Features
Transient Shaper
Imagine a processor that can actually add attack to the start of a drum hit: Well.....now you have one!
The transient shaper can increase the amplitude of the attack portion of the signal whilst leaving the decay unchanged. It does this by looking at the incoming audio and identifying the rapid increase in volume that typifies the initial stage of a percussive sound. We call this short rapid increase in volume at the start of a percussive hit a ‘transient’ because the word transient means a thing which exists only for a short time. The Drumstrip Transient Shaper takes the transients in percussive sounds and amplifies them without processing the sustain or decay stages of the sounds. If a sound does not have a pronounced transient (eg a bass guitar) the Transient Shaper will have little effect upon it.
Gate
The Drumstrip Gate provides a powerful and superb sounding processor that is ideally suited to manipulating drums and presented with a user interface that makes it incredibly easy to set up and control.
The gate is suitable for many applications which include:
- Shortening drum hits to obtain a 'tighter' sound
- Control of ambience on live drums tracks
- Manipulation of attack and decay characteristics
- Increasing dynamic range using the gate as a downward expander
- Dedicated drum Gate with range and independent open and close threshold controls
- Increasing dynamic range using the gate as a downward expander
Listen Mic Compressor
The Listen Mic Compressor first found in the classic SSL 4000 E console and recently in the LMC-1 plug-in has now been enhanced and included in Drumstrip. The Listen Mic Compressor played a crucial part in defining the drum sound of the 1980s and was the secret weapon in many producers sonic arsenal of recording techniques. Originally designed to prevent overloading the return feed from a studio communications mic, its fixed attack and release curves were eminently suitable for use on ambient drums mics. The original concept gains two new features within Drustrip; controls for overall compression Amount and Gain make up are joined by; a wet/dry mix control that enables more subtle compression effects to be achieved and an EQ Bypass switch that disengages the hard High & Low Pass filtering inherent within the original design to enable Drumstrip to apply full band width processing.
Enhancement
Drumstrip features two enhancers and they each lift and emphasise the tonal character of incoming sounds in a subtle and sophisticated way.
The Drumstrip HF enhancer adds a combination of 2nd and 3rd harmonics to enrich high frequencies. This overdrive characteristic is set to work above a certain frequency upwards, with a varying amount of harmonic content. This process is not possible with a standard EQ, as instead of raising the relative level of a set of frequencies, it is adding harmonics to those frequencies therefore producing a more pleasing effect. To add air or sparkle to a signal, push this frequency towards the higher end of the range. To give more presence to a signal, use the lower end of the range.
The Drumstrip LF Enhancer is similar to the HF Enhancer, but works on the low frequency range from the T.OVER (turnover) frequency downwards. The incoming signal is low-pass filtered, harmonically enriched using the DRIVE control and added to the unprocessed signal using the AMOUNT.