Reactive Audio has launched Wake, a transient-triggered swell instrument designed to generate pre-hit swells from incoming audio. The plugin creates synthesized reverse-style effects and harmonic blooms that resolve precisely on detected transients.
Wake is built around the concept of generating, rather than reshaping, audio. For each detected transient, the plugin produces a swell that rises into the hit and resolves exactly at its onset. Because the swell is synthesized instead of derived by reversing or stretching the original waveform, it can be formed from the triggering sound’s own spectral content and shaped independently of the source material.
According to Reactive Audio, this approach allows the swell to bloom from the hit’s timbre, increase in brightness as it rises, and harmonize into chords derived from the original sound. The swell can function as a reverse-style reverb or as a spectral bloom that is resynthesized from the source audio.
Wake includes a Generative Swell module with adjustable parameters for:
- Drawable volume shape
- Swell length
- Color sweep
- Wet and dry mix control
The plugin can harmonize each swell into intervals such as octave, fifth, major, or minor. In version 1.2, Reactive Audio has introduced MIDI-controlled harmony. Users can route MIDI chords to Wake so that each transient-triggered swell follows the played harmony in real time. This enables chord progressions to shape the harmonic content of swells applied to drums, vocals, or other percussive material.
In addition to the swell engine, Wake features a Volume Shape module. This provides a drawable gain curve that is triggered at each transient, allowing users to sculpt the original hit itself. Applications include ducking, rhythmic pumping, tremolo-style modulation, and stutter effects, all tied directly to transient detection.
Wake also incorporates per-onset dynamics analysis. The plugin measures the loudness and brightness of each detected hit and adjusts the swell response accordingly. Louder hits can produce larger swells, while brighter hits can result in shorter responses, enabling the effect to track performance characteristics on a hit-by-hit basis.
For more selective processing, Wake includes surgical triggering controls. A frequency-range filter allows the plugin to respond only to specific bands, such as isolating kicks or snares. Probability and humanization parameters are available to vary triggering behavior for a more organic response pattern.
Multiband targeting is also supported. Each module can operate on its own frequency band, enabling independent processing across the spectrum. For example, users can apply sidechain-style shaping to low frequencies while leaving higher content unaffected, or generate high-frequency risers that remain transient-locked within a defined band, all within a single instance of the plugin.
Wake incorporates look-ahead functionality so swells can build before the transient occurs. Delay compensation ensures alignment within the host DAW. The plugin is available in VST3 and AU formats, as well as a standalone version. It includes global bypass control and full preset recall.
Wake is available via the Reactive Audio website for $30, with a launch price of $20 for the first sixty days.
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