Any iZotope Nectar 2 users here? Just picked it up for $149 USD

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EnochLight
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26 Oct 2018

I just saw that I can "crossgrade" to Nectar 2 Production Suite (and get Nectar 3 Production Suite included for free) for just $149 USD. Any users out there that can chime in? Do you like Nectar? I had to jump at the sale since version 3 comes with it. Check it out here:

Win 10 | Ableton Live 11 Suite |  Reason 12 | i7 3770k @ 3.5 Ghz | 16 GB RAM | RME Babyface Pro | Akai MPC Live 2 & Akai Force | Roland System 8, MX1, TB3 | Dreadbox Typhon | Korg Minilogue XD

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joeyluck
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26 Oct 2018

I've had my eye on Nectar and Vocal Synth. I didn't like Vocal Synth. When they introduced Vocal Synth 2 with Biovox, I was hoping it would be something more natural sounding, but it's all synth driven. Would be great to see something like Biovox in Nectar for natural vocals. Can it do anything like that?

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EnochLight
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26 Oct 2018

joeyluck wrote:
26 Oct 2018
I've had my eye on Nectar and Vocal Synth. I didn't like Vocal Synth. When they introduced Vocal Synth 2 with Biovox, I was hoping it would be something more natural sounding, but it's all synth driven. Would be great to see something like Biovox in Nectar for natural vocals. Can it do anything like that?
Nectar 2 has unison harmonies that you can play with a MIDI keyboard or use Nectar 2's GUI/UX, but I think it's a max of 3 vocal tracks per audio track. Nectar 3 raises it to a max of 8. You can see it in action in the video above, I think towards the middle/end of the video at the 7:53 mark:

Win 10 | Ableton Live 11 Suite |  Reason 12 | i7 3770k @ 3.5 Ghz | 16 GB RAM | RME Babyface Pro | Akai MPC Live 2 & Akai Force | Roland System 8, MX1, TB3 | Dreadbox Typhon | Korg Minilogue XD

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joeyluck
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26 Oct 2018

EnochLight wrote:
26 Oct 2018
joeyluck wrote:
26 Oct 2018
I've had my eye on Nectar and Vocal Synth. I didn't like Vocal Synth. When they introduced Vocal Synth 2 with Biovox, I was hoping it would be something more natural sounding, but it's all synth driven. Would be great to see something like Biovox in Nectar for natural vocals. Can it do anything like that?
Nectar 2 has unison harmonies that you can play with a MIDI keyboard or use Nectar 2's GUI/UX, but I think it's a max of 3 vocal tracks per audio track. Nectar 3 raises it to a max of 8. You can see it in action in the video above, I think towards the middle/end of the video at the 7:53 mark:

Gotcha. Yeah the BioVox is supposed to be a throat shape emulation thing. In concept, it would be something handy for me for creative character voiceovers, but in Vocal Synth it's synth driven and not something that can be applied to dry, natural vocals (which is what I was hoping it was). Throat shape emulation is something that sounds more versatile and natural than say a formant shift, but not in the case of Voice Synth. So formant shift seems to be what I need to stick to for the time being. I had my eye on Throat EVO by Antares, but that is VST3 only and wasn't too impressed with the demos anyways. Sorry to get off topic.

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NekujaK
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26 Oct 2018

When I first got Nectar 2, I used it on several mixes. What I liked most are the many categorized presets that make it easy to quickly zero-in on a specialized vocal sound. However, fast-forward to now, and I hardly ever use it.

For straight ahead vocals, all I really want is a good EQ, comp, and de-esser. And while Nectar includes these components (and a lot more), I much prefer the sound of other individual plugins over Nectar's devices. This is actually part of a bigger issue I have with all iZotope products. I've always found their EQs and compressors to be very sterile, generic sounding and lacking in character, so I tend to use other plugs instead.

Nectar's harmonizer is cool, and I like the all-in-one nature of the product, but I'm just not thrilled by the overall sound it produces. YMMV...
wreaking havoc with :reason: since 2.5
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EnochLight
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26 Oct 2018

NekujaK wrote:
26 Oct 2018
When I first got Nectar 2, I used it on several mixes. What I liked most are the many categorized presets that make it easy to quickly zero-in on a specialized vocal sound. However, fast-forward to now, and I hardly ever use it.

