Waves Ovox (Vocal Synth)

[Boombastix]

I saw and listened to Waves Ovox at NAMM. Same FX category as iZotope's Vocal Synth, but more deep/versatile it seems. There are already vids coming up on YouTube.

The feature list is impressive and the amount of modulation and auto chord mappings make it superior to the iZotope's unit. It sounded pretty good, maybe slightly better than iZotope's even, but the feature list and ability to modulate using the voice's formant as modulator is new AFAIK. Nothing else in the plugin world does that, that I can think of.

The intro price is close to Vocal synth when it was on Black Friday sale, so I think Waves priced it right.

If you already have the iZotope version, I wouldn't just jump on it and buy it blindly, but if you do not, then I would say Ovox is probably the better choice right now. The drag n drop modulation and the sheer amount of destinations/sources is impressive, and nothing else can do those things atm. Built in chord player/arp can be useful. And I liked that you can play midi and the Ovox synth using the midi notes, but if you stop the midi it could automatically use the voice's pitch for the oscillator. Some creative potential there.

BTW the waves installer debacle is a thing of the past W11 has worked well for everyone I've talked to, including me. You can demo for 7d.

I didn't have a chance to test how well it does Bitspeek sounds, at least it kinda does, but Bitspeek does it's thing very well, and it may not match it exactly, but then Bitspeek is a one trick pony.

[platzangst]

I saw and listened to Waves Ovox at NAMM.

This thing has hit my Inbox a few times from various sources, and I have to confess it's about the most tempted I've been by a Waves product in about forever.

[Loque]

I was not much impressed. What does this sat appart from a vocoder and a tuner/pitcher?

[joeyluck]

The downside of Vocalsynth for me is that it is a synth (I guess it's in the name after all)—everything is driven by a synth waveform and carries a pitch.

When they introduced the new Biovox module with Vocalsynth 2, I was hoping it would be something I could use on realistically sung vocals or especially on voiceovers:

Create and manipulate your biological imprint with a brand new vocal effect. Using scientific modeling of a human vocal tract, adjust human vocal characteristics like nasality, vowel shapes, and formants for a smooth, textural vocal treatment to any audio signal. Use surgically to adapt takes to better fit your production or apply as a creative effect to make a vocal more present, breathy, or totally mangle it!

It sounded promising and like an alternative to something like Antares Throat Evo, but it is very much another vocoder type effect that carries pitch. I wish it could be applied to a dry signal...unless I'm missing something.

Sorry to get off topic a bit. That said, OVox looks pretty cool for what it does.

[reddust]

I really like what I've seen so far in the demos and reviews, too bad most people take the description and name of this plugin too literally and only show what it can do on vocals forgetting that you can apply it also to drum tracks or bass or whatever you like. I am very tempted to get this one

[danc]

I really like what I've seen so far in the demos and reviews, too bad most people take the description and name of this plugin too literally and only show what it can do on vocals forgetting that you can apply it also to drum tracks or bass or whatever you like. I am very tempted to get this one

If you do want to get it - the cheapest price I've found is $62.46 from Plugin Discounts...
https://plugindiscounts.com/product/waves-ovox/

(and no I'm not affiliated or anything sinister to that site! - you do need to login to see the prices btw)

[reddust]

If you do want to get it - the cheapest price I've found is $62.46 from Plugin Discounts...
https://plugindiscounts.com/product/waves-ovox/

(and no I'm not affiliated or anything sinister to that site! - you do need to login to see the prices btw)

Thanks for the link, I'll definitely buy it the sooner or the later, so it's good to have more options to save money when I do. Some guys in another forum say Waves do always reduce their plugin prices, which I believe when I see how their website works, but I am not sure how much of a price reduction can I expect with this one... I don't think they'll sell it for $29 any soon

[Boombastix]

If you do want to get it - the cheapest price I've found is $62.46 from Plugin Discounts...
https://plugindiscounts.com/product/waves-ovox/

(and no I'm not affiliated or anything sinister to that site! - you do need to login to see the prices btw)

Thanks for the link, I'll definitely buy it the sooner or the later, so it's good to have more options to save money when I do. Some guys in another forum say Waves do always reduce their plugin prices, which I believe when I see how their website works, but I am not sure how much of a price reduction can I expect with this one... I don't think they'll sell it for $29 any soon

Probably not, but maybe in a buy one get one free deal. The Waves autotune is rarely below $49, and it's old. The 2 for 1 come and go kinda frequently. Or you grab it with my coupon, then I get compensated for all the coffee I drank at NAMM. Just kidding, you don't have to.

