Transient designer and SplitEQ

Each band has a frequency-selective Transient Designer and a SplitEQ-style Tonal/Transient gain pair. They share a single envelope detector per band, so the same fast/slow envelope analysis drives both — at low CPU cost.

Transient Designer

An SPL-DET-style differential envelope follower per band: four parallel one-pole detectors (Fast Attack, Slow Attack, Fast Sustain, Slow Sustain) extract the transient and sustain envelopes from the band's signal. The detector's sidechain is the EQ output of the band itself — so the shaping is frequency-selective. Eight bands give you eight independent transient designers in one plugin.

Controls

Attack

−15 dB to +15 dB. Negative values soften the attack of the band frequency (tame snare clicks, soften cymbal smacks). Positive values exaggerate the attack (bring a kick punch forward, sharpen a snare).

Sustain

−24 dB to +24 dB. Negative values reduce the body and sustain of the band (tighten a boomy kick, dry a wet snare). Positive values fatten the sustain (extend a kick body, lengthen a cymbal wash).

Transient On (master gate)

Card-level power switch. Off disables all per-band transient designers regardless of their settings.

Default behaviour

Out-of-the-box per-band defaults model typical drum/kit needs:

• Low bands → kick-snap shaping
• Low-mid bands → snare crack and tom-body
• High bands → cymbal shimmer and air

Load the Drums Bus preset to see the defaults in action; tweak from there.

Differential envelope scope

The 5th stage card is a scope that scrolls the last 500 ms of the four envelope followers for the currently-selected band. Useful for understanding what the attack and sustain shaping is actually reacting to before you dial in your move.

SplitEQ

The same envelope detection that drives Transient Designer is also used to split the band's signal into a Transient component and a Tonal component, then independently gain them.

Controls

Tonal Gain

±24 dB. Boost or cut the sustained, harmonic part of the band — the long notes, the resonances, the body.

Transient Gain

±24 dB. Boost or cut the impulsive part of the band — the click, the pluck, the attack edges.

Split On (master gate)

With both tonal and transient gain at 0 dB and the master gate on, the band reconstructs bit-identically. With the master gate off, the band passes through as the static EQ shape only — no envelope decomposition.

When to use

• Tonal +6 / Transient 0 — fatten the body of a snare without making it click louder.
• Tonal 0 / Transient +6 — sharpen the attack of a kick without changing its weight.
• Tonal −3 / Transient +3 — emphasize the tap of a hi-hat over its decay tail.

Shared envelope

The Transient Designer and SplitEQ share the same PerBandTransientDesigner instance — the detector runs once per band, regardless of how many of the two stages you use. So the CPU cost of "Transient + Split, all 8 bands" is barely above "Transient alone".

Tips

• Engage both stages on the same band only when you have a clear musical reason — they can fight each other if Transient pushes the attack up while Split's Transient Gain is cutting it.
• The envelope is built on the band output, not the band input. That means an active EQ filter on the band changes what the detector sees. To detect on the raw input, set the band's filter to Peak with 0 dB gain — the band is then a frequency-selective listener with no audible EQ effect.
• The differential envelope scope (5th card) is a great learning tool. Solo a band, play the source, and watch how Fast vs Slow envelopes diverge on different material.

See also

• Band controls
• Dynamic EQ