Vocal Tuning in Vari Audio

I am fairly proficient at tuning vocals in Vari Audio. One workflow question.

There are times a vocalist will merge two words with two pitches together (common thing) and VariAudio makes ONE long bar/note out of it. In order to separate it you have to click ‘segments’ and then hover the mouse to where you want to do the slice.

IS there a short cut key that turns the mouse into the scissors when pressed and back to a pointer when done? This would make tuning vocals SO much faster for me.

Is this possible?

Dennis

Tab, tab :slight_smile:

Yes, the TAB is a toggle between segment mode and tuning mode.

Reading your ? a little more made me wonder … do you go frequently between the two modes?

I try to do all my segmenting first, then tuning, but maybe that’s not the best workflow …

always willing to learn!

Thanks Y’all,

I will use the tab key. I am inherently lazy and was hoping there was a single key I could just hold down and it would change the mouse. Then again I also want to mix with my mind…so there’s that! :slight_smile:

Segmenting first is fascinating to me. So you are potentially segmenting parts that may or may not need tuning? I try to tune as little as possible (but still do more than I like). I listen to each vocal part of each song on its own and decide if its in need of correction. There are times that tuning (with all the tools…segmenting, straightening etc) so more harm than good.

Thanks for the heads up on the tab key.

D

I do “apply” the segment function to the whole phrase/verse etc. before I play through to determine what needs to be retuned. I have to admit I never gave it much thought to do otherwise since I read it in the ops manual iirc. Implicit in that, I realize now, is the hope/assumption that segmenting doesn’t affect the audio in any way. I hope that’s really true!

Of course (for the benefit of others less-experienced, I know you know this!) the cuts/glueing alone will change the assigned VA-assigned tuning, so they need to be done before any actual retuning is done.

I’m wondering how you are doing it … are you duping the track, then just working on the little bits that need retuning, then replacing them back into the main vocal track? Or …?

Thanks for any info!

After Punchfest (sigh) I duplicate the track, rename it Vocal SAFETY. Mute it and stick it away for safe keeping. LOVE leaving bread crumbs. THEN I take the vocal take…built the way I wanted it from the various punches. I select it, bounce it to ONE file. From there I let Vari Audio do its thing.
I then mute ALL backing vocals and just have the mix up with lead vocal and start listening. I only tune what is needed. Some things are a tad out but are way cool…so they stay as is. I am not in the “TUNE ALL” camp. Having grown up in the 70’s I don’t mind if there is a bit of rough edges or wavering pitch on the sound. Sometimes tuning takes the coolness out of the part…it robs its soul. I am ALL about the performance over pitch, personally. I just like my work flow to be quick and painless. I hate looking for nested menus and hidden tools. WHICH is why I was hoping there was a key we could hold down and it turn into the segment scissor tool for the time the key is held down. Now wouldn’t that be cool??

Hey did you ever resolve this? I recently used an external midi controller to create a push to talk button for talkback, so in the setup there are options to create buttons that change things while held. I am just learning about tuning in cubase (used autotune for years but now my at7 wont load in cu9 so im trying to see what cubase offers directly before i pay 130 to upgrade once again lol. Ayway just reading threads on tuning, and just thought a push to talk button on a midi controller is possible, then an internal push button for accessing scissors has got to be programmable…