Kush Audio AR-1

It is a variable-mu tube compressor whose roots are in the raucous sound of the rockin’ American ’50s. Yet, it enjoys a posh, tea-sipping British image thanks to its use at Abbey Road Studios in the late ’60s, notably on the later Beatles and earlier Pink Floyd records. Kush painstakingly captured the sweet breakup of AR-1’s sturdy tubes being driven into the dirt, then added more than a half dozen significant UI and functional enhancements. The resulting emulation is every bit as chunky as the original and 10x more flexible.