Transient shapers have become valuable tools for mixers ever since SPL first released their hardware unit a few decades ago. Today there are numerous plugins from various manufacturers and they all have basically the same parameter controls, which, while easy to use, also sometimes fall short when small adjustments are required. The new Trinity Shaper plugin from Three-Body Technology gives the mixer a lot more transient control while keeping it easy of use.
Most transient shapers provide 2 parameters of control over Attack and Sustain, which is surprisingly effective in adjusting the transient for a wide variety of instruments. Trinity Shaper also adds a third parameter called Body to take your control up a notch. On top of that, each main parameter has a number of sub-parameters for ultimate control as needed.
Sub-Parameter Control
For instance, the Attack control also has Attack Length, and high-pass and low-pass filters which allow you to zoom in and adjust this portion of the dynamics envelope. Add to that a Listen button so you can hear exactly how the sound is being acted on, and you’ve already taken your control up several levels over traditional transient shapers.
Both Body and Sustain controls also have high and low-pass filters attached to them, with Body also having an additional Body Length adjustment. Yes, they both have the ability to listen to just that portion of the dynamics envelope as well.
Even More Control
If that isn’t enough control, you’re also able to switch into a multi-band mode where the audio band is broken into three areas, each with its own Attack, Body and Sustain controls. And the large display shows exactly how the waveform is being affected by the plugin’s parameters.
There’s a lot more to the Trinity Shaper that doesn’t immediately catch the eye, like a Side Chain with an 8 band parametric EQ, Oversampling, a built-in limiter with a soft-clipping algorithm, Wet/Dry control, and more.
The Three-Body Technology Trinity Shaper is available from Plugin Alliance at an introductory price of $89 (normally $199), and it’s available for Mac or PC and on all popular plugin formats. You can find out more here, or watch the video below.
