Quick Start Guide for Pro Tools AAX ARA2

Installation and Setup

• You should have already downloaded, installed and authorised the VocAlign 6 Pro plug-in on your computer. 
  See Installation and Authorization if you haven't.
• Note that VocAlign 6 Pro is available as an AudioSuite plugin, and as an ARA plugin in Pro Tools 2024.06 or more recent. This portion of the guide covers the ARA workflow.
• If you are using Pro Tools 2024.3 or older, you will need to use the AudioSuite guide here.

Overview

In this guide, we assume that you have an audio track (the Dub) that you would like to tune and align to another track (the Guide). We will cover how to:

• add Vocalign 6 Pro to your tracks and clips. Vocalign 6 Pro must be added to all clips or tracks that you would like to work with.
• where to find the plugin window and how to resize, dock, and undock it.
• how to remove Vocalign 6 Pro when needed.
• how to process your guide and dub track.
• some other useful features that you can explore elsewhere in the manual

Adding Vocalign 6 Pro to a Clip

In Pro Tools, Vocalign 6 Pro can be added directly to an audio clip. 

To access Vocalign 6 Pro in Pro Tools, we can either:

• Right Click the clip we would like to work on, and then select 'Vocalign 6 Pro -> Edit' from the drop down menu
• Select the Clip menu, and then select 'Vocalign 6 Pro -> Edit'

 ...or... 

Adding Vocalign 6 Pro to a Track

VocAlign can also be added to an entire track using the Elastic Audio/ARA Plugin Selector menu indicated below, or the File -> Track menu or Track right click menu.

Any of the above methods will add VocAlign and open the plugin window.

Docking and Undocking the Plugin Window

The Vocalign plugin will first appear docked in the Pro Tools Edit Window at the bottom of the DAW.

If you do not see the plugin window, click the Vocalign edit window tab shown below.

To undock the plugin window, click the undock button in the edit window tab list shown below.

For the remainder of the guide, we will be working with the plugin window undocked. This is a personal preference and has no effect on functionality.

Resizing the Vocalign window

If Vocalign is unpinned from the Edit section of your DAW interface, you can resize it to almost any size by dragging the corners or edges of the plug-in window.

Removing Vocalign Instances

Vocalign, like other ARA plugins in Pro Tools, can only be removed from the entire Track.

To remove Vocalign from a track, click the ARA symbol in the corresponding track's controls, indicated by the red arrow below.

Then select 'None' from the menu that appears.

Processing your first Guide and Dub

Now, in VocAlign 6 Pro, click the Guide Capture button to load the selected audio signal into the Guide section, as shown below. The outline of the Guide waveform is also shown in the Output track as a timing reference.

In Pro Tools, select your Dub audio clip. When working with SmartAlign, the start times of the Guide and Dub clips do not need to be the same. SmartAlign defaults to Enabled, but can be disabled as explained here.

Selecting a Preset

Prior to capturing the Dub, we can select a preset that fits with our audio. In this example, our Dub track is a high vocal double, so we will select 'Vocal - Double - High Pitch Dub - Slightly Loose Timing & Pitch'. This ensures that the Dub will be processed with this setting as soon as it is Captured. We can try other presets after capturing as well.

Presets are discussed in detail here.

In VocAlign 6 Pro, click the Dub Capture button to load the selected signal into the Dub section and automatically process the Dub based on the control settings established by the Preset. 

(Note: If this is the first time you have run VocAlign 6 Pro, it will turn on the process controls before processing)

The Output display at the bottom shows the processed signal waveform overlaid with an outline of the Guide’s waveform for timing accuracy reference.

The vertical white lines that follow the mouse pointer along the waveforms show the calculated offset between matching features of the Guide and Dub that the settings are aligning.

Preview and Render your output

By using ARA, your files are immediately available for playback within Pro Tools. Hitting Play in your Pro Tools session will allow you to listen to the Guide track and the processed Dub, and the Pro Tools solo and mute controls will function as expected, allowing you to check each track individually if you wish. 

If you'd like to render your audio, you may do so by right clicking the Clip and selecting 'Vocalign 6 Pro -> Render' as shown below.

This will render Vocalign's processing to a new clip and replace the old clip. Vocalign/ARA processing will also be removed from the clip. 

Further Controls

Vocalign also provides in-depth control via the Pitch, Timing, and Other control panels available on the right side of the UI. These controls are discussed in detail here. 

To open these panels, click the three icons on the right side of the interface, circled in red below.

You can adjust the Max Difference controls in the Match Timing and Match Pitch sections to tighten or loosen the timing and pitch alignment applied by the preset. With each change, the Output is reprocessed and the Output waveform redrawn, and the audio is synched to Pro Tools via the ARA connection. 

Processing a Harmony Track

When working with harmonies, Vocalign provides Smart Pitch. The Smart Pitch options are accessed in the 'Match Pitch' control panel, discussed in detail here.

Fixing Problems

Protected Areas

There will be times when you want to exclude certain sections in the Dub from processing – when your Guide vocal jumps up an octave, or gets raspy and lower, but your Dub doesn't, for example. Or when there are different words or syllables in the Guide and Dub, which can throw the time alignment off, resulting in unnatural distortion of the Output timing. VocAlign 6 Pro's Protected Areas enable pitch, time or both to be kept unprocessed over any specified range within the Dub.

Protected areas are covered in detail here.

Sync Points

If you're getting small differences in timing caused by different words, sounds or delivery, you can correct them using Sync Points. These let you assign pairs of pointers to events in the Guide and Dub that should be time aligned if they are not. Click here for more details on Sync Points and how to use them.