Ircam Trax

Name: Ircam Trax
Price: 399 USD
Author: FLUX::

by FLUX:: · Vocal Tool · Voice transformation suite

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Ircam Trax is a set of three voice and sound transformation plugins (Transformer, Cross Synthesis and Source Filter) built on IRCAM's analysis and synthesis research.

It changes pitch, spectral envelope and timbre in real time to alter the perceived gender, age or breath of a voice, and costs $399.

Best for: Vocals, Sound Design. Genres: Ambient & Cinematic, Electronic & EDM.

Keywords: spectral, transformer, film & game audio, sound design, vocals, subtle, AI assistant, cinematic, creative, experimental, FFT-based, full mix, oversampling, perpetual licence, post-production, subscription.

What it does

Ircam Trax is a suite of three voice and sound transformation processors built on algorithms from IRCAM's sound analysis/synthesis team in Paris. FLUX:: notes the voice algorithms have already been used in international and French film productions.

Transformer: a real-time voice and sound modelling processor based on an augmented phase vocoder, with Voice, Instrument and Music modes for vocals, single instruments or full mixes.
Source and Target: a Learn function analyses the input's pitch range automatically; the Target section then reshapes it, with Gender, Age and Breath controls in Voice mode and Pitch, Expression and Formant controls in general.
Remix: a small mixer that rebalances the processed pitched, noise and transient parts of the signal.
Spectral Envelope and filters: remaps the spectral envelope along a freely drawn curve, with a two-band high/low pass filter and pitch and formant modulators.
Cross Synthesis: morphs the amplitude and frequency spectra of two sounds into one, with Amplitude, Frequency, Oversampling, Overlap and Window Size controls.
Source Filter: splits audio into a time envelope and a spectral envelope so the dynamics of one sound can be blended with the colour of another, vocoder-style.
Presets and control: A and B parameter slots with an automatable morphing slider, global presets that store both slots, OSC support, and up to 8 channels for surround.

A trial is available on request. It is sold as a perpetual license, is also part of FLUX:: subscription plans, and has an academic discount.

Source: FLUX:: product page

When to use it

Ircam Trax is the pick when a voice has to sound convincingly older, younger or of another gender, rather than obviously effected. Compared with Little AlterBoy, it is far more detailed and can treat breath, transients and pitch separately, but it is slower to set up and costs much more. Unlike VocalSynth 2, it is not built around vocoder and talk-box character presets; its Cross Synthesis and Source Filter modules are open-ended spectral tools for sound design. Next to Nectar 4 it is not a vocal mixing chain at all: there is no EQ, compression or de-essing.

Best for: character voices for film, games and theatre, creature and robot design, and spectral morphing between two sources.
Genres: cinematic, post-production and experimental work; less suited to quick pop vocal effects.
Look elsewhere if: you want fast formant and pitch tricks (Little AlterBoy) or a vocal mixing chain (Nectar 4).
Tip: run Learn on the source first so the pitch range is detected, and keep transformations subtle; reviewers found large settings sound jarring.

What producers say

Reviews of earlier versions rated Trax as a powerful, specialist tool for post-production and sound design that rewards experimentation.

Computer Music (MusicRadar, 2010) called it "a fine package covering many bases", praising the clear interface, real-time pitch and timbre shifting and the Source Filter's vocoder-style effects.
Sound On Sound (2011) found Transformer excellent for subtly changing a voice and a very good real-time pitch shifter, but got little inspiration from Cross Synthesis and Source Filter.
Criticisms: high CPU use, glitches when A/B morphing between unmatched patches, no tempo sync for the modulation, and "phasey" Cross Synthesis results.

Where to buy

FLUX::: $399

Tutorials and reviews

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