I got mine yesterday (the LE version) free from Focusrite (who dish out a new and sometimes some very useful, sometimes expensive plug every month just because I own one of their audio interfaces!). I spent quite a few hours trying to get a decent harmony to accompany one of my songs. And gave up… My conclusion is that it might work if you have a very straightforward melody without too many frills. But I tried without following the manual, maybe I’m just not very good at his.
For a start you need to upload a file, you can’t work from a (copied) track in your daw. That’s like 90’s technology isn’t it? Gettting a second, third and even fourth harmony is very easy and the sound is acceptable if you use it in the background of the lead vocal. But you need to work each harmony in detail if the lead melody it’s derived from is less than predictable and straightforward. I found that when you try and shift a phrase to a more appropriate note it sometimes just refuses to do what you want, or you get some strange filter combing like artifacts. After an hour or two I finished two lines of the chorus, and it still sounded strange, so I gave up.
Should I persevere? Anybody out there who loves this programme? I know a better idea would be to ask a decent singer with a higher voice than mine to record. Probably a lot faster and better. But those aren’t there when you want them (usually past midnight), so it would be nice to have technology help you out. Any good ideas?
