KickBox

The kick drum is the backbone of many modern music genres, both electronic and acoustic. It’s Often times the thing you start with in a new mix, but to get it sounding just right can be a complex task.

A well mixed kick drum has a warm sounding low end, doesn’t sound too boxy and pierces through the mix in a very natural way. When designing KickBox, these are the qualities we’ve focused on, simplifying the mixing process for any modern kick drum.

The KickBox is modelled after analogue filters and separates the relevant frequency ranges in a very transparent way. KickBox can help you get your kicks sounding extremely tight in a matter of just a few clicks.

How to Use

KickBox can be used directly on both mono and stereo tracks. For most electronic kicks it is best used first or early in your mixing chain. For live recorded acoustic kicks however, it can be beneficial to use a shelving equaliser to achieve a general frequency balance before applying KickBox.

Equaliser

The EQ section of the KickBox has been stepped to target the most common areas of the frequency spectrum, allowing you to achieve precise balanced adjustments in a matter of a few clicks.

Each band has a frequency and db control and can be operated with simple click. The allows you to run through the values without looking at the plugin, so you can trust your ears and not your eyes.

The Q values allow you to zone in on the area you have selected. Value 1 represents the widest band width, with value 4 being the tightest notch.

Compressor

The compressor has been designed with a completely unique algorithm that has been designed to get your kick drums sounding punchy and clear.

The controls are the same Ratio, Threshold, Attack, Release and Make Up that are found on most compressors, so the workflow remains familiar to the user.

Limiter

Our new compressor algorithm allows users to drive their kicks like never before, with- out the fear of clipping. During testing, we achieved an RMS level of -5.8 without any distortion artefacts at all.

The limiter has no user editable controls, and will react in the best possible way to the signal being fed into it, so you can spend more time on the compression parameters, until the desired punch and thump is achieved.

Presets

Whilst the source material selected is the key to the results you can achieve, with KickBox we have created a small number of presets that can be found in the system presets dropdown.

To the right, you can see where the presets can be found within the system menu in Logic Pro X.

Alternative Applications

We designed the KickBox for kick drum processing, but as there are no rules in music, we decided to experiment with other source materials and discovered it also has many other interesting uses when used on other low end instruments like bass guitar, toms and other types of percussion. Why not experiment a little yourself.

Features:

• Fast and intuitive workflow.
• Analog modeled filters.
• Suited for electronic and acoustic kick drums.
• Extremely light on CPU and RAM.

System Requirements

macOS:

• 10.12 – 10.15 (older OS versions may work but are not tested)

Plugin Formats:

• VST
• VST3
• AU
• AAX (Pro Tools 11.0.2 or higher)

Windows

• Windows 7, 8 or 10 (32 & 64-bit)

Plugin Formats: 

• VST
• VST3
• AAX (Pro Tools 11.0.2 or higher)

Specification Requirements:

• RAM: 8 GB RAM or more is recommended. Plus at least 8 GB hard disk space for installation.
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD Athlon 64 X2 or newer.
• Formats: In theory any 32 or 64-bit VST, VST3, AU, or AAX compatible host application should work.
• Licensing: Internet access for activating licence key. Please ensure any outgoing connection blockers are deactivated.
• Sample Rates: Supported sample rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 and 192 kHz, in both mono and stereo.