Drumforge have a real knack for creating user-friendly drum plugins. Being producers themselves, they are obviously well aware of the opportunity-cost of time spent twisting dials, trying to balance every setting to get a snare to pop “just right”.
Almost counter-intuitively, it seems like Drumforge’s mission statement is to make sure we spend as little time as possible actively “using” their software. Rather, they make the kind of plugin you can just throw on an insert, pull a sick tone quickly, set it and forget it.
In keeping with their intuitive design philosophy, they’ve just released a pretty slick looking transient designer to fatten up your kit, dubbed the DF-TRANS.
Here’s a run-down on the features:
-3 operation modes: classic, filter detection, and sidechain via external source or internal frequency focus.
-Optimized attack and sustain times on switchable buttons designed for mixing drums.
-Individual clip buttons for attack and sustain enable you to achieve dramatic results.
-Each 2x button allows you to increase the range of attack and sustain independently.
-Built-in mix knob allows for parallel processing.
Among metal producers, and the wider production community, there is a lot of fear associated with using transient shapers. A “trans-phobia”, if you will…
I think the stigma comes from a perceived difficulty in attaining the exact dynamic effect you’re after. Transient processors are a bit of an advanced tool and the settings can be daunting if you don’t know what you’re doing. Transient designers are basically the next boss battle after compressors.
But that’s where DF-TRANS looks like it’s taken that perfect middle ground of flexible settings combined with smart “on/off” options to choose from. And the “mix” knob makes it foolproof. They gently prod you in the right direction for potential settings but if you still manage to pull some undgodly combination of parameters, you can just dial back that mix knob.
Right now the DF-TRANS is going for $69. All the spec details and purchase links are available over at the official Drumforge website.
