Topline Vocal Suite and Topline Key Finder Manual

Topline Vocal Suite gives you all the tools you need to easily record and mix flawless professional vocals in any genre, from hip-hop to pop to R&B.

Topline Vocal Suite is the only plug-in of its kind — perfectly marrying modern vocal tuning with best in class UAD analog studio effects. So you get everything you need to create perfect vocal mixes, effortlessly.

Packed with professional presets, Topline Vocal Suite is like having a seasoned engineer in a classic recording studio, crafting tuned, radio-ready vocals just for you.

Effortless Tuning for Any Genre

Topline Vocal Suite delivers iconic pitch-perfect tuning. Whether you are looking for subtle transparent correction or ultra-fast tuning for classic modern effects, it's never been so easy to dial in polished modern vocals.

Record Vocals with Album-Quality Sound

Give your vocals a true record-ready sound fast with Topline Vocal Suite's vintage-style mic preamps, tape saturation, studio compressor, stunning reverb, delay and modulation, and easy-to-use EQ — all powered by our world-class analog emulation technology.

In this article

What is Topline Vocal Suite?

Topline Vocal Suite is an integrated, all-in-one vocal chain combining our most popular analog tools with state-of-the-art pitch correction, so your vocals are perfectly in tune.

With Topline Vocal Suite you can:

  • Tune vocal tracks automatically to a specific scale. Adjust tuning from subtle, transparent correction to ultra-fast, for classic modern effects
  • Pitch shift tracks up or down as much as 12 semitones while retaining or adjusting formants
  • Apply analog color with solid state or tube preamps as well as tape saturation for warmth or character
  • Compress your track with several different modeled classic compression styles
  • EQ your track with multiple filters and EQ styles for the perfect tonal balance
  • Add clarity and sheen to any vocal with the classic studio Air band
  • Apply modulation, delay, and reverb to add ambience and depth to your track
  • Use the included Topline Key Finder plug-in to find the key of your song and send it to Topline Vocal Suite for pitch correction

Topline Vocal Suite

What is Topline Key Finder?

Topline Key Finder listens and identifies the musical key of an instrument track or song. You can choose from several possible keys suggested by Topline Key Finder, and send your selected key to one or more Topline Vocal Suite instances.

Topline Key FInder can be instantiated on any track, but the best results are obtained with the complete mix of instrumental tracks for the song.

Topline Key Finder

 


Getting Started with Topline Vocal Suite

  1. Open the song or arrangement you'd like to mix, insert Topline Vocal Suite on your vocal track or bus, and insert Topline Key Finder on the master output.
  2. Press play. Topline Key Finder listens to the song.
  3. After the song key is identified, click Send in Topline Key Finder. Topline Vocal Suite is now ready.
  4. Open Topline Vocal Suite, and listen to the vocal track.
  5. Select a preset or adjust the Speed and Depth of the Tuner to match the style of your music.

Browsing presets

Topline Vocal Suite comes equipped with more than 170 professionally designed presets spanning multiple genres and styles. Cycle through presets by clicking the arrows, or click on the preset name at the top of Topline Vocal Suite to open the preset browser.

In the preset browser, click on one or more preset tags to narrow your search by style, character, or the preset designer, or begin typing to search for a specific preset. You can click the star next to a preset to Favorite it.

Tip: Your selected key is always preserved when navigating presets, so you only need to set the key for your track once. You can freely browse presets without having to reapply key settings.

Stereo or mono?

Topline Vocal Suite supports mono, stereo, and mono-to-stereo operation. Some effect modes in Topline Vocal Suite require a stereo output to achieve the full immersive effect. If your vocal tracks are on mono tracks in your DAW, you can either first route them to a stereo bus or group and insert Topline Vocal Suite on that stereo channel, or insert the plug-in as a mono-to-stereo insert if supported by your DAW

Tip: Most vocal mixes will benefit from stereo processing for a polished and professional sounding vocal mix.

Identifying keys with Topline Key Finder

You can identify keys automatically or manually with Topline Key Finder, and send the key to one or more instances of Topline Vocal Suite.

