Antares TA-1VP Manuale Utente

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  No scrolling though endless 

menus to find the parameter you want. Virtually every 

major function is only a single button press away.

In 1997, Antares first introduced the ground-breaking 

Auto-Tune Pitch Correcting Plug-In for ProTools™ 

(eventually followed by most other plug-in formats). Here 

was a tool that actually corrected the pitch of vocals and 

other solo instruments, in real time, without distortion 

or artifacts, while preserving all of the expressive nuance 

of the original performance. Recording Magazine called 

Auto-Tune a “Holy Grail of recording.” And went on to say, 

“Bottom line, Auto-Tune is amazing… Everyone with a 

Mac should have this program.”
The TA-1VP's Auto-Tune module is a licensed hardware 

implementation of Antare's Auto-Tune Evo pitch 

correcting software. Like Auto-Tune, the TA-1VP employs 

state-of- the-art digital signal processing algorithms 

(many, interestingly enough, drawn from the geophysical 

industry) to continuously detect the pitch of a periodic 

input signal (typically a solo voice or instrument) and 

instantly and seamlessly change it to a desired pitch 

(defined by any of a number of user-programmable 

scales).

Pitch is typically associated with our perception of 

the “highness” or “lowness” of a particular sound. Our 

perception of pitch ranges from the very general (the 

high pitch of hissing steam, the low pitch of the rumble 

of an earthquake) to the very specific (the exact pitch of 

a solo singer or violinist). There is, of course, a wide range 

of variation in the middle. A symphony orchestra playing 

a scale in unison, for example, results in an extremely 

complex waveform, yet you are still able to easily sense 

the pitch.
The vocalists and the solo instruments that the TA-1VP is 

designed to process have a very clearly defined quality 

of pitch. The sound-generating mechanism of these 

sources is a vibrating element (vocal chords, a string, an 

air column, etc.). The sound that is thus generated can 

be graphically represented as a waveform (a graph of the 

sound’s pressure over time) that is periodic. This means 

that each cycle of waveform repeats itself fairly exactly, as 

in the periodic waveform shown in the diagram below:

Because of its periodic nature, this sound’s pitch can be 

easily identified and processed by the TA-1VP.

Other sounds are more complex. This waveform:

is of a violin section playing a single tone. Our ears 

still sense a specific pitch, but the waveform does not 

repeat itself. This waveform is a summation of a number 

of individually periodic violins. The summation is non- 

periodic because the individual violins are slightly out of 

tune with respect to one another. Because of this lack of 

periodicity, Auto-Tune would not be able to process this 

sound.

The pitch of a periodic waveform is defined as the number 

of times the periodic element repeats in one second. 

This is measured in Hertz (abbreviated Hz.). For example, 

the pitch of A3 (the A above middle C on a piano) is 

traditionally 440Hz (although that standard varies by a 

few Hz. in various parts of the world).
Pitches are often described relative to one another as 

intervals, or ratios of frequency. For example, two pitches 

are said to be one octave apart if their frequencies differ 

by a factor of two. Pitch ratios are measured in units called 

cents. There are 1200 cents per octave. For example, two 

tones that are 2400 cents apart are two octaves apart. The 

traditional twelve- tone Equal Tempered Scale that is used 

(or rather approximated) in 99.9% of all Western tonal 

music consists of tones that are, by definition, 100 cents 

apart. This interval of 100 cents is called a semitone.

In order for Auto-Tune to automatically correct pitch, it 

must first detect the pitch of the input sound. Calculating 

the pitch of a periodic waveform is a straighforward 

process. Simply measure the time between repetitions of 

the waveform. Divide this time into one, and you have the 

frequency in Hertz. The TA-1VP does exactly this: It looks 

for a periodically repeating waveform and calculates the 

time interval between repetitions.
The pitch detection algorithm in the TA-1VP is virtually 

instantaneous. It can recognize the repetition in a periodic 

sound within a few cycles. This usually occurs before 

the sound has sufficient amplitude to be heard. Used in 

combination with a slight processing delay (no greater 

than 4 milliseconds), the output pitch can be detected 

and corrected without artifacts in a seamless and 

continuous fashion.
The TA-1VP was designed to detect and correct pitches 

up to the pitch C6. If the input pitch is higher than C6, 

the TA-1VP will often interpret the pitch an octave lower. 

This is because it interprets a two cycle repetition as a one 

cycle repetition. On the low end, the TA-1VP will detect 

pitches as low as 42 Hz. This range of pitches allows