1. Best Free Transient Shaper Vst Download
2. Best Free Transient Shaper Vst Software
3. Best Free Transient Shaper Vst

In this edition of our free VST plugins roundup, let’s take a look at the best free transient shaper VST and AU plugins for compatible digital audio workstations on Windows and Mac.

Transient Shaper is a dynamics plugin that allows “shaping” of the Attack and Release phases of the sound with 2 knobs only. The effect ranges from magesy download gate-like to compressor-like. Transient Shaper is aimed to be used with percussion, but can also be used to process individual channels or loops. Transient is a transient-driven signal shaper that allows you to adjust the attack and sustain portions of the peaks in your audio signal. It works by detecting rapid changes in the incoming signal regardless of its amplitude level. 5 Best Transient Shaper VST Plugins Transient Designers (Transient Shapers) are amazing for controlling and shaping the attack part of a sound, as well as the sustain part. Basically you can make sounds more snappy, plucky or punchy by increasing the attack on the transient shaper plugin. The first Transient Shaper plugin on how the list is the TS-1 by Audiority, which is a multimode frequency-dependent Transient Shaper. It is built to manage the attack and sustain of an incoming audio signal. Transient Shapers Explained. A transient shaper is an essential mixing tool that excels at controlling the transient response and the envelope curve of any audio signal without affecting the overall level. Transient shaping is a “secret weapon” mixing approach used by some of the world’s finest engineers and producers. It is a must-have. Best Free Tansient Shaper Plugins Whatever music you make (maybe with the exception of some ambient styles), having balanced transients is super important for a good mix. Transient shapers can give you more control over the dynamics of your transients by changing their amp envelope shape.

If you’re looking for a high-quality freeware transient shaper to add to your arsenal, you came to the right place. But for those unfamiliar with this particular type of mixing tool, here’s a short introduction. A transient shaper is a dynamics processor used for adjusting the attack and the decay of the processed audio signal without affecting the rest of it. A transient shaper detects the “transient” portion of a sound and allows the user to make it sound louder or softer. This effect is often used on drums (for making snares and kick drums sound more punchy, for example), as well as bass guitars, percussion, and other types of audio material which could benefit from transient processing.

Quality transient shapers were hard to find in the freeware domain until not so long ago. However, we have access to a great selection of freeware transient shaper plugins nowadays. Our favorite ones are listed below. If you’d like to suggest another plugin that should be included in this article, please feel free to leave a comment. Thank you!

BitterSweet v3 by Flux (MacOS, Windows)

BitterSweet v3 has been around for quite a while (although it was recently updated to v3) and still remains of the best choices for a free transient shaper plugin. It was obviously designed with extreme ease of use in mind, allowing the user to control the transients using a single knob. Turning the main control knob towards the left (Sweet) will tame the transients whereas turning it to the right (Bitter) will make the transients more prominent. If you enjoy a quick and efficient workflow, you will instantly fall in love with BitterSweet v3.

Best Free Transient Shaper Vst Download

There’s more to Flux’s freeware transient shaper than that, though. The plugin features three different transient processing modes (Fast, Medium, and Slow) which make it capable of handling different types of audio material. The fastest setting works best on drums and percussion, whereas the slower settings are more suitable for processing bass guitars, synthesizers, and similar instruments. The transient detection period can be adjusted by the user as well. It is also possible to link the output gain control to the main transient shaping control, ensuring that the processed signal retains its loudness.

Free VST Transient Shaper When you buy products through links across our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. All the best anyhow!

More info:BitterSweet v3(VST/VST3/AU/AAX)

Couture Free Edition by Auburn Sounds (MacOS, Windows)

Couture Free Edition is a superb freeware transient shaper developed by Auburn Sounds. It is based on the full version of Couture (49 EUR) which adds a saturation module to the core feature set. That said, the Free Edition isn’t limited in any other way, so don’t expect to see any nag screens or similar annoyances.

Couture Free Edition by Auburn Sounds.

The transient shaper section of Couture features adjustable transient speed and optional clipping of the output signal. The transient adjustment knob comes with a scaling switch (x1, x2, and x3) which is useful for making both super precise and broad volume changes, depending on the user’s needs. The plugin features three transient detection modes (Flat, Human, and Sybil) and a bass amount knob. Also included are real-time waveform displays for both the input and output signals.

More info:Couture Free Edition(VST/AU/AAX)

Transient by Sleepy-Time DSP (Windows)

Transient by Sleepy-Time Records is a freeware transient shaping tool with a somewhat advanced control scheme. It features all of the control parameters required for highly detailed tweaking of the transients. In addition to the standard attack and sustain volume settings, the plugin also allows for envelope timing adjustments, transient monitoring, and offers an adjustable transient detection range. A pair of filters (high-pass and low-pass) is also included for setting the frequency range of the processed signal.

