Peter Neubäcker, founder of Munich-based software developer Celemony has decided to get closer to you. His industry-leading standalone pitch correction software, Melodyne, has this week released itself for the first time as a plugin with VST, RTAS and AU versions, ending years of forcing users to launch Melodyne as a standalone application.

Neubäcker is the developer of Melodyne's core functions which are well-known to users as some of the better pitch and timing correction tools available. Melodyne's uncanny ability to correct notes in performances without leaving behind telltale artifacts has been widely regarded in studios around the world since the product's debut in 2000.

It is a testament to the strength of the product that its reputation was earned despite the workflow interruption that came with using Melodyne. Previously implemented as a standalone application with multiple inputs, Melodyne made its users literally stop what they were doing to fire up a separate application to get at its high-quality functions.

Overwhelmingly, what users were doing was recording or mixing audio in a classic DAW such as Pro Tools or Sonar. Originally, Melodyne was designed to be used as either an audio editor for single sound files or as a multitrack recording and arraging program, which meant that a producer or creative needed to either begin their project in Melodyne as a kind of DAW or needed to jump out of their preferred DAW to do some spot work on a audio file.

Working in Melodyne's favor was the tolerance that users had and still have for the occasional need to fire up a specialized standalone tool such as an audio editor (Sound Forge, Audacity) to do sample-level editing and repair on audio.

But as time went on, pitch-correction became a function expected to be handled on-board the host application via plugins -- VST, AU, RTAS -- which offer quicker access to their functions. Saving clicks and seconds and preserving precious attention and focus on the host application has become an overwhelming demand.

Neubäcker agrees. "The impetus for the development of Melodyne plugin came from the wish of many Melodyne users who most often needed to be able to use Melodyne functions even more swiftly and directly within their preferred host environment."

The Melodyne plugin requires you to transfer the segment of a file you wish to work on, and then provides a set of context-sensitive tools to expose the musical information in the segment and allow you to edit pitch, vibrato, drift, timing, volume and formants of individual notes as well as macros (small packages of commands) that automatically correct intonation and timing.

Neubäcker is clearly happy to get plugged in: "Now we are proud of a very handy product that brings to users within their host the fascination and benefit of Melodyne technology: which is that you can intervene quite literally in the notes of an audio file, moving them individually and with complete freedom upwards or downwards in pitch as well as forwards or backwards in time, time-squeezing or stretching them as well if desired."

Celemony offers the product at its website for $299 with a variety of discounts for current users.