Transient shaper

What it is and how it works

A transient shaper changes the envelope of a sound (attack and sustain) without a threshold. A detector follows the slope of the signal: when the level rises quickly (transient) it applies positive or negative gain to the attack; when the sound decays it applies gain to the sustain. For this reason it works the same way on loud and soft hits, unlike a compressor. It is the quickest way to give drums more punch (more attack), dry them out (less sustain) or fatten them (more sustain).

FL Studio's Transient Processor works like this: it follows attack and decay (not peak or RMS), so it has no threshold or ratio; it acts only on signals with transients; and it leaves the part below an adjustable split frequency unprocessed.

Parameters one by one

• Attack: positive = more attack (snap, click, punch); negative = softer attack (overly pointy snare, acoustic guitar with aggressive pick). Typically ±2/±6 dB.
• Sustain / Release: positive = more body, tail and room; negative = drier, shorter sound (removes room, reduces bleed). In Transient Processor this is the control with the greatest effect on perceived loudness.
• Shape / Speed: in Transient Processor, "Attack Shape" and "Release Shape" (Sharp, Medium, Soft) determine the detection window: Sharp acts faster and harder but distorts more, Soft is gentler.
• Split frequency (Transient Processor, 5–1000 Hz, default 260 Hz): below this point the signal is not processed. Useful for not distorting the kick and 808 sub while you work on the click.
• Split Balance: blend between the unprocessed low part and the processed part.
• Drive: analog saturation after the processing (rounds off the added peaks).
• Output / Gain: compensates; increased attack raises the peaks (watch for clipping).
• Sensitivity (other plugins): how easily it detects a transient.
• Mix: parallel.
• Multiband (Kilohearts, Smack Attack, Transmitter): attack only on the highs and sustain only on the lows.

Tools

• FL Studio: Transient Processor; Transmitter (separates transient and sustain into two streams with separate levels, effects, mix and tilt, and outputs to other mixer tracks); Fruity Limiter/Compressor with slow attack as a "compressor-style" alternative.
• Third party: SPL Transient Designer (Attack and Sustain controls), Waves Trans-X and Smack Attack, Kilohearts Transient Shaper, Native Instruments Transient Master, Sonnox TransMod, FabFilter Pro-C 2 in Punch style (compressor approach).

When to use it and on what

• Kick: +3/+6 dB attack for the click that cuts through the mix (especially on phones); −2/−4 dB sustain to shorten it and leave room for the 808.
• Snare: +2/+4 dB attack for the crack; + sustain for body and room (rock), − for a dry snare (funk, modern pop).
• Hi-hat: attack −2 dB if too pointy; sustain − for tighter hi-hats at fast tempos.
• Toms, room: sustain − as an alternative to the gate.
• Sampled loops: giving punch to old breakbeats; reducing the reverb included in the sample.
• Acoustic guitar, piano, pluck: attack − for softness, + for rhythmic definition.
• Bass: attack + for definition in a dense mix (slap, pick).
• Drum bus: attack +1/+3 dB after a compressor that took away some punch.

Starting settings

By genre

• Trap, drill, hip hop: kick and clap with lots of attack, reduced sustain to leave room for the 808.
• House and techno: kick with defined click, controlled sustain to lock in with the bass.
• Rock and metal: snare with sustain for the "room", kick with attack to cut through the guitars.
• Lo-fi: reduced attack for a softer, dustier sound.

Combinations

• Before the compressor: give it more attack, then the slow-attack compressor emphasizes it even more (or controls it).
• After the compressor: you recover the attack lost to fast compression.
• Before a clipper: higher transient → the clipper cuts it: the result is more loudness and less punch. Dose them together.
• With saturation: the drive rounds off the added peaks.

Common mistakes

• Too much attack: artificial click, distortion, peaks that make the master limiter work too hard.
• High sustain on sounds with a noisy room: you raise noise and bleed.
• Using it on sounds without transients (pads): no effect.
• Not compensating the output: more attack = louder = seems better.

How to hear it

• Push the attack to +10 dB: you hear the click; then go back to +3. Push the sustain to −10 dB: the drums become "gated"; then go back to −2.
• Watch the Wave Candy oscilloscope: with more attack the first cycle is taller relative to the tail.