Wavesfactory Quantum - Transient Shaper

[Duncan Krummel]

Hadn’t yet seen this mentioned:



“Quantum is an audio plugin that separates an audio signal into its attack and sustain parts.
With 16 built-in high quality effects that you can apply to each path independently.
Quantum redefines what's possible in transient shaping.”

https://www.wavesfactory.com/audio-plug ... b09f119a68

Intro priced at $99 USD, regularly $149 USD.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never really explored transient shaping, so my understanding of its uses is limited. I could see it used in lieu of a compressor to add or attenuate punch in percussive sounds, or - as they say - for modifying sibilants or consonants.

What I do know is Wavesfactory consistently makes very useable and unusually approached plugins, so this may be a place for me to dive into transient shaping. I’d be curious to know how anyone here approaches such a plug in.

[Piet De Ridder]

(...) I’ve never really explored transient shaping (...)

Not saying that you absolutely should, Duncan, but I heartily recommend doing so anyway. Transient shaping is one of the most effective and satisfying ways, I find, to bring back some energy, life, snap, zip and punch to dead samples. I use them on everything. Literally everything. Orchestral instruments, orchestral sections, drums, basses, keys, … you name it. Even on reverb and delay returns, sometimes. Often on buses too, and occasionaly even on the MasterOut (though with very cautious settings in that case).

This new Wavesfactory release certainly looks the business and I agree that their plugins always deserve much more than only casual attention, but I’ve got quite a few transient designer tools already — Sonnox TransMod, Flux Bittersweet, Newfangled Audio Punctuate, … — so I don’t think I’ll be adding this one as well.

Here's another video on the Quantum:



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[Arcana]

(...) I’ve never really explored transient shaping (...)

Here's another video on the Quantum:



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I'm not that well versed in transient shaping and have just used Neutron and NI's Transient master up until now.
I've had my eyes on Spiff from Oeksound, but always found it a bit too expensive for a transient shaper, so never got around to purchasing it.

Quantum looks really interesting, and some of the examples in that video - first one being an obvious one - are really rather impressive.
Might have to give the demo a go.

[FriFlo]

Native Instruments certainly is a good mention as their transient shaper is included in all Komplete bundles since years - a package many have bought, I suppose. I cannot compare it with others, as this is the only transient shaper I have.

@Piet: what about the other options you mentioned? Are there any benefits you notice? Especially, are there any favourites in use with orchestral samples? And how do you use them there with which purpose in mind? My guess would be just to add sharpness to mostly Staccatos, Spiccatos and Piccicatos. But do you use them on a bus for the whole instrument or rather individual per patch? Maybe also to soften some attacks, as this is also possible with a transient designer. But other than that: any special treatment worth mentioning?

[Muziksculp]

Hi @Duncan Krummel,

Thanks for the heads up on Wavesfactory Quantum Transient Shaper.

I'm a big fan of Transient shapers, they are such a useful tool to have. This one is very tempting to buy. I'm trying to resist, but I feel I'm going to go for it.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

[Duncan Krummel]

Not saying that you absolutely should, Duncan, but I heartily recommend doing so anyway. Transient shaping is one of the most effective and satisfying ways, I find, to bring back some energy, life, snap, zip and punch to dead samples. I use them on everything. Literally everything. Orchestral instruments, orchestral sections, drums, basses, keys, … you name it. Even on reverb and delay returns, sometimes. Often on buses too, and occasionaly even on the MasterOut (though with very cautious settings in that case).

This new Wavesfactory release certainly looks the business and I agree that their plugins always deserve much more than only casual attention, but I’ve got quite a few transient designer tools already — Sonnox TransMod, Flux Bittersweet, Newfangled Audio Punctuate, … — so I don’t think I’ll be adding this one as well.

Here's another video on the Quantum:



_

Wow, I must have missed that video entirely! Not having any real experience with other transient shapers, I have to admit that what Quantum is capable of might be worth exploring regardless. The ability to add effects separately there certainly opens up a lot of avenues of creative applications. Echoing @FriFlo, I'd also be curious about your uses on orchestral busses and such, if you're willing to divulge. Anyways, thank you for your insights here.

[Piet De Ridder]

(...) My guess would be just to add sharpness to mostly Staccatos, Spiccatos and Piccicatos. But do you use them on a bus for the whole instrument or rather individual per patch? Maybe also to soften some attacks, as this is also possible with a transient designer. But other than that: any special treatment worth mentioning?

