The five plug–ins that comprised the original release appear little changed and, given that these were described in some detail in Paul White's earlier review, I'll concentrate here upon the new additions. Straightforward creative processing is provided by Warm - a belated replacement for the now defunct Antares Tube valve simulator - and vocoder–like Articulator, while Mutator and Aspire concentrate upon further voice modelling processes. So what extra vocal processing options does the new Avox 2 package provide, and do they add significantly to the value offered? Bigger Is BetterĪrticulator is capable of creating some interesting vocoder–style effects.The new Harmony Engine builds on the principles of the Choir and Duo plug–ins to create a processor that can generate full four–part harmonies, in much the same way as hardware and software products from Digitech, TC–Helicon and Mu Technologies can. Now Avox is back, and not only is the UK price somewhat lower, at £350, but Antares have included five new plug–ins alongside those of the original bundle. Providing your expectations of what was possible with Throat were realistic, perhaps the only down side of the original Avox bundle was the cost: some may have baulked at an asking price of £400. While no one was claiming Throat could turn a Britney Spears into a Robert Plant, for subtle shifts in vocal character and gender it could work very well, with extreme settings providing fun 'special effects'. Choir and Duo simulated doubling and multitracking, Sybil was a straightforward de–esser and Punch a simple compressor optimised for vocals, while the Throat plug–in was an ambitious attempt to model the vocal tract, allowing the user to change various characteristics of the virtual throat and, therefore, the character of the voice. Antares have been at the forefront of vocal manipulation, and their original Avox bundle (reviewed in the January 2006 issue of SOS: provided a collection of five plug–ins.
Of course, what constitutes the 'right' vocal is a subjective matter, but the ability to creatively adjust the raw vocal performance is something we almost take for granted in our modern DAW–based recording systems.
Warm includes a nice tube graphic that glows brighter when driven harder.However good your arrangement, instrumental performances and mix might be, without the right vocal even the best song can struggle to survive. Antares have updated their Avox vocal processing bundle and, alongside further tools for character manipulation, automated harmony generation is now included.
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