Sunday, August 22, 2010

Auto-Tune For The Rest Of Us

In recent years the world of software for musicians has exploded, with performers using their smartphones as metronomes or tuning devices. The pianist Robert Taub has plunged in with an app, Improvox, which made its debut on iTunes last month, at $7.99 a download, and has sold a few thousand so far, Mr. Taub said. Improvox promises to do much of what a well-equipped commercial recording studio can do, correcting notes that are sharp or flat. That is a task that was pioneered by Auto-Tune software, a plug-in for audio software used in recording studios. Being able to fix pitch or intonation problems is particularly helpful after a recording session, when the engineer and the producer discover that their big-name singer was slightly off. MuseAmi uses different technology to correct pitch, and does so in real time. It can also generate harmonies, chosen by icons on its touch-pad screen. The icon that looks like Johann Sebastian Bach gives a singer a Baroque backup. The icon that looks like a barber pole adds three other voices for a barbershop quartet sound, with dominant chords. And there are other icons for other effects, but as Mr. Taub explained, “you don’t need to know any music theory.”

1 comment:

  1. David Baptista SilvaAugust 22, 2010 at 9:43 AM

    And now technology is doing to music what fashion industry did to acting.
    Who needs an actor when you have a model that looks better on the screen, despite the total lack of talent?
    And who needs a singer when you have a computer that basicly sings for you?
    ...
    Who needs talent anyway?
    ...

    ReplyDelete