For me, this type of processing falls often more in the domain of creating/enhancing the (illusion of a) performance (that suits the music) than in that of getting a mix to sound good. (Although there is of course quite a bit overlap there, and no aspect, be it a musical or a technical one, of a production can ever be evaluated correctly when kept separated from everything else.)

For example, I’ll use transient shaping to add some definition to ‘the playing’ where there’s too little, or to increase the suggestion of some sense of commitment in the virtual players by having them dig into a note a bit more. That's a musical matter, not a technical one. At the other end, transient shaping can be applied to soften the attacks of short articulations when a rapid succession of them sounds too chopped or jagged for the specific part. Feathered spiccs or staccs, for instance, is a fairly recent addition to some developers’ list of available articulations, and I happen to use more than one library which predate the arrival of those feathered shorts, but a transient shaper (with its key parameters indeed set to negative values) can make up, to some degree anyway, for the absence of that type of stroke.

String ostinati or rhythmic parts, rendered with spiccati samples often still sound mechanical and unnatural to my ears, even when there’s an abundance of round robins, mainly because each individual spiccato stroke is just a little too pronounced which makes every single note of the part stand out to much. That’s when I’ll apply some transient shaping to feather things out a bit. Doesn’t always work, but when it does, I quite like it.
I used to draw a lot with charcoal on paper and among my set of tools was a 'mute' pencil of pressed paper with which you couldn’t draw but you could delicately and very precisely smear the edges of the charcoal lines. I only mention it to explain the soft smearing technique of (negative) transient shaping.

Pizzicati can also benefit greatly from some transient shaping, I find. Done well, and provided you begin with well-recorded pizz samples (alas, a rarity in strings libraries), you can make the pluck-component stand out a bit more, or concentrate all the energy of the articulation in one point, which sometimes makes just the difference the music needs: the pizzicato will be a bit more sprightly and have more bounce in its step.

And if you have a multiband transient tool like, for example, Newfangled’s Punctuation (which allows for up to 26 bands!), you can send entire sections, or combinations of sections, or even complete orchestras through it and have it subtly enhance the track (or performance). A touch more salt and pepper in the way the notes are phrased and articulated. Proceeding with utmost caution and restraint is, obviously, of the essence here.

It’s impossible to go over all the possibilities of course, but I’ve gotten into the habit of trying a transient shaper on just about everything, even, sometimes, only to see what happens. Many times it won’t do anything good or useful at all, but it’s surprising how often it actually does something that improves things.

With a good transient shaper you also create numerous variations of specific articulations. Increase or decrease the ’sforzando’ in strings or brass, explore that almost never sampled area between spicc and stacc (or other shorts), make stacc’s a bit longer or shorter, change the strenght of the bowing or blowing, accentuate (or even out) the dynamics of certain articulations, … there’s really loads of things that can be done, often with great results.

I also use transient shapers to address another of my big frustrations related to working samples: they tend to generate a sound that’s incapable of jumping out of the speakers (which is what I like sound to do). So far, I haven’t been entirely successful in this particular area yet (it requires more than just transient editing), but I’ve certainly made promising progress.

If I get some free time in the next few days, I’ll try and do a few audio examples.

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[Guy Rowland]

Piet - this is really interesting. How do you feel about starting a thread in Production Techniques on this? Maybe start with copy and pasting some of your comments here?

[Piet De Ridder]

Good idea, Guy. But then I feel I (and hopefully some others) *have* to add some audio (or maybe video) as well. Tells so much more than just words.
So, give me a few days.

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[FriFlo]

As usual, these are very good information and very helpful, Thanks a ton! A dedicated thread for techniques you mentioned would indeed be a great idea.

You mention that "with a good transient shaper" you could even manipulate Sforzati and other kinds of dynamic short, medium or long notes. What would an example for such a "good" tool be? I suppose you need more control variables to be able to shape the desired effect. E.g., SPLs Transient Designer barely offer Attack, Sustain and Mix. So does the NI TD, wich probably is a clone of the SPL-one (at least it looks pretty similar control and design-wise).

[FriFlo]

Sorry for going completely off topic, but this is a question to Piet that begs to be asked for a long time: Your audio examples are always there for a short amount of time. I am sure you have really good reasons for that and I completely understand that one wouldn't want to keep full pieces of oneself on the internet for eternity on a platform like soundcloud. However, when looking through some of your very helpful posts here, it happens rather often that I think to myself, right now I do not have the time to dig deep into that topic deeply. Later, the audio is no longer accessible. Or I search for a question I have and find an older post of yours which I can read but cannot listen to the audio any longer.

I think your posts on this forum alone would make it worth visiting for anyone who is serious about producing music with samples. And even more so, if your audio examples were there to stay for longer.

