VocAlign Ultra £285

TYPE: Pitch and timing alignment software | KEY FEATURES: Instantly match timing and pitch of two or more signals. Great for vocals, instruments and sound effects | SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: AU, AAX and VST3, Audio Suite for offline editing in Pro Tools and ARA2 (Audio Random Access) format. Requires Intel Processor macOS 10.8 or higher, Windows 10. Most DAWs supported bar Reason, Digital Performer and Garageband

VocAlign is a long-established marketleading tool that adjusts the timing of an audio file (Dub) so it matches that of a source (Guide). It works well with any audio and is used for many music and post-production tasks. However it’s particularly in demand for vocals and speech, where accurate pitch and timing alignment can be crucial. VocAlign Ultra sits between the affordable but basic VocAlign Project and Synchro Arts’ flagship processor, Revoice Pro 4.

The software has three core processors – Match Timing, Match Pitch and Formant Shift – each accompanied by a parameter control to determine how loose or tight the matching processing is. It has great visual feedback with the three zoomable views – waveform, pitch and signal energy – allowing you to see timing and pitch both before and after processing. The display can be used to add manual Guide/Dub sync points or establish protected areas that won’t be processed – handy for more creative applications.

You can use VocAlign Ultra without delving too deeply into the advanced features. In that respect, we managed to tighten all manner of doubled and layered vocals. The results are very impressive and in many cases pleasantly transparent.

It’s also very easy to adjust the amount of timing and pitch correction, and loosening things a bit is often the key to getting the most natural results. It’s a bit pricey but if you do a lot of editing and aligning, it will improve your productivity considerably.