You can use Topline Vocal Suite with or without Topline Key Finder. If you know the key of your song, or you aren’t using pitch correction, you may not need to use Topline Key Finder.

Getting automatic key candidates with Topline Key Finder

Topline Key Finder can automatically detect candidate keys by listening to a music track.

  1. Instantiate Topline Key Finder on a channel (track, bus, or output) that includes instrumental parts for the session and play your track.
  2. After you have played some relevant passages, detected keys are listed, and marked with green, yellow, or red squares depending on the degree of accuracy to the detected notes.
  3. The highest confidence key is automatically selected. Alternatively, you can choose another key or customize the scale. Click a detected key to select it.
  4. Click Send to pass the identified key to Topline Vocal Suite.

Key Finder Notes

  • The key is loaded into all Topline Vocal Suite instances that have the Key Finder option enabled, including new instances that are added to the session.
  • Topline Key Finder only suggests Major or Minor scales. Clicking the arrow icon below the suggested key will swap it with its relative major/minor key. 

Specifying a key manually in Topline Key Finder

You can manually specify a key to use in Topline Vocal Suite.

  1. Insert Topline Key Finder on a track, bus, or output.
  2. Set the Listen / Manual switch to Manual.
  3. Select a key and scale, or click the Custom button (for more information on customizing the scale, go here).
  4. Click Send to pass the key to Topline Vocal Suite.

The key is loaded into all Topline Vocal Suite instances that have the Key Finder option enabled, including new instances that are added to the session.

 


Understanding Topline Vocal Suite

Topline Vocal Suite has three main sections:

  • Tuner & Shift
  • Channel Strip (Analog, Dynamics, EQ & Air)
  • Modulation, Delay, & Reverb

Each section contains multiple independent effects. The signal flows from left to right through the plug-in. The processing order of Topline Vocal Suite is shown in the navigation bar at the top of the plug-in, and is carefully selected for best results with vocals.

Navigation bar elements

Navigating in Topline Vocal Suite

The navigation bar at the top of the plug-in displays an icon for each effect. Click on an effect to view its controls. Shift-click on any effect to toggle it on or off. 

When an effect is clicked, all effects in the same section are outlined in the navigation bar, and their components are displayed in the main area. In this navigation bar screenshot, the Modulation/Delay/Reverb section is selected/outlined, and the modulation effect is disabled/dimmed.

Adjusting Topline Vocal Suite controls

Effect styles

The Channel Strip and Modulation/Delay/Reverb effects have selectable effect styles. To choose an effect style, click the current name then select an option from the menu, or click the previous/next (< or >) buttons to cycle through the styles.

Visual controls

Effects are adjusted by dragging their controls. When you hover the mouse over visual elements, the cursor changes to show adjustments are available.

Fine control resolution

Tip: Most controls can be adjusted with fine resolution for more precise control. To adjust a control with more precision, hold your keyboard's Shift key while dragging the control.

Effect power

 

 

Each individual effect has its own bypass button next to the effect label. To toggle an effect on/off, click its round power button. When an effect is active, its button is lit. When disabled, the effect elements, and its icon in the navigation bar, are dimmed.

Tip: Your selected section is saved so that you can return to the same effect when closing and reopening the plug-in.

Plug-in power

To bypass Topline Vocal Suite for comparing to the unprocessed sound, click the UA logo in the upper-right of the plug-in, or the IN button in the UAD Toolbar. When bypassed, the plug-in is dimmed.

Tip: Bypass stops audio processing, but Topline Vocal Suite will still receive key information from Topline Key Finder.

Return to default

To return most controls to their default values, option-click (macOS) or alt-click (Windows) on the control.

Plug-in signal levels

You can adjust the plug-in's signal levels with the IN and OUT knobs in the navigation bar. Topline Vocal Suite is designed to operate best with input levels that register in the green area on the IN meter, or peaking between -16 and -9 dBFS. Playback your vocal track and adjust the IN knob to set correct operating levels.

Topline Vocal Suite can add or reduce gain, depending on the settings you apply. For example, the EQ section can increase or decrease levels significantly. Adjust the OUT knob to set the plug-in output level after adjusting the effects.

