The Rolls Royce version of Melodyne 4 is the ‘Studio’ version, which is not cheap at $849. This is a very powerful feature, but perhaps not for the fainthearted. This means that you can import an audio file of a piano or guitar and pinpoint and manipulate individual notes within the chords. This offers the same functionality as the ‘Assistant’ but also allows for polyphonic detection with Direct Note Access (DNA). The next version up is the ‘Editor’ version, which retails at $499. You can then get creative with this MIDI, such as making a flute, or a synthesiser play along. This is an easy way to make a MIDI file that follows the vocal melody. A useful feature of this version that is not available in the ‘Essential’ version is the ability to create an accurate MIDI file from an audio track. You can also tweak formants, vibrato and amplitude. In addition to the functionality above, you can correct where the pitch drifts away from the note’s pitch centre (or takes a ‘swoop’ to get there). The next version up is the ‘Assistant’ at a cost of $249. You can also copy and paste between sections. You can adjust the pitch and timing of individual notes, or automatically tune the entire track to a selected key. Using this version, you can load up and work on a single audio track.

If you decide to go for it, then Melodyne 4 Essential at $99 is a good starting place. I can almost guarantee that once you try it, you are going to want to invest. However, I would not suggest downloading unless you are prepared to lay out at least $99 for Melodyne 4 Essential. There is currently a 30-day free trial version of Melodyne 4 Studio. Melodyne does this in such a way as to be completely undetectable in the final product. You can also adjust the pitch, correct the timing or change the formant of your audio on a word by word, syllable by syllable or note by note basis. Using Melodyne, you can tune automatically. While Melodyne can produce this effect with its pitch tools, it is so much more than Autotune. We are probably all familiar with the highly distorted sound of Cher’s ‘Believe’. While this is particularly useful for vocals, you can also use it to manipulate audio for any recording including bass, guitar, piano etc. Melodyne is a software tool that allows you to manipulate pitch, timing and formant (more about this later) of an audio track on a note by note basis.

Autotune on mixpad