Year/Date of Issue: 09/30/22
Developer: Kush Audio
Developer site: The House of Kush
Format: VST, VST3, AAX
Bit depth: 64bit
Tabletka: cured [R2R]
System requirements: WIN 10+
Description:
Omega 4-Pack Saturation Toolkit
It’s no secret that the average audio engineer spends most of their lives chasing the perfect saturation plug-in. There are so many options and they all do such wildly different things. Kush converter plugins are designed to provide a wide sonic saturation palette that covers popular analog colors from Neve, API, Altec and Kush.
About the package
MODEL 458A:
This sparse tube emulation has a fat tone that decays deliciously, becoming progressively harder but never harsh, turning copper cymbals to gold and gluing the bass into a molten fiery clot of love. Pairs perfectly with the Omega mic preamp.
MODEL N AND MODEL A:
The Model N gives the sound the coveted vintage Neve pre it’s modeled after. Dark, thick and round, only the kiss gives a dusty patina, when pressed hard, it becomes completely fuzzy and soft. Pairs perfectly with the Omega mic preamp.
Model A sounds like a microphone plugged straight into a 1976 API console. Adding a hint of sparkle and brilliance, it slowly disintegrates into a grainy white cloud of antique saturation. Pairs perfectly with the Omega mic preamp.
MODEL TWK:
The Model TWK is vintage distortion taken straight from Kush Tweaker’s own hardware compressor. The Omega TWK’s sound comes from a simulation of the Tweaker driving a pair of “excellent transistors” powering a long string of dirty ’70s op amps, all of which have characteristics that would be considered awful by today’s standards.
The effect of lightly polishing each of the Tweaker’s gentle clipping steps in the series is a smooth, dense and slightly dark saturation. Because of this, the TWK model (like the Tweaker itself) goes from “soft and sweet” to “angry and harsh” and everything in between.
Functions
Simple and easy:
All 4 plugins have the same control layout. It’s as simple and intuitive as it gets. They have one big knob called “Intensity” right in the middle, two buttons on the sides – one for the -20dB pad and the other for switching the phase. At the bottom there is an input and output trimming section and one large oversampling toggle button. That’s all! There is nothing more to see here.
The only thing that changes for different models is the design of the intensity control in the middle. This changes to reflect each of the transformer models that the plugin is based on. They all feature the signature brown steampunk UI design that Kush has become known for, and they look really good in your mix window.
Color the city crunchy!
They are all similar, but do they sound the same? Well, they kind of do, but they’re also really different. Let me explain – they all have the signature Kush sound. Anyone who has used a Kush plug-in or hardware will be familiar with this sonic signature, especially in the creamy low-mids and slightly crunchy upper-mids. However, different models can be used to create amazingly varied textures in your mix. They all have different flavors they impart, and depending on how hard you push the “intensity” knob, you can get very different results.
Just a phase
The phase switch button on them is what Greg talks about in detail. In short, reverse the phase and see what color of sound you like and leave it at that. The -20db pad button is great when you want to add an incredible amount of saturation to your signal, not just for loud sources. Indeed, very inventive.
Remember how Chad Blake runs each of his audio tracks through the Pro Tools Sans Amp plugin to break the sound into stages? These plugins do just that, much easier and sound fantastic. Nothing comes as close to saturation as Kush does, as their whole company and ethos is based on how analog gear saturates. It also begs the question of how good they can be paired with their Omega preamp when the plug-ins themselves are THAT good.
The only downside to these plug-ins is that the level jumps as soon as you activate them, and you have to fiddle with the input and output knobs to match the signal level for comparison.
