Two things- no wait make that three:
1. Virtual consoles
2. Virtual tape
3. Differential eqing (google the sucker).
M@

Wow OP needs to narrow this down.
Replies are all over the map.

honestly I used to have the same problem, thinking there must be some sort of secret but lately I've been figuring out that the secret really is choosing the right sounds from the start...It used to frustrate me when people would say "choose the right sample, if it doesn't work change it, etc," but fact is that's where most of the magic comes from...if you choose the right sounds you really don't even need to eq, compress (unless ur trying to fix a bad recording), etc, everything sorts of blends together naturally.
Like Tranel said, its all about contrast, u could have a great kick and bassline which don't really work in isolation, but when u add a contrasting pad, the impact of the bass is clear and everything gels.
A trick I learned from a really great artist and engineer is to get the sounds the way you want them when ur designing them, then move on to the next contrasting sound and do the same. If you tweak the synth so that everything about it is perfect from the get go, it works perfectly with your previous elements, your levels, where it hits frequency wise (no rogue frequencies messing with the previous elements) you shouldn't have to eq or compress anything because each element already works well with each other...

@ OP Since you mentioned transients, as mentioned before, vintage emulation plugins may help o he trick. Saturation works wonders, as depending on how you apply it, it can help soften transients or contrast by accentuating the body, similar to compression, will give more of an appearance of diminished transients. Try a bit of wow / flutter or selective reverb + saturation to achieve good results.

As far as the super nes example, I used to do a lot of basic chip tune stuff, I found that even small amounts of portamento (+legato) maks a huge difference in how smooth e character of the notes are.

I would start to ask critical questions based on whatever example or project is your focus

When ou say soften or push back in the mix, etc, further categorize it by asking yourself:

Do I mean soft as in a soft timbre? (smooth, natural/controlled, airy, etc) in regards to FREQUENCY/spectrum

Do I mean soft as in timing? (does the note have even a short fade in, does it have a sharp attack? Look at e wave and see ow fast the actual transient is)

Do I mean soft as is presence? is this sound further back in the mix, distance causing move smoothness and subtlety? Does the sound punch through completely, but the tail fits back in? Ow does the sound move?

Do I mean soft as in spacing? (does it sound wide or mono? Listen closely and ask if you can tell if there is a delay between the samples stereo channels.)

Try thinking like e environment or the synthesizer (depending on if your making or sampling, etc), do through each module of the signal flow and ask yourself how each one individually can impact sound in the manner you seek. Form that list, then go from there.

Good luck & much creative thinking
Cheers, ET


Please pardon grammatical errors, posted from my phone

I was just reading into this for cleaning samples up by using the filter envelope and hi pass or lo pass filters seeming to work the best but use whatever helps I say, Good Advice Tricky Loops

If I understand the OP and all the replies correctly, you're probably thinking of a Gate. Ableton Live has a great Gate built in, which for short snappy sounds can drastically improve the "impact". The original reason for a Gate was for drum recording, and the way it works is by only allowing sounds through when they are above a certain set dB level. For example, you don't want the sounds of your bassdrum coming through the microphone aimed at your snare drum, so you'd set a Gate on the snare channel.

The upside of this, is that you could set the gate to only allow a sound through when it reaches -1dB or even 0dB, which means there is essentially no attack time whatsoever.... Then stick that through some over-the-top compression, and you have yourself a Dubstep snare.

Run all the tracks through Slate Digital VCC & VTM and use the FG-X compressor on the master it's subtle but glues it together.

A cheaper alternative is to put Soundtoys Decapitator on the master track with whatever compressor you can find and set the compressor so it's very subtle.

You could experimenting with inverting the phase, and deciding which sounds better. 1 always sounds\gels much better than the other.

Its a mixture of all things you have been told/tried plus countless years of experience.

Actually, mastering is the last 10% that adds 90%.

Ofcourse, mixdown and mastering are 20% when sound design and composition are 80%. Maybe something like:


Sound design
45%

Composition and arrangement
35%

mixdown
15%

Mastering
5%

Actually it's like this:

Sound design: 100%
Composition: 100%
Mixing: 100%
Mastering: 100%

They're all different jobs, and all important... Screw one up, screw up the track.