PreSonus Blog

OBEDIA and Transient Detection in Studio One 2

If you’re not familiar with Transient Detection, the first thing you need to know is that it’s not about finding the homeless. You’re thinking of a hobometer. Forget that. Transient Detection, in the DAW sense, is about grabbing the louder, pokier bits in your wave form. Now sure, you can do that with your eyes and ears, despite the creeping tinnitus you likely have by now, but what’s important is what you do WITH these Transients once they’ve been detected. Grab these os and 1s by their digital little collarbones and bend them to your will! But why?

Because drummers have substance abuse issues. Let’s say you spent EONS on your snare tuning and mic placement, and it sounds like a squib in a squnich. Then the drum-dum shows up reeking of cheap patchouli oil, tail and sticks dragging. You get the take, but it’s sloppy, and said drummer is all “THAT WAS THE ONE, MAN!”

The advantages of Transient Detection begin with the ability to grab those late-but-great-sounding snare hits and snap ’em to grid. Just make sure no analog purists are looking. You’ll end up with pixel-perfect snare whacks—if you like. The quantization is scalable; you can render the performance TR-909 mechanized, or leave some natural looseness, or set it somewhere in-between.

Now that you know what this technology has to offer, let’s consult with another aweseomesauce OBEDIA video on the how. Click below.