Choir-izer Plug-ins: Virsyn Klon and Antares Harmony EFX
The AES New York 2009 convention begins this week at the Javits Center, and pre-convention time usually means special-interest and/or boutique hardware and software if you’re scouring for new gear.
Virsyn Klon
This week, a couple of vocal harmony plug-ins popped up, both with introductory price offers.
Virsyn Klon – The Vocal Designer
Maker of the impressive Cantor 2 vocal synthesizer, Virsyn offers the more robust of these two plug-ins, Klon. A harmonic pitch shifter for Mac or PC in VST, AU and RTAS plug-in formats, Klon makes up to 16 copies of your voice in real time and can be used as a harmonizer, pitch corrector, gender manipulator, choir builder, voice doubler and more. Klon’s 16 pitch shifters are divided into four groups, each with an x-y axis for setting pitch and panorama. Virsyn promises +/- two octaves of pitch shifting in real time while retaining the vocal quality. All the controls are available for automation in the host DAW.
Klon’s regular full price will be 169 euros, but it’s on sale for 99 euros until October 31, 2009. Or you can get Klon for free if you buy Virsyn’s Take Five FX bundle (499 euros; including Bark Matrix, Reflect, TDesign and VTape) by October 31.
Antares Harmony EFX
Antares Harmony EFX
Vocal processing autocrat Antares has made its Harmony Engine Evo technology more affordable by releasing Harmony EFX, a streamlined version of the “vocal modeling harmony generator.”
Harmony EFX can generate as much as a five-part vocal harmony from a single vocal track. Five modes of operation let you set up quick harmonies based on key, define your harmonies note-by-note, play each of the harmony voices as if it were a keyboard and more. Each of the four formant-corrected harmony voices has independent pan settings and throat modeling options.
Whereas Harmony Engine Evo costs $249, Harmony EFX will carry an MSRP of $129 and sell for an intro price of $49 through November 2009.