For straight ahead vocals, all I really want is a good EQ, comp, and de-esser. And while Nectar includes these components (and a lot more), I much prefer the sound of other individual plugins over Nectar's devices. This is actually part of a bigger issue I have with all iZotope products. I've always found their EQs and compressors to be very sterile, generic sounding and lacking in character, so I tend to use other plugs instead.

Nectar's harmonizer is cool, and I like the all-in-one nature of the product, but I'm just not thrilled by the overall sound it produces. YMMV...
I hear ya. YMMV indeed! :lol:

For me, I feel what iZotope has accomplished with its machine learning between Ozone 8, Neutron 2, and now - presumably - Nectar 3 - it makes them priceless by shaving off a lot of time that I would have to spend tweaking from the start. After I run the Assistant, I can usually get incredible results after tweaking the Assistant suggestions within minutes. I love it.

Their EQ's are no more generic or sterile sounding than any other that I've used (Softube, Rob Papen, Synapse Audio, Fab Filter, Props own SSL-inspired). Their comps get the job done. To be clear, I still use others - but more and more I'm falling in love with iZotope's approach.
Win 10 | Ableton Live 11 Suite |  Reason 12 | i7 3770k @ 3.5 Ghz | 16 GB RAM | RME Babyface Pro | Akai MPC Live 2 & Akai Force | Roland System 8, MX1, TB3 | Dreadbox Typhon | Korg Minilogue XD

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eusti
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27 Oct 2018

I picked Nectar 2 up during this sale as well... It's quite taxing on this system (MacbookPro 2012, 2.9GHz, i7) at times.
(So, for me I usually do a separate project for fixing up the vocals...)
I especially experience weirdness with the Breath Control plugin... It seems to render part of the vocals in places that they shouldn't be in...
(I can usually fix it by cropping those parts out...) For us Mac users there is the additional issue of Melodyne 4 assistant (that is becoming part of the new Nectar 2 Production suite) will not work with Reason as there is no 64 bit VST2 version of it. I just asked the Props to please let us use VST3s in Reason too...)
With all that being said, I'm still happy with my purchase as I really like the variety of presets and the ability to adjust them to my liking...
As I mainly work on my own vocals I can get lost in the details or just reuse what I know works at other times...

D.

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EnochLight
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28 Oct 2018

eusti wrote:
27 Oct 2018
For us Mac users there is the additional issue of Melodyne 4 assistant (that is becoming part of the new Nectar 2 Production suite) will not work with Reason as there is no 64 bit VST2 version of it. I just asked the Props to please let us use VST3s in Reason too...)
Awwwww that sucks, man. Us Windows users have no issues using Melodyne and Reason if we're so inclined (though I rarely use it since Reason's Audio Pitch Editor was introduced). That's one component of Nectar 3 I won't really need.


Melodyne_and_R10.jpg
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Win 10 | Ableton Live 11 Suite |  Reason 12 | i7 3770k @ 3.5 Ghz | 16 GB RAM | RME Babyface Pro | Akai MPC Live 2 & Akai Force | Roland System 8, MX1, TB3 | Dreadbox Typhon | Korg Minilogue XD

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eusti
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28 Oct 2018

EnochLight wrote:
28 Oct 2018
Awwwww that sucks, man. Us Windows users have no issues using Melodyne and Reason if we're so inclined (though I rarely use it since Reason's Audio Pitch Editor was introduced). That's one component of Nectar 3 I won't really need.
I agree that in most cases Reason's own pitch correction does a fine job... But maybe I just havent't found my way around it well enough, but in Melodyne splitting the blobs (into separate notes and unlinking the consonants from the vowels) can help with some problem cases...

D.

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EnochLight
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28 Oct 2018

eusti wrote:
28 Oct 2018
I agree that in most cases Reason's own pitch correction does a fine job... But maybe I just havent't found my way around it well enough, but in Melodyne splitting the blobs (into separate notes and unlinking the consonants from the vowels) can help with some problem cases...

D.
Totally, and Melodyne's polyphonic pitch detection is magical. That feature and extracting a tempo MIDI file are things I like using it for.
Win 10 | Ableton Live 11 Suite |  Reason 12 | i7 3770k @ 3.5 Ghz | 16 GB RAM | RME Babyface Pro | Akai MPC Live 2 & Akai Force | Roland System 8, MX1, TB3 | Dreadbox Typhon | Korg Minilogue XD

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