On the negative side, Transient will only work on Windows, so MacOS users are out of luck in this case. Both 32-bit and 64-bit digital audio workstations on Windows are supported, though. In summary, if you’re a Windows user looking for a more advanced freeware transient shaper, you should definitely give Transient a try.

More info:Transient(VST)

Honorable Mentions

In this section, we will mention a couple of freeware transient shapers which are a bit too old to be listed in the main part of the list. They do, however, still sound very good and are a great fit for users with older computers (especially 32-bit Windows machines).

• One of our all-time favorites, dominion by digitalfishphones is a very old plugin (32-bit only), but still a really good tool if you can get it to work in your DAW. Its developer is currently a team member at U-He, which is saying quite a lot about the quality of his DSP code.
• We should also mention the legendary Transient Monster transient shaper by Stillwell. The evaluation copy is fully functional and completely free to download from the developer’s website. However, keep in mind that the full license will cost you $49.

Paid Transient Shapers

If you want to take your transient shaping game to the next level, check out these commercial transient shaper plugins.

• Transient Shaper ($89) by Softube is a dual-band transient processing plugin capable of focusing on a specific frequency range. This is useful if you want to, say, make a snare sound more “snappy” without touching its low-frequency content. The plugin also features a distortion module which saturates the signal before it hits the output.
• TS-1 Transient Shaper ($45) by Audiority is an affordable multi-mode transient shaper with multiple shaping algorithms. It is optimized for adding warmth and punch to acoustic and electronic drums while preserving the dynamics.
• DS-10 Drum Shaper ($49.95) by XLN Audio is a transient shaper designed specifically for processing drums. It features multiple processing modes, depending on whether the user is looking for a more natural or a more dramatic sounding result.

If you need more freeware tools for making music, check out our free VST plugins directory! Enjoy using the plugins listed on this page and please consider supporting BPB by sharing this article on Facebook, Twitter, or your favorite forums. Thank you!

Whatevermusic you make (maybe with the exception of some ambient styles), havingbalanced transients is super important for a good mix. Transient shapers can giveyou more control over the dynamics of your transients by changing their amp envelopeshape. This could be in the form of increasing the transient and adding morelife to a sound or by decreasing it and tucking the sound more into thebackground, for example.

Unlike compressors, there are only a handful of free transient shapers available. For this article, I tested several different free transient shaper VST, AU and AAX plugins and made a few awesome discoveries. Here’s the list – download links included:

Free Transient Shapers (VST, AU, AAX)

Flux: BitterSweet v3

Format: VST, AAX, AU; 32 bit + 64 bit
OS: Windows + Mac

Audio Examples

Dry:

Wet – “Bitter”:

Wet – “Sweet”:

FluxBitterSweet was created with simplicity in mind. This becomes clear from justlooking at the user interface. A big knob in the middle lets you choose ifyou’d like your sound rather “sweet” or “bitter”. Turning the knob towards“sweet” will reduce transients in volume and will put your audio materialfurther into the background, while turning it towards “bitter” will increasetransients and make your material more percussive.

To make thetransient shaper work with any type of material, you can choose how fast theplugin detects transients (fast, medium, slow). With the “period” slider, youcan adjust how fast the transient declines again.

But what ifyou want to only affect the transients in the middle or on the sides of thestereo field? No problem – BitterSweet has a dedicated slider that lets youchoose which signal should be affected: main (everything), center (the middle)or stereo (the sides).

The output levelcan be adjusted manually or linked to the main knob. If you link knob andoutput level, the overall volume will decrease when you’re increasingtransients. This is super convenient because it means you don’t constantly haveto adjust the volume while playing with your transient levels.

Flux BitterSweet is probably the most popular free transient designer out there, and there is a reason for that: It’s very hard to mess up with this one. Getting results with the bitter/sweet knob is easy and doesn’t really lead to extreme results, even if you turn it completely up or down. However, this also means that BitterSweet is a lot more subtle than other free transient shapers. Whether that’s good or bad will depend on your taste and project. However, for general mixing purposes, this plugin is definitely worth a try.

To use Flux BitterSweet v3, you first have to install Flux Center, which you can get here. When you open Flux Center, simply choose BitterSweet for installation.

