Sonic Anomaly Transpire

Best for transparent transient control with intelligent non-linear behavior. Transpire looks simple, but its standout is a non-linear response. Small transients are affected more than large ones. Instead of processing transients at a particular threshold, Transpire works harder on the lower levels of a signal while keeping the more prominent transients intact. That means subtle details come forward while big hits don’t overshoot, which is ideal on busy percussion where I want clarity without spikiness.

1 dB to catch peaks. It started life as a JSFX/VST for Reaper/Windows, later gaining a GUI and 64-bit support, and it remains lightweight in use. The only quirk I notice is the reported plugin delay (around 95 samples), which is minor for mixing.