Tip: Your selected input level is preserved when navigating presets. You only need to set the input level for your track once, so you can freely browse presets without having to re-adjust the input.

 


Tuner & Shift Section

The Tuner & Shift section includes:

  • A vocal tuner that can automatically correct the pitch of your vocals, with results ranging from transparent to pitch-perfect to suit any genre of music, and 
  • An independent pitch shifter that allows you to creatively manipulate pitch and formant by as much as an octave up or down. You can then blend the result with the original vocal for a wide range of creative effects. With control of pitch and formant, you can dramatically transform your vocals, change the timbre of the vocalist, or create interesting harmonies.

Using the Tuner

To toggle the vocal tuner on/off, click the Tuner button. The Tuner is enabled when the button is lit.

Topline Vocal Suite can perform one of three actions when it detects an incoming note.

  • Allowed note – If a note is detected that is allowed in the scale, the pitch is corrected to that note, according to the Speed and Depth control settings.
  • Disallowed note – If a note is detected that is not allowed in the scale, the pitch is corrected to the next nearest allowed note, according to the Speed and Depth control settings.
  • Ignored note – If a note is detected that is ignored in the scale, no pitch correction is applied to that note.

Setting Key and Scale manually

You can set the key and scale for the Tuner manually.

  1. Initiate the Topline Vocal Suite plug-in on the track to be tuned.
  2. Clear the Key Finder button, if it is selected.
  3. Click on the Key letter to choose a key from the pop-up menu.

  1. Click on the Scale name to choose a scale from the pop-up menu.

Tip: After you've set the key and scale for your track, they are preserved as you browse presets, allowing you to explore freely without needing to adjust them again.

Receiving key information from Topline Key Finder

All Topline Vocal Suite instances that have their Key Finder button enabled receive key information from Topline Key Finder. Key Finder is enabled by default. If you no longer want Topline Vocal Suite to change keys when you send a key with Topline Key Finder, disable the Key Finder button in Topline Vocal Suite.

Note: In Logic Pro, Topline Vocal Suite instances display the key from Topline Key Finder when active on tracks that contain audio clips and playback is started.

Customizing the scale

You can specify a custom scale in Topline Vocal Suite or Topline Key Finder, specifying which notes to allow, disallow, and ignore.

Note: The procedure is similar for either plug-in, but customizing a key in Topline Key Finder allows you to quickly send that key to multiple instances of Topline Vocal Suite.

 

 

  1. To customize the scale, click the CUSTOM button below and to the left of the piano keyboard. A scale can be customized when the CUSTOM button is yellow.
  2. To add or remove notes from the scale, select EDIT SCALE.
  3. Click on a key to toggle the key state. “In scale” keys appear unshaded, and “out of scale” keys appear shaded.
  4. To ignore a note (for example, a passing tone that you do not want to correct), select IGNORE NOTE.
  5. Click on a key to toggle the “ignored” state. Ignored notes are colored red.

The custom scale is used while the CUSTOM button is yellow. To stop using the custom scale, toggle the CUSTOM button off, and set a key manually or with Topline Key Finder. 

Tip: Customize your scale in Topline Key Finder (instead of Topline Vocal Suite) to quickly send an edited scale to multiple instances of Topline Vocal Suite.

Adjusting tuning Speed and Depth

The tuner’s Speed and Depth knobs control how Topline Vocal Suite corrects pitch. You can adjust these controls based on vocal phrasing or the style of your track, and together they determine whether the automatic tuning sounds natural, or has a hard tuned effect.

Tune Speed

Speed controls how quickly Topline Vocal Suite corrects a note that it detects as being out of the current scale. Speed ranges from 200 ms (fully counter-clockwise) to 0 ms (fully clockwise). 

Natural, transparent pitch correction is achieved in the middle range of the control. The faster you set Speed, the more effect you will hear, with modern “robotic” pitch correction sounds achieved at the fastest speeds of 5 ms or less.

