Kiive Audio Tube KC1 Compressor Plugin Review

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Today sees the launch of the new Kiive Audio KC1, which is a very impressive emulation of the classic Tube Tech CL1B compressor. I was pleasantly surprised when comparing the Kiive Audio version to the Softube plugin version and in blind tests I almost always chose the Kiive Audio version over the softube version.
What you have here is a very simple yet effective compressor plugin. You can't go far wrong using it. Lots of additional features have been added to the KC1 including side chain filter, wet dry mix, x16 oversampling, THD and mid/side. I would honestly say having used the hardware and various different plugin versions of the CL1b, this is by far my favourite plugin emulation of it.
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✅ Download Kiive Audio Tube KC1 Compressor Plugin ► www.kiiveaudio.com/products/kc1
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[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

High-quality audio examples here www.audioanimals.co.uk/news/software-reviews/kiive-audio-tube-kc1-compressor-plugin-review-video

[@EagleEyez759]

Thank u so much for the high quality audio examples. Appreciate the effort!

[@mokobigbro]

Thanks for doing this. Kiive is one of my current favorite brand. The examples and comparison is great. I'm still using my softube tubetech cl1bmk1 at the moment.

[@sionnachs_workshop]

Great fun! Definitely 2 flavours for different uses. My initial reaction was choosing the kiive each time except for the trap track. Felt like the softube had more vibe and the kiive was more straight ahead clean

[@AironExTv]

Neat. I'll give this a run. The CL1B was one one of those smoothies that engineer friends of mine were using when recording. I've always loved it and now there's a good competitor to the official Softube version. Giving this a try today.

[@user-nr9ln8go8r]

thank you for your important work!

[@waves7300]

What a time to be alive

[@nrosko]

Well done for doing blind tests not enough reviewers doing this.

[@boyxnine7193]

In my opinion its one of the best VST compressor i ever use

[@Griuofficial]

Thanks for the video🤝

[@marcusgarveyson]

Would like to see a test on vocals and hear your opinion as i dont know many who would use the compressor on a full mix

[@paulmistygatz7888]

This is one of the best plugin compressors ever made!!! And man I’ve tried them all. I deleted Acustica Audio Cl1B after testing this plugin here!!!

[@Iconicsoundmusic7]

Bro Titanium smokes this 😂it’s good but Titanium is better

[@paulmistygatz7888]

@@Iconicsoundmusic7 I’ve used Titanium for years. On vocals, it’s pumping aloooot which is pretty unusual for the Tubetech. This plugin handles vocals exceptionally well. Better than Titanium. Much better.

[@Simeon_Harris]

the kiive for me, but just by a hair. i'm surprised you didn't notice how jittery the CL1 one was with the very short release time in the first example. i felt they were extremely close though.

[@OfficialAlexZitto]

I think sometimes we wish somethings win in comparisons especially when it comes to things that we are used to. But I have come to understand that we are in an era where sound has changed a lot for a better word,( Candy in the ears). This Kiive plugin reminds of the WesAudio Ng buss Comp. Compressed yet Open. This is where the modern sound is. Compression that comes with Openness and depth. There are few Compressor that do this. I give this to the Kiive.

[@JS_97]

To the contrary, I felt the KC1 sounded mushed almost every time. I do hear what you mentioned.

[@bangubw736]

Anything by kiive audio i want it!

[@Rhuggins]

Highly recommend HOFA blind test for the blind test comparisons. It couldnt be easier, just load the plugin on each track

[@ho-jungkang3933]

me too!

[@lucasturney4269]

Agreed. Alternately, NUGEN's AB Assist 2.

[@SLBMaestro]

Best compressor ITB for rap vocals?

[@waves7300]

I have a real cl1b… I’ll have to check it out

[@sunchaseua]

Thankyou! Im listening from a laptop, but i can say that the kiive one has more snap on the transients and sounds bit more open. I like it more

[@ctatrains]

I thought the Tubetech sounded darker with a muffled high end by comparison.

[@justinb9387]

kiieve are great

[@aviatedviewssound4798]

Tube-tech units will always sound different from each other due to the variety of tubes they contain. The key factor to pay attention to is the compression curve.

[@BukanIbuMu]

The softube tube tech cl1b mkii has no saturation tho. Unlike the mki

[@gh0stransist0r]

Softube version is more sensitive to high-end which is what I would've like for vocals. Kiive KC-1 seems to be compressing everything equally and the Tube-Tech has LA-2A like sidechain built-in where it is always prioritizing the higher end of the spectrum. I never use it for Bus or Stereo Bus only on vocal and Bass so I'd rather the Opto comp be like the Tube-Tech. Also the Softube remake is at least 95% the same of the hardware, the behavior and the grabby-ness also quite identical.

[@davidpachecoegido]

+1 Kiive plugins are great, but they are not emulations, all their plugins sound the same, you should use the same algorithms.

[@Rhuggins]

I find the softube is too grabby, in my experience. The knee seems very aggressive and pumps a lot, unlike the hw in my experience. Hoping this is better

[@Rhuggins]

@@davidpachecoegidothis so totally untrue. The Nfuse is amazing and sounds absolutely nothing like anything else out there

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

@Rhuggins I was surprised by how much it was sucking and pulling the drums in the 3rd examples. A comment perfectly described it as it sounding like a drunk guy manually riding the volume.

