Review: New Sonarworks SoundID VoiceAI + Rock and Kids Expansion Packs

With an increase in the use of AI technology amongst industries, it is only natural that we are seeing more and more AI tools end up in the toolbox of the modern creative. Enter the Sonarworks SoundID VoiceAI.

From stemsplitters through to AI-powered plugins, producers and engineers worldwide are finding ways to implement this technology into their daily workflow.

Sonarworks, a company perhaps best known for their award-winning work in acoustic correction for both headphone and studio monitoring, caused a considerable buzz among the industry last year with the release of new SoundID Voice I back in September.

Read up on all the latest columns here.

Essentially, SoundID VoiceAI is  DAW-based plugin that works to transform recorded vocals into a range of different human voices or instruments. SoundID Voice achieves this via the incorporation of AI models, a library of which is included within the base plugin.

Transform your voice 

While at its core, the product transforms your natural speaking voice into a plethora of different timbres, when the basis of this functionality is applied to music production, its potential for creative use is exponentially broad. 

For example, you can use Sonarworks voice packs to add a smooth female backing harmony to that club banger you have been working on recently. Furthermore, remember that bassline that has been resonating in your head for weeks? No need to pick up your Fender Jazz to figure it out when you can hum it into your mic and let SoundID VoiceAI transform it into a usable bass line quickly and easily. 

Having now established what exactly it is, and scratching the surface on how it can be used as a creative tool for modern producers of all skill levels. How does the plug-in actually fare in daily use?

In the studio

Sonarworks has made the installation and registration of SoundID Voice AI straightforward. The plug-in supports VST3, AU, and AAX formats, guaranteeing compatibility with a variety of DAWS. 

From there, it is just a matter of downloading and opening Sonarworks’ efficient installer, and then making an account and registering the software. All in all, a quick process that had me up and running within Logic in less than 5 minutes. 

The user interface adopted by Sound ID Voice AI is both very clean and intuitive. Taking on an appearance that I feel will be familiar to most users upon first glance, this is fantastic as it means far less time thumbing through manuals and more time making music. 

My initial test involved a male vocal from a session that I had recorded late last year. Loading the plugin onto my track was again easy. It’s also worth mentioning that adding the instance of the product to the specified track was also quite fast, not leaving me with any noticeable lag within the DAW.

From there, the plugin UI will provide you with a list of sound profiles that apply to your source audio. All sound profiles within the library feature preview tabs, which effectively let you audition a sound prior to committing to it. This takes the guesswork out of finding a suitable sound for your track or other source material.

Inputting your source audio into the plugin is also extremely intuitive, simply requiring the user to hit the capture button and then hit play on the transport bar in your DAW of choice. Once this is done, another click is all it takes for your audio to be sent to the cloud for processing.

Final thoughts

After all was said and done, I found the result to be nothing short of excellent. Sound ID VoiceAI effectively turned my male voice into a convincing female lead, void of any unnatural artefacts or other discrepancies. As a matter of fact, I’d have been quite okay with using the result in a production with minimal mixing and processing. Sound ID Voice AI simply works. 

Additionally, I feel that another aspect of Sound ID Voice AI that will appeal to many users is the fact that it operates as a plugin with your DAW of choice. This saves an immense amount of time when competitors will have you uploading and downloading files within your web browser. 

Having spent some time getting familiar with Sound ID Voice AI, my attention was then directed towards the all-new Rock and Kids voice packs. These serve as an expansion to the plugins sound library, providing even more sonic palettes for users to incorporate into their productions.

With my musical background being rooted in metal and rock, I didn’t waste much time testing the Rock voice pack in some old DAW sessions that I had stored on my hard drive. Once again, Sound ID Voice ID did not disappoint when it came to delivering convincing rock vocals that fit well within the context I was testing them.

If you would like to see the potential Sonarworks SoundID Voice AI has for your own productions, Sonarworks is currently offering a free 7-day trial via their website. 

For more information on the Sonarworks SoundID Voice AI, head here.