PUSH / plugin 04

the step before your compressor.

per-band dynamics your broadband compressor can't reach. SETTLE for bus glue, TIGHT for transients, DRIFT to lift detail. 40 ERB bands, no phase artifacts.

50 papers. 5 knobs. $29.

KERN PUSH plugin interface

in action

see what you're hearing.

PUSH in TIGHT mode on a snare. the spectral display shows per-band gain reduction across 40 ERB bands, with the FOCUS crossover targeting the attack transient.

KERN PUSH in TIGHT mode processing a snare crack with spectral gain reduction display

hover the numbered dots to explore the interface

the characters

three ways to compress.

each character is a complete compression philosophy: different gain computer, different timing, different coloring. switch between them with one click.

SETTLE

cohesion for the mix bus. gentle per-band gain reduction that settles elements together without you hearing it work. the frequency-aware layer before your regular bus compressor.

soft-knee downward compression, slow timing, dual-TC auto-release. per-band independence means the kick and the hats recover at their own pace.

TIGHT

transient control on drums, bass, and percussion. fast attack with per-band release that catches stray peaks your broadband compressor would average away.

medium-knee downward compression with program-dependent ratio that adapts to crest factor. keeps the attack, tames the sustain, one band at a time.

DRIFT

detail recovery. upward per-band compression that lifts room tone, sustain tails, and high-frequency air without pumping up low-frequency mud. no broadband compressor can do this.

dual-threshold upward compression below threshold with fixed noise-floor gate. the quiet stuff comes up, the loud stuff passes through untouched.

under the hood

the frequencies your ear resolves, your compressor averages.

your ear separates audio into roughly 40 critical bands. a broadband compressor averages them into a single gain envelope. a 4-band multiband splits them into four zones and creates phase artifacts at the crossover points. PUSH operates on all 40 bands at once with phase untouched. the dynamics follow how you actually hear.

1

40 psychoacoustic bands

PUSH uses 40 ERB-spaced frequency bands that match the critical bandwidth of your auditory system. compression that follows how you actually perceive loudness across the spectrum.

2

magnitude-only processing

gain is applied to spectral magnitude only. phase is never touched. no smearing, no comb filtering, no crossover artifacts. just clean, transparent dynamics control.

3

cepstral gain smoothing

cross-band smoothing via discrete cosine transform prevents musical noise and spectral artifacts. the gain curve stays smooth across neighboring bands.

4

built on research

gain computation from Giannoulis et al. 2012. ERB scale from Glasberg and Moore 1990. cepstral smoothing from Breithaupt et al. 2007. and 47 more papers behind every decision.

features

what makes PUSH different.

01 / three characters, one per workflow

SETTLE glues the bus, TIGHT holds transients, DRIFT lifts quiet detail. different gain computer, timing, and coloring per character. they sound different, not just look different.

02 / 40 ERB frequency bands

dynamics mapped to the same critical bands your ear resolves. not four arbitrary crossover points. 40 perceptually spaced bands following how you actually hear.

03 / magnitude-only processing

gain is applied to magnitude only. phase stays untouched. no smearing, no comb filtering, no crossover artifacts.

04 / upward compression per band

DRIFT lifts ambience, room tone, sustain tails, and high-frequency air without pumping up low-frequency mud. upward compression per band, not a single broadband lift.

specifications

the numbers.

40 ERB bands
4096-point FFT
under 3% CPU
36 factory presets
4 knobs + 2 toggles
$29 forever
VST3 / AU
magnitude-only gain
M/S processing

$29 / no iLok / mac and windows together / lifetime license

take PUSH for a spin.

full free demo with a 45-second audio fade. no time limit. no email required for the demo download. if it earns a place in your sessions, $29.

from the maker of SMOOTH, WARM, WIDE, and CHECK.