[@Rhuggins]

@@AudioAnimalsStudio LOL perfectly sums it up. I have always said that the Softube versions is unlike the HW in a non musical, overly aggressive way- and I always get roasted. I find the fuse audio labs VCL-4 tends to more closely resemble the action of a CL1B, and of course many others use the Pulsar Modular Abyss CL1B preset, which works well too. I do feel like there is space in the market for this particular Kiive product, seeing as there are seemingly thousands of 1073s, and only one real 1B emulation out there, which sadly sucks, for the above reasons

[@waves7300]

Niiiiiice

[@domonickwilliams33]

great vid but to be fair your using the old version of the Softube tube tech the new version mk2 tube tech sounds more open you should try that one out

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

This is the Mk2 version of the plugin on UAD2. There may be a more updated version on softube.

[@domonickwilliams33]

@@AudioAnimalsStudio oh ok I was talking about the softube version mk 2 it has a new gui and it also has a switch that you can flip to use the new version or the old version it’s much better than the uad version you should try it out you won’t be disappointed I really enjoy your content as a up and coming artist engineer producer you provide great information thanks

[@santiagobejarano5162]

@@domonickwilliams33 i thought the algorithm was the same and they only changed the GUI, i'm pretty sure they sound identical except from the GUI added features.

[@ErikAnders]

Kiiive kills it

[@clivesaunders5576]

Kiive wins really good sounding

[@StudioFanThess]

The kiive is more open from tube-tech

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

That's my conclusion when comparing the two. More open, smoother, and more controlled.

[@waves7300]

@@AudioAnimalsStudio less distortion when pushed

[@alemarrena8792]

Two types of tracks I'd never use the Softube version on: full mixes and drums. Like you said, it's just too sensitive and grabby. Generates this strange volume roller coaster . The hardware doesn't do that. Nor does the Kiive audio version. The Softube version is great for vocals and bass, but even there it's a bit too sensitive, I just compress up to 5 db max when using it. Sounds great this way. Also, this version of the Softube comp is outdated. They have had a new version out for a few months. It sounds different.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

My question in regards to the new softube version sounding different, and let's say better and more true to the hardware maybe? The version I used in this demo is the latest version on UAD, which for many years UAD emulations were claimed to be as close to the hardware emulations as is physically possible because of DSP processing. Is this just further proof UAD plugins are just great marketing if they aren't actually emulating the hardware correctly?

[@alemarrena8792]

​@@AudioAnimalsStudio I don't think either Softube's versions, including the UAD, sound close to the hardware. Hardware of this caliber don't behave this way (pulling and pushing the sound in this weird manner by compressing 5 db), as far as I know. At least my Tube-Tech SMC 2B doesn't. It's a near perfect compressing machine. In relation to Brainworks' emulation, this has been answered time and time again by PA: the UAD versions of PA's software is the exact same as the Brainworks' versions on Plugin Alliance. I would think the same goes for Softube's version. The only difference being if you are running them over a UAD interface the processing is done by the interface's chip, not your computer. This is my understanding. So you have nothing to gain by using the UAD version of the Tube Tech, but something to gain by using Softube's native modernized version with their latest emulation tech.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

@@alemarrena8792 exactly that. You got it in one.

[@NoEmpthy]

thank god for r2r cracking this I didn't wanna spend 300$ on softtubes shitty emulation

[@clivemathieu9386]

Why test it on full mixes?

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

When you post content like this to KZbin and use generic loops or samples you do not have a license for, they are flagged for copyright for about 10 different songs that use similar loops or use the same sample in their song. It is a pain to constantly dispute, and if you miss one, the audio can be removed from the video. Which is why I always use audio that I have a license to use.

[@alexbreyer6921]

@@AudioAnimalsStudio Okay understandable, but he asked about doing it with full mixes. You could always get audio that's a simple guitar part or drum part that you could play in yourself. That's how most people use compressors on critical needs. Bring a friend over to sing or play bass. Lots of options.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

@alexbreyer6921 if you are offering. Send me over some audio recordings and I'll use them.

[@JohnWuMastermind]

Softube sounds a touch more harsh to me. Kiive sounds more clean and smooth

[@BattleAngelSound]

First example with Softube sounds really bad and unpleasant on DT990 Pro. It sounds like the compressor struggles a lot and is choking especially on the bass. DnB track with Softube sounds like a drunk guy is riding the volume fader manually ;) Kiive seems to be smooth in all examples.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

I love that analogy for the dnb track, because it's so true. That's exactly how it sounds.

[@Barncore]

I preferred the Kiive in these comparisons. The Softube one is too pumpy for mastering it seems. Kiive is more open and less "choked", while having a more solid transient

[@Friedeggonheadchan]

gain matching is a bit inaccurate, the Kiive plugin in every example is slightly louder, so the bias tends to lean towards it here for most people

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

What's interesting is that if you go to the blind tests, you can see on the metres that the softube plugin version is peaking louder. Yet you perceived the kiive version as louder.