There is an old saying that I am fond of: "science tries to make magic real." History is full of examples, like flying to outer space, communicating over long distances, and seeing what is invisible to the human eye. The thought of accomplishing these tasks was at one time considered magical. The same thing goes for music production. The idea of performers being able to record separately, the idea of being able to punch in and out at specific places, the idea of having sound coming from all the directions around you. At one time or another, these were all magical ideas that science and technology eventually brought to fruition. 

Music software in particular has made its brand of magic real, like changing the speed of audio recordings independently of its pitch. Tuning performances to the tempered scale, correcting timing nuances within recorded performances, and much more. 

The current domain of science making magic real in terms of music production software has to do with our preconceived ideas of "connection". The definition of a connection is "a relationship in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with something else".

We've already been able to make connections within music software for a long time. Think in terms of side-chain routing where the output of one track is connected to the controls of a plug-in on another track. That is nothing new. But lately, we have been seeing invisible connections that, at first glance, seem like magic. I'm thinking of things like iZotope or FabFilter plug-ins where multiple instances across multiple tracks magically communicate with each other to sculpt EQ curves that solve frequency-masking issues.

Well, now we have a new type of magic to welcome into our universe. A new form of "connection" in an area we have never seen it in before. Synchro Arts software is well known for its fantastic tuning and timing algorithms. RePitch, its newest offering, does fantastic, easy, intuitive and great-sounding pitch and timing corrections and adjustments. Vocalign, which we all know and love, does magical time and pitch alignment between multiple tracks. 

Now we have their latest Synchro Link technology which brings another realm of what would have previously been thought of as magic, to reality. The ability for Repitch, with its tuning and timing goodness, to communicate directly with Vocalign Ultra across multiple tracks for real-time adjustments. 

Here is the scenario: You've got a few tracks of doubled and tripled vocals. You work on the lead vocal in Repitch to get it just right. Only now, the doubled tracks don't match up. Synchro Link to the rescue. We now can instantiate Vocalign Ultra across multiple tracks, and have RePitch invisibly communicate its changes to the others. There is an ongoing real-time correction between the work of "correcting" and the work of "aligning". What was once two separate processes, each on their own magical at one time, are now seamlessly connected. And the connection is ongoing. Tune in RePitch, transfer the tuning to the Vocalign Ultra tracks, align the tracks with Vocalign Ultra, and then continue making changes in RePitch if necessary; and have the changes instantly transferred across the multiple connected tracks. 

It sounds complex, and it is. I can't imagine the coding that must go on under the hood to accomplish this. Although it is complex, fortunately for us end-users, it is not complicated. See the connections that happen in real-time in this video. RePitch is first put to work tuning a lead vocal. The tuning corrections are then transferred to a connected track via Vocalign Ultra. Vocalign Ultra also simultaneously aligns the two tracks. Further tuning and timing changes in RePitch are then continually transferred to the connected tracks. And it is all really easy to set up! True modern-day magic. Invisible connections that we didn't know we needed, that I, for one, certainly do not want to live without now.