Vocals
Melodyne studio offers you the most extensive and powerful range of functions for editing vocals. One decisive advantage is Multitrack Note Editing, an array of functions that allow you, for example, to display and edit simultaneously in the Note Editor backing vocals recorded on different tracks. This can accelerate the workflow dramatically, making it far easier, for example, to synchronise notes on different tracks or even improve the voice leading itself. A further advantage is the Sound Editor, which is only available in Melodyne studio and provides ways of improving the timbre and texture of tracks from which vocals, too, can benefit enormously.

Melodyne editor and Melodyne assistant dispense, admittedly, with Multitrack Note Editing and the Sound Editor but do come equipped with the complete set of Melodyne tools, including the extended timing tools that allow you to control the attack and internal time path of individual notes. These are very useful for editing phrasing and afford you the maximum in creative freedom.

Unlike Melodyne assistant, Melodyne editor also offers DNA Direct Note Access™ and the Tempo Editor – two functions that, whilst not always indispensable when editing vocals, can still prove highly useful on occasion.

With the tools of our smallest edition, Melodyne essential, you can only modify the pitch center, position and duration of notes. It is fine for basic pitch and timing correction but cannot match the sensitive and detailed vocal editing of the larger editions.

Instruments
When editing instrumental tracks, you enjoy the greatest flexibility with Melodyne studio and editor. The decisive factor here is our DNA Direct Note Access™ technology that lets you edit recordings of polyphonic instruments such as pianos and guitars – and even individual notes within chords! Polyphony, in this case, denotes more than simply the presence of chords. Polyphony exists whenever notes overlap, even though they may have been played one after the other. Furthermore, with DNA Direct Note Access™ you can also output recordings of polyphonic instruments in the form of MIDI notes.

Melodyne studio offers the additional advantage of Multitrack Note Editing, which allows you to see and edit the notes of different tracks simultaneously. This makes it possible to correct and edit multi-track instrumental recordings with far greater precision and efficiency. Another advantage of Melodyne studio is the Sound Editor, which adopts a unique approach to sound design the possibilities of which are very far-reaching.

Melodyne essential and assistant dispense with Multitrack Note Editing, the Sound Editor and DNA Direct Note Access™. They show polyphonic and percussive material the same way, the separation being based on beats: A chord appears as one blob and can be moved in its entirety, but no access is afforded to the individual notes within it. For this reason, these editions are not really suitable for polyphonic instruments, but absolutely so for monophonic ones.

When choosing between different editions of Melodyne, you should take into account not only their suitability for the particular instruments you wish to edit but also the tools they make available, as it is these that determine how much you can do with individual notes. Melodyne studio, editor and assistant offer all the Melodyne tools; Melodyne essential, only the basic ones.

Drums and beats
Work with percussive material is supported by all editions of Melodyne but Melodyne studio is the most flexible in this regard. There are differences, too, in the range of tools and other functions offered by each edition and these naturally govern the amount of creative freedom you enjoy.

Since they boast the full array of tools, Melodyne studio, editor and assistant offer more when it comes to editing things like the timbre and envelope of notes as well as for experimentation. With all three of these editions, you can manipulate your drums and beats in extreme ways, to the extent even of making them sound alien or otherwise unrecognizable.

Melodyne essential, on the other hand, allows only the transposition, stretching/squeezing and movement of beats.

The rearranging of beats using Copy & Paste is possible with all editions, as is the insertion of notes in such a way that they overlap or form layers – an option with very interesting implications for sound design with drums. In Melodyne studio, thanks to its Multitrack Note Editing technology, you can edit beats on different tracks simultaneously and quantize one track to another, which lends far greater flexibility to working with beats.

Composing, arranging and working with sample libraries
For composing and sketching song ideas, Melodyne studio is the perfect choice. Thanks to its multi-track capability and DNA Direct Note Access™, you can make optimum use of your sound library and adapt not only the tempo and melody of your samples but also the harmonies within them to the musical context. And not only on one track at a time but, thanks to Multitrack Note Editing, even simultaneously. In this way, you can build up arrangements in a particularly swift and simple way.

Melodyne editor offers DNA Direct Note Access™ but not multi-tracking or Multitrack Note Editing, so you can only edit one track at a time. For the editing of entire arrangements, therefore, Melodyne editor is less flexible and useful than Melodyne studio.

Melodyne essential and assistant are not equipped with DNA and therefore unable to edit polyphonic material, which is a severe limitation when it comes to building up arrangements using samples.

An ideal workflow for composing and arranging is provided by Melodyne in combination with a DAW that supports ARA. This is because our ARA technology allows Melodyne and the DAW to mesh particularly closely, which in turn means you can work faster and with greater flexibility when composing and arranging.

Sound design, audio-to-MIDI, unusual scales, experimental applications
Melodyne offers you – besides the ability to correct mistakes, optimize recordings and adapt samples – a wealth of less obvious creative possibilities. The best equipped in this respect is Melodyne studio, followed by Melodyne editor. These editions offer the widest range of tools and functions, and, when combined, the full measure of Melodyne’s creative possibilities.

If you are mainly interested in sound processing, Melodyne studio is the best choice, as its Sound Editor offers you possibilities you will find in no other tool.

There are other important functions shared by both editions, such as DNA Direct Note Access™, which has very interesting potential in an experimental context, and the possibility of extracting the scales, temperaments and tunings used in one recording, edit them comprehensively and apply them to other material.

For creative and experimental applications, the audio-to-MIDI function pays enormous dividends, as it allows you to output the notes within your audio as MIDI, e.g. in order to double an acoustic instrument with a synthesizer.

Audio-to-MIDI is also offered by Melodyne assistant, though due to the absence of DNA, not for polyphonic material. You also have to dispense with the comprehensive scale functions if you opt for this edition.

Melodyne essential, with its far more limited function set, is suitable for basic, simple audio editing but not recommended for creative or experimental applications.

Getting started at minimal expense
Melodyne offers a fascinating and unique variety of possibilities for audio editing. If you want, for the time being, to familiarize yourself at the least possible expense with an easily mastered range of functions, our smallest edition, Melodyne essential, is a good choice.

Admittedly Melodyne essential only offers the basic tools for editing the pitch, duration and position of notes, but it does employ the same system of note detection, and offer the same degree of user-friendliness and outstanding sound quality, as the larger editions. Even with Melodyne essential, a large number of useful tasks can be accomplished.

Furthermore, if you do decide later that you would like a wider range of functions, you can very easily upgrade from Melodyne essential to one of the larger editions simply by paying the difference. And by “paying the difference”, we mean this: It will cost you no more to purchase Melodyne essential followed by an upgrade to one of the larger editions than if you had purchased the larger edition in the first place.