“A nice, vibey compressor plug‑in that should please those with a penchant for tonal tweakery!”
“your ears are greeted with optimum mojo... it never takes long to find something cool”
full review at Sound on Sound
Gritty. Punchy. Smooth. Warm. All that. And more!
The Pawn Shop Comp 2.1 is a professional tool that will make a huge difference in the quality and impact of your mixes. It sounds great on any sound source and in virtually any application.
More than a compressor, the Pawn Shop Comp also has a fully adjustable tube preamp, a two band equalizer, and swappable components that give you unprecedented control of every parameter of the plugin.
The 2.1 upgrade adds System/Machine authorization. You can now license your plugin via iLOK dongle, and iLOK cloud account, and via System/Machine authorization.
The PSC 2.1 upgrade also features faster, smoother performance by utilizing GPU acceleration. We’ve also added a new Aux Panel for easier access to presets, level trims, and more.
More than a compressor, the Pawn Shop Comp also has a fully adjustable tube preamp, a two band equalizer, and swappable components that give you unprecedented control of every parameter of the plugin.
The 2.1 upgrade adds System/Machine authorization. You can now license your plugin via iLOK dongle, and iLOK cloud account, and via System/Machine authorization.
The PSC 2.1 upgrade also features faster, smoother performance by utilizing GPU acceleration. We’ve also added a new Aux Panel for easier access to presets, level trims, and more.
You can use the Pawn Shop Comp on:
Get punch and snap out of individual drums or the entire drum bus. Built in low frequency eq centered at 63Hz, perfect for enhancing the thud of a kick drum. And you can dial in a bit of saturation to mimic the sound of classic FET limiters like the 1176.
Built for bass sounds. Dial in attack to punch the bass through the mix. Set the release to contro sustain and resonance. Throw in some low end equalization to enhance the bottom end, and add some tube style saturation for additional growl.
Killer on electric guitars. Precise control over note articulation and sustain. Adjust the midrange equalization for presence in the mix. Swap in ECC-83 tubes and get vintage amp overdrive and distortion... from a compressor!
The PSC is a vocal channel strip, with almost everything you need to get kick-ass vocals. Get smooth, musical compression, or crush it for color and character. Swap out transformers for tighter or darker response. Add warmth with the preamp, or saturation and drive.
Add color, character and crunch to lead lines, and warmth and harmonic structure to pads. The wide adjustability of the PSC makes it a natural for use with analog or sampled pianos.
Bus compression with the Pawn Shop Comp... yes, it can do this, too. Give your mix or instrument cluster definition and “glue.” Control the amount of effect with the Wet/Dry control for easy parallel processing. Punch up the top and bottom with the PSC’s 2 bands of eq.
Too often, the accordion is overlooked in modern recording... kinda like the cowbell. The Pawn Shop Comp’s preset library is full of places to start when you don’t quite know what you’re dealing with, but know it needs something.
I went deep on the analog modeling with SITRAL, and you can feel it. Crank the input, lean into the EQ, slam the output. It doesn’t fall apart or get ugly. Just like the real thing."
Dan Korneff -SKE
Pierce the Veil, Paramore, Breaking Benjamin, Sleeping With Sirens, My Chemical Romance, Papa Roach, El Niño
Just like everyone else, I wanted my guitars to be as huge as Randy Staub's. This plugin does all that and more.
Dan Korneff - WOW
Pierce the Veil, Paramore, Breaking Benjamin, Sleeping With Sirens, My Chemical Romance, Papa Roach, El Niño
Love this thing! Fixes out-of-tune singers, drummers with no sense of time. It's very threatening.
Tesla
Wireless Communications, The Tesla Coil, Particle Beam Weapons, The Brady Six
This has been on all my mixes since Tchad Blake told me about it. Shockingly good.
Westinghouse
The Jesus and Mary Chain, Railroad Air Brakes, Those Sockets All Over Your House,
It's on point — A+. Some people use it to disrupt the power. I find it cleans everything up. Especially after you turn it off.
Fluff
Corn, Prince, Lucinda Williams, Bended
Korneff Audio’s SITRAL W295 EQs are truly awesome. I’ve been incorporating them into my workflow and I love what they do to guitars and vocals in particular. They have tons of great midrange character without sounding harsh. I also love the impeccably detailed modeling of every step of the circuit and the option to tweak every variable down to the transformers. The W295 EQ is the type of plugin that’s hard to make sound bad. Korneff Audio knocked it out of the park!
