Sonic Academy KICK on your Mac — 1.1.8

Getting a kick drum to sit right in a mix often means layering sounds, tweaking envelopes, and adjusting distortion until it clicks. Sonic Academy KICK 2 (also known as Kick 2) handles that process inside one plugin, combining a synthesized sub oscillator with sampled clicks for the attack.

Shape click without touching the low end

• Shaping kick drums with three separate click-shaping areas, so you can dial in the transient without affecting the low end.
• Using one of three distortion algorithms to add warmth or aggression to the kick body.
• Replacing or supplementing the earlier Kick by Nicky Romero with an updated version that keeps the same workflow.

Intel Mac only and English interface

• The interface is in English only.
• It runs on Intel Macs; no Apple Silicon version is listed.
• You will need to follow the included installation and activation instructions, which are inside the package.

A producer's afternoon: shaping a kick for a techno track

Imagine you are building a techno arrangement late on a Sunday. The bassline is solid, the hats sit where they should, but the kick — that low-end thump that should push the whole thing forward — sounds like a cardboard box hitting a carpet. You load Sonic Academy KICK 2 on a track channel. The sub oscillator is set to a pure sine wave first, just to hear what the plugin gives by default. The click section offers three separate shaping areas, so you reach for the first one and shorten the transient until the attack sounds like a sharp, quick hit rather than a padded thud. The second click area lets you add a bit of noise for texture. The third area, you leave alone for now. The sub feels a little thin, so you switch the oscillator waveform from sine to something with more harmonics, which fills out the low end without needing extra layers from another plugin. A touch of the compression section keeps the tail from fluttering. After maybe ten minutes of small adjustments, the kick pushes through the mix the way you wanted. You save it as a preset for the next project.

Workflow: building a kick from scratch for a house groove

Start with an empty instance of the plugin. Pick a waveform for the sub oscillator — try the sine first, as a clean starting point. Dial in the frequency so the fundamental matches the key of your track. The click-shaping panel has three areas, each controlling a different part of the attack. Begin with the first area: set a short decay so the initial hit is present but not sloppy. Move to the second area: add a small amount of click, just enough to give the transient a little bite. Leave the third area for a bit of high-frequency rattle if you want the kick to cut through a busy mix. Now go back to the sub oscillator. Adjust its level so the low end feels solid without overwhelming the attack. If the kick still sounds flat, try one of the three distortion algorithms. A subtle setting on the first algorithm adds warmth; a stronger setting on the second adds a grittier edge. The equalizer section lets you cut a little low-mid mud if the kick starts to compete with the bassline. The compressor helps keep the dynamics even. Once the sound works, save it as a user preset — the plugin comes with over 230 factory presets, but this one is yours. You can now use it in any project without rebuilding from scratch.

Replaces the older Kick by Nicky Romero

Some producers wonder whether this plugin replaces the older Kick by Nicky Romero. It does. KICK 2 is the updated version, so the workflow will feel familiar if you used the earlier one. The interface layout is similar, and the core approach — blending a sub oscillator with layered clicks — stays the same.

Another common question is about compatibility. The plugin runs on Intel Macs as a 64-bit x86 build. If you have a newer Apple Silicon machine, there is no native version listed, so you would need to check whether your DAW and system can run Intel plugins in emulation. Many can, but it depends on your setup.

People also ask whether the plugin works for genres other than electronic music. Yes, but it is designed for kick drum synthesis. If you produce techno, house, dubstep, or any style where the kick is a shaped element, it fits. If you record acoustic drums, this plugin is not meant to replace a sample library — it is for crafting the kick from the ground up.

Finally, a few users ask about the installation. The package includes installation and activation instructions. Follow them carefully. There is no separate installer to download from a website; everything you need is in the folder you get.

For producers who tweak attack separately from body

This plugin suits producers who already understand that a kick drum is not just a one-shot sample you drop on a grid. If you like to tweak the attack separately from the body, or if you find yourself layering three or four samples to get a single kick sound, then KICK 2 can replace that whole workflow. It is also useful for sound designers who need to generate kicks for sample packs or for soundtracks where the beat needs to match a specific pitch. Electronic musicians who write in a DAW on an Intel Mac and want a dedicated kick synth rather than a general-purpose synthesizer will find the focused toolset saves time. If you teach music production, the plugin is a good demonstration of how sub frequencies and transient shaping interact — the click-shaping areas make it easy to show students what happens when you shorten or lengthen the attack. For anyone who just wants a quick kick and does not care about shaping, the factory presets offer a starting point, but the real value is in the ability to build your own sound from the sub up.

• macOS: not specified by the developer
• Architecture: Intel
• Interface language: English