Please recommend a good Transient shaper plug-in...

[stubbsonic]

Flux: BitterSweet Pro does look & sound very impressive. They've added some important touches like frequency range, and separate mid (center) and side (stereo) processing. Not for me, but it looks to be quite useful, especially for adjusting room and other sustain qualities post recording.

[mhschmieder]

I haven't found Bittersweet useful, but it can be fun as a quick study before applying real plug-ins. The new Pro version is expensive considering what it is up against. If it was half that price, I could see the value. But there are several really good transient plug-ins at the moment.

Remember that some transient plug-ins are optimized for drums, and others have special tasks they were designed for. It is unlikely you can live with just one, but to me there is nothing that comes close to the new Sonnox Envolution as at least a "first stop" on each track that needs transient work. You may, however, have just missed the across-the-board 50%-off Sonnox plug-in sale.

For years, my go-to was Eiosis E2 Transienter, but it never made the 64-bit transfer (though Fabrice Gabriel says he will try to finally get his pre-Slate plug-ins to 64-bit land this year).

Sometimes for snare, I'll use Elysia Nvelope (from Brainwork), but even though it is by far the most successful for that purpose, the consequences don't always result in a workable drum mix. It's pretty extreme, even at "soft" settings. But it sure can be a precision tool when needed!

The older Sonnox Transient Modulator is quite good, but not as precise as the Eiosis plug. Some of the newer plugs that came after the Eiosis one, are quite good -- especially including the Softube Transient Shaper and even the free version from NI called Transient Master.

XLN Audio DS-10 Drum Shaper is specifically for drums, and possibly primarily for kick and toms. I bought it, but haven't used it on an actual project yet (though I did spend some time with it). Very powerful tool, but also quite specific in its application.

Audio Assault recently released a multi-band version called Multi Transient. It is cheap so I said "why not", but haven't played much with it yet. I think it's the only multi-band (from a GUI point of view; others might be in the background) transient modulator on the market.

Slate has the FG-Bomber Dynamic Impact Enhancer, but I don't think of it quite so much as a general transient modulator. I do use it though, as I do all of my Slate plug-ins.

SPL Transient Designer is older but recently upgraded and can be interesting when working with old tracks or mixes that need salvaging. SPL Attacker is a drum-specific derivation of that product.

In the "weird" category is Fxpansion DCAM Dynamics, which I got dirt cheap on a promotional but haven't used effectively yet. I think it is derived from the effects section of Synth Squad.

Of course, there is the quite-good transient section of iZotope Alloy, which is my go-to for the tom-tom tracks (I run it independently on each one vs. waiting until the grouped submix stem of the toms, so that it doesn't get confused by overlap between the tom envelopes).

At the very bottom of my list is Flux Bittersweet. I don't like Flux plug-ins; I tried them all multiple times and found the GUI's quirky and the results too difficult to predict. Very colored, but some may like that. I think Bittersweet Pro shares this DNA, but I only tried the demo briefly.

[bayswater]

SPL here too. I tried quite a few and it was the only one that gave me highly predictable predicable results.

[kassonica]

Expensive, I'm afraid, but it's the original, and still I think the best - spl Transient Designer

http://plugin-alliance.com/en/plugins/d ... igner.html

Cheers

SWT

this...

Tried a lot, nothing does it better IMHO

[dbender]

Check out the Mmultiband Transient shaper by Melda Production. Very powerful

[FMiguelez]

Check out the Mmultiband Transient shaper by Melda Production. Very powerful

That one has been on my wish list for some time now.
The moment, the second it becomes available as part of their weekly "Mad Week", I will buy it at 50% off.

I LOVE Melda Production plugins

[guitardood]

If you have a recent NI Komplete, you should have their version.

+1 for the Native Instruments Transient Designer. I also have the SPL on UAD platform, but to me, the NI allows for a little more exaggerated curves on the hits and the sustain.

[mikehalloran]

I forgot about Alloy 2—have owned that for years. I should try out the Transient Shaper module someday.

https://www.izotope.com/en/products/mix ... tures.html

[mhschmieder]

Yes, it is also one of the areas where Alloy 2 was seriously upgraded from Alloy 1.

As Alloy brings my computer to its knees, when I use it on four tom tracks during initial toms mix-down to the toms stem, I have pretty much reserved it for toms stem mixing, bass stem mixing, and sometimes guitar stem pre-mixing (not the main guitar buss; just individual sets of tracks for solos, etc.).

[lito]

don't forget the Transient Shaper from Softube !!!!!

[guitardood]

Just a heads up update... Waves Trans-X is on sale today for $39.

[nk_e]

What do folks think of Sonnox's Envolution?

[mhschmieder]

I mentioned Envolution earlier. It's the best of the best. I waited for a good sale and got it on the cheap. But it was worth the regular price; I was simply broke from too many other purchases!

SOS had a review this month, and quite a big chunk of it shows up for non-subscribers. Actually, I tried resubscribing a few times but the website blocked me each time. Probably requires Exploder on Windoze or something. Eventually I'll find time to take care of that so that I can read their reviews when first published vs. six months later.

[corbo-billy]

Do you know Transreckon ?

http://www.eareckon.com/fr/produits/tra ... haper.html

[mhschmieder]

Never heard of that one, and can't even tell from the image who the vendor is, as it appears to be abbreviated to a two or three letter acronym.