[reddust]

Thanks for the link, I'll definitely buy it the sooner or the later, so it's good to have more options to save money when I do. Some guys in another forum say Waves do always reduce their plugin prices, which I believe when I see how their website works, but I am not sure how much of a price reduction can I expect with this one... I don't think they'll sell it for $29 any soon

Probably not, but maybe in a buy one get one free deal. The Waves autotune is rarely below $49, and it's old. The 2 for 1 come and go kinda frequently. Or you grab it with my coupon, then I get compensated for all the coffee I drank at NAMM. Just kidding, you don't have to.

Haha, no problem, I could surely use your coupon, I tested one yesterday from some youtuber just to see how it works. I'm only waiting for my next loan or to sell my old audio interface so I can buy it without having bad feelings towards my bank account but once I get the money I could use your coupon if that brings you any advantage, sure

[PhillipOrdonez]

Thanks for the link, I'll definitely buy it the sooner or the later, so it's good to have more options to save money when I do. Some guys in another forum say Waves do always reduce their plugin prices, which I believe when I see how their website works, but I am not sure how much of a price reduction can I expect with this one... I don't think they'll sell it for $29 any soon

Probably not, but maybe in a buy one get one free deal. The Waves autotune is rarely below $49, and it's old. The 2 for 1 come and go kinda frequently. Or you grab it with my coupon, then I get compensated for all the coffee I drank at NAMM. Just kidding, you don't have to.

When they are discounted, can one not use your coupon?

[Boombastix]

Probably not, but maybe in a buy one get one free deal. The Waves autotune is rarely below $49, and it's old. The 2 for 1 come and go kinda frequently. Or you grab it with my coupon, then I get compensated for all the coffee I drank at NAMM. Just kidding, you don't have to.

When they are discounted, can one not use your coupon?

It should work on normal sale items. Just keep in mind sometimes they require a coupon code for a deal and I think you can only use one at a time. Another thing to know is most, not all, go on sale for $29, so if they currently are at $49 or whatever, it will most likely go to $29 in thew future. Abbey roads stuff and the vocal Autotune, are normally higher than $29.

[PhillipOrdonez]

When they are discounted, can one not use your coupon?

It should work on normal sale items. Just keep in mind sometimes they require a coupon code for a deal and I think you can only use one at a time. Another thing to know is most, not all, go on sale for $29, so if they currently are at $49 or whatever, it will most likely go to $29 in thew future. Abbey roads stuff and the vocal Autotune, are normally higher than $29.

Thanks!

[reddust]

has someone casually tried the demo in Reason 10? I cannot manage to get Ovox to show up in Reason while other waves plugins show without any problem as well as Ovox runs in standalone mode, but Ovox inside Reason seems not to work

[reddust]

I managed to get Ovox to show up in Reason, it seems like a common error for Waves plugins and it only worked after deleting the waveshell and then using Waves Central I have run the clear cache and repair options, then it finally showed up

[Boombastix]

I managed to get Ovox to show up in Reason, it seems like a common error for Waves plugins and it only worked after deleting the waveshell and then using Waves Central I have run the clear cache and repair options, then it finally showed up

OK, thanks for update. I will not have time to test until mid Feb, so I will wait and save the 7 demo days until then. Are you able to compare to iZotope Vocal Synth 2?
Curious to know how the basic sound compares, and what you can do with the modulation sources. Especially using the extracted formant to modulate, eh..., something

[reddust]

I managed to get Ovox to show up in Reason, it seems like a common error for Waves plugins and it only worked after deleting the waveshell and then using Waves Central I have run the clear cache and repair options, then it finally showed up

OK, thanks for update. I will not have time to test until mid Feb, so I will wait and save the 7 demo days until then. Are you able to compare to iZotope Vocal Synth 2?
Curious to know how the basic sound compares, and what you can do with the modulation sources. Especially using the extracted formant to modulate, eh..., something

I've been working a little bit today with both VocalSynth2 and Ovox. I like them both and even when I haven't done much yet with them I already find some interesting differences between them.

In my opinion both can offer very interesting options and a good sound quality, but I personally think Ovox is going to become my favorite here just because of it's workflow and the possibilities that this workflow offers.

Vocal synth looks to me more like a bunch of effects that can be put in a chain to completely transform a voice track - or another instrument of course - it seems quite linear to me and any kind of automation seems to only be possible by assigning automation lines inside Reason to control the desired parameter.

In Ovox you get a lot more real time options directly on the plugin, like assigning LFO's from the plugin itself directly to any of the parameters including the effects section, assigning a chord to chosen keys no matter if that key comes from an audio track or a midi signal, it has an included arpeggiator too, andyou can even assign scales and chord presets (major, minor, asian, chromatic...) and change the key of the melodies that Ovox produce out of the input source and even the modulation of this input source to match your song.

