Performative Ear vs Softube Vocal Tuner

Performative Ear is a paid pitch-correction plug-in designed for low-latency singing on Windows and macOS. Performative Ear listens to a song and sends its detected key to the pitch-correction plug-in automatically, while passing audio through unchanged without files or network use. Four correction modes are listed: Live at 1.3 ms, Crisp at 18 ms, Voice at 25 ms, and Full at 40 ms. Users can choose chromatic, major, or minor scales and toggle notes to create a custom scale. The maker lists tested support for Ableton Live 11 and 12, Cubase, FL Studio, Fender Studio Pro, Bitwig Studio, REAPER, Audacity, and GarageBand. Formats include VST3 and CLAP on Windows x64 and macOS Universal, plus Audio Unit on macOS. The price is $199 as a one-time purchase, with no free plan and a free Windows demo. One license supports three active machines.

Softube Vocal Tuner is a real-time vocal pitch-correction plug-in for macOS and Windows. It runs inside a DAW host that supports AU, VST, VST3 and/or AAX plug-ins. Classic correction targets a traditional sound, while Modern correction is designed to preserve vocal formants. Subtle/Hard changes correction speed, and Natural/Robotic changes correction on note transitions. Pitch and formant shifting can work independently or together. Octave-up and octave-down layers have separate gain controls, and Tone Enhance adds processing. Low Latency mode is intended for tracking and live performance, with reported latency under 1 millisecond. Metering and visualizations show the input signal and processing effect. The plug-in supports MIDI pitch control and a 12-semitone pitch-shift range, but has no scale or key detection. It costs 199.00 EUR once, includes a 20-day trial and three activations, and requires Softube and iLok accounts plus internet access.