Presets
- Working with presets
- Loading a preset
- Inspecting the Results of Processing
- Modifying the preset
- Saving and managing presets
Working with presets
A VocAlign Project 5 preset is really just one particular configuration of its processing control parameters, made to help you complete a specific music or post-production task. The factory presets should be useful as starting points for most cases.
Of course, the specifics of your source material may well necessitate the tweaking of those parameters to some extent, so presets should be viewed as highly targeted starting points rather than ‘set and forget’ instant fixes. Having edited a preset to tailor it to your needs, if you want to use it again, be sure to save it as a User Preset (giving it a helpful name) so you can try it on similar material in the future.
The 'Slightly Loose Timing' and 'Tightest Timing' presets are self-explanatory, and 'Tightest Timing - Fewer Edits' tweaks 'Tightest Timing' by switching the Alignment Rule to 'Low Flexibility'. This means fewer editing changes are made to the Dub, which can yield more natural sounding results with certain material.
The 'High Pitch Dub' and 'Low Pitch Dub' folders contain the same three presets described above, but with the Dub Pitch Range parameter set to High Pitch Vocal and Low Pitch Vocal respectively. If your Dub is outside the 'normal' vocal range in either direction and you experience any problems with your alignment, try these instead.
Note that SmartAlign is ON in all presets apart from 'Dub With Gaps - Slightly Loose Timing - NO SmartAlign'.
This is because SmartAlign will either solve the issue of Guides and Dub regions starting at different points on the timeline, or do nothing if that issue isn't present. It should only be turned off if it causes unforeseen problems, which will be a rare occurrence.
Loading a preset
To load a preset, click the preset menu at the top of the interface…
…and browse to the preset with the name that most closely describes the results (and possibly Dub pitch range) you’re aiming for if the Dub pitch is way outside the normal voice range (for example, flute ranges or bass instrument ranges).
The Recent preset folder will show the last 5 presets you have used, retaining their original settings, rather than reflecting any changes you might have made at the time.
User Presets - are where you can create and save your own presets, which would also show up in Recent after you use it.
Inspecting the Results of Processing
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You must also understand that VocAlign Project 5 program automatically processes your audio at certain times when you capture the audio, and this helps speed up your workflow. Here are the times when the processing takes place.
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The Output appears in the bottom of the three default waveform views, as a solid yellow waveform overlaid with a blue outline of the Guide waveform to show time alignment of the Output relative to the Guide.
NOTE: Immediately after starting VocAlign Project 5, when the screens are empty, if you select a preset before capturing the first Guide and first Dub, you won’t be able to adjust any of the controls until a Guide and Dub have been captured. However, the selected preset will be applied automatically as soon as the Dub is captured.
The Guide and Dub aren’t part of the preset, so you don’t have to recapture them when you select a new preset. Changing preset with a Dub and/or Guide clip loaded reprocesses the Dub instantly according to the parameters of the new preset to create a new Output.
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WARNING: If you are going to use a different preset on a new Guide and Dub, if you change the preset before you capture the new Guide, it will be applied to the current Dub, which you might not want to happen. |
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TIP: Change presets as much as you want only after you capture a new Guide, not before. |
Modifying the preset
Try modifying the controls (described here) and see what happens in the display as well as in the sound. You'll may find you need to make at least minor adjustments to the controls to make a new preset to adapt to your source material. If you do that and want to keep that preset, save it as a User Preset with a good descriptive name.
Saving and managing presets
To save all the current VocAlign Project 5 control settings as a new preset, click the preset menu and select Save As Preset, then give your preset a name and click Save.
Selecting Manage User Presets from the same menu opens the user preset folder in macOS Finder or Windows Explorer, where you can rename and back up your presets.
