Comments on: SPL Transient Designer and SPL EQ Ranger Review

By: St mark

St mark — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:20:16 +0000

Thank you for the review...However, you only refer to Transient Designer as useful for increasing attack and sustain; the plugin can just as well be used to reduce attack and/or sustain. This is very useful - for example, to soften the attack of close-mic'ed string or percussive instruments, or to sculpt to the tone of a keyboard.

By: psilas

psilas — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:35:13 +0000

There is a FREE version of the EQ plugins and its VERY nice sounding for the money (ie......no money)

It only has 4 out of a possible 8 bands but these sound clean and smooth, especially on Bass material.

Its called the free ranger and is DEFINATELY worth having.

By: Ronans Recording Show

Ronans Recording Show — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:35:52 +0000

Transient Designer has saved my butt so many times mixing poorly recorded tracks for people. It works surprisingly well on overheads. I even fixed a badly recorded banjo track.

By: Bob Mack

Bob Mack — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 12:41:02 +0000

I like the the TD on snare drum and toms it allows for
a total control of the sound envelope. I tried it on bass drum but it didn't work nearly as well. The low end is much more difficult to work with. Not that the TD didn't do its
job, just that it sounded better without the TD in line.
Its definitly worth extra time getting the bass drum right when you record--very difficult to adjust at mixdown.

By: Willem

Willem — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:48:27 +0000

Great review. Thanks for posting.

Since the SPL Transient Designer is out of my budget -despite its low price- i use Stillwell's, which i can really recommend.

By: Khaliq Glover aka Khaliq-O-Vision

Khaliq Glover aka Khaliq-O-Vision — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:46:18 +0000

Hey Brandon,

I used to own the Transient Designer hardware unit and it was my secret weapon for years. It is great with all the uses you mentioned and it is also great at TAMING things like an obnoxious side-stick or hi-hat.

Sonnox (Sony Oxford) also has their Transient Modulator and Waves also has a transient plugin as well. I use them all.

When I first started engineering 25+ years ago, I learned on an API console that had 560 graphic EQs in it. They taught me how to be intuitive like you said, you just grab a slider and move without a lot of analyzing.

Great review as usual. Keep up the good work.

Grammy Winning Engineer
Khaliq Glover aka Khaliq-O-Vision