Badly tuned drums can ruin a rhythm track, but unfortunately, that’s sometimes what you’ve got to work with when you sit down to mix a song. However, Waves thinks that it’s come up with a solution to the problem with its Torque plugin. This promises to re-pitch snares, toms, kicks or an entire acoustic or electronic kit, leaving you with a natural sound and an improved tone.
Torque promises to eliminate the need for drum retriggering or replacing, and to operate without introducing the sonic artifacts associated with pitch shifting. Waves says that body, timbre, resonance and attack are also retained.
The plugin works by analysing the drums’ formant, amplitude and carrier information and then reassembling it so that you can adjust the tonal and pitch characteristics. The control set is said to be intuitive, and Torque promises to operate with zero latency, making it suitable for live as well as studio use.
Torque is available now priced at $29 (regular price is $69). It runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats. Find out more on the Waves website.
