WAVES SYNC VX: FAST, FLEXIBLE VOCAL ALIGNMENT WITH ARA IN PRO TOOLS

Sync Vx by Waves is a powerful time and pitch alignment plugin built to streamline vocal editing and mixing workflows. And now with ARA2 support in Pro Tools 2025.6 and later, Sync Vx provides deep integration with Pro Tools and helps music producers, mixers and post-production engineers to tackle vocal doubles, comps, harmonies and ADR with speed and precision.

ARA enables immediate adjustments to any vocal with all edits remaining fully reversible at any point in the session.

In this article we’ll explore how Sync Vx simplifies vocal alignment and helps deliver polished and accurate results with ARA.

WHAT IS WAVES SYNC VX?

Sync Vx is a multitrack alignment solution that corrects timing and pitch issues using one or more reference tracks. It delivers tightly stacked vocals, layered harmonies and doubles, with absolute accuracy while preserving the natural tone and character of the voices it processes.

Sync Vx was designed for post-production applications such as ADR; It offers a built-in specialized version of Clarity Vx which can be applied automatically to the reference (in sidechain), for an even tighter sync with the video.

 

ALIGN MULTIPLE VOCAL TAKES IN SECONDS

Tightening up vocal stacks traditionally involves tedious slicing, editing and nudging of waveforms. Sync Vx replaces this manual process with an intelligent system. Load the plugin, set your lead vocal, or tightest vocal performance with the best pitch as a reference track and then assign the others as sync tracks.

Within seconds, all your vocal recordings will be locked in time and matched in pitch.

 

If you need to process multiple vocal groups in a session, such as a stack of four harmonies and doubles while at the same time, another group of background vocals are singing different lyrics, rhythms and melodies - Sync Vx allows you to designate up to 4 reference tracks at the same time. This keeps your session organized and ensures you can make all your edits easily within one place.

PITCH ALIGNMENT WHEN NEEDED

Sync Vx also matches pitch. This can be extremely helpful when you need tighter feeling harmonies. Pitch matching can be enabled or disabled globally, per track or even per region, as per your preference.

 

You can also reshape vocals using the built-in transpose and formant tools. Whether you’re matching pitch across multiply takes or exploring creative vocal effects, these controls provide flexible melody-shaping options and can also be assigned per track or per region/clip.

HOW TO LOAD SYNC VX IN PRO TOOLS

There are three ways to insert Sync Vx in a Pro Tools session:

1: From the Elastic Audio plug-in selector menu:

• Click the Elastic Audio selector in the track header.
• Choose Sync Vx to load the plugin on the entire track.
• To load Sync Vx across multiple tracks at once:
  • Select all the tracks you want to sync.
  • On Windows, hold Alt + Shift.
  • On Mac, hold Option + Shift.
  • Then select Sync Vx from the menu.

2: On specific audio clips:

• Select one or more clips, right-click and choose Sync Vx > Edit.

3: From the Pro Tools Clip menu:

• Navigate to the Clip menu and select Sync Vx > Edit.

To show/hide the Sync Vx window in Pro Tools click the Sync Vx tab at the bottom of the Edit window.

EDIT WITH COMPLETE CONTROL

Sync Vx gives you precise control over how and where alignment is applied. This is useful when you want to keep a more natural or expressive performance. Below is a brief overview of the ways you can edit within Sync Vx:

• Use global tightness controls to adjust the overall strength of time alignment and pitch matching.
• Adjust all the controls per track, or even per region, to fine-tune specific phrases.
• Apply “SyncMarkers” to manually adjust timing in targeted spots.
• Use the “Bypass Selection” function to leave sections unprocessed.
• Use “Ignore Region” on parts of the reference track to remove unwanted events from being analysed.

This layered control system ensures that you can preserve feel and musicality where needed while still benefiting from precise alignment where it matters most.

IMPROVE SYNC ACCURACY BY DENOISING WITH BUILT-IN CLARITY VX

Excessive background noise can ruin the sound of a recording and interfere with how plugins such as Sync Vx perform detection and alignment. Sync Vx circumvents this via a built-in specialized module of the Emmy Award winning—Clarity Vx. It employs Neural Network technology to clean up the reference tracks before analysis. Note, this does not affect the output audio of the reference track, it only happens in sidechain for detection purposes and can be turned on/off as per your preference.

SYNC VX FEATURES

• ARA2 support for timeline-based editing inside Pro Tools
• Non-destructive editing with instant clip updates
• Work on your entire session and see all tracks in one window
• Aligns up to 16 tracks using up to 4 references (Example: 1 Reference and 15 dubs or 4 references and 12 dubs and any other combination)
• Time and pitch alignment with adjustable tightness
• Region-based control over timing, pitch, formant and transpose
• Built-in denoising to clean reference tracks before analysis
• Creative formant shifting and pitch transposition
• Multiple time and pitch algorithms for artifact-free results
• Manual sync markers, ignore zones, and bypass options for detailed adjustments
• Solo, mute and volume controls per track
• Customizable keyboard shortcuts
• Horizontal and vertical zoom in/out with auto vertical zoom optimization
• Expansive side panel to show/hide tracks and manage the session
• Resizable GUI

TRY SYNC VX IN PRO TOOLS

Waves Sync Vx with ARA2 support is supported in Pro Tools 2025.6 and later and available from the Waves website. Whether you need to tighten vocal stacks, create the perfect vocal comp, or tightly sync an ADR take, Sync Vx delivers fast, precise alignment with all the flexibility you need.

Try Sync Vx for free. To learn more visit waves.com/plugins/sync-vx