OPEN shipped September 2026. Six plugins now in the KERN lineup.

Copenhagen, Tue May 12, 2026. KERN Audio has shipped PUSH, the fifth plugin in its lineup of single-purpose audio tools for music producers.

PUSH is a three-character compressor designed to sit before, not replace, a final compressor. SETTLE provides slow bus glue in the SSL G-Bus tradition. TIGHT is fast transient grip in the 1176 fast-mode tradition. DRIFT is slow opto breath in the LA-2A tradition. Each character is hand-tuned via blind A/B against reference compressors. No AI, no neural networks, no learned parameter selection.

All KERN plugins cap at five user-facing knobs. PUSH commits to that constraint across all three characters: AMOUNT, SPEED, FOCUS, MIX, plus a CHARACTER selector. The internal compression curves are decisions the developer made, not parameters pushed onto the user.

PUSH is $29 single. The KERN bundle (SMOOTH, WARM, WIDE, PUSH and OPEN) is $79. One license key unlocks all five. Existing bundle owners receive every new plugin free in their downloads.

KERN ships Mac and Windows together. No iLok. No subscription. Permanent license. Demo available at kernaudio.io/push, 45-second fade-limited, fully functional.

KERN Audio is one developer in Copenhagen, Denmark. Jonas was a touring musician who stopped performing in 2023 after a hospital stay. He spent three years learning C++, DSP, and the JUCE framework to build the audio tools he wished existed. KERN shipped its first plugin in late 2024 and its sixth in September 2026.

Every algorithm in every plugin is hand-tuned, deterministic, and traceable to a specific design intention. KERN does not use AI, neural networks, or learned-model parameter selection in any plugin. The test suite asserts against numerical baselines (731 tests across the full regression).

KERN sells direct from kernaudio.io via Lemon Squeezy, and through Plugin Boutique. No investors. No team. Jonas answers every support email personally.

read the full story →