“Excellent manufacturing, very helpful in mixing, technically and sonically outstanding, easy to use.”
At Amazona you can find a review with a lot of sound samples of the SPL Transient Designer 4 Mk2. The complete review (in German) is available online – a summary here on our blog.
“SPL’s Transient Designer has been around since the early 2000s – and in 2004 we even had the original version in an Amazona review. The upgrade to the Mk2 version is a good reason to again take a closer look at the device!”
First impression:
“The Transient Designer 4 Mk2 has a 4 mm thick, black anodized aluminum front panel and aluminum solid knobs milled from solid. The housing is made of high-quality steel and powder-coated in elegant black. The device is in a 19 inch rackmount format with one height unit and weighs 3.3 kg.”
“It offers transient processing for four channels – each of them has an attack and a sustain control on the front panel. On the rear, the whole thing is just as clear: a pair of balanced XLR connectors per channel, a ground lift switch and the power connection.”
“The manufacturing is – typical for SPL – at the very highest level. The housing, the knobs and switches: all of the best quality, as well as the double-screwed XLR jacks. The new, very attractive design fits very well into a modern recording studio.”
Sound and operation:
“The results of the sound samples are very clearly audible: it is convincing how the TD 4 MK2 increases or decreases the speech intelligibility and how much the guitar shines through or blends in the very dense pad sound of the Roland.”
“In all tests, the SPL was a real joy to use. After a little practice, you adjust attack and sustain like you would with a camera lens: more detail or more harmony.”