Transient Shaper Plug Ins

[amanise]

Spent the morning looking at transient shaper plug ins. There's a good podcast and a couple of reviews here, which I took in - and a number of expensive iLok license types and a range of free ones. Apparently the 'go to' one so far would be the Eventide one - but £££. I like the look of Couture by Auburn Sounds, Softube's one looks great and easy to understand (important for me!) - not too expensive either. Bittersweet by Flux looks about as simple an interface as you can get - but has it gone too far?
Would anyone like to engage a transient shaper newbie in a pro's and con's assessment?
Cheers
Adrian

[James Perrett]

I rarely use transient shaping but, if I do, I just use the one included with Reaper's JS effects. It has the added bonus that if I don't like what it is doing I could always go in and change the code.

[muzines]

For most simple tasks I usually go to the SPL Transient Designer (PA version), as it's simple and usually gives me what I need (mostly fairly subtle - I just used it to soften and extend some fairly sharp plucked guitar harmonics and it was great for that).

Occasionally Logic's Enveloper will do the job. If I want something a bit more sophisticated and controllable then I'll turn to ADPTR Sculpt...

[Martin Walker]

I haven't really ever done a 'pros and cons' with transient shapers - if I feel I need one I just try two or three out to see which gives me the most appropriate results for that particular sound.

I've regularly ended up choosing Flux's BitterSweet v3 (mostly for sound design when I want to change the sound significantly), and occasionally elysia's nvelope (more confusing to set up if you don't use it regularly), and Boz Digital's Transgressor 2, which can be very effective ( it combines a transient designer with two equalizers), .

However, most recently I picked up Softube's Transient Shaper in a sale, and find that a wonderful combination of effectiveness, transparency, yet easy-to-usability (if that's a word ) This is what I now reach for during mixdown when I want to change the envelope but leave the basic sound alone as much as possible.

Hope this helps!

Martin

[MarkOne]

The softube console1 SSL 4000 transient section always seems to do things I need it to do. (Well, same can be said about all the other sections really)

[amanise]

..
I've regularly ended up choosing Flux's BitterSweet v3 (mostly for sound design when I want to change the sound significantly), ............... and Boz Digital's Transgressor 2, which can be very effective ( it combines a transient designer with two equalizers), .

However, most recently I picked up Softube's Transient Shaper in a sale, and find that a wonderful combination of effectiveness, transparency, yet easy-to-usability (if that's a word ) This is what I now reach for during mixdown when I want to change the envelope but leave the basic sound alone as much as possible.

Hope this helps!

Martin

Thanks Martin - good to see an endorsement for Bittersweet. I think I'd be able to drive that one. However, one that also had 2 equalisers sounds like its got a bit extra - must seek out Transgressor 2 and see how much that is. Also good to see an endorsement (I use that word very loosely and in a non commercial sense I hasten to add) for the SoftTube Transient Shaper. I think that's the interface I like the most - and I understood the video! The question there will be if it's worth risking the £ against the possibility that it might behave like a lout in my DAW (which is ACIDPro 10 - and hence not one of the tested ones).

[amanise]

The softube console1 SSL 4000 transient section always seems to do things I need it to do. (Well, same can be said about all the other sections really)

I have ACID Pro 10 - which I forgot to mention. D'oh! I see SSL in the title there and shudder for the potential £££. Is that an expensive one?

[amanise]

I rarely use transient shaping but, if I do, I just use the one included with Reaper's JS effects. It has the added bonus that if I don't like what it is doing I could always go in and change the code.

I did my usual thing of omitting a key piece of info! My DAW is ACID Pro 10 - which isn't ever on the tested list for anything for some reason. It supports VST3 and below though. I don't usually have problems - but it's a;ways a bit of a nail biter until somethings actually working

[MarkOne]

The softube console1 SSL 4000 transient section always seems to do things I need it to do. (Well, same can be said about all the other sections really)

I have ACID Pro 10 - which I forgot to mention. D'oh! I see SSL in the title there and shudder for the potential £££. Is that an expensive one?

Well, yes, the Softube Console1 is about £400, but you do get the hardware control surface, and the SSL 4000 plugin. And you can add Neve, API, SSL 9000, Empirical Labs, etc down the line.

[amanise]

The softube console1 SSL 4000 transient section always seems to do things I need it to do. (Well, same can be said about all the other sections really)

I have ACID Pro 10 - which I forgot to mention. D'oh! I see SSL in the title there and shudder for the potential £££. Is that an expensive one?

Well, yes, the Softube Console1 is about £400, but you do get the hardware control surface, and the SSL 4000 plugin. And you can add Neve, API, SSL 9000, Empirical Labs, etc down the line.

Stop! Stop! Your scaring me! ££££££££!!

[James Perrett]

I rarely use transient shaping but, if I do, I just use the one included with Reaper's JS effects. It has the added bonus that if I don't like what it is doing I could always go in and change the code.

I did my usual thing of omitting a key piece of info! My DAW is ACID Pro 10 - which isn't ever on the tested list for anything for some reason. It supports VST3 and below though. I don't usually have problems - but it's a;ways a bit of a nail biter until somethings actually working

You can download ReaPlugs from the Cockos website which includes ReaJS which means that you can use many of Reaper's plug-ins with any software which supports VST. Many of the JS plug-ins are user contributed so there are some unusual ones there and many are surprisingly good (or maybe not surprising when you see that some of the developers have gone on to form their own plug-in companies).

[Sam Inglis]

Oeksound's Spiff goes under the radar a bit but is supremely capable and has a very cool EQ-like interface. Definitely my favourite of the current crop, not that I've tried them all.

[amanise]

.....
You can download ReaPlugs from the Cockos website which includes ReaJS which means that you can use many of Reaper's plug-ins with any software which supports VST. Many of the JS plug-ins are user contributed so there are some unusual ones there and many are surprisingly good (or maybe not surprising when you see that some of the developers have gone on to form their own plug-in companies).

Wow! What a great idea! I'll definitely have a look at that! I had no idea such things were possible.
Thanks!

[amanise]

Oeksound's Spiff goes under the radar a bit but is supremely capable and has a very cool EQ-like interface. Definitely my favourite of the current crop, not that I've tried them all.

Plus the added benefit of being named after a "Calvin and Hobbes" character by the sound of it. Thanks for the tip! Another to try!

[sonics]

I've used a few of these tools. TS is one of the genuine "secret weapons" IMO.

I've made use of these:
SPL Transient Designer
iZotope Neutron
Waves Smack Attack
Flux Bittersweet
elysia nvelope
sonible entropy+
Eventide SplitEQ

[amanise]

I managed to get £9 off an already 60% discounted Softube Transient Shaper! So it was only 20 odd quid. (Happening now on Plugin Boutique. The £9 came from their virtual money thing because I recently bought the BL20 from there) That brings the risk factor down a bit! Works in ACID, and I haven't found anything not to like about it yet - apart from the things it uncovers in my mix I had forgotten were there. Next job is to figure out how to have it running for just a short section of audio rather than a whole track. I think the answer to that in ACID might be around duplicating the track and switching to the new track for that section - but we'll see. Clumsy.

Doesn't stop me looking at the others as well though. Do we know if any of the others can be controlled by an envelope - so you can increase and decrease the level of effect as the track rolls?

[ore_terra]

Console 1 works great for this purpose indeed. Spl I’ve also tried it. Cubase’s own envelope shaper works equally fine and is inbuilt in the channel strip, so it’s convenient for cubase user. There’s also a multiband version which allows more precise processing and is very effective in mastering purposes.