Tune Depth

Depth controls how strongly Topline Vocal Suite pulls a detected out of scale note back into the scale. Depth ranges from 0 – 100%. Generally, settings that are very deep have the potential to sound closer to perfect pitch, though with slower Speed settings, even extreme Depth settings can sound very natural.

Tip: For the most transparent pitch correction that allows for natural imperfections, set Speed and depth in the middle portion of the control range. For more extreme and obvious pitch correction, set Speed and Depth more aggressively. At 0 ms Speed and 100% Depth, Topline Vocal Suite can perform very extreme “hard tuned” effects.

Setting the Pitch Reference

You can adjust the Pitch Reference for Topline Vocal Suite by ±100 cents, to compensate for tuning differences in the music. To adjust the pitch reference, drag the REF PITCH label or value up or down.

Using Shift

To toggle the pitch shift effect on/off, click the Shift button. Shift is enabled when the button is lit.

Live and Mixing modes

Topline Vocal Suite includes two pitch shifting modes.

  • Live – For the fastest response when using Topline Vocal Suite on live vocals or while recording, set the Live/Mixing toggle switch to Live. This mode minimizes internal latency, but is still subject to DAW I/O buffering latency, so reduce your DAW’s buffer when tracking for lowest possible latency. 
  • Mixing – When mixing pre-recorded vocals, set the Live/Mixing toggle switch to Mixing mode. This setting introduces a small amount of latency, but can be more accurate.

Setting the Pitch

Drag the Pitch line to adjust the pitch up or down. The Pitch slider moves in single semitone increments, for ±12 semitones (one octave) of pitch shifting.

Note that setting Pitch to a value other than -12, 0, or +12 semitones can cause a vocal performance to hit notes outside of the selected scale.

Adjusting the vocal formant

Drag the Formant line to adjust the formant up or down. The Formant slider moves in single semitone increments, for ±12 semitones (one octave) of formant shifting.

What is a formant?

A vocal formant is a resonance that results from the length and shape of the vocal cords and nasal cavities. Adjusting the formant can change the character of a voice to sound like it comes from a much smaller or much bigger source than the original vocalist. Keep the formant at the default setting to sound the most like the original vocalist as you pitch the vocal up and down.

Pitch and formant lock

Click the lock below the Pitch and Formant section to adjust these two controls together. When the lock is highlighted, adjusting either setting will also adjust the other setting.

Shift Mix

The Mix knob allows you to blend the pitch-shifted sound with the original vocal. This allows you to creatively blend in the pitch-shifted sound or create harmonies.

Shift Histogram

The shift histogram display represents your input waveform on the left, and the resulting pitch-shifted and formant-shifted waveform on the right. The histogram remains active but is dimmed when Shift is disabled.

 


Channel Strip Section

With the Channel Strip (Analog, Dynamics, EQ & Air) section you can:

  • Add analog color, with tube or solid state preamps and tape saturation
  • Clean up noises and harsh “ess” sounds with the gate and de-esser
  • Apply full-featured compression to even out dynamics
  • Apply targeted vocal equalization to polish your vocals

topline-comp-eq-section.png

Channel Strip section selected

Analog

Analog adds tone and character to your audio. Using the analog controls, you can add subtle warmth, mild overdrive, or over-the-top distortion. The analog preamp and tape also include broad character settings to provide overall tone shaping.

Note: The meters for the analog preamp remain active when the analog section or Color control is bypassed.

Selecting Tube or Solid State preamp models

Click on the Solid State or Tube icons or labels to toggle between solid state and tube preamps.

  • Solid State – Modeled after a famous British solid state preamp, this channel provides warm, punchy analog gain. This control is gain-compensated, but will still add approximately 2 dB of gain when set fully clockwise.
  • Tube – Modeled after a classic American tube console circuit, this channel provides tons of warmth, bottom end, thickness, and saturation.

Adding color and saturation

Enable (white) or disable (black) the Color and Saturate effects by clicking their toggle buttons. Rotate the Color and Saturate knobs to add analog color and saturation.

  • Color – Adjusts gain for the solid state or tube preamp. At lower levels, this control adds warmth and grit. At higher levels this control adds the distortion of a heavily overdriven solid state or tube circuit.
  • Saturate – Adds analog tape drive. At lower levels, this control adds warmth and grit. At higher levels, this control adds thick tape distortion.

