KAUSTHUB RAVI & SIVANESH NATARAJAN
GETTING SMART
WITH AUDIO.
Thinksound On2
Supra-Aural studio monitor with passive noise
isolation
The headphones/studio monitors market has
seen a huge inflow of products in the last few
years. The Thinksound On2 is a breath of fresh
and it stands out from the rest of its counterparts.
With the On2, Thinksound has adopted a more
sustainable and environment friendly approach
to the design and materials used. The ear cups
are made out of wood and the ear pads are made
of memory foam for passive noise cancellation.
The fit and finish feel very polished and classy,
down to the staining on the wood, the fabric
wrapped cable and the embroidered logo on
the headband. Although they are market-ed as
studio monitors, it doesn’t sound sterile or flat,
on the contrary, it has a really warm and full-
bodied sound. The headphones come with an
unbleached cotton pouch with two cables, one
with an inline mic.
A few setbacks that we experienced included
mild discomfort during extended use. For certain
ear sizes, it tends to feel like it's clamping down
too hard, but this may reduce as the headband
be-comes more flexible over time. While they are
a bit expensive, they do have the premium look
and sound to match.
38
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
Kush Audio Novatron
Compressor Plug-in
The Novatron is the new innovative compressor from Kush Audio. The
interface is slick and stays true to the Kush branding, with a retro-
dashboard look and a satisfyingly symmetrical layout. The con-trols
include a no-nonsense “compress” knob, compression modes, saturation,
level trims, tone shift, sidechain filter, blend knobs and, of course, the
attack and release controls.
The attack knob seamlessly blends the attack and “grab” characteristics
from three different types of compressors: FET (filed effect transistot),
VCA (voltage controlled amplifier), and Variable-Mu. UBK determined
that each had a sound they personally wanted at each particular stage and
imparted certain specific qualities. The faster attack times are handled
by the FET circuit, the medium attack times are handled by the VCA, and
the slower times are controlled by the Variable-Mu circuit. Similarly, the
Release knob functions with the respective times are handled by the same
circuits. The compression knob couples predetermined threshold values
to an auto gain control in order to make easy to use. The manual suggests
sweet spots for the plugin as well. It's an absolute swiss army knife and
extremely powerful on the master bus. The saturation circuits add steel
or nickel type saturation on the input and output stages and the tone shift
knob really helps shape the mix with the dark shift (rolls off some highs
and smoothens its texture) , airy (adds some top end sheen and really
helps open out the mix) and flat (for transparent sound) modes.
In conclusion, the Novatron is an extremely powerful and versatile
compressor plugin. It hides all the heavy lifting under a very unassuming
and easy to use skin. This plugin has a very close resemblance to hardware
characteristics in the way that it handles transients and the depth that it
gives. It truly feels like the next step in software processing.