Torque: Drum Tuning Plugin by Waves

Standard pitch shifters often smear transients and add artifacts, which is the problem Torque is designed to solve. Waves says its Organic ReSynthesis engine changes pitch and formants while keeping the attack, resonance and duration of the original drum.

The focus control lets you target tonal changes to specific frequencies. This is useful when a loop or bus needs a correction in one part of the spectrum without affecting the rest. Trim and threshold settings add further control over how the effect is applied.

Torque offers changes of up to plus or minus one octave, so you can make a drum sound bigger or thinner. It is also designed for low-latency use, which Waves says makes it suitable for live performance.

Torque works on individual drum hits, and Waves also positions it for buses and loops. Its focus controls make it practical on full drum recordings where you want to adjust tone without replacing the performance.

Since the plugin keeps the feel of acoustic drum parts, it can be used when you want to preserve the live character of a recording. Waves presents it as an alternative to drum replacers for producers who want to avoid the extra steps those workflows involve.

Torque is available as a VST2, AU and AAX plugin, so it can be run in most common hosts that support those formats.