For example I was tweaking a vocaloid track into a song with japanese minor scales melodies in my song. I could find out that my song is in Ab key so I could tell Ovox to use an included japanese scale and to use the Ab key for modulation so that any changes would still fit into the harmony of the song. Also the possibility to be able to assign the included LFO's, sequencer and waveforms to the inner parameters can help a lot to get modulations that match the song rhythmically.

I figure out this kind of stuff isn't as easy to achieve when using VocalSynth2, a lot of this might be possible by creating automation lanes but drawing automation in Reason 10 isn't really a fun task, plus I am having some issues to get these automations to work when bouncing a track in place. I don't know why but Reason seems to ignore automation sometimes when I do this.

I'm quite sure I'll get Ovox full version after the demo and as I already own VocalSynth I have enough tools for my vocal tracks.

In terms of sound quality I think both are interesting, I had the impression the Ovox demos showed a better quality than the VocalSynth2 ones but I haven't really noticed such a big difference between them when testing them on my pc, and I'm not saying Ovox was less good than I expected but rather that VocalSynth2 can sound better than what I've seen in most demos on the internet, at least in terms of sound quality.

[Boombastix]

OK, thanks for update. I will not have time to test until mid Feb, so I will wait and save the 7 demo days until then. Are you able to compare to iZotope Vocal Synth 2?
Curious to know how the basic sound compares, and what you can do with the modulation sources. Especially using the extracted formant to modulate, eh..., something

I've been working a little bit today with both VocalSynth2 and Ovox. I like them both and even when I haven't done much yet with them I already find some interesting differences between them.

In my opinion both can offer very interesting options and a good sound quality, but I personally think Ovox is going to become my favorite here just because of it's workflow and the possibilities that this workflow offers.

Vocal synth looks to me more like a bunch of effects that can be put in a chain to completely transform a voice track - or another instrument of course - it seems quite linear to me and any kind of automation seems to only be possible by assigning automation lines inside Reason to control the desired parameter.

In Ovox you get a lot more real time options directly on the plugin, like assigning LFO's from the plugin itself directly to any of the parameters including the effects section, assigning a chord to chosen keys no matter if that key comes from an audio track or a midi signal, it has an included arpeggiator too, andyou can even assign scales and chord presets (major, minor, asian, chromatic...) and change the key of the melodies that Ovox produce out of the input source and even the modulation of this input source to match your song.

For example I was tweaking a vocaloid track into a song with japanese minor scales melodies in my song. I could find out that my song is in Ab key so I could tell Ovox to use an included japanese scale and to use the Ab key for modulation so that any changes would still fit into the harmony of the song. Also the possibility to be able to assign the included LFO's, sequencer and waveforms to the inner parameters can help a lot to get modulations that match the song rhythmically.

I figure out this kind of stuff isn't as easy to achieve when using VocalSynth2, a lot of this might be possible by creating automation lanes but drawing automation in Reason 10 isn't really a fun task, plus I am having some issues to get these automations to work when bouncing a track in place. I don't know why but Reason seems to ignore automation sometimes when I do this.

I'm quite sure I'll get Ovox full version after the demo and as I already own VocalSynth I have enough tools for my vocal tracks.

In terms of sound quality I think both are interesting, I had the impression the Ovox demos showed a better quality than the VocalSynth2 ones but I haven't really noticed such a big difference between them when testing them on my pc, and I'm not saying Ovox was less good than I expected but rather that VocalSynth2 can sound better than what I've seen in most demos on the internet, at least in terms of sound quality.

Yeah, I agree with your Vocal Synth 2 sentiment. It has a great formant shift, that is killer (but Neptune RE is pretty good too, at least when shifting down, and just a little going up), and VS2 is pretty good at doing some non-modulated sounds. OVOX and the modulation is really what makes me most likely buy this, and the trigger chord by incoming vocal note can probably be great for quickly testing out vocoder harmonies (a ton of chord prestes too ) as that sucks doing in a sequencer when having to slide the notes to the right position etc. Just the chord presets can be a good educational ground for improving your vocoder/chord skills.

The OVOX formant sounds bad in the demos I have heard, but like I said, we all have Neptune anyhow (the other waves plugins with formant sounds terrible too). Waves Morphoder (I have it) is really a great sounding vocoder too, but no modulation like OVOX, so I am confident that the OVOX vocoding is top notch, and the demos confirm that. This is the best video I have seen, it really covers most aspects of what OVOX can do.

