Description

A classic transient shaper works on the whole spectrum at once: give the kick more attack and the hi-hats get it too. Punch Matrix splits the signal into three bands with 4th-order phase-aligned Linkwitz-Riley crossovers — the three bands sum flat, not filtered — and shapes each one on its own. The big knob does the work: turn right for a drier hit, left for a softer one. The five modes don't change the structure, they change envelope times and band weighting: DRUMS for sharp hits, BUS for mixes and subgroups (slow, it shouldn't be audible), BASS working underneath and leaving the top alone, ACOUSTIC for strings and skins, ROOM living on the tail. That's why one knob is enough. The detector is what makes the difference. Each band has a peak envelope with its release tuned to that band — a bass note lasts 17 ms per cycle, and a faster detector would mistake the waveform for a burst of attacks — plus the dB level of that envelope, smoothed with a single time constant that sets how long the attack window lasts. The difference between the two says everything: level rising faster than the reference means attack, signal present without a rise means tail. A held note is neither, because there the difference returns to zero on its own. Then there's the BEYOND row, which is what the others don't do. SPLIT moves the focus between lows and highs without touching anything else. SNAP generates harmonics **only** on the transient: on a continuous sine the difference is exactly zero. TAIL widens only the tail, never the attack, and a mono source stays mono. CLIP is a soft ceiling on the output, so the punch doesn't eat your headroom.

Features

Three bands, 4th-order phase-aligned Linkwitz-Riley crossovers

One bipolar PUNCH knob: right for drier, left for softer

Bipolar SUSTAIN for the tail, independent of the attack

Five modes: DRUMS, BUS, BASS, ACOUSTIC, ROOM

2 dB dead zone: waveform ripple never reads as an attack

SNAP: harmonics only on the transient, zero on a held note

TAIL: width only on the tail, mono-safe

SPLIT to move the focus between lows and highs

CLIP: soft output ceiling

2 ms lookahead reported to the host, auto gain and phase-aligned parallel mix

Version history

v1.0.0 latest September 15, 2026

Prima build pubblica. - Tre bande a fase allineata - Cinque modalità - SPLIT, SNAP, TAIL, CLIP