Voxengo TransGainer
"GET UN EFFECT LIKE BRINGING THE MICROPHONE CLOSER TO THE SOURCE"
I have really tried many transient shaper plugins to bring forward a closely recorded sound more transparently than an eq or compressor and to keep the background noise under control which means improving the Signal/Noise ratio.
Apart from Eventide Physion which has a separate place (and requires high latency) I must admit that TransGainer is truly exceptional once you understand how to adapt the detector to your purpose, "Transient detector threshold" and PRECISE_B algorithm in particular.
With a reference converter RME ADI-2 PRO FS it is interesting to note that as the resolution increases, artifacts decrease, especially if you want to use low Detector Threshold. Oversampling is not as useful as a real higher resolution especially from 384kHz and you can also use 768kHz for an almost analog experience.
More than that I think that you have to switch to Elysia Nvelope hardware that has some interesting features that I would like to be inherited by TransGainer in future editions!
As a reference of my tests:
Alg = PRECISE B
Det Delay = 10.0 (min)
Det Thresh = 12.0 (high sample rate resolutions) / 18.0 (low sample rate resolutions)
X.Attack = 200 (max)
X.Decay = 40.0 (min)
X.Gain = 4.0
Out Gain = 0.0
Congratulations indeed for a plugin very underestimated by reviewers and forums.