There are a lot of great plugins built for tuning vocals or other recorded audio samples. And it can cause doubt which one is worth the price.
In this article, we will do a full in-depth comparison between Melodyne and Autotune.
Melodyne vs Antares Auto-Tune
Both options are leading vocal tuning plugins that are powerful and full of capabilities. And both of them do the same thing.
However, there are some points where they perform well and where they do not.
Let’s have a look:
Melodyne
Melodyne was first presented back in 2001. And it fastly became one of the most popular tuning software on the market.
Melodyne won the Technical Grammy award in 2012 and became a must have tool in most of the profesional studios.
Melodyne Advantages:
Informational Graphic Interface
Melodyne has an insanely useful interface that provides a lot of data by its waveform. The height of the waveform shows how loud the sample is. The wave itself is seen in the piano roll, so all the notes are seen as well.
Furthermore, there is a pitch line that shows how the melody transitions from note to note.
Multi-track note editing
Ability to view and modify multiple tracks at the same time.
Musical data
Melodyne analyses all the necessary musical data such as tempo, scale, notes
Note Time stretching
Melodyne can not only change note pitch, but also it is possible to work with note length modification. Melodyne algorithm makes it natural and seamless, so that it is hard to recognise artificial sound after editing.
Convenient and easy to use
One of the main advantages of Melodyne is that it is simple and easy to use. Interface is built so that you can drag, cut, extend and do any other modifications with your mouse just by clicking on the note itself.
Frendly for non-musicians
Auto scale recognition and highlighted notes are very handful for those who are not musically trained. So the program allows you to work more confidently without making mistakes.
High Quality Tuning
When making more drastic tuning such as making a 12 semitones pitch, most of the tuning programs tend to robotize and corrupt audio.
But not Melodyne.
I’ve never seen the better program which does tuning so seamlessly and naturally.
Melodyne Disadvantages
No Autotune
Melodyne does not have an auto tuning. Every note correction has to be done manually. That is the main difference between Melodyne and Autotune.
Takes time to get familiar with all the features
Melodyne is a powerful software, so it might take some time to master all its capabilities.
Melodyne Price:
| Melodyne 4 Essential | 99€ |
| Melodyne 4 Assistant | 249€ |
| Melodyne 4 Editor | 399€ |
| Melodyne 4 Studio | 699€ |
Auto-Tune
Antares Autotune was presented back in 1997. They were pioneers in vocal tuning programs and they have registered a trademark for auto tuning processing.
Auto-Tune is used a lot in pop, hip hop and r&b music and is popular due to it’s famous robotic sound effect.
Autotune Advantages:
Real Time Pitch Correction
This feature is what makes the real difference between Auto-tune and Melodyne.
Auto tuning is very helpful not only for a fast tuning process, but also for live performance.
Graph Mode
Like in Melodyne, Antares Autotune also has a graphic mode to make pitch corrections by each note individually. This mode contains editing tools that allow to make time corrections, pitch curve modifications.
Classic Mode
Gritty Classic “Auto-Tune 5” sound, that Kanye West uses a lot in his productions.
Auto Key
Saving time in the studio is crucial.
This feature will save your time by auto detecting song scale and applying it to the tuning mode.
Auto-Tune Vocal Effects
These effects have vibrato, robotic sound that is trending in charts very well. These effects are applied a lot in hip hop, r&b and pop music.
The amount of effect applied to the vocal can be controlled as well.
Autotune Disadvantages:
Lower pitch tuning quality
Compared to Melodyne, pitch tuning makes vocal sound more robotic and not natural.
Not intuitive interface
Using editing tools can seem complicated and not easy to use.
Autotune Price:
| Auto-Key | $49 |
| Auto-Tune Access | $99 |
| Auto-Tune EFX+ | $199 |
| Auto-Tune Artist | $299 |
| Auto-Tune Pro | $399 |
| Auto-Tune 7 TDM/RTAS | $399 |
AutoTune vs Melodyne. Which One Is Better?
Whether you will choose one or another, both of them will be capable of fantastic tune pitching quality compared to regular plugins on the music market.
In order to determine which one to choose, it is good to know what kind of tuning process you are more likely to use.
Moreover, music style can also be a factor which software is more beneficial.
Melodyne
Melodyne would be a better choice if you have to edit vocals in a detailed and precise manner. Especially if you are working with pop music where everything has to be done perfectly.
AutoTune
AutoTune should be a way to go if you want a fast and automatic vocal tuning process. Moreover, if you are looking for robotic voice vibe, which is trending in Hip Hop and R&B music, this plugin would be a great option.
AutoTune also gives you a graph mode that allows you to make manual note pitch tuning as well.
Melodyne And AutoTune
The best case scenario would be to have both. Some producers tend to put AutoTune in the channel before exporting audio and using it as a pre-processing method before importing it into Melodyne. This method makes most of the vocal tuning. Then in the Melodyne you can do more detailed work that was not corrected in auto tuning.
Summary
Both Melodyne And AutoTune are great and will be capable of handling the hard work for a professional tune pitching process.
If you cannot have both, make sure to get Melodyne if you need more functionality and fancy features. Especially if you are planning to work with vocals in precise detail.
If you are keen on fast processing and real time tuning, you should get AutoTune.
I hope this article has been helpful to you. Good luck in choosing your best tuning software!
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