Review: KiloHearts Transient Shaper

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ReasonTalk
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02 Feb 2017

The latest Rack-Extension from Kilohearts is an addition to the already impressive Kilohearts Toolbox. A transient shaper following the design philosophy of the other devices in the toolbox in that it is designed to do away with as much complexity as possible. What is left is a device that just works.

https://www.reasontalk.com/2017/02/revi ... nt-shaper/

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EnochLight
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02 Feb 2017

Nice review, man. Straight to the point - and the GIF showing the display animation was a nice touch. Bravo!
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Peter

02 Feb 2017

Solid review thanks!

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Kenni
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02 Feb 2017

Thank guys!
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Ocean of Waves
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03 Feb 2017

I'm curious if it's better/different from the one we already have in Kong

Peter

03 Feb 2017

Ocean of Waves wrote:I'm curious if it's better/different from the one we already have in Kong
I read in another thread that it has the potential to be more aggressive than both Kong and DCAM. I use Kong and DCAM already but sometimes I want more shaping so I'll give this a try soon.

Yonatan
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03 Feb 2017

I would love to have the softtube one too in the shop.

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Kenni
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03 Feb 2017

Ocean of Waves wrote:I'm curious if it's better/different from the one we already have in Kong
Selected quote from the review
The options with the transient shaper in Kong is simply lackluster compared to this and doesn’t sound nearly as good.
But as always, this is based on taste - You should trial it and find out really :)
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Yonatan
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03 Feb 2017

I love that these decvices are so snappy. It fits so well into the Rack environment in Reason and when building a combinator. Great to see developers bring in their packages of effects.

Will try out this new transient shaper as the reviewer told it was quite sophisticated under the hood.

But I have the Fxpansion shaper already and might buy this one on a sale some day if I really like it. But I would like a more advanced one like softubes has made. But they seem to have abandoned the ship? I hope it is just a temporarily break and that they will join again as the SDK might make it easier for them to port their plug-ins.

And it´s wonderful to read reviews of RE:s. Whoever involved in the new look and expansion of Reasontalk, are doing a great work.
Liftning it up to another level. And as long as the forum is still here, I am glad.

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Kenni
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03 Feb 2017

Yonatan wrote:Will try out this new transient shaper as the reviewer told it was quite sophisticated under the hood.
I'm responsible for that particular comment, it's based on nothing but intuition! As mentioned, I'm not sure how they achieved what I perceived to be a clear result, but their transient shaper seems very tolerant and you have to really push it to the point of awkward-sounding proportions to get some serious artifacts.
Yonatan wrote:And it´s wonderful to read reviews of RE:s. Whoever involved in the new look and expansion of Reasontalk, are doing a great work.
Liftning it up to another level. And as long as the forum is still here, I am glad.
This is butter for our eye-balls, thank you!
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EnochLight
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03 Feb 2017

Yonatan wrote:But I would like a more advanced one like softubes has made. But they seem to have abandoned the ship? I hope it is just a temporarily break and that they will join again as the SDK might make it easier for them to port their plug-ins.
Not to digress, but there really isn't anything in Softube's product line-up that couldn't be done with the very first Rack Extension SDK, as far as I can tell. Their GUI/UX is pretty much stock Reason rack device stuff, with no sampling, changeable panels, or anything like that needed. Well, except for their first foray into drum machines - Heartbeat - but that's just because of the size (it's gigantic)!

Anyway, I wouldn't take their silence as abandoning ship, so to speak. They still put their RE's on sale when big sales happen, and they've likely been focusing on new products for their main customer base (VST/AU/AAX), which takes up a lot of R&D time, I'm sure. Hopefully we'll see some new RE stuff from them, though - I'd love to have Heartbeat, Drawmer (both), and their Transient Shaper.

Anyway, back on topic - I'm demo'ing Kiloheartz' offering right now. ;)
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tobypearce
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03 Feb 2017

The other thing about Softube's stuff is how heavy they are on the CPU.
KHZ stuff is nice and light and I end up using it way more.
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svenh
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04 Feb 2017

Kenni wrote:
Yonatan wrote:And it´s wonderful to read reviews of RE:s. Whoever involved in the new look and expansion of Reasontalk, are doing a great work.
Liftning it up to another level. And as long as the forum is still here, I am glad.
This is butter for our eye-balls, thank you!
Couldn't agree more! Reasontalk already was a great site and it seems to get even better... :puf_smile:

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leonxx1983
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04 Feb 2017

Really not a fan of kHz devices, can't think why the reviewer would say this sounds better than DCAM transient shaper. A bit more explanation would be useful.

dustmoses
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04 Feb 2017

How is the CPU on this compared to DCAM env-shaper?

The sound on DCAM is fine but fxpansion REs all seen very poorly optimized, to the point I would buy this even if it's sound is somewhat inferior.

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O1B
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04 Feb 2017

... better than DCAM? I don't get that from that intro video.
EnvShaper's Sustain is waaay crispier in the DCAM. And, as i mentioned in another thread, DCAM's Channel Comp's BIAS Brings the Bottom END, if it's there, and you want it. Highly tunable.

