KuSh Audio TWEAKER, Operator'S Manual

Page 1: ......

Page 2: ...wisdom generally holds that a VCA compressor without transformers has one style of grab popular descriptors are snappy punchy while an opto with tubes and transformers has quite another style of grab musical silky more importantly conventional wisdom also holds that ne er the twain shall meet On the flipside almost every guy I know who not only designs compressors but also understands compression ...

Page 3: ...s use the same all in one detector and vca chips made by the same manufacturer Tweaker s detector and VCA were custom designed from the ground up Having those key parts of the circuit built from scratch using allowed me to spend countless hours with the Tweaker sitting side by side with the coolest compressors on the planet massaging the circuit until I could get my baby to smooth a vocal like an ...

Page 4: ...ation a little or a lot Bespoke Discrete Transistor VCA Bespoke RMS Detector Mix Control for Parallel Compression Part Three Front Panel Layout Aka Why Does it Look Like This In addition to being freakin gorgeous Tweaker s extensive front panel controls are purposefully divided into 3 sections each of which corresponds with the 3 critical signal paths inside the compressor I Audio Path in the left...

Page 5: ...f compression resulting in clearer less distorted transients Hype With most compressors we re given one choice turn the amount of compression up or down If we re really lucky we re able to adjust the amount of distortion and compression simultaneously via an Input level control In the first scenario distortion is what it is and compression is the goal With the second choice more distortion more co...

Page 6: ...but you don t have to at its cleanest the Tweaker runs at 003 THD making it one of the cleanest compressors around Here s a simple chart that will either clarify or confuse the issue for you Low Threshold High Threshold Less Drive Clean Compression Little to No Processing More Drive Dirty Compression Sat Distortion Little to No Comp Turning the Drive knob clockwise slowly increases the levels of a...

Page 7: ...roportion to the amount of compression being applied which means you can grunge up your drums but still have the transient punch come thru or add some grit to a vocal but not have the loudest parts degrade into unintelligible fuzz Mix Output Truth Mix blends the unaffected Input signal with the post VCA compressed signal The range is 100 dry to 100 wet Output controls the level of the VCA s output...

Page 8: ...re the level of Wet being fed to the Mix knob It s job is to restore level that s been lost due to compression so that you can achieve a good balance with the Mix control If it were otherwise you would always have the Mix control heavy clockwise as the compressed Wet signal would be significantly quieter than the Dry signal and there d be no way to compensate for that NOTE It is critically importa...

Page 9: ...reshold and it stays illuminated until the signal drops below Threshold Hype This amazing little light lets you know the instant your signal crosses the threshold enabling you to see where compression actually begins long before it accumulates to 1dB the bottom most LED on the Gain Reduction meter The Threshold LED also shows you precisely where your signal drops back below threshold but the best ...

Page 10: ...e sound It can help you to set the Threshold at a point where the transients are musically dipping below and then knocking back up against the knee of the compressor In the process you can see how how your signal will stay buried in compression regardless of the release Getting this LED to dance in time with your groove is often a great starting point for reshaping the movement of a drum bus percu...

Page 11: ...it is that you now have an unprecedented level of built in control over which parts of the signal the your compressor pays attention to and which parts it ignores In short with a little studied practice you can get the Tweaker to hear the way you hear and to focus on the aspects of the sound you want it to focus on The impact this has on your ability to sculpt the compression cannot be overstated ...

Page 12: ...all times all at your fingertips 60Hz HPF The 60Hz HPF is nothing new in fact it s a time honored filter which allows the compressor to ignore subs thus restoring punch while applying compression on a kick bass drum bus or full mix Use it anywhere you want the Tweaker to ignore the extreme bottom end when doing what it does 300Hz HPF The 300Hz HPF is a very special filter and is much higher than t...

