 
experience, you will find that most of their functions are self-evident and are extraordinarily easy 
to use. However, since some of the AVOX 4 tools do things that have never been done before (or do 
them in new ways), a few aspects of their user-interfaces may not be immediately obvious.
The contents of this manual 
Chapter 1: Getting Started 
The chapter you are reading. Provides infor -
mation on installing and authorizing AVOX 4.
Chapter 2: Introducing AVOX 4
This chapter provides an overview of the tools 
that make up the AVOX 4 plug-in suite.
Chapters 3–12
These chapters are reference information for 
all of the controls used in each of the other 
AVOX 4 plug-in interfaces.
Installing AVOX 4
The AVOX 4 installer will give you the option 
of installing all, or any combination, of the 11 
AVOX 4 plug-ins. (While we can’t imagine why 
you wouldn’t want to install all of them, you 
at least have the choice.) If you do choose to 
install only some of them, you can always run 
the installer again later to install the rest. 
The AVOX 4 plug-ins are designed to function 
in a wide variety of digital audio applications. 
Please refer to your specific host application’s 
user manual for more information on installing 
and using plug-ins.    
						

							3
Authorizing AVOX 4 
Authorization is the process by which 
AVOX 4 is allowed to run on your computer. 
Detailed instructions covering the available 
authorization options will be found in the file 
“Authorization Read Me” which is included 
on the installation DVD ROM or with your 
software download. 
AVOX 4 authorization requires an iLok USB 
smart key. If you already own other audio 
plug-ins, you probably already have one. If not, 
they can be purchased from many local music 
stores as well as most online music technology 
retailers.
NOTE: You will need to authorize 
AVOX 4 before you can run it in your 
host. If you plan to follow along with 
the manual (a good idea), go do it now. 
Technical Support 
  1.  Make sure you have the latest version of 
the plug-in. You can download and install 
the latest version of AVOX 4 from the 
following web page:
   http://www.antarestech.com/download/ update.shtml
  2.  If you are having problems authorizing 
your software, be sure that you have the 
latest version of the PACE Interlok drivers. 
You can download and install the latest 
version for your operating system from 
the following web page:
   http://portal.knowledgebase.net/article. asp?article=174703&p=5764 If your problem is not resolved after taking the 
above actions, try the following:
 
1. Make another quick scan through this 
manual. Who knows? You may have 
stumbled onto some feature that you 
didn’t notice the first time through.
  2.  Consult our searchable knowledgebase at:
   http://www.antarestech.com/support/ index.html
  3.  Check our web page for tips, techniques, 
or any late-breaking information:
   http://www.antarestech.com
  4.  Join the Antares Online Community at:
   http://www.antarestech.com
    The community provides a user forum 
where you can ask for help and insight 
from hundreds of other Antares product 
users.
  5.  For the quickest access to new 
developments, follow us on Twitter and 
“Like” our Facebook pages: 
   http:/twitter.com/AntaresAudio 
   https://www.facebook.com/pages/ Antares-Audio-Technologies/68524457680
   https:/www.facebook.com/pages/Auto- Tune/81891651280  
						

							4
2: Introducing AVOX 4
The heart of any great song is a great vocal sound. With the AVOX 4 Antares Vocal Toolkit, we’ve 
combined eleven state-of-the-art vocal processing modules that open up an entirely new world of 
vocal processing capabilities. AVOX 4 gives you the power you need to create stunning vocal tracks 
in any musical style as well as design unique vocal effects for audio post-production applications.
In the following chapters we’ll deal with each AVOX tool in turn, but first let’s take a brief look at 
what’s in AVOX 4 and how you might use the tools in combination.