zplane reTune Review

The list of companies that use zplane’s elastic processing software is huge; basically, start at Ableton, finish at Yellow Tools and it’s everyone in between: a who’s who of music technology companies. zplane must, then, be doing something right, and in reTune you can see what this is, very quickly and very easily…

Manufacturer zplane
Price £125.50
Contact support@zplane.de
Web https://products.zplane.de

Of course, pitching and tuning in software is nothing new but reTune’s big draw is simplicity, real-time processing and the ability to read all the tuning information within your source files, so that not only the main component is transferred, but artefact and chordal info, too. And it claims to do this in such a way that the process becomes creative – almost like an instrument in itself – not to mention rather good fun.

The software comes as an easy download for Mac and PC and runs as an AAX, AU and VST plug-in; just run it as an effect in your signal chain as you normally would and it simply takes your input and converts to your specified output. And even if you don’t know the input pitch, the software makes a pretty good stab at working it out for you.

Using the software couldn’t be simpler. On a basic level, you check the input-note tuning across horizontal blocks and the output across vertical. Simply select your tuning output and everything is done in real time.

The real beauty lies in using anything more complex than a monophonic sound, as you can specify individual notes within an audio file, like those in a chord, and alter them to your requirements. This soon becomes second nature; it’s very powerful and a wonder to behold.

Indeed, reTune works so well that you’d be forgiven for thinking what it is doing is fairly simple – so transparent is the process. But actually, there’s a lot going on, and the more you explore the software, the more this becomes apparent.

Start mapping single-input notes to chords – or vice versa – and ignore the standard scaling and you go into new and sometimes unpredictable territory. Yet here is where the real creativity starts, taking this plug-in many steps further into both the live and studio arenas.

Key Features
● Mac, Windows, AAX, AU & VST
● Real-time processing
● Automatic input-key detection
● Input-to-output pitch mapping
● Presets for major/minor, church, gypsy and chrom scales
● Pitch-detection sensitivity, transient levels, pitch smoothing
● Auto pitch detection to nearest semitone