Pusher is a sound sculptor's dream, an artist's tool that bends the rules of physics to generate genuinely new musical distortions and transient colorations. It models the unique sound-bending properties of 4 magnetized metal cores and, through the use of controls the world has never seen or heard before, lets you creatively shape their harmonic complexity and transient character. The result is an unprecedented palette of colors from the classic to the cutting edge.
Pusher then feeds that texturized signal into what is easily the punchiest and wildest UBK compressor to date, and packs the whole control set into an unabashedly forward-thinking GUI that picks up where the UBK-1 left off.
Pusher also sports Kush's new Custom Preset Management system and a novel 'Cheat Mode' which labels & explains every one of this beast's controls. The fun with this one is in the exploring:
Reviewed By tommyzai [all]
December 3rd, 2015
Version reviewed: 1.01 on Mac
INTRO
UBK Pusher by Kush Audio (aka The House of Kush) is a magical hybrid magnetic DSP color box that effectively combines compression and saturation into one big sweet sounding audio plugin. This is primarily a color infuser with a bit of compression to keep it neat and tidy without losing any flare. The overall sound is driven by four distinct metallic colors: Cobalt, Iron, Nickel, and Steel, which can be mixed together to create a unique blend of saturated tones. There is a wide pallet of timbres that range from subtle harmonics to in-your-face distortion mayhem. Nowadays, I tend to be much more conservative when effecting tracks, so I was a little worried that Pusher would be too extreme for most of my recordings. My worries were quickly put to rest. This plugin is very capable of adding a pleasing tape‑like warmth. I especially dig using it to add thickness on bass, bass drum, floor toms, and other low-end stuff. However, if used wisely, Pusher can add character to any kind of track. I was able to crank up some of the parameters and bring dead snares and boring guitars back to life. I had a little trouble with cymbal tracks at first, but soon after discovered that adjusting the wet/dry as well as the saturation core levels and ratio was the key to a nice, crisp sound on high end stuff. Sometimes you just need a little more nickel and a little less steel.
Pusher is based on a parallel signal chain involving transformer-tape-head saturation modeling, along with dynamic processing. In simple terms, this thing does some groovy things and sounds sweet. The learning curve is shallow, and
there is a Cheat Mode that serves as an easy-to-understand, helpful hint page to speed up the process.
FAVORITE FEATURES
• Fun, creative interface.
• Innovative.
• Fun to tweak with lots of control.
• Flexible range of tones.
• Excellent presets and management.
• Stable.
• Reasonably priced.
• Forward-thinking, responsive developer.
OTHER THOUGHTS
• The graphics of the interface may not be for everyone; however, I dig it! What's wrong with being slightly abstract?
• iLok required.
SUMMARY
Pusher is accurately dubbed a "magnetic color box." And, based on my noodling, the palette and tones are strikingly good! The main focus and charm of this plugin is the coloration of the four periodic table elements; yet, the compressor serves as glue to keep it tight and together. In my opinion, this is one of those rare plugins that are addictive — once you try it, you want to use it more and more. Perhaps this is why they called it,"Pusher!" The House of Kush claims that their plugins will "Feed Your Muse" — and I have to agree! I highly recommend this plugin to any eMusician, producer, or sound designer looking for a tasteful intensification device for shaping their tracks. Tommy Zai gives Pusher two colorful thumbs up. Thank you, House of Kush, for developing such a cool plugin.
Note: I would like to rate this a 9.5, but that's not an option. 9 would be insulting, so 10 it is.
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