I didn't get that from the kHTS video.
leonxx1983 wrote:Really not a fan of kHz devices, can't think why the reviewer would say this sounds better than DCAM transient shaper. A bit more explanation would be useful.
dustmoses wrote: I would buy this even if it's sound is somewhat inferior.
:shock:

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tobypearce
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05 Feb 2017

DCAM's stuff does seem pretty heavy on CPU.
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EnochLight
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05 Feb 2017

I'd forgotten about DCAM. Still, I really like KiloHearts GUI/UX compared to DCAM. I'm a visual person and KiloHearts offering helps a lot, IMHO. Still having a hard time deciding which one sounds better, though.
Win 10 | Ableton Live 11 Suite |  Reason 12 | i7 3770k @ 3.5 Ghz | 16 GB RAM | RME Babyface Pro | Akai MPC Live 2 & Akai Force | Roland System 8, MX1, TB3 | Dreadbox Typhon | Korg Minilogue XD

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leonxx1983
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05 Feb 2017

EnochLight wrote:I'd forgotten about DCAM. Still, I really like KiloHearts GUI/UX compared to DCAM. I'm a visual PM erson and KiloHearts offering helps a lot, IMHO. Still having a hard time deciding which one sounds better, though.
Funny, I find the KiloHearts GUIs really dull and uninspiring.

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EnochLight
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05 Feb 2017

leonxx1983 wrote:
EnochLight wrote:I'd forgotten about DCAM. Still, I really like KiloHearts GUI/UX compared to DCAM. I'm a visual PM erson and KiloHearts offering helps a lot, IMHO. Still having a hard time deciding which one sounds better, though.
Funny, I find the KiloHearts GUIs really dull and uninspiring.
Compared to DCAM?? Hmm... I feel like DCAM looks like Fxpansion took a Combinator and slapped a skin on it:
dcam_envshaperre_main.png
dcam_envshaperre_main.png (168.51 KiB) Viewed 7441 times
KiloHearts at least made some effort to make theirs stand out, and the visual feedback of the display is much more useful (IMHO) than what Fxpansion offers. But, at the end of the day I suppose this is all personal preference:

KHS-Transient-shaper-display.gif
KHS-Transient-shaper-display.gif (42.21 KiB) Viewed 7441 times
KiloHearts_transient_shaper.png
KiloHearts_transient_shaper.png (49.45 KiB) Viewed 7441 times
Win 10 | Ableton Live 11 Suite |  Reason 12 | i7 3770k @ 3.5 Ghz | 16 GB RAM | RME Babyface Pro | Akai MPC Live 2 & Akai Force | Roland System 8, MX1, TB3 | Dreadbox Typhon | Korg Minilogue XD

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Bonkhead
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05 Feb 2017

leonxx1983 wrote:Really not a fan of kHz devices, can't think why the reviewer would say this sounds better than DCAM transient shaper. A bit more explanation would be useful.
Check out my posts for some tests you can do.
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7498906&p=307915#p307915

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tobypearce
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06 Feb 2017

Bonkhead wrote: Check out my posts for some tests you can do.
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7498906&p=307915#p307915
Good stuff. Thanks for sharing.
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O1B
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06 Feb 2017

Gotta disagree. DCAM looks much more EXODE'd than those cheesy knobby buttons on FX.
Image
And, like on Comps n EQs, i'd imagine In/Out meters means Business - compared to a latency inducing light show.

The light flashes are pretty and i appreciate a good visual, but its missing a Freq Selector knob - for an env. follower.

EnochLight wrote: Compared to DCAM?? Hmm... I feel like DCAM looks like Fxpansion took a Combinator and slapped a skin on it:
dcam_envshaperre_main.png
KiloHearts at least made some effort to make theirs stand out, and the visual feedback of the display is much more useful (IMHO) than what Fxpansion offers. But, at the end of the day I suppose this is all personal preference:
KHS-Transient-shaper-display.gif
KiloHearts_transient_shaper.png

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KirkMarkarian
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12 Feb 2017

leonxx1983 wrote:
EnochLight wrote:I'd forgotten about DCAM. Still, I really like KiloHearts GUI/UX compared to DCAM. I'm a visual PM erson and KiloHearts offering helps a lot, IMHO. Still having a hard time deciding which one sounds better, though.
Funny, I find the KiloHearts GUIs really dull and uninspiring.
Then don't use it :D

Gulale
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20 Feb 2017

I just saw the video from PH shop and also from the article but comparing to UAD SPL it doesn't have have that oomph I will get DCAM and compare it.I have really forgotten how it sounds now. This is the reason I requested long time ago about reseting expired trials. When somebody purchases a product, it has to reset the whole trial like UAD.

Form both transient designer hands down Kong is top class retain the bottom still control the transient. I wish PH include the kong FX like regular one.
Gulale aka Bereket

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