SILIKA – Dual Diode Compressor | Kush Audio

After 9 years in the plugin game, Kush can finally say without exaggeration that, at least for one particular flavor of vintage compressors that clip beautifully, we have completely closed the Analog/Digital gap. SILIKA is not ‘close’, it’s not ‘different but just as good’. According to Kush, it’s ‘Sonically Identical’ to the types of hardware it’s modeled after.

Sound

SILIKA is the prime Kush plugin to embrace Kush hardware Tweaker ‘tri-meter’ display. On the bottom of the plugin, you can choose whether the meter displays Input & Output (great for setting up initial levels and final level matching), Gain Reduction only (great for when you’re dialing in compression), or all three (great for those of us who work fast and don’t want to bother switching modes). Silika carries for its charm sound an exceptionally convoluted harmonic distortion generator.

According to Kush, this sounds exactly like and sometimes even better than analog competing products. With Silika, the audio company Kush Audio shows another milestone in its plug-in development. This compressor should be on the same level as a number of large hardware compressors.

SILIKA sonically really close to the types of hardware it’s modeled after. There are plenty of compression and saturation plugins available, many are excellent. listen to the demo and you will hear the Kush vintage sound now out of a plugin instead of hardware in your studio. SILIKA at $99 or part of the Kush subscription is a win.

Rating:  Five Out of Five Stars

My experience is that SILIKA sounds fantastic on a single track and can be used also on the mixmaster track. Compared to the existing Kush plugin SILIKA comes with entirely distinct harmonics and transient clipping character. Silika emphasizes low mids and there are not so many plugins who can do that as good as SILIKA. This is another top plugin with that soft c(k)ushy soft sexy tone. Give it a run on your percussion tracks the results are exceptionally good and add those vintage tonal characteristics.

SILIKA plugin is Kush’s killer-sounding compressor that closes the Analog/Digital notch for a distinct taste of wonderfully-clipping old compressor sound. Silika vibrates beautifully emotional.

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Omega TWK – 70’S TRANSISTOR CLIPPING

Kush has just released a brand-new plugin — OMEGA MODEL TWK – 70’s TRANSISTOR CLIPPING! 

OMEGA MODEL TWK – Thick 70’s Transistors is an lovely saturation and distortion generator pulled straight from the heart of Kush’s own Tweaker hardware compressor and represents Kush’s first foray into modeling solid-state distortion!

Model TWK’s dirt is the cumulative result of modeling the way Tweaker overdrives a long chain of 70’s op-amps, all of which have specs such as slew rate and IMD that, by modern standards, are considered abysmal. But that abysmally dirty, slow sound is exactly what makes the Tweaker such a warm, charming friend to all kinds of sounds. And at the heart of Tweaker’s op-amp chain is another friend of distortion lovers everywhere, the inimitable ‘super matched transistor’, itself a primitive and imperfect attempt to perfectly balance the push and pull of a primitive VCA.

The net effect of lightly grinding each of those clipping stages before passing it along to the next is an incredibly smooth, thick, and slightly dark saturation. And because it’s the result of a proverbial ‘house of cards’ in terms of gain staging, Model TWK (like the Tweaker itself) goes from ‘mellow and sweet’ to ‘angry and abrasive’ quite a bit faster than the other Omega Transformers, with their more forgiving, discrete tubes -and- iron circuitry.

You can download a demo version here. You need to activate the plugin when launching your DAW.

OMEGA TRANSFORMER MODEL TWK PRICING

The Full Non-Expiring Software License costs $29, OMEGA TRANSFORMER MODEL TWK is included in the Kush Plugin Subscriptions ($9.99/month or $99.99/year)

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