Analog tone

Analog tone allows you to add tone shaping to the analog preamp and analog tape. Due to the nature of the tone shaping available with an analog preamp and an analog tape machine, the analog tone is more apparent with only the Color (analog preamp) control active, versus with only the Saturate (analog tape) control active. The selected tone is most apparent with both controls active.

Note: Analog tone is only applied when the Color and/or Saturate controls are enabled (when their knob LED is lit).

  • Bright – A bright tone that cuts through the mix, with a slight low-frequency cut and a high-frequency boost to the analog preamp, and a brighter analog tape sound.
  • Flat – Your original sound, with no tone shaping applied from the analog preamp, and a flat tape sound.
  • Hyped – Big and hyped mid-scooped sound, with low and high-frequency boosts to the analog preamp, and a more scooped analog tape sound.
  • Present – Up close and personal, with an upper-midrange frequency boost to the analog preamp, and a slight upper-midrange frequency boost to the analog tape sound.
  • Vintage – Warmer and full, with a slight low-frequency boost and high-frequency cut to the analog preamp sound, and a slightly darker analog tape sound.

Dynamics

The dynamics controls appear in the middle of the channel strip, and includes the following effects:

  • Gate – Reduces extraneous noises between vocal phrases, such as rustling, breathing, or headphone bleed.
  • Compressor – Smooths out the vocal performance, reducing peaks and increasing apparent volume.
  • De-esser (De-S) – Reduces sibilant “s” and “t” sounds.

tvs-dynamics-callouts-2x.png

Using the Gate

Use the gate to help eliminate background noises. The Topline Vocal Suite gate is designed to be simple to use, and tuned for vocals with a quick attack and a relatively slow release, so your audio won’t jump in or cut out unnaturally. The meter for the gate indicates the gate response. 

  • To toggle the gate on and off, click the button above the Gate slider.
  • To increase the amount of noise suppression, drag the Gate slider down.

Using the De-Esser

The Topline Vocal Suite de-esser is tuned for frequencies that are generally produced by “s” and “t” consonant sounds. If orange-colorized bars appear in the Dynamics meter view, this indicates that “s” or “t” sounds were detected, which Topline Vocal Suite’s de-esser can transparently reduce. The meter for the de-esser indicates the de-esser’s response.

  • To toggle the de-esser on and off, click the button above the De-S slider.
  • To increase the amount of de-essing, drag the De-S slider down.
  • To hear the sounds removed by the de-esser, toggle the Solo button.

Using the Compressor

Compression even outs the dynamics of the performance and helps vocals “sit-in-the-mix.” The Topline Vocal Suite compressor is designed to provide excellent vocal compression with a simple control set. 

  • To toggle the compressor on and off, click the button at the top left of the compressor knob.
  • To adjust the compression amount, rotate the Compress knob. This control adjusts multiple compressor settings while maintaining an even output volume.
  • To choose the compressor character, click on the Compression Style and choose an item from the menu, or click the forward or back arrows to cycle through the styles.

Compressor styles

Topline Vocal Suite includes five compressor styles, based on classic hardware units.

  • Warm – A warm, round, full sound from a classic tube opto compressor with a medium peak reduction setting.
  • Transparent – A transparent sound from a FET compressor with medium attack and release, a low compression ratio, and parallel compression.
  • Focused – A very vocal-forward compressor response utilizing a FET compressor with medium attack, fast release and low ratio, feeding a tube opto compressor with medium peak reduction.
  • Tight – A fast, responsive compressor response from a FET compressor with fast attack and release and medium ratio, feeding into a tube opto compressor with medium peak reduction.
  • Aggressive – The unique sound of a FET compressor with the fastest attack and release settings, and “all buttons” ratio.

EQ and Dynamics routing

You can choose to place the EQ before or after dynamics processing. To toggle between these routings, click the DYN→EQ or EQ→DYN labels.

