Kombinat4 is a multiband distortion plugin by Audio Damage for macOS, Windows, Linux, and iOS. It splits any sound into as many as eight frequency bands and gives each band its own engine, chosen from 38: every engine from Kombinat Tri, all eleven from Grind, thirteen new ones, and a clean bypass. Flip to Serial mode and the same eight slots become a chain, each engine working on the full signal in turn. Every band has its own gain and solo, and the Engine Mix knob blends from clean to fully driven without the phase cancellation of an ordinary dry/wet control. The output section adds a filter with eleven responses, a full Rough Rider compressor with an external sidechain input, a feedback path for self-oscillation, automatic gain compensation, a DC blocker, and 2x or 4x oversampling. It comes with 150 new factory presets, plus 52 from Kombinat Tri. Available as VST3, AU, AAX, and CLAP for desktop, and AUv3 for iPhone and iPad. Priced at $49 USD with no DRM, no subscription, and a perpetual license.

Platforms & Downloads

Fully functional demo. 20-minute session timer, save disabled.

Features

• 38 engines per band. The full Kombinat Tri roster (Fuzz, Saturate, Distort, Clip, Warp, Degrade, Ring Mod, X Noise, Octaver, Wavy, Rectify, Tube Clip, and Nerd Rage), all eleven from Grind (Tanh, Asym Tanh, Overdrive, Polynomial, Linear Distort, Sine Drive, Var Hard Clip, Gloubi Boulga, MXR, Soft Clip, and Cubic NLD), thirteen new engines (Wavefold, Chebyshev, Bitwise, Slew Limit, Comparator, Diode Clip, Feedback FM, Fractal, Dropout, Shapeshift, Phase Distortion, Stutter, and Erosion), and a clean bypass. Each engine has up to three controls, labeled for what they do.
• One to eight bands. Linkwitz-Riley crossovers split the signal into as many as eight bands, with crossover points from 60 Hz to 20 kHz that you drag right on the band display (on iPhone and iPad, two at a time with two fingers). Every band has its own gain from -80 to +12 dB, an on/off switch, and solo.
• Multiband or Serial. Multiband runs the bands in parallel and sums them at the output. Serial turns the same eight slots into a chain on the full-bandwidth signal, for stacked drive that no single algorithm can make.
• Engine Mix. Blends the band engines from fully clean to fully driven. The clean signal passes through the same crossovers, so there is none of the phase cancellation an ordinary dry/wet control causes on a multiband processor.
• Output filter. Eleven responses: 2-pole and 4-pole low-pass and high-pass, 4-pole band-pass, notch, three OTA filters (low-pass, high-pass, and band-pass), our 914 bandpass, and our Filterpod lowpass, with frequency from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and resonance.
• Rough Rider compressor. A full Rough Rider at the output, with threshold, ratio, attack, release, makeup, and a sidechain high-pass filter, plus an external sidechain input for ducking.
• Feedback. A global feedback path with attack and decay, for self-oscillating screams and slow-blooming sustain.
• AGC, DC Block, and oversampling. Automatic gain compensation keeps A/B comparisons level-matched, the DC blocker cleans up asymmetric engines, and 2x or 4x oversampling keeps the highs clean, with its latency reported to your DAW so delay compensation keeps parallel tracks and sidechains in phase. Lock buttons keep AGC, Bypass, and DC Block where you set them while you audition presets.
• Preset browser. Folders, favorites, and import and export of single presets or whole folders as ZIP files. 150 new factory presets run from subtle saturation and mix-bus enhancement to low-end mangling and industrial destruction, and 52 more come from Kombinat Tri, including designer banks by Don Gunn and Ken Flux Pierce.
• Universal preset system. Cross-platform XML-based presets compatible across all plugin formats and operating systems, including the iOS edition. Save over the Default preset to start every new instance from your own settings.
• Resizable vector UI. An animated band display with a realtime spectrum analyzer behind it. HiDPI and Retina aware, scales cleanly from a laptop panel to a large display, and new instances open at the size you last used.

Sound Design Ideas

Split a drum bus into three bands, put Tube Clip on the lows and Bitwise on the mids, and leave the top clean for punch with a ragged middle. Keep the fundamental of a bass solid with Saturate below 120 Hz while Fuzz tears up everything above it. Flip to Serial and chain Wavefold into Slew Limit into Stutter for textures no single algorithm can make. Bring up the feedback and shape it with attack and decay for squeals that bloom and fade with the input. Feed a kick into the external sidechain to duck the distortion out of its way, or pull Engine Mix down for parallel saturation on a mix bus, with AGC holding the level steady while you audition presets.

Frequently Asked Questions