The idea behind the VocAlign series is simple. It’s a dedicated workspace for time-aligning your vocals, whether they’re doubles, harmonies, huge stacks or any other multi-track vocal arrangement. Previous versions were popular with mixing engineers as a simple and sophisticated way to tackle this important task; misaligned vocals can make a track sound messy or unclear, and getting the alignment right is a key step in achieving a professional, radio-ready sound.
With VocAlign 7, Synchro Arts has taken this system to the next level. They offer both a Standard and Pro version of the plugin; I tested VocAlign 7 Pro to see the new features in action. This article will explore the workflow, key features, use-cases, pros and cons to determine whether VocAlign is a niche, situational plugin, or a tool you’ll want to use for all of your future projects.
Key Features
- Automatic vocal timing alignment for cleaning up vocal doubles, harmonies and stacks
- Automatic pitch matching for clearer doubles and smoother progressions
- Multiple Guide tracks for complex recordings and vocal stacks
- Tightness control for choosing between natural and more precise alignment
- Formant shifting and transpose for creative vocal processing
- No track limit for larger sessions
How to use VocAlign 7
When opening VocAlign, you’ll notice that it looks more like a separate arrangement timeline than an effect plugin. Each instance has its own track, mirroring the vocal tracks in your DAWs timeline.
To get your vocal tracks into VocAlign, you’ll need to add an instance of the plugin to each track in the mixer. If you’re using an ARA-compatible DAW like Pro Tools, the tracks will show up immediately; if not, simply hit the Arm Capture button and let the song play. This will record the tracks into the VocAlign editor. Every track is visible in every version of the plugin in your project, so you don’t need to worry about constantly switching between the instances.
To start aligning the vocals, you need to set at least one track as the Guide, and the other tracks as Dubs (doubles). In previous versions, you could only have one Guide track, but VocAlign 7 has added the option of setting multiple Guides. When you have more than one Guide, the Dubs can be set to follow any Guide you choose.
For example, if you have a stack of higher pitched vocals, you can set one as a Guide and the rest as Dubs to keep them aligned, whilst using the main vocal as another Guide with its own Dubs following. This is a massive improvement: now you can have many layers of perfectly aligned vocals that remain separate, instead of a single cluster of grouped tracks.
Once you’ve decided the Guides and Dubs, VocAlign analyses the vocal takes and creates an aligned version, which shows up in the Output tab. You’ll now hear the aligned version of the tracks in the playback, no exporting required. From my testing, the SmartAlign system is incredibly effective, accurately aligning the vowels and consonants to create a clean and unified sound with minimal prior editing required.
For adjusting the feel of the alignment, VocAlign includes a Tightness control. You can use this to specify how closely aligned the vocal takes are; at 0ms they’ll be perfectly time-aligned, which sounds more like one massive vocal than separate tracks. At higher values it’ll sound more natural, but if it gets too loose the stacks will begin to sound messy again. It’s worth experimenting to find the sweet spot.
VocAlign 7 also comes with a selection of presets to get you started. The categories are Dialogue, Instrument, Rap and Vocal, and each includes presets ranging from creative and loose to tight and controlled. These presets also include settings for Pitch Matching, the other key feature of VocAlign.
Pitch Matching in VocAlign Pro
With VocAlign Pro, you get access to Pitch Matching. This works similarly to Time Alignment, with the Dubs now following the pitch of the Guide track instead of the timing.
Like the Time Alignment, this feature can be a huge time-saver when working with large stacks of vocals. It works especially well with doubles; aligning both the time and pitch can turn messy double-tracks into a singular powerful sound, perfect for beefing up a recording or emphasising a particular section of the song.
Pitch Matching is less effective when the takes are further apart in pitch, and it’s definitely not a replacement for traditional vocal tuning. When used on untreated tracks it can create artifacts or sound unnatural, so it works best when your vocals are already tuned as a final layer of glue to bring multiple takes together.
VocAlign also combines excellently with the Synchro Arts RePitch plugin. This is where the actual pitch correction happens, and once you’re happy with the tuning, RePitch has a dedicated button for sending the track to VocAlign. These features work together to turn the most tedious parts of vocal mixing (tuning, pitch matching and aligning) into a simple process, aided by the SmartAlign and SmartPitch systems for extra efficiency. VocAlign will also automatically update when you make changes in RePitch, so you don’t have to worry about redoing the alignment every time you edit the tuning.
Also new in v7
VocAlign 7 comes with some useful and creative features for fine-tuning and enhancing your vocal takes.
- Split Tracks with Independent Values: creates separate clips within a track that can be adjusted independently.
- No Track Limit: unlimited tracks for more complex sessions.
- Multiple Views: timing, tuning and energy (amplitude) views for monitoring every aspect of the Guides and Dubs.
- Formant Control: shifts the formants of your vocals for small adjustments or creative effects.
- Transpose: shifts the track by up to an octave in either direction.
Being able to split the tracks into individual clips is a new feature for version 7, allowing you to make ultra-specific changes to each section of a track for maximum accuracy. This can be helpful for separating verses, emphasising key sections of the song or editing areas of the recording that differ in quality. Also new to VocAlign 7, having unlimited tracks is a great quality of life upgrade, and the new view types can be useful for monitoring how the tracks evolve and interact.
Formant control and Transpose can be used correctively for retuning takes, or creatively as new layers to enhance doubles or stacks. Overall, VocAlign 7 is a highly comprehensive tool that tackles every aspect of managing multiple vocal tracks. It’s a significant step-up from version 6, and I would highly recommend checking it out if your workflow includes vocal stacks, harmonies, doubles or any other form of vocal layering.
- All-in-one suite for perfecting your vocal layers
- Simple, quick and effective vocal timing alignment
- Multiple Guide tracks make larger projects much more manageable
- Tightness control allows natural or highly precise results
- Pitch Matching is great for vocal doubles or stacks
- Standard edition lacks Pitch Matching and several of the more advanced Pro features
- Poorly recorded or complex takes may still need manual correction
- Best suited to vocal-heavy production rather than occasional vocal editing
Pricing
VocAlign Standard: $149
VocAlign Pro: $199
Upgrade licences: up to 50% off for eligible existing owners
VocAlign runs on macOS 10.14 or later and Windows 10 or later, in AU, VST3 and AAX on Mac and VST3 and AAX on Windows.
More info on synchroarts.com