Soundtoys MicroShift Vocals 2026: Width, Not AlterBoy

This Page Is MicroShift on Vocals. It Is Not Little AlterBoy.

Stay here for Soundtoys MicroShift as a 2026 vocal-width insert: $99 list, v5.5, three Styles, Detune, Delay, Focus, Mix, and Little MicroShift in the box. Do not use this file as a Little AlterBoy pitch/formant/Robot walkthrough, an iZotope Nectar 4 vocal suite, a Baby Audio Humanoid bake-off, or a free-chorus roundup.

Soundtoys’ MicroShift page is the spec and price primary. The official PDF manual is the control primary (Style I/II/III, Focus range). KVR is the independent $99 / 5.5.5.19885 card. The product page quotes Sound On Sound (“beautifully thought-out, deceptively simple and extremely effective”) without a separate SOS URL on that block—cite the product page for the quote, not a fabricated review URL.^[1][2][3]

Little AlterBoy, Nectar 4 rap/trap vocals, free chorus lists, vocal-chain roundups, and Humanoid vs Auto-Tune live on related slugs. This file does not remake those pages. Manual copyright line is 2015; this September 2026 page is the current 5.5 SKU, not a claim MicroShift first shipped this year.^[2]

Current SKU: $99. Version 5.5. Inside Soundtoys 5.

Soundtoys’ MicroShift page prints $99 as of this September 2026 fetch. KVR’s card matches $99.00. It is included in Soundtoys 5 at $599 (23 plug-ins) and Soundtoys 5 Academic at $299. Effect Rack is a separate $299 rack on that page, not this widener.^[1][3]

Specs on that page: Current Version: 5.5; Apple Silicon and VST 3 compatible; 64-bit AAX Native, AAX AudioSuite, VST 2, VST 3, AU; sample rates 44.1 kHz minimum, 192 kHz maximum; macOS 10.15 or later; Windows 10 or later; not compatible with ARM-based Windows; internet required at activation. KVR’s version string this fetch was 5.5.5.19885—cite KVR for the build id, the product page for the marketed 5.5 line.^[1][3]

Do not treat a reseller strikethrough or an expired bundle as today’s checkout. Recheck soundtoys.com. Little MicroShift ships with MicroShift; if you already own Little MicroShift, Soundtoys points you to the account upgrades page—not a second $99 guess.^[1]

Style I/II/III, Detune, Delay, Focus: The Vocal-Width Controls

The trick the manual describes: a few cents up on one side, a few down on the other, plus delay—the H3000-era widen that Soundtoys’ founders worked on at Eventide. MicroShift is that recipe as an insert, not a pitch-correction graph. Hardware names in the manual are historical reference; Eventide and AMS do not endorse the plug-in.^[2][1]

Product page: three flavors based on sought-after hardware; Detune amount and Delay range; Focus to add width to a specific frequency range. Manual: Mix at 100% wet is the clearest, widest sound; blend dry for a thicker, more chorused stack. Detune and Delay are percent of each style’s time-varying amounts—not a printed cents or milliseconds readout on that page.^[1][2]

• Style I Manual: modeled on H3000 preset #231. Delay and pitch variation matched closely; analog saturation of the original hardware is part of the model.^[2]
• Style II Manual: H3000 preset #519, a different pitch-shifting algorithm. Slightly different delay variation and frequency response than Style I.^[2]
• Style III Manual: a favorite AMS/Neve DMX 15-80 setting. Much wider delay variation, different saturation, harder de-glitching circuit.^[2]
• Focus Manual: 2-band crossover; wet signal on the high band only. Default 20 Hz; range up to 10 kHz. Use it so lows stay planted while the vocal air gets wide. Product page: sculpt away low and mid frequencies that can muddy a track.^[2][1]

On a Vocal: Lead Width, BGV Blend, Not a Double Track

Park MicroShift as a stereo insert after pitch correction, not instead of it. The product page’s vocal jobs: width for background vocals; spotlight or blend important instruments. Manual: 100% wet for the widest image; Mix down if you want a chorused stack against the dry center. Raise Focus so the 808 and the chest of the vocal stay mono-ish while the sibilance/air spreads.^[1][2]

This is not a recorded double and not Little AlterBoy Quantize. If you need formant, Robot, or ±12 transpose, that is the related AlterBoy page. If you need a full vocal suite with EQ, de-ess, and pitch modules, that is Nectar 4 on a related slug. If you only wanted a free chorus, use the related chorus list.^[4]

KVR user review (14 December 2019, v5 on Windows): “one of the best vocal plugins… simple and effective… vocal doubling.” Treat that as one user’s card, not a lab score.^[3]

When $99 Is the Move. When to Skip.

Pay $99 if you already insert a micro-pitch widener on leads and BGVs and you want the three hardware-style flavors plus Focus in one plug-in. Skip it if Soundtoys 5 already includes MicroShift. Skip it if you needed AlterBoy, Nectar, or a chorus—you are in the wrong SKU. Skip a second invoice if Little MicroShift’s three buttons already do the job and you never touch Detune/Delay/Focus.^[1]

Do not treat $99 as a forever street price. Confirm the cart. Confirm Windows ARM incompatibility before you buy for a Snapdragon box.^[1]

FL, Ableton, Logic: One Pass on a Real Vocal

This checklist is a first vocal insert, not a mixing course. Confirm the live manual if a control moved after v5.5.^[2]

1. Confirm $99 / $599 / $299 on the live cart
   Open soundtoys.com/product/MicroShift. If you already own Soundtoys 5, MicroShift is in the bundle—do not pay $99 twice. Little MicroShift owners check the upgrades account page.^[1]
2. Insert after pitch, before a long verb
   Stereo vocal channel. Start Style I, Mix 100%, Focus above the mud. A/B Style II and Style III. Drop Mix if the image gets chorus-smeary.^[2]
3. Use Focus so the low vocal stays put
   Sweep Focus up from 20 Hz until the wide stuff is air and presence, not the body. Manual cap is 10 kHz.^[2]
4. Stop before this page becomes AlterBoy or Nectar
   Once the vocal is wide enough, print or leave it. Little AlterBoy, Nectar 4, free chorus, vocal-chain, and Humanoid vs Auto-Tune are related slugs.

Little AlterBoy, Nectar 4, and Chorus Lists Are Out of Scope

This article does not review Little AlterBoy, does not score Nectar 4, and does not rank free chorus plug-ins. Those live on related slugs. MicroShift is the widener: $99, v5.5, three Styles, Focus.

As of this September 2026 fetch, soundtoys.com still printed $99 and Current Version 5.5. Recheck checkout if you are reading this after a Soundtoys 5 sale.^[1]