DYN→EQ

Compression can alter the tonal balance of your audio track. Apply dynamics before EQ to shape the overall tone and texture of the signal and to reduce transient peaks, which you can then refine with equalization.

EQ→DYN

Compressing first reduces dynamic range, and can make it more difficult to hear and address frequency imbalances. EQ first to ensure that dynamics are controlling frequencies in a way that complements the tonal balance. Compression after EQ can also help to tame frequencies that are accentuated, and level out frequency cuts for a smoother overall output.

EQ

Topline Vocal Suite includes broad EQ shaping features that are specifically targeted for typical vocal frequencies. To toggle the equalizer on/off, click the EQ button. EQ is enabled when the button is lit.

The graphic EQ includes four bands of cut and boost graphic EQ, plus low and high filters, for accurate EQ shaping. The graphic EQ also includes three EQ styles that you can use to configure the focus of the graphic EQ.

  • Full Range – A wide, general purpose vocal EQ that covers a lot of different vocal scenarios.
  • Mid-Range Focus – Emphasis in the vocal midrange frequencies allows you to push the warmth and body of a vocal, or to tame problem areas.
  • Brilliant – High frequency focus, excellent for dark vocals that need to cut through a mix, or to clear up muddiness in a vocal track.

Using the graphic EQ

As you adjust EQ sliders, low and high filters, and the EQ scale, the visual representation of the overall EQ curve is updated.

Adjusting graphic EQ bands

  1. Hover your mouse over the graphic EQ area. The EQ band controls appear.
  2. Drag an EQ slider bar to adjust the band. Boost bands appear above the center (0 dB) line, and cut bands appear below the line.

Adjusting graphic EQ scale

To change the graphic EQ scale, drag the SCALE label or value up or down. The available range is 50% – 125%, in increments of 5%.

EQ Scale changes the EQ range by proportionally adjusting the amount of available gain for each band. Larger values provide more available EQ, and smaller values provide less available EQ.

Tip: Adjust EQ Scale when the general EQ tone is good, but you want to exaggerate or reduce the effect.

Shaping lows and highs with the cut filters

At the top left and right of the EQ area are the low cut and high cut filter controls. These cut filters provide the ability to filter extraneous frequencies and to process vocals creatively. For example, a low cut filter is often used to remove rumble, bumps, and thumps, and high cut filters can be used to remove harshness.

To adjust the low / high filters, drag their filter handles.

Tip: The low and high filters have a wide frequency range, and can be used together for creative vocal processing, such as telephone-style EQ.

Adjusting overall EQ with Lows, Highs, and Air

For broad tone shaping, Topline Vocal Suite includes controls for Lows, Highs, and Air. Adjustments to these controls are reflected in the graphic EQ frequency display. 

Lows & Highs

  • Lows – Broadly adjusts the low frequencies, adding or removing deep bass and low mid frequencies.
  • Highs – Broadly adjusts high frequencies, adding or removing treble and brightness.

With these controls, frequencies are removed below the center (noon) position and added above the center position. 

Adjusting Air

Air adds high end sparkle utilizing a legendary studio technique heard on countless records, imparting clarity and sheen on any vocal without adding harshness. Adjust the Air knob to create an airy, hyped multi-band expansion sound often applied to vocal tracks in big studios.

Air can be toggled on/off by clicking the orange LED next to the knob, independent of the rest of the EQ. Note that Air is an additive control only — the effect is off when the knob is fully counter-clockwise, and increases as you rotate the knob clockwise.

Adjusting EQ output

To adjust the overall output gain from the EQ section, drag the GAIN label or value up or down. The available range is ±12 dB in 1 dB increments. Hold Shift for finer adjustment.

 


Modulation, Delay, and Reverb Section

Elevate your vocals with time-based effects that add amazing depth and space. From lush delays to expansive reverbs and modulation, use the Modulation/Delay/Reverb controls to create a spacious, ethereal presence in any vocal mix. 

Modulation / Delay / Reverb section selected

Modulation Controls

Using modulation

  1. To choose a modulation style, click the current name then select an option from the menu, or click the previous/next (< or >) buttons to cycle through the styles.
  2. To adjust Intensity, drag horizontally anywhere on the modulation graphic. The modulation intensity percentage is displayed when hovering or dragging in the modulation area.
  3. Adjust the amount of modulated signal with the Blend knob. 

