Synchro Arts VocAlign Ultra Advanced Timing & Pitch Alignment Plug-in Reviews

very precise

I work quite a bit with vocals. Before using this software I was manually repairing virtual vocal tracks. The process was time consuming and did not always end up with satisfactory results. With VocAlign Ultra the task of repairing vocal tracks became MUCH easier! It's like the Ronco Oven of the VST plugins. Simply "Set It and Forget It"

I am working on virtual projects with approx. 2000 audio files ranging between choirs, orchestras, bands, jazz combos etc. This guy as an ARA plugin is great, but it needs to be used in small phrases otherwise one will get artifacts from the extreme time-streching. I use it in combination with Melodyne Studio to speed up things. I find that I need both Melodyne and VocAlign as they function differently and excel in different aspects of the production. I find VocAllgin to be faster and easier to use for time-alignment (vocals and instruments) and then I use Melodyne to for tuning and manually polish a few timing/phrasing issues. Worth if you need to align several files fast. Check the demo.

TLDR: Can save a lot of time in your workflow, depending on what you're doing, but it isn't a "magic wand" and can be inconsistent.

The work I do might not entirely be the target-market this plugin is aiming at (which seems more studio fine-tuning), so take that into consideration with this review.

A good portion of my workday involves editing vocal tracks for virtual choirs in a grade-school setting. The experience of the singers greatly varies, most of them are not used to using guide/click tracks, mics are often cell-phones, monitors might consist of an earbud, there will be background noise and a barking dog, the Chromebook will be lagging, etc. All of it makes for a fairly erratic set of audio recordings, with entrances off by a bit, syncopation sometimes being a bit of a guessing game, and pitch being inconsistent. And that's OK, because we're all "trying to make it work" in the pandemic as best we can in as a virtual choir. I'm an accompanist and director who suddenly found themselves working as an audio/video editor over the last year, so we're all learning.

Normally I start with Melodyne to get things on target and on the right beat, then throw some Izotope plugins at things like the barking dog and clipped audio from a mic held too close, until things sound "close enough" for the video. We want the students to have some good memories with online choir (and that's its own challenge). This process gets good results, but it is very time-consuming to manually adjust each note in 30-40 tracks at a time. This isn't about perfection, but about lessening the "debuff" from distance singing.

I hoped with VocAlign Ultra that I could have somewhat of a "quick-fix" to roughly align the inconsistent pitch and timing issues "en masse" so that I could spend a few hours on the audio portion of a project instead of a few days. And it works... some of time, and to an extent.

To use VocAlign Ultra first I need to get one really good guide track, so I'll take one of the best singers in a particular piece, polish them up with Melodyne, and then use that as a "model" for the other tracks. If the other tracks are "close enough" to being correct, this can roughly clean up mild timing and pitch issues to where they sound "better'ish" but if I try to really tighten up the timing and tuning I find that I get a ton of really bad "tuning-gone-wrong-in-post" distortion or "completely wrong words on the wrong beat that weren't there before" timing issues. If I leave out pitch correction and leave the timing correction to a really loose setting, things sound a bit blurry but OK'ish.

I have found that I can apply this process multiple times to help smooth things out over time, but that takes a bit more time (calculating the output for a track can sometimes take a couple of minutes for my computer), and it might be faster in some cases to manually fix things. If a singer is really off (like if they came in a beat late or early on a phrase, or had a hard time with some syncopation) then it's a roll of the dice on whether things will work out or be a mess in any particular measure. Sometimes things work out GREAT and I give VocAlign a high-five for saving me 20 minutes of manual work, but sometimes I just sigh and wonder aloud, "Wait, what just happened?" It's helpful software, but no miracles.

For best results time-wise with the work situation I have, I will splice up the track so that the phrases at least are starting on the right beat if they're off, run it through VocAlign and see how it goes, and if good then I'll render out the track and throw some "clean up" plugins on it for the final render, and if not I'll discard that and just go in manually with Melodyne like I used to.

So if you are working in a similar setting, then this *can* be a useful tool, but if your singers aren't already solid at counting and have decently good pitch in the recording situation they're working with, you can get very inconsistent results. This is especially true if someone messes up a word in a phrase, or drops or adds a beat, or misses an entrance a little bit. The algorithms sometimes work great, but the other a third of the time the tracks just require a manual touch entirely.

So, in essence, this *can* help your workflow (and it has saved me a quite a few hours, so far), but it can be inconsistent and it isn't a "cure-all." It is one more tool to consider depending on your work situation and still requires a level of active engagement on your part, as opposed to a "fire and forget" plugin to clean up the hum of a florescent light. If you spend a *lot* of time in your work day fixing timing and pitch issues for a lot of singers singing the same parts, then this will probably pay for itself pretty quickly. Even if it only works some of the time that is some of your time that is saved, and if it doesn't then you're only out a minute or two that it takes the software to make the attempt.

Happy editing!

There are far too many artifacts introduced for it to be a serious tool. I'm guessing that they'll continually improve the algorithms, but for now, not so much.
It's also a bit clunky to use.
I am impressed with their request for video mettings, but since I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific, the time difference was an issue.
Try the demo and make your own decision.

The plug-in works sometimes, but not always. I often have to repeat the process repeatedly. Plus, it's expensive. I wouldn't purchase it again. My advice would be to try the 14-day trial and see if it works for you.

I've had this plug in for almost a year and literally have only been able to get it working correctly for ONE PROJECT. I am a professional producer and this has got to be one of the buggiest plug ins out there. Good luck getting it to run smoothly!