Carson Slovak - SKE
August Burns Red, Everclear, Polaris, Candlebox, Texas In July, Lorna Shore
This plug-in made me want to overuse it as soon as I started playing with it, in a good way. It sounds so good and reminds me of the strange sounding hifi electronics we used to hotrod to use in the studio. Loads of fun, and really is its own thing.
Ben Grosse - SKE
Dream Theater, Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin, Depeche Mode
Actually, every plug Korneff does is a winner. I like to mix with a kinda matrix of parallel and serial busses, bleeding things a lot, sending opposite instruments to different shared effects.
Especially when working with beats, ambient pads, and sequencers, I use Micro Digital Reverberator and The Echoleffe Tape Delay as tasty verb and delay FX, returning them through the A.I.P to tweak their tones. Then I like to set up Talkback Limiter on an effect send, set to strong to severe compression — smash ’n’ grab — all wet, then send small amounts of either dry instruments or their effects to the TL, adjusting the return level to taste!
Timothy Powles - General
The Church, Hammock, Regular John, Safford, BNDT
This plugin gets right to the point. It’s got the right amount of tools to get the job done. When you need a fast, fun channel strip, this is it.
Dan Korneff - PSL
Pierce the Veil, Paramore, Breaking Benjamin, Sleeping With Sirens, My Chemical Romance, Papa Roach, El Niño
I've been using the Level-Loc all over my mixes. It nails the sound of the hardware but it's even more useful.
Dan Korneff - SLL
Pierce the Veil, Paramore, Breaking Benjamin, Sleeping With Sirens, My Chemical Romance, Papa Roach, El Niño
I didn’t want to make another tape emulation... that road is well traveled. What I DID want was something that gave me the vibe — warmth, compression, sparkle — but without being bound to the physics of analog tape. Just the good stuff. The result just made things sound better. More musical. So I kept using it. Even after a year of tinkering, it still hasn’t worn off.
Dan Korneff - MOO
Pierce the Veil, Paramore, Breaking Benjamin, Sleeping With Sirens, My Chemical Romance, Papa Roach, El Niño
I've been listening to the Level-Loc on Tchad Blake records for year, and now there's a thing that does that thing. It's going into my mix template.
Andrew Scheps - SLL
Adele, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jay Z, Lady Gaga, Limp Bizkit, Audioslave
I’ve had so much fun with the Shure Level-Loc over the years. Today I’m pinching myself watching the Korneff Audio plugin appear on my monitor and hearing the magic.
Tchad Blake - SLL
Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, Sheryl Crow, Soul Coughing, Peter Gabriel, Crowded House, The Bangles, Tom Waits
I’ve just started using it and what a powerhouse!
Tchad Blake - PSL
Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, Sheryl Crow, Soul Coughing, Peter Gabriel, Crowded House, The Bangles, Tom Waits
Mercy, it's good! Great tool for quickly adding flavor when used as a snare and BGV return for unique slap, ambiance, and gritty warmth.
Charles “Chaz” Root III - PSL
Monkey Wrench, Goo Goo Dolls, Johnny Revolting, The Thor Platter Band, David Jonathan & The Inner City Bedlam, Saranaide, Bull Funk Zoo
Korneff Audio plugins to me are really exciting and fun to work with. The Talkback Limiter sits nicely in parallel on my drum busses. The Pawn Shop Compressor can handle pretty much anything from drums all the way to vocals. And the AIP is just on another level as far as I’m concerned. It never leaves my guitar busses. Just a really solid variety of sounds that are really fun to use.
Chris Collier - General
KoRn, Mick Mars, Whitesnake, Prong
I love this thing. I'm already using your SITRAL all over the place and replacing various other EQ’s. Super straightforward to use and, like all of your plugins, the interface is a pleasure to tweak.
Trey Gunn - SKE
King Crimson, Tu-Ner, 7d Media
Korneff Audio plugins are a perfect blend of creativity and sonic excellence—unique tools that inspire innovation while delivering outstanding sound quality.
Thiago Baggio - General
Jota.Pê (Best Engineered Album at the Latin Grammy Awards), Vanessa Moreno, Arthur Nogueira (Latin Grammy Awards nominated)
Been reaching for the new Korneff SITRAL EQ a lot — it’s officially my go-to for electric guitars. It already sounded great, but they really took it to another level with the tilt and transformers/ saturation features. Effortless tone, every time.
Thiago Baggio - SKE
Jota.Pê (Best Engineered Album at the Latin Grammy Awards), Vanessa Moreno, Arthur Nogueira (Latin Grammy Awards nominated)
Finally!! Been using the beta in secret all this year. Just an awesome sound unlike anything else I have. Love the midrange and the top is so pleasing.
