WA Production has taken the guts of its Puncher 2 multi-FX plugin and packed them into a Lite version, making it free to download in the process. Billed as a quick and easy tool for making your tracks “sound better” and to “make them stand out,” this marries compression to transient shaping and has just three main controls.
The first of these, Transient, enables you to set the intensity of the transient shaping effect, which can boost your kicks and add snap to your snares. There are five different levels to choose from, ranging from none to 100% processed.
Next up, there’s Multiband, a multiband compressor that divides your signal into four bands using subtractive IIR filters. Each band is processed independently, with the combined effect promising to be smooth and analogue-like.
Finally, there’s Parallel - use this to even out the dynamics of a track with parallel compression. Again, there are five settings ranging from zero to 100.
Aside from bypass and master gain controls - plus a waveform display that shows you what’s happening to your signal in realtime - that’s about it, but WA Production is keen to stress that, despite its apparent simplicity, Puncher 2 Lite can still deliver the sonic goods.
It’s available for PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats, and can be downloaded for free from the WA Production website.