Page 13: ...on Used subtly Treble Smash produces an effortless softening and thickening of the top end in a way that is extraordinarily similar to analog tape there are no transient clicks no strange pumping just a gentle round flavor of density If you really dig in you get something more akin to the extremely distinct and recognizable sound we ve all come to expect from FM radio it s at once shiny present an...

Page 14: ...cause it s usefulness is nothing short of remarkable Lately I ve become addicted to reaching for Edge Contour when I want to regroove a drumbeat in extremely specific ways one of my favorite uses is to take an otherwise flat or heavy beat and pull the hi hats upwards on the and as in the eighth notes denoted by one and two and three and four and I ll turn the Contour knob heavily to the left to fo...

Page 15: ...ly expanding its range outwards in both directions On the fast side it s absurdly fast 20 microseconds at its fastest but it balances that aggressive capability with a downright leisurely 70 milliseconds at the other extreme In practical terms this means the Tweaker is capable of shaving all the transients flat or letting all of them thru with a satisfying degree of impact transparency For those u...

Page 16: ... to the front as the control to keep your eyes and ears on The more time I spend picking the brains of the masters of this craft and the more time I spend parked between high resolution monitors the more I ve come to understand that nothing offers as much power over the ability to define and re define the sound s groove as the humble Release control Armed with that understanding I wanted Tweaker s...

Page 17: ...t byproduct of the photosensitive cell that reads the music s energy Tweaker s second stage is fully variable and corresponds proportionally to the first stage So the more you turn the knob clockwise the slower both stages become At it s slowest the Tweaker will take over 7 seconds to fully release its gain reduction Coupled with the slowest attack Tweaker may well be capable of applying the slowe...

Page 18: ...h the ratio and the knee simultaneously yes that s right the Tweaker has just such a control and it s called Curve Curve starts off low and gentle with a relaxed 2 1 ratio that is applied with a soft knee As you turn it to the right the ratio gets progressively higher and the knee gets progressively harder At full clockwise rotation Curve control produces an aggressive 30 1 hard knee limiter that ...

Page 19: ... Tri Meter a thoroughly modern tool First rather than the traditional universal bar graph Tweaker s Gain Reduction meter uses a Single Point Array That means only one LED is lit at a time creating a highly visible singular dot that dances up and down in time with the compression itself In practice you ll find that the Single Point Array makes it incredibly easy to perceive the movement of your gai...

Page 20: ...lly those who began engineering in a DAW think almost exclusively in the dBFS scale where 0dB is an absolute ceiling Beyond that 0dBFS celing there are no more dynamics only hard clipped distortion and below that 0dBFS ceiling you re mostly in the clear But analog gear is different than digital gear because it can begin to distort long before the hard clip ceiling is reached And so it is that most...

Page 21: ...eter calibration custom tailored for you Just figure out which of the following statements is most likely to come out of your mouth and you ll have a good idea of where you generally want to see these meters peaking A I don t ever want to hear this thing distort ever B A little color never hurt anyone C How dirty can it get ...

Page 22: ... previously found only in true stereo compressors which have one detector and one set of controls for both channels For those who value precision stability in their stereo imaging that s no small thing Important as with any pair of mono compressors when running two Linked Tweakers you must set up both sets of controls to mirror one another otherwise the compression will be identical but the output...

Page 23: ...n t care As a general rule you can use both Output jacks simultaneously without issue sometimes things might not cooperate but odds are you ll be fine Part seven credit where credit is due Aka No Man is an Island The amount of time work and persistence that went into the making of this product cannot be overstated nor can I exaggerate the gratitude I feel for those geniuses who have generously agr...

Page 24: ...Olga yet another friend who aside from being the most sassy and no nonsense Russian woman I ve ever met is also a deft hand at PCB routing and layout and can whip a chassis or front panel into existence without blinking an eye Whenever you look at or inside a piece of Kush gear you are seeing her handiwork everywhere Sarah the woman who makes my days worthwhile She encourages every idea I have tha...

Page 25: ......