[reddust]

Yeah, I agree with your Vocal Synth 2 sentiment. It has a great formant shift, that is killer (but Neptune RE is pretty good too, at least when shifting down, and just a little going up), and VS2 is pretty good at doing some non-modulated sounds. OVOX and the modulation is really what makes me most likely buy this, and the trigger chord by incoming vocal note can probably be great for quickly testing out vocoder harmonies (a ton of chord prestes too ) as that sucks doing in a sequencer when having to slide the notes to the right position etc. Just the chord presets can be a good educational ground for improving your vocoder/chord skills.

The OVOX formant sounds bad in the demos I have heard, but like I said, we all have Neptune anyhow (the other waves plugins with formant sounds terrible too). Waves Morphoder (I have it) is really a great sounding vocoder too, but no modulation like OVOX, so I am confident that the OVOX vocoding is top notch, and the demos confirm that. This is the best video I have seen, it really covers most aspects of what OVOX can do.

That's the video I also liked the most so far, nice explanations of what Ovox can do, also a couples of examples applied to other instruments than just only voices and nice demo of the chord triggering with notes...

II had missed this comparison video between VocalSynth2 and Ovox Jelie did a couple of days ago, going to watch it now, but surely another interesting reference video if you want to know how they compare to each other

[groggy1]

Has anyone tried to see if OVox can really work for "performance recording"? I.e. were you able to get a bass track recorded using your voice? Or some other cool lead?

The video makes it seem like its strength is how well it can use your voice to record stuff, with intonations, slides, etc.
And their marketing video is pretty effective: It shows some dude who hums, and gets a pretty cool bass-line out of it.

So is that just hype? Just wondering if people are really able to use this as a "voice controller" that's not gimmiky

[reddust]

Has anyone tried to see if OVox can really work for "performance recording"? I.e. were you able to get a bass track recorded using your voice? Or some other cool lead?

The video makes it seem like its strength is how well it can use your voice to record stuff, with intonations, slides, etc.
And their marketing video is pretty effective: It shows some dude who hums, and gets a pretty cool bass-line out of it.

So is that just hype? Just wondering if people are really able to use this as a "voice controller" that's not gimmiky

I can imagine doing that to a certain point. One of the strengths of Ovox is that you can apply an included sequencer and arp to your voice and convert a singing line into something with rhythm, change octaves, make chords out of single notes, apply effects, scales...

One guy at kvr forum did this test, it's a choir singing then transformed into a rhythmical synth like sound with Ovox

[Boombastix]

Has anyone tried to see if OVox can really work for "performance recording"? I.e. were you able to get a bass track recorded using your voice? Or some other cool lead?

The video makes it seem like its strength is how well it can use your voice to record stuff, with intonations, slides, etc.
And their marketing video is pretty effective: It shows some dude who hums, and gets a pretty cool bass-line out of it.

So is that just hype? Just wondering if people are really able to use this as a "voice controller" that's not gimmiky

I have not tried it, but it gives me ideas. But can probably be done with other things as well, at least for testing the concept. But I would probably put autotune first to quantize the voice, then a vocal synth. Sing a bass line. then convert audio to midi and try another sound for it. Should work the same for lead sounds. If it works I am sure I can hum (or scream ) notes faster than I can play

[reddust]

here is another alternative to Ovox or VocalSynth2, I purchased Ovox yesterday so it comes kind of late for me but maybe worth a look

[Boombastix]

here is another alternative to Ovox or VocalSynth2, I purchased Ovox yesterday so it comes kind of late for me but maybe worth a look

I did try Sonivox once. I have never tried such utter garbage VST before or ever since. Lol, waste your time on your own peril...

[reddust]

here is another alternative to Ovox or VocalSynth2, I purchased Ovox yesterday so it comes kind of late for me but maybe worth a look

I did try Sonivox once. I have never tried such utter garbage VST before or ever since. Lol, waste your time on your own peril...

haha, good to know, didn't really look at it in depth, so I guess another reason to be happy about having Ovox and VocalSynth2 instead of this

[Yonatan]

When they introduced the new Biovox module with Vocalsynth 2, I was hoping it would be something I could use on realistically sung vocals or especially on voiceovers:

It sounded promising and like an alternative to something like Antares Throat Evo, but it is very much another vocoder type effect that carries pitch. I wish it could be applied to a dry signal...unless I'm missing something.

Yes, every time a big player releases something called "Vox" or "Vocal" I keep my fingers crossed that it will be actual useful and not just another Vocoder style of effects deluxe. I think much of those synth vox style is handled good inside of Reason already.