Modulation styles

  • Chorus – Detuning and pitch movement combined to create a classic thick swirling texture.
  • Doubler – Offsets the audio with timing and pitch differences to simulate the sound of multiple layers. Use to make a single vocal track sound doubled or to thicken group backing vocals.
  • Flanger – Classic sweeping, metallic effect.
  • Widener – Adds width and fullness with micro pitch shifting and short stereo delays to stereo instances. Adds some chorus-like modulation on mono instances.
  • Wow & Flutter – Random tape modulation, including some tape tone and saturation.

Delay Controls

Delay style

To choose a delay style, click the current name then select an option from the menu, or click the previous/next (< or >) buttons to cycle through the styles.

  • Studio Tape – Tape-style delay with higher fidelity and less distortion.
  • Cassette – Darker, lower-fidelity tape-style delay; feedback will self-oscillate at very high settings.
  • Digital – A perfect digital copy of the incoming signal.

Delay Time

This menu adjusts the delay time in note values from a 32nd note triplet to a whole note. The delay time is always synchronized with the tempo of your DAW. Note that when adjusting delay time while audio is playing, pitch shifting occurs on the signal for analog delay styles (Cassette and Studio Tape).

To choose a delay time, click the TIME label or value, then choose an option from the menu.

Delay Width

This menu adjusts the stereo delay width. Stereo delay effects are available when used on a stereo track or bus. On mono tracks, the stereo delay effects are mono and do not have any stereo effect.

To choose a width style, click the WIDTH label or value, then select an option from the menu.

  • Mono – Centered, mono delay repeats
  • Stereo – Preserves stereo separation for delay repeats
  • Wide – Offsets stereo delays even more for wide stereo delay repeats
  • Ping-Pong – Delay repeats bounce back and forth from left to right

Delay Modulation

This control sets the delay modulation amount. At higher settings, pitch modulation adds movement to the delay repeats. To adjust the amount, drag up or down on the MOD label or value.

Delay Feedback

Feedback adjusts the amount of delay repeats. At higher settings, delays repeat for a long time. With the Cassette delay style, at very high settings the delay repeats will self-oscillate.

Tip: To adjust feedback, drag anywhere on the spinning tape reel. The Feedback percentage value is displayed when hovering or dragging.

Delay low & high cut filters

These independent filters adjust the amount of low and high frequencies filtered out of the delay repeats. The low cut filter range is 20 Hz  – 1000 Hz. The high cut filter range is 1 kHz – 20 kHz. To adjust the filters, drag their filter handles above the tape reel.

Delay Mix

Adjusts the blend of delayed signal to dry signal. To more easily add small amounts of delay, the first half of the mix knob allows you to adjust the range from 0–20%. The markers on the knob at 3 o'clock and 6 o'clock indicate 50% and 100% delayed signal. When set to 100%, there is no dry signal.

Send (delay to reverb)

Adjusts the amount of delay that is sent into the reverb. Increase Send to introduce more complex ambience effects. Reduce send to its minimum to stop hearing reverb on the delay signal. Note that the delay Mix control also impacts the signal available at the reverb send.

To adjust the send amount, drag the send bar.

Reverb controls

Reverb styles

  • Ambience – An ambient program from a famous ‘80s digital reverb.
  • Chamber – A historic chamber with a classic reverb perfect for vocals.
  • Hall – Hall reverb from a famous late ‘70s digital reverb.
  • Plate – A revered vintage plate reverb.
  • Room – A room specifically tuned for vocals.

Reverb Length

Length changes the reverb time. Length differs for each reverb style. To adjust the reverb length, drag on the reverb image. The Length percentage value is displayed when hovering or dragging.

Reverb Predelay

Adjust the time duration before the reverb signal begins with this control. Predelay can give a sense of extra distance, keep transients sharper, or make the reverb signal “pop” more. The available predelay range is 0 – 250 ms. 

