The Sound Board

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Perhaps not a must-have, but definitely worth checking out if you're searching for ways to get a suggestion of creamy analog sound in your mixes: the new Kush Silika: "A straightforward, killer-sounding compressor that completely closes the analog/digital gap for a particular flavor of beautifully-clipping vintage compressor sound."

"When you drive this plugin’s input, everything melts deliciously. In particular, the high frequencies lay back and spread out without getting edgy, or bright, or even the least bit ‘zingy’. It may get too grindy, but it won’t hurt your ears. Think Led Zeppelin IV’s hazy grunge, and you’ll start to get the idea. SILIKA owes its killer sound to an extraordinarily complex harmonic distortion generator, but operationally it’s a relatively simple compressor with a familiar feature set. All of its distortions are controlled with the Input knob, which can be switched and blended to taste. The resulting signal then gets passed to a compressor/limiter with 4 available ratios, standard Attack/Release/Threshold/Mix controls, and sidechain filtering options which, while simple, allow for a dramatic reshaping of the compressor’s behavior. It’s a straightforward plugin with an absolutely killer sound, and represents the dawn of a new era for Kush plugins and digital sonics in general."

Useful review here.



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Wow, sounds really good. Very smooth!

Gonna try the demo of this one. I know it’s ten day but I wonder if it’s 10 day unlimited.

Silika Sounds Wonderfully warm.

I'm tempted to buy, but I have been over spending on effects plugins lately, and Silika is priced at $99. I wonder if it will be on sale in the near future, that would be very nice.

I’m wondering about Silka followed by Clariphonic on final output. Warm it up, add a little sizzle?

Here's the quote from Piet's linked review that intrigued me (assuming I agree upon demoing it, which I'm unable to do yet for time constraints):

"At the risk of being pedantic, it really is just “the it factor” with something like Silika."

That particular phrase aptly defines Kush's Clariphonic, and being the lazy sod that I am, it's what I'm usually searching for-the "magic button" with a few controls. Of course, many plug-in companies claim this. Clariphonic delivers it for me. I mix something and think it's fine, then apply a little (usually too much, then dial it back) Clariphonic and it''s like lifting a veil.

Lawrence wrote: ↑Sep 12, 2020 3:41 pm Here's the quote from Piet's linked review that intrigued me (assuming I agree upon demoing it, which I'm unable to do yet for time constraints):

"At the risk of being pedantic, it really is just “the it factor” with something like Silika."

That particular phrase aptly defines Kush's Clariphonic, and being the lazy sod that I am, it's what I'm usually searching for-the "magic button" with a few controls. Of course, many plug-in companies claim this. Clariphonic delivers it for me. I mix something and think it's fine, then apply a little (usually too much, then dial it back) Clariphonic and it''s like lifting a veil.

+1 for Clairphonic, magical.

Curious if any of you ended up grabbing Silika and how you've been getting along with it?

I did and while it’s an excellent software compressor and I certainly don’t regret buying it, I don’t think I would buy it again if circumstances compelled me to consider it.
I’ve never been disappointed when I inserted the Silika into a track or brought it into a mix, but I’m fairly sure that if I had used, say, Logic’s compressor instead or any other decent alternative, it wouldn’t have made all that much difference, if any, to the end result.

I also always have been of the opinion that if we really wanna know what these type of plug-ins are worth (musically/sonically speaking), we should ask experienced people who work with good audio from real instruments and real vocal chords. Audio that lives, in other words.
99.9 % of the audio I work with is generated inside my computer — which, to my ears, is the equivalent of being stillborn — and therefore lacking in a few of the essential qualities which, I strongly feel, are needed to bring out the best in a signal processor (hard- or software), especially a dynamic processor.

Kush’s Novatron, which was part of the same purchase, leaves me similarly questioning its unique value for my particular situation: the musician-messing-about-with-samples-and-software-synths situation. The Novatron is another Kush homerun, no doubt about it, but I am less and less sure, with every mix I work on, if its uniqueness is actually being given a chance to rise and shine in the type of productions that I do.

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This is wonderful feedback, Piet. Thank you!

I know the following is not a compressor, but an EQ that was mentioned above. The Clairphonic. Is that one of those tools you're happy with (assuming you own it)? Definitely considering it with what's been said above.

Yes, the Clariphonic is one of the closest things to what I would call a must-have (in terms of sound processing plugins) that I've ever encountered. With this plugin all those considerations about real vs computer-generated audio don't come into play either. The Clariphonic simply brings clarity to whatever sort of audio you feed it. It finds detail, texture and definition in sounds and digs them out. Really quite amazing. Its quality is in fact it's only weakness, in that it is so good that one is always tempted to overuse it. But if you learn to use it with moderation, there's really nothing like it.

If you buy only one Kush plugin, let that one be it.

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Piet De Ridder wrote: ↑May 04, 2021 3:11 pm Yes, the Clariphonic is one of the closest things to what I would call a must-have (in terms of sound processing plugins) that I've ever encountered. With this plugin all those considerations about real vs computer-generated audio don't come into play either. The Clariphonic simply brings clarity to whatever sort of audio you feed it. It finds detail, texture and definition in sounds and digs them out. Really quite amazing. Its quality is in fact it's only weakness, in that it is so good that one is always tempted to overuse it. But if you learn to use it with moderation, there's really nothing like it.

If you buy only one Kush plugin, let that one be it.

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A huge +1.

Thanks fellas. Very helpful!