Transient designer

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A transient designer is the name given to devices that allow the targeted processing of the transients of an audio signal. The attack phase (attack) and / or the decay phase ( sustain ) of a signal can be specifically raised or lowered.

Possible applications

Possible applications for transient designers are, for example, the targeted emphasis on the impact of a drum or the attenuation of the reverberation in a signal. Creative and atypical applications are of course also conceivable: Percussion sounds can represent an interesting sound idea without a really audible attack.

Transient designers are primarily designed to process individual signals; Due to their principle, they are not suitable for composite signals, even if they are occasionally used in the mastering chain.

Types

Transient designers are available in different designs: as hardware (e.g. SPL Transient Designer), or as software plug-in for the known interfaces, such as VST or AU . Well-known counterparts are the Trans-X from Waves, the transient modulator from Sony Oxford, the Transmodder from Voxengo or the freeware plug-in Dominion from Digitalfishphones.

SPL Transient Designer

The first device of its kind was the Transient Designer 2 model 9946 from SPL. It arose from an idea by Ruben Tilgner, who developed the so-called Differential Envelope Technology and on this basis designed the Transient Designer as a two-channel, 1U 19-inch rack device. A four-channel version followed later, which, in contrast to the two-channel version, has symmetrical inputs and outputs and also only takes up 1U.

functionality

A transient designer is based on several envelope curve followers that sample the audio signal at different speeds ( integration time ). In SPL's Transient Designer, four envelopes work per channel, two being responsible for the attack control network and two for the sustain control network.

The attack phase is processed by the first envelope curve following the amplitude curve of the applied signal with a fast transient phase. The second envelope of the attack control network has a slower settling phase and therefore only follows the signal curve after a short time. The course of the envelope curves up to the point at which they intersect must be taken into account. If you subtract envelope 2 from envelope 1, you get a new curve that shows the attack phase of the signal and serves as a control voltage for a VCA . A potentiometer can now be used to set how strongly the VCA should have an influence on the audio signal with the help of this control voltage. The settling phase can be increased or decreased as required.

The functioning of the Sustain rule network is basically similar; however, it differs in part from the attack control network. Envelope 1 behaves exactly like the first envelope in the attack area: It has a short attack phase and follows the amplitude curve of the signal. The second envelope also has a short settling phase; At the same time, however, its decay phase is very long and thus it only follows the actual course of the signal for a short time, and then remains at the level of the peak level for a long time. A difference is now also formed when processing the sustain phase: Envelope 1 is subtracted from envelope 2 and this results in a curve that describes the sustain phase of the signal and serves as the control voltage for the responsible VCA. With its help, the decay phase of the signal can then be raised or lowered.

literature

  • Michael Dickreiter: Handbook of the recording studio technology. 6th edition, KG Saur Verlag KG, Munich, 1997, ISBN 3-598-11320-X
  • Thomas Görne: Sound engineering. 1st edition, Carl Hanser Verlag, Leipzig, 2006, ISBN 3-446-40198-9