Flux - BitterSweet | Free Transient Designer VST Plugin

Flux's 'BitterSweet' transient designer is an extremely simple plug-in, but one that has some interesting features if you look a little deeper.

It has a nicely designed UI that features a single, big knob in the center; turn it towards 'sweet' and transients are reduced; turn it towards 'bitter' and transients are increased.

BitterSweet has up to 8 channels of input and output, and switchable transient integration; you can set the transient processing to fast, medium or slow. Perhaps its most interesting feature, however, is its use of M/S encoding to process the middle and sides of a stereo source independently.

You can process a signal using the 'main' setting and it will be treated as a standard stereo signal, or you can engage one of the 'center' or 'stereo' modes. 'Center' engages the internal M/S encoder and only processes the Mid channel; useful for kick and snare processing.'Stereo' will engage the internal M/S encoder bur only processes the Side channel; useful for panned rhythmic instruments. Both M/S modes convert the signal back to stereo before outputting.

These modes really come into their own if you are working with drum loops and want to alter perceived levels of different elements within those loops.

BitterSweet is available for AAX as a DSP, Native and Audiosuite plug-in, and also comes in VST, AU and even Waves WPAPI formats. Both Mac and PC are supported but only 64 bit versions are available. You can download BitterSweet for free from the Flux website.