Kohina

Kohina

Keyspike

Draw how your drums open and close.

Keyspike reshapes recorded snare, kick, and toms from their MIDI notes, band by band.

€99, VAT included. Windows VST3 for Cubase 15.

The Keyspike plugin window: three frequency bands above a drawn envelope on a snare hit, with Lookahead, Attack and Length knobs.
Create your ideal drum gate, expander or compressor
Multi-band free-form envelope shaping
Triggers from MIDI, tempo grid, or audio
Limitless possibilities for sound design

Hear it

Pick a demo and switch between the raw take and the take through Keyspike while it plays.

Audio coming soon

0:000:00

What it does

You record drums. The sound you want is in there, but the attack is soft, the decay rings too long, or the bleed fills the gaps. Keyspike takes the MIDI notes for those hits and uses them to shape the audio.

Split the sound into one to six bands. Draw an envelope for each band on a graph, with points and bend handles, the way you draw automation in Cubase. Each band has its own Attack, Decay, Floor, and Peak, so you can lift the snap of a snare without lifting its ring.

What is in it

  • 01One to six bands, each with its own drawn envelope.
  • 02Crossovers from 6 to 48 dB/oct. Minimum phase, or linear phase at about 50 ms of latency.
  • 03Floor and Peak per band. Floor set low gives you an expander. Peak set high gives you a boost.
  • 04Lookahead from 0 to 20 ms, so the shaping can open before the hit.
  • 05A velocity curve per band, off until you turn it on.
  • 06Triggers from MIDI, the host tempo grid, or audio threshold detection, including a side-chain input.
  • 07Undo and redo, A/B compare with copy, and presets you can save and share.
  • 08Select several bands to move their Attack and Decay together.

How it works

  1. 01

    Put Keyspike on the drum channel as an insert.

  2. 02

    Point it at the MIDI notes for that drum.

  3. 03

    Split into bands and draw an envelope for each one.

  4. 04

    Turn Lookahead until the hit opens where you want it.

Requirements

  • Windows 11 64-bit, version 24H2 or newer (Cubase 15's own minimum on Windows 11)
  • Cubase 15
  • VST3 format, 64-bit
  • A MIDI track with the notes for the hits you want to shape

Mac and other hosts are not supported yet.

Price

€99 VAT included

One purchase, no subscription. Right after you pay, you get an email with a link to download the plugin and an install note. You have 14 days to try it, and if it is not for you, you get your money back.

Questions

Is there a license key or an activation step?

No. The plugin does not check a license. Install it and use it.

Does it work on Mac?

Not yet.

Does it work in other hosts?

Keyspike is built for Cubase 15. Other hosts are not supported yet.

Can I use it on more than one computer?

Yes, on up to three computers that you use yourself.

What if it does not work for me?

Write to support@kohina.audio and I will help. You can also ask for a refund within 14 days, see the refund policy.

Who makes it?

Joel Lindfors in Finland. Kohina is the plugin brand of his company, Lindfors Productions.