I don’t think it possible to be disappointed with this SITRAL eq.
Tchad Blake - SKE
Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, Sheryl Crow, Soul Coughing, Peter Gabriel, Crowded House, The Bangles, Tom Waits
Rarely does an all in one plugin come along that is an adequate replacement for what you already use. I usually have an EQ doing some filtering and cutting, multiband to tighten up the low end, some saturation, and I love compressing guitars too.. this legitimately replaced 4 or more plugins I’m usually stacking up on my guitar tracks, and DOES IT BETTER. And the Insufferable Midrange Filter is the thing-I-didn’t-know-I-was-missing, and now idk what I’d do without it. Channel strip on steroids. I love it
Cory Brunnemann - AIP
Darkness Divided Upon a Burning Body Nine Shrines Backwordz The Royals
The AIP is my new go-to for guitar processing and I’ve used it on every song I’ve mixed since it was released. Everything I need is right there in one place and it sounds fantastic. It’s so easy to dial in a great tone using the various tools in this powerful plugin. Do yourself a favor and pick this up!
Carson James Slovak - AIP
August Burns Red Rivers of Nihil From Ashes to New Galactic Empire Candlebox Everclear
Dan’s plugins give me a totally different flavor than anything else out there. They sound great, are super easy and fun to use, and give you that “wow” factor that can turn a dull sound into something super exciting the second you instantiate them.
Zakk Cervini - General
Yungblud, Blink 182, All Time Low, Poppy
I’m a “compress” on the way in kinda guy with vocals, but even so, Pawn Shop Comp takes everything up a level. That last sweet bit of compression to make them pop, and then cranking the preamp and bias knobs make everything stand out over the sea of guitar layers and synths.
Beyond vocals.. snare or kick need some smack? What’s better than some dirty tube compression? Warm up your dull guitars? Got it covered. Def obsessed with using this guy.
Cory Brunnemann - PSC
Darkness Divided, Upon a Burning Body, Nine Shrines, Backwordz, The Royals
Not only is the Pawn Shop compressor powerful and punchy, it’s also packed with a myriad of extremely useful tone selections!
In addition, as an owner of an SSL 4000 E series console, I can say 1st hand Korneff Audio NAILED the talkback limiter! Well done guys!!
Mike Watts - PSC
The Dillinger Escape Plan, Glassjaw, As Cities Burn, Hopesfall, As Tall As Lions, The Dear Hunter, Gates
Its hard to explain what 'Analog' feels like to an individual that may have only ever come into contact with plugins and starter interfaces. Analog in its best state solves multiple problems and encourages characteristics of the source tone in an unpredictable and musical way.
AIP is as close to that experience in a plugin as i've ever had in recent times. Its really enjoyable to be able to trust something and not have to over analyse (as can happen with some brands that aren't telling the whole truth)
AIP is a go to for encouraging tones into shapes we enjoy listening to.
George Lever - AIP
Loathe, Sleep Token, Pridelands
You have done it again! From the moment I tried it I've been really loving it. So useful and a fresh approach. You can tell this comes from Dan’s many years experience making killer records. Innovative and professional tools. Love the Talkback!!
Roy Hendrickson - TBL
Miles Davis, Paul McCartney, Buddy Guy, Empire of the Sun, POD, Frank Sinatra, Phil Ramone, Zedd
Chocolate Milk is essential. I recently put it on a rough mix which I liked for its musical content, but this rough had a certain boxiness and upper midrange "pain factor." In a couple of minutes I turned the rawest punk rock live show cassette into smooth makeout music. well, in terms of spectral balance at least. In the case of my rough, it now sounds a lot more like music!
Mitch Easter - MOO
R.E.M, Wilco, Pavement, Ben Folds, Helium, Drive By Truckers, Gin Blossoms, Mary Timony, Pylon
I love Chocolate Milk! It has not left my bass chain since I tried it. It gives a glue-like tape saturation and compression without taking anything away - like Hi-Fi Tape. With no latency it’s on my live bass rig as well, and that Froth knob on slaps and pops is salted butter.
Frase - MOO
TheHonestGuy, Gayance, Moontricks, SkiiTour, Stickybuds, Kola, Cherry Kim, Caracol
This surprising little Microverb from Korneff is absolutely fantastic. My classic Klark-Teknik DN 780 Just Died on me but this verb is the perfect replacement for it. The Gated Verbs are a wonderful reminder of a great musical time gone by, This is a very welcome & flavorful tool to my arsenal, Thx Lads, you've done it yet again & I