Leapwing Audio UltraVox £59

Delivering a consistently sparkling vocal sound every take is the goal of this new algorithmically-directed vocal plugin

If there's one aspect of track-crafting that producers prattle incessantly about (aside from countless other things) it's vocals. Wildly variable from one track to the next, processing and treating vocals is a distinct art, tangential to the fundamentals of music production. With auto-tuning and vocoding software now cycling back into vogue, software like Waves OVox and Antares Auto-Tune Vocodist gift modern producers simple, all-in-one methods of achieving the skewered, robotic vocal edge that so many pop-pickers go giddy for these days. But, when it comes to conventional vocal polishing, the numerous compression, gating, and reverb choices may seem perplexing to those ill at ease with human voice-shaping.

Enter Leapwing Audio, they of innovative dynamics compressor DynOne, soundstage widener StageOne and the inspiring, Al Schmitt - that incredible, preset bottled assortment of the sublime tones that the late, great producer and engineer was famed for. Building on this increasingly impressive stable, the new UltraVox plugin boldly makes the claim for being the only vocal processor you'll ever need for the task, melding four optimised algorithms; Compression, Gate, Harmonics, and Air.

Clear your throat