One of the things that Antares Audio Technologies does very well is designing audio processing software for users who lack vocal skills and / or the patience to practice and master radio-ready singing techniques. Not wanting to be blamed anymore for pop music vocals that sound too fake to be real, Antares makes clear that it is not responsible for what you do with its products. Displayed prominently on the product page for the upcoming release of Harmony EFX (Mac/Win; $129 MSRP) vocal modeling harmony generator is, "[It's] the quickest, easiest, most affordable tool for creating realistic (if you want it to be) vocal harmony."

With Harmony EFX, you have the freedom to generate up to five-part vocal harmony from a single vocal line, in any way you like. Key features include the following: four formant-corrected harmony voices with independent pan settings; Evo Voice Processing Technology for fast and accurate pitch detection, artifact-free pitch shifting, and realistic (or not -- it's up to you) throat modeling; Harmony Control modes for controlling every pitchy, unstable note recorded; Spread and Register controls that allow you to set the pitch range and harmony style of your vocal arrangement; and Humanize functions vary each harmony voice enough to sound like it wasn't produced entirely on a computer. To save you some time, the software's Harmony Preset matrix lets you create up to 12 complete harmony settings and instantaneously recall them in real time or via automation.

Being audio software and all, it should offer some options for users who know something about tonal music, and it does. Harmony EFX lets you work with fixed or scale intervals, as well as define harmonies by chord degrees (with inversions) or chord names. You can set harmony in real-time via a MIDI controller or pre-recorded MIDI track, and by using MIDI Omni, you can directly "play" the four harmony voices as if they were voices of a synth or sampler.

According to the manufacturer, Harmony EFX will be available in mid-October, 2009, in RTAS, VST, and Audio Units formats. From the time of its release through the end of November, it will be available for $49 instead of the full price of $129.