Apparatus for encoding an audio signal, comprising: a controllable windower for windowing the audio signal to provide a sequence of blocks of windowed samples; a converter for converting the sequence of blocks of windowed samples into a spectral representation comprising a sequence of frames of spectral values; a transient location detector for identifying a location of a transient within a transient look-ahead region of a frame; and a controller for controlling the controllable windower to apply a specific window having a specified overlap length to the audio signal in response to an identified location (210-213) of the transient, wherein the controller is configured to select the specific window from a group of at least three windows comprising a first window having a first overlap length , a second window having a second overlap length , and a third window having a third overlap length or having no overlap, wherein the first overlap length is greater than the second overlap length , and wherein the second overlap length is greater than the third overlap length or greater than an overlap of zero, and wherein the specific window is selected based on the transient location such that one of two time-adjacent overlapping windows has first window coefficients at the location of the transient and the other of the two time-adjacent overlapping windows has second window coefficients at the location of the transient, wherein an earlier window of the two time-adjacent overlapping windows has the first window coefficients at values close to zero or equal to zero at the location of the transient, and a later window of the two time-adjacent overlapping windows has the second window coefficients close or equal to one at the location of the transient. a controllable windower for windowing the audio signal to provide a sequence of blocks of windowed samples; a converter for converting the sequence of blocks of windowed samples into a spectral representation comprising a sequence of frames of spectral values; a transient location detector for identifying a location of a transient within a transient look-ahead region of a frame; and a controller for controlling the controllable windower to apply a specific window having a specified overlap length to the audio signal in response to an identified location (210-213) of the transient, wherein the controller is configured to select the specific window from a group of at least three windows comprising a first window having a first overlap length , a second window having a second overlap length , and a third window having a third overlap length or having no overlap, wherein the first overlap length is greater than the second overlap length , and wherein the second overlap length is greater than the third overlap length or greater than an overlap of zero, and wherein the specific window is selected based on the transient location such that one of two time-adjacent overlapping windows has first window coefficients at the location of the transient and the other of the two time-adjacent overlapping windows has second window coefficients at the location of the transient, wherein an earlier window of the two time-adjacent overlapping windows has the first window coefficients at values close to zero or equal to zero at the location of the transient, and a later window of the two time-adjacent overlapping windows has the second window coefficients close or equal to one at the location of the transient. <EOS>