Recently Boz Digital Labs released Transgressor , which is a transient designer that allows you to eq the transient and the sustain separately. This plugin seems like it was created with my workflow in mind, so when I got the chance to get a review copy I was stoked! Let me explain.

I tend to avoid compression for transient shaping. It can do it, and is done by top pros in the industry, but the amount of control I have with my various transient designers makes me able to create similar envelope shapes without applying gain reduction. When I do use a compressor, it’s usually in parallel and not directly on the insert.

In order to understand what Transgressor does, you have to understand how a transient designer works. Very briefly, a transient designer is an envelope shaper that allows you to increase or decrease the attack of a source. As you add attack, it turns up the transient. This gives the impression of a note that was played harder than it was originally. Removing attack will turn down the transient, giving the impression of a note that was played softer than it was originally. Some allow you to also increase or decrease the sustain of a signal, which allows you to get really creative with the way your sources sound.

Transient designers have a wide range of applications in my workflow. Need more attack for the kick to cut through and add energy during the chorus? Add attack and automate it to bypass for the verses. You can change the feel of a guitar or bass DI with a transient designer. If a guitarist doesn’t pick hard enough for the aggressive tone you’re trying to achieve, you can turn up the attack on the DI to make the guitar interact more aggressively with the amp tone.

Transgressor separates the attack from the sustain, like a typical transient designer. But then it lets you EQ your transients and your sustain separately! If you’ve got a great sounding smack from a snare drum, but the sustain has a weird resonance that’s being a pain, you can leave the initial attack alone while removing the resonant frequencies from the sustain portion.

This opens up a wide range of possibilities for shaping your sources, and this quickly became one of my favorite tools in my kit. Bear in mind that I have hundreds of plugins, including everything from Waves, Slate, Nomad Factory, and more. So to say that this has jumped to the top of my list, that’s saying something. I don’t get easily excited anymore by new plugins unless they offer something new. That’s precisely what Transgressor does.