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Enjoy the sound of your own voice? iZotope’s AI-powered Vocal Enhancement Assistant plugin promises to make it sound even better.

Native Instruments today announced iZotope VEA, a new AI-powered Voice Enhancement Assistant.

More people are recording their voices than ever before – we’ll leave you to decide which of these voices are actually worth listening to – so a plugin that offers an easy way of improving the sound of the spoken word has a large potential audience. With that in mind, allow us to introduce you to iZotope’s VEA – an AI-powered Vocal Enhancement Assistant for podcasters and content creators.

VEA features AI technology that listens first, then enhances audio, designed so that creators can feel more confident with their voice and deliver better sounding content. They say that VEA increases clarity, sets more consistent levels, and reduces background noise on any voice recording.

“Many people don’t love the sound of their voice when listening back to a recording,” explains Todd Baker, VP Product at Native Instruments. “VEA quickly polishes your vocal sound so you can feel more confident as a host or narrator. VEA is also easy to use even if you haven’t worked with audio tools before, so you can spend more time focusing on what you want to say, not on how you sound.”

Promising to make any voice recording “more powerful, more polished, and more professional,” this is designed for podcasters and other content creators and features enhancement technology from RX, Ozone and Nectar, some of iZotope’s other products.

The company says that VEA is adept at increasing clarity, setting more consistent levels and reducing background noise. For people that are new to audio production, VEA offers three simple controls to help you with this: Shape, Boost and Clean.

The Shape dial is billed as an alternative to an EQ, and can tailor your recording’s tone, while the Boost knob handles compression and limiting to even out your volume. Clean is effectively a de-noiser, designed to eliminate background sound and keep your voice intact.

If you have a podcast idol, there’s also the Audiolens feature, which enables you to target a specific voice recording that you like and try and replicate its sound. VEA’s attempt to match the tone is visualised so you can see how close it’s getting.

Features:

• The Shape control ensures audio sounds professional and audience-ready, without having to worry about an EQ. Shape is tailored to each voice, and matches the sound of top creators or podcasts with the free iZotope Audiolens tool.
• The Boost control adds loudness and compression as it’s turned up. Easily boost the presence and power of voice recordings without spending time struggling with settings. Boost delivers a smooth and even sound to speech for a more engaging listening experience.
• The Clean control takes background noise out of the spotlight so every voice can shine. VEA learns the noise in the room automatically and preserves speech for light, transparent noise reduction.
• VEA works as a plugin within major digital audio workstations (DAWs) and non-linear editors (NLEs). For a list of officially supported hosts, see the System Requirements at www.izotope.com/vea.

VEA runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats. It is available now, with the following pricing: $29 / €29 / £29 / JPY 4200 / AUD 45 / CAD 39 / CHF 29 / CNY ¥199.    You can find you more and download a 10-day demo on the iZotope website.

Native Instruments’ holiday giveaway is a $49 Play Series instrument packed with free vocal samples for pop, hip-hop and R&B.

“It’s the most… wonderful… time… of the year,” they say, and they say it because it has become the season of free music software. Yes, over the last few years it has become a tradition for some of the biggest software companies to give us all a present at Christmas, and this one is no exception. Thank you for the Glaze.

Hot on the heels of Cherry Audio’s Christmas giveaway – the Synthesizer Expander Module (based on an Oberheim synth) – Native Instruments is upping the freebie stakes with its $49-value Glaze Christmas gift.

Glaze is a Kontakt instrument in the company’s Play series, and was originally designed specifically for pop, hip-hop and R&B vocals. It was developed in collaboration with engineers Curtis ‘Sauce’ Wilson and Rochad Holiday, who have worked with Ne-Yo, Ariana Grande, Will Smith, and Dr Dre.

The instrument uses vocals recorded by a diverse selection of singers, and can provide everything from upfront vocals for pop to processed vocals for trap. It comes with 148 presets across a range of folders to demonstrate just how diverse it can be.

Among these you get wide stacked chords, pads, leads, bass timbres, and more that can be used to provide backing for the vocals. You can even create vocal runs with combinations of samples mapped to a scale using Glaze’s Riff & Run presets.

Hands-on controls include Warmth and Saturation effects, and there are several edit pages that enable you to adjust layers and dig deeper into the vocal tract of the instrument.

All in all, that’s a pretty good offering for your Christmas stocking of a hard drive this year. Glaze is under a couple of gigs in size and you can grab it for free, for a limited time (so be quick).

To get Glaze, simply head to the Native Instruments Glaze download page and follow the instructions.

Today, Native Instruments announced new Kontrol S-Series MK3 MIDI controller keyboards, including the S49, S61, and S88.

The entire line has been updated to feature Fatar keyboards with polyphonic aftertouch. This lets you take performances further, letting you control cutoff, pitch, vibrato, and more for each individual note, without reaching for an encoder or dial.

NI says that they the new S-Series keyboard controllers are best in class, with new features and control capabilities; an intuitive connection to instruments, effects, and DAWs; all with deep navigation on a high-res screen. They are available in three size options: 49 semi-weighted keys, 61 semi-weighted keys, or 88 fully weighted hammer-action keys.

All three models feature a large glass screen, touch-sensitive anodized aluminum encoders and mod wheels, and redesigned tactile buttons.

Features:

• Full-color glass display
• Fatar keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch as standard
• Metal-touch pitch and modulation wheels with central illumination
• Hardware/software integration with direct connection to Kontakt helps you find, adjust, and play sounds quickly and easily
• Integration with all major DAWs lets you control transport and mixing commands directly from the keyboard: record, stop, rewind, mix, edit, and see project channels on the display
• Precision tweaking for all your sounds, pre-mapped to key instrument and effect parameters
• Redesigned Light Guide pinpoints notes with a light above each key
• USB, MIDI, and bus-powered USB-C connectivity plus inputs for four pedals: one sustain, one expression, and two assignable pedals

The Kontrol S-Series controllers come with a wide range of software, including:

• Komplete 14 Select is the essential production suite, including powerful synths, drums, percussion, studio-grade effects, and a wide range of customizable sounds.
• Komplete Kontrol software unites and organizes instruments, effects, loops, and samples, mapping everything to the keyboard controller.
• Plus: Stradivari Cello, Hypha, Guitar Rig LE, iZotope Elements Suite, and Ableton Live Lite

The Kontrol S-Series MK3 is available now to pre-order and shipping in October, with the following pricing:

• Kontrol S49 MK3 pricing:

€ 749,00 / $ 749,00 / JPY 107.400,00 / £ 649,00 / AUD 1.099,00 / CAD 969,00 / CHF 749,00 / CNY ¥ 5.899,00

• Kontrol S61 MK3 pricing:

€ 849,00 / $ 849,00 / JPY 121.700,00 / £ 749,00 / AUD 1.299,00 / CAD 1.099,00 / CHF 849,00 / CNY ¥ 6.699,00

• Kontrol S88 MK3 pricing:

€ 1.299,00 / $ 1.299,00 / JPY 186.200,00 / £ 1129,00 / AUD 1.949,00 / CAD 1.679,00 / CHF 1299,00 / CNY ¥ 9.999,00