élastiqueAAX is zplane’s time and pitch manipulation AudioSuite plug-in (only) for Pro Tools. It runs offline AAX 32/AAX64 faster than real-time and will time stretch from 25% to 400% and pitch shift +/- 24 semi-tones while preserving formants. It will process multi-channel (up to eight audio channels at a time) for synchronized processing and comes with factory presets for typical film pull-ups/pull-downs.
As a music mixer, my main interest in élastiqueAAX is for both tempo and song key shifting multi-track masters, entire music mixes or as a compositional adjunct to audition already recorded demo tracks in different keys or tempos.
I am also interested in using it to pre-process individual guitars and recorded loops tracks for use in other keys and tempos.
My first test was extreme. I time-stretched all the tracks of a multi-track song in Pro Tools HDX 12.7.1. I selected eight tracks at a time and made six passes of eight tracks each for a total of 48-tracks. The song went from about 3:15 minutes to 2:45 minutes in length.
For pitch shifting, there are no controls for selecting a particular algorithm for monophonic, polyphonic or percussion sources as in other software and DAWs. You can elect to preserve formants or not and the Source Material Voicing fader ranges from a bass clef to a treble clef depending whether fundamentals are lower or higher frequencies.
I am well pleased to report that élastiqueAAX worked flawlessly and did everything I expected quickly and with the best possible sound. And now with eight tracks at a time and faster than real-time, I can freely shift all tracks in a surround mix, multi-track recordings or several stereo mix versions quickly and easily.
I’m highly recommending this to music makers and songwriters for all the possible creative uses. élastiqueAAX runs on OSX 10.7 and higher, Windows 7, 8, & 10 and Pro Tools 10 or higher. It sells for $399 as download.
products.zplane.de/elastiqueaax
Barry Rudolph is a recording engineer/mixer who has worked on over 30 gold and platinum records. He has recorded and/or mixed Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, the Corrs and more. Barry has his own futuristic music mixing facility and loves teaching audio engineering at Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, CA. He is a lifetime Grammy-voting member of NARAS and a contributing editor for Mix Magazine. barryrudolph.com
