WARM / plugin 02

harmonic saturation done right.

add analog warmth and character to anything. tape, tube, transformer. three saturation circuits that actually sound different. precise harmonic control, not random distortion.

50 papers. 5 knobs. $29.

KERN WARM plugin interface

in motion

watch WARM work.

WARM v1.4.2 with refreshed visual identity, editable EQ values, and improved controls.

listen

hear the difference.

click play. each demo plays the original, then auto-switches to WARM halfway through. click either box to toggle manually.

🎧 for best results, listen on headphones or studio monitors.

drums 0:00 / 0:00
808 0:00 / 0:00
piano 0:00 / 0:00
choir 0:00 / 0:00
synth 0:00 / 0:00
high bass 0:00 / 0:00
mid bass 0:00 / 0:00

explore the interface

see what you're hearing.

WARM in Tube mode with the Cassette Glow preset. the sensitivity shaping lets you push the low-mids harder while keeping the highs clean.

KERN WARM in Tube mode — sensitivity shaping with Cassette Glow preset

hover the numbered dots to explore the interface

features

what makes WARM different.

three real characters

tape is warm and gritty. tube adds rich even harmonics. transformer goes deep with asymmetric character. they actually sound different.

precise harmonic control

each harmonic is controlled independently. not random distortion. precise harmonic architecture.

spectral-aware drive

per-band spectral pre-gain shapes the signal before saturation. the spectral display shows exactly what's happening.

program-dependent response

an envelope follower modulates drive with input level. louder signals push harder, like real analog circuits.

under the hood

the signal path.

1

spectral pre-gain

STFT analysis with 40 ERB bands shapes the signal before saturation. each frequency region gets independent drive control via the spectral display.

2

per-character soft clipping

tape uses symmetric tanh. tube uses a bias-shifted sigmoid that naturally generates even harmonics. transformer adds a quadratic asymmetry term for deep even-harmonic richness.

3

Chebyshev polynomial waveshaping

7th-order Chebyshev polynomials give independent control of each harmonic. the fundamental is always protected. only harmonics 2-7 scale with drive.

4

antiderivative anti-aliasing

2nd-order ADAA with 2x oversampling for ~52 dB alias rejection. bypassed at high sample rates. alias-free saturation without wasting CPU.

5

K-weighted auto-compensation

loudness-matched output using ITU-R BS.1770 weighting. the saturated signal never sounds louder than the dry. you hear the character, not the volume.

specifications

the numbers.

3 saturation modes
7th-order Chebyshev
under 3% CPU
34 factory presets
4 controls
$29 forever
VST3 / AU
adaptive oversampling
K-weighted auto-comp

system requirements

macOS macOS 12+, Intel or Apple Silicon
windows Windows 10+, 64-bit (coming soon)
DAW any VST3 / AU compatible host

go deeper

full documentation.

controls, presets, how the Chebyshev waveshaping pipeline works, character guide, quick start recipes, and technical specs.

read the docs

$29

one-time. yours forever.

or get all three for $59