Auburn Sounds: Couture

Format: VST2, VST3, AU, AAX
OS: Windows + Mac

Audio Examples

Dry:

Wet – “Sharpened”:

Wet – “Softened”:

Here’s how the developer Auburn Sounds describes its level-independent transient designer Couture: “COUTURE’s goal is to get exquisite control over your dynamics, and particularly attacks. It solves a surprisingly huge range of mixing problems, with very low effort.”

In Couture,the main transient adjustment can be done with a big knob that’s labeled “Sharpen”.Turning this to the right will sharpen (increase) attacks and deemphasizereleases, while turning it to the left does the opposite. This effect can bedramatically heightened by using the x1 / x2 / x3 buttons, which affects howmuch the shaping is applied. To have maximum control over your material, youcan adjust the speed knob, which controls the decay level of your transients andthe front/back knob, which tells Couture where in the transient it should startwith the desired shaping effect.

The choicebetween different detector modes is a useful feature, which allows you toeither treat all transients the same way or depending on harmonic content. “Sybil”targets harsh frequencies and “Human” is supposed to even out the perceivedlevels of the transients, while “Flat” processes all transients the same way. Youcan also decide how much Couture should react to bass frequencies. This can beuseful when you only want to shape your snare sound in a kick and snare loop,for example.

Best Free Transient Shaper Vst Software

In this free version of Couture, the built-in saturator does not work. However, even without it, Couture is a very useful tool that makes it easy to get control over your transients quickly. I found it very intuitive and the results sounded very musical to me.

You can get the free version of Couture on the Auburn Sounds website.

Digital Fish Phones: Dominion

Format: VST; 32 bit
OS: Windows + Mac

Audio Examples:

Dry:

Wet – more attack, less sustain:

Wet – less attack, more sustain:

Dominion, created by Sascha Eversmeier from Digital Fish Phones, is actually quite an old tool as it was released in 2002! Still, I found it very useful and loved how easy it was to shape sounds to my liking.

What’s niceabout Dominion is that you have dedicated sliders for attack and sustain. Aftersetting the level of attack and sustain, you can set each one’s “length”parameter, which controls the decay of each setting. If you need more dramaticresults, you can switch on the x2 button and affect the level even more.

But this isnot Dominion’s only feature. The VST plugin also has a built-in saturator thatcan add harmonics to transients and therefore emulate analog equipment. Thesaturation can be further affected with a filter section (“hf details” in theuser interface). I found the saturation rather subtle (which I’m sure was thegoal), but pleasant and interesting.

If youchoose to download Dominion, make sure to take a look at the included manual. Notonly does it lay out the signal flow of the plugin, it has in-depth descriptionsof how each element works and can teach you quite a bit about transient shapingin general. It’s really cool that the developer put so much effort into makingthis plugin easy to use.

Warning:Trying out the “mono” switch created a very loud glitch signal for a second orso. Avoid switching this on while it’s processing sound.

Since Dominion is an older plugin, only a 32 bit VST version is available (for both Mac and Windows). You can get the plugin here.

Sonic Anomaly: Transpire

Format: VST (Windows) – 32 + 64 bit; JSFX (Windows + Mac)
OS: Windows + Mac

Audio examples:

Dry:

Wet – more attack, less sustain:

Wet – less attack, more sustain:

Best Free Transient Shaper Vst

Are you looking for a simple transient shaper with transparent sound and easy controls? Then you might want to check out Transpire by Sonic Anomaly. Transpire comes with just four controls: attack, sustain, sensitivity and output. This means that you have less control over your transients than with other plugins, but it also means that Transpire is somewhat easier to use – especially if you’re a beginner.

Thedevelopers from Sonic Anomaly stress that Transpire “does not operate linearly,which means small transients are being affected relatively stronger than largetransients. This is good for bringing up smaller details while not overloadingon large hits. As a result, percussive tracks can sound more steady andcontrolled compared to traditional transient enhancers.” /vst-plugin-deals-reddit.html.

I foundthat this plugin can change signals in pretty extreme ways. More musicalresults can be achieved with more conservative settings – although this will,of course, 100% depend on your source material.

One feature that should be mentioned is that Transpire’s GUI is scalable – which is very helpful to anyone with a larger screen. A downside is that the VST version only works in Windows (although there is a JSFX version that is compatible with Mac).

Alternatives

• Transient Shaper Ableton Rack (Ableton Live)
• ATKTransientShaper (VST2 / VST3/ AU / AUv3 / Windows / Mac / 32 bit + 64 bit)
• Sleepy Time DSP Transient (VST / Windows / 32 bit + 64 bit)

Over to you…

Did weleave out any free transient shaper plugin that you love? Let us know in thecomments!