AI is everywhere, and it’s come to vocal music. We did an earlier article on ACE Studio, finding that getting good results could take a lot of time, yet still fall short. We were suggested to try Cantamus.app by a member on the Dorico forum (yes, we’re going full blazes into Dorico).
What Cantamus lacks in editing features, by comparison, it more than makes up for in the quality of its results.
Score Sharing for Ensemble Members
Cantamus is designed as a web sharing tool for choir members to learn their parts. It’s possible to isolate vocal tracks in their mixer feature and download an isolated vocal for your own use in a DAW. Starting with a music score with lyrics assigned to pitches and exported to .musicxml (or .xml – not .mxl) – the process is simple. Create a new “repertoire” piece, get an upload prompt, then upload an uncompressed musicxml file, let it process, and that’s it. No further editing required. The results are astonishingly good, particularly if you make use of dynamic markings in your score before export.
If you hear something that needs fixing in the score, do the fix in your notation program, then, from the Repertoire screen, find the button for “upload new score version.” That’s it. Wait for it to process, and listen to your results.
You can export voices individually by using the features in the Mixer – just click on the little speaker icon at the left of the sliders to mute tracks you don’t need for the export.
Making a Vocal Mockup
Although the purpose of the mixer is to assist choir members or vocalists in learning their parts, it’s also useful for creating a mockup vocal file for your DAW session by isolating and exporting your vocal track or tracks.
