Aspire from Antares Audio Technologies is a plug-in tool for modifying a voice’s breathiness independently from its harmonic content. It can be used to reduce a bit of vocal rasp or to add a bit of richness to a vocal performance without otherwise affecting the vocal’s harmonic characteristics.

When you speak or sing, air from your lungs is forced through the vocal chords, causing them to vibrate. The resulting waveform is propagated through the throat, the mouth, and out through the lips. It is the shape of these structures that create the resonant characteristics that define a unique vocal identity.

The vocal waveform is actually a combination of two different components. The first is the primary element of vocal timbre, the harmonic content. However, there is a second component that is generated by the turbulence of the air rushing past the vocal chords. This component, aspiration noise, does not have harmonic content and can roughly be thought of as breath.

Aspiration noise presents itself in a variety of ways, from a subtle bit of breath to a full-blown rasp. Functioning as an Audio Units, AAX Native, or VST3 plug-in for macOS- or Windows-based audio software, Aspire makes it possible to enhance or attenuate this second component of the vocal waveform, either for corrective or creative purposes.