I am sure you have been asked the question more than once, Piet. Unfortunately, I couldn't find an answer to this question. Would you consider this? Or otherwise, what is the reason you don't want the to stay?

[Piet De Ridder]

Fritz, keeping audio files longer online shouldn't be a problem. Yes, my uploads tend to disappear rather quickly when I post them on my own webspace (which is a fast and convenient solution but has a limited capacity), but Jason has reserved some of The Sound Board's server space for hosting files — the SPAT-videos reside there, for example — so if I drop my audio examples there, they will be available for as long as the forum exists.
I keep nearly every audio file or video I've ever posted, so if there's a particular file from the past you would like to hear or see again, I should be able to dig it up.

- - - - -

My current transient shaper of choice is the Sonnox TransMod, an older plugin and not the most sophisticated one (compared to recent products), but I like it. I also use the Flux Bittersweet for simpler tasks, the Newfangled Punctuate and Logic's remarkably versatile Envelope plugin.

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[Guy Rowland]

Incidentally, one maybe for the coming thread - a similar-but-different tool to the transient shapers is a multiband envelope shaper. Cubase has its own built in one:



Just looking at the controls you can probably figure out exactly what it does. I should use this more often than I do, because it's terrific. THE best tool for getting a click out of a stubborn kick drum for example is to lift the attack point on the upper mids, which I did earlier today.

[Piet De Ridder]

There’s another great use for transient shaping of orchestral samples which I forgot to mention. You surely know how, with nearly all strings libraries, if you want a really tight, committed and punctuated performance of repeated staccato notes, you’re often condemned to use the ff and/or fff samples almost exclusively because the lower dynamics usually sound too soft, too weak, too woolly for the part they have to play, and they also lack the required precision and definition. But you will also know that the highest dynamic layers of sample libraries — especially strings and brass — invariably sound unnaturally aggressive, over the top and very fatigueing on the ear if they’re exposed for too long or if they have to play repeating parts. And that’s where transient shaping can come to the rescue because with it, you can give the lower dynamic samples of string libraries all the focus, definition and energy usually associated with the high dynamic samples, but without that obnoxious barking or blaring fortissimo sound of those highest dynamic layers upsetting the orchestration. Things will sound tight, energetic and disciplined, but the timbral texture will remain controlled and unobtrusive.

(I’ll add this to the upcoming thread as well and I already have an audio example in the making because I’ve been working on a new piece that has a repeating eight bar staccato stringchords part which has been giving me no end of trouble for the reasons just described, until, that is, I rang for Nurse T. Shaper who took care of the problem quickly and efficiently.)

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[Muziksculp]

I purchased Wavesfactory's QUANTUM Transient Shaper.

Loving it so far. Tried it on some drums/perc. with very good results to re-shape the characteristics of the transients, and sustains.

[FriFlo]

Fritz, keeping audio files longer online shouldn't be a problem. Yes, my uploads tend to disappear rather quickly when I post them on my own webspace (which is a fast and convenient solution but has a limited capacity), but Jason has reserved some of The Sound Board's server space for hosting files —

Yeah, I noticed that the videos about Spat are still there. If you could put all your audio on the server space of TSB, that would be great! In case I am missing a file of your older post, I'll ask of course. I just thought about this as a general thing for all users who might stumble over this forum after a google search. I think it would pull more people here, if audio examples were still contained within most threads.

Which brings up another OT question: Can any member upload audio to TSB server space? Or is it just possible with special privileges?

[Duncan Krummel]

Piet, my deepest gratitude for your fantastically deep explanations here. As it just so happens I have been frustrated with a current project due to some of the exact issues you’ve mentioned having ameliorated with transient shaping. Not to mention, despite having worked with Logic for over a decade now, I was blindly unaware of the built in Envelope plugin. For now, I seriously doubt my needs and explorations here will warrant a more advanced plug in, so I’ll begin there and see how I get on with Logic’s own. Again, many thanks. I’ll look forward to any further posts or demonstrations you may post in the future regarding this!

[Piet De Ridder]

Fritz, no, it's not a public space. Jason created that little corner specifically because I asked him to after I kept running time and again into the limitations of my own private webspace. Besides, I'm also fairly certain that, for security reasons, Jason and Marius would both strongly object to, and even veto the opening up of that bit of server space. You can't be too careful these days.

Duncan, I have to thank you too, because this very thread has made me look a bit deeper into the possibilities and specifics of transient shaping and, doing so, I've learned a few new things as well!
And great to hear you discovered the Envelop plugin. Powerful tool.

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[Muziksculp]