To adjust the predelay time, drag up or down on the PREDELAY label or value.

Reverb Modulation

You can adjust the reverb modulation amount to add swirling movement to the reverb signal. To adjust the amount, drag up or down on the MOD label or value.

Reverb low & high cut filters

These controls adjust the amount of low and high frequencies filtered out of the audio before it is sent to the reverb, for a natural and open response. Low cut range is 20 – 700 Hz. High cut range is 700 Hz – 20 kHz. To adjust the filters, drag their filter handles above the reverb image.

Reverb Mix

Use mix to adjust the blend of the reverb and dry signals. To more easily add small amounts of reverb, the first half of the mix knob allows you to adjust the range from 0–20%. The markers on the knob at 3 o'clock and 6 o'clock indicate 50% and 100% wet signal. When set to 100%, there is no dry signal.

FX Duck

You can “duck” the delay and reverb effects to reduce their levels while the vocal is playing. Ducked effects return to full level when the vocal stops playing. The result of ducking is that your vocal is clearer when sounding out notes or passages, but still has the ambient effects in the gaps between vocal phrases.

This common technique is used by vocal producers and mixers in the studio to improve the clarity and presence of the vocal, but often requires complex sidechain routing. The effect is available in Topline Vocal Suite with the simple twist of a knob.

To adjust the amount of effects ducking (and decrease the level of delay and reverb while your audio plays), increase the level of the FX Duck knob.

Tip: Click the FX Duck LED to toggle the effect ON/OFF. FX Duck is active when the LED is lit.

 


Getting the Best Results with Topline Vocal Suite

Here are some tips to get great sounds with Topline Vocal Suite.

Tuning

Topline Vocal Suite’s automatic tuner is designed to be used on a single, unprocessed vocal. For optimum results, insert Topline Vocal Suite as the first plug-in in your signal chain, without any other EQ or effects already applied to the vocal.

If you are tuning multiple vocals, use a separate instance of Topline Vocal Suite on each track to be tuned. 

You will get the best results by setting the key of your song in the Tuner. If you are not sure what the key of the song is, use Topline Key Finder to listen to the song and send it to Topline Vocal Suite.

Some notes are trickier than others. If you have a particularly problematic note, you can automate the Speed and Depth controls in your DAW.

Tracking and monitoring live

Topline Vocal Suite is capable of near-real time processing of your vocals. If you want to monitor through Topline Vocal Suite, set the Live/Mixing slider to its default “Live” position. Then, use your DAW’s audio settings to set the buffer size of your audio interface to the lowest setting your system will support. Make sure software monitoring is enabled in your DAW.

A little goes a long way in the mix

Topline Vocal Suite has some legendary effects. While it can be a stylistic choice to use a lot of effects on a vocal or during a passage of the song, most records you love use only a subtle touch of sweetening, delay, or reverb to help the vocal shine. Consider bringing up effects to the point where you can hear them, and then reducing the blend for a pro-quality vocal mix that sits well with other tracks and instruments.

Add power with Shift

If you find yourself mixing a thin vocal that lacks body or power but boosting EQ doesn’t help, try setting Pitch and Formant to -12 and adjust the Mix knob to make the resulting octave shift barely audible for instant added chest and body.

Alternatively, to step up the energy of a song’s chorus, apply the same trick but set Pitch and Formant to +12 for added intensity.

Analog Tones

There are various stages in Topline Vocal Suite that can introduce authentic analog feel, musical saturation, and harmonic overtones that work beautifully on vocals. For consistently great results, we generally recommend setting (gain staging) your signal levels at the input of the plug-in to peak at -9 dBFS. However, processing a vocal recording at louder incoming levels can provide heavier saturation and more aggressive distortion for creative purposes.

Every stage of vocal mixing

With so much sonic flexibility and wide range of tones, Topline Vocal Suite can be used at all stages of mixing a song. Aside from using the plug-in on a lead performance or individual background vocals, Topline Vocal Suite can be applied to vocal group buses, used on FX send tracks, or even apply gentle sweetening on a full vocal mix bus. Browse the preset categories for a variety of ways to use the plug-in.

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