Quick Start Guide for Pro Tools AAX AudioSuite
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Quick Start for Pro Tools using AAX (AudioSuite)
This guide will cover using the AudioSuite version of Vocalign 6 Pro in Pro Tools.
Since Pro Tools 2024.6, the ARA2 version of Vocalign 6 Pro is supported in Pro Tools. We recommend using the ARA workflow covered here if it is available to you.
Overview
In this Quick Start Guide, you will learn how to set up Pro Tools and VocAlign 6 Pro to transfer audio into VocAlign 6 Pro, process that audio, and have the processed output returned to Pro Tools. This section will use the AudioSuite version of the plugin.
The procedure might seem a little complex at first, because you have to tell the plugin which track contains the Guide and which track(s) need their timing and/or pitch adjusted by VocAlign 6 Pro to match the Guide's.
We won’t go into details on the control panels or displays here, as those are described in the 'Using VocAlign 6 Pro' section of the manual.
One last note: because we started long ago in the film industry, we call the audio to be modified and output the “Dub”.
Installation and Initial Setup
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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 in Pro Tools 11.1 or later, and as an ARA plugin in Pro Tools 2024.6 or later. This portion of the guide covers the AudioSuite workflow.
Let's Start Processing
Here, we’ll describe the VocAlign 6 Pro workflow steps of selecting a preset, capturing the Guide and Dub signals from Pro Tools, processing the Dub audio and sending the processed Output back to Pro Tools. We'll also look at changing presets and settings.
Load the VocAlign 6 Pro plugin by opening Pro Tools’ AudioSuite menu, selecting the Other submenu, then selecting VocAlign 6 Pro as shown below.
VocAlign 6 Pro should open and look similar to the picture below.
NOTE: You can drag the triangle in the bottom right corner to scale the width and height of the plug-in window.
In the AudioSuite menu at the top of the plugin, make sure USE IN PLAYLIST is activated, as shown below.
Process your first Guide and Dub with SmartAlign
In the below screenshot, we can see two audio clips.
- Lead Vocal GUIDE is our main vocal track, which we will refer to as our Guide.
- Double Vocal DUB is the track that we will align to our Guide, refered to as our Dub.
In Pro Tools, select your Guide audio clip as shown below.
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.
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)
Process your first Guide and Dub without SmartAlign
If for some reason you need to disable SmartAlign, you can follow the above instructions, but instead of selecting a clip, you will need to highlight a region of that clip as shown below. Make sure the highlighted region in the Dub roughly corresponds with the highlighted region of the Guide.
TIP: Press the ; key to shift the selection range down from the track above. If required you can Press P to shift selection up.
 | Note: It is a good idea to leave similar amounts of silence ahead of the Guide and Dub. |
Auditioning and Rendering the Output
| Note: At this point, the audio has been processed but not yet returned to Pro Tools. |
The Dub and Output (processed Dub) signal waveforms appear as shown below, and the parameters to the right are activated and applied.
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 white lines follow the mouse pointer along the waveforms to show the calculated offset between matching features of the Guide and Dub that the settings are aligning.
Previewing your changes
Click the Audio Suite Preview button (the tiny speaker at the bottom left) to audition the Guide and aligned Output together. Use the three colour- coded Solo buttons above to hear any combination of the input and output signals.
Rendering your output
Press VocAlign 6 Pro's Render button to render the output over the original Dub, or select an empty track and audition the processed audio in Pro Tools. Here, we've returned the processed audio to the same track it came from.
Other ways to Render the Output
You can transfer the Output from VocAlign 6 Pro to replace the original Dub (as we did above) or transfer it onto any other track in Pro Tools by selecting a time range larger than a single sample anywhere on the target track and clicking the Render button. Or you can change the Audio Suite Track selection button (bottom right of picture "no track selected") to chose a Target track to render to.
 |
CAUTION: Be sure to make the correct target track selection before hitting the Render button. Otherwise, it’s likely that you’ll still have a range selected on the Dub source track, which will be overwritten when the Render is performed. |
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 you can listen to it using the Preview button or click Render to return it to the Pro Tools session, as described above.
Examine the Pitch
Now let's look at the Pitch Profile display. Press the Pitch button 
at the bottom left corner of the VocAlign 6 Pro interface.
Vocalign will switch to the Pitch window, shown below.
The Pitch Profile display is covered in detail here.
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.
And finally…
There's always more to learn, so head to the sections of the full User Guide at the left in the Using VocAlign 6 Pro folder, for much more information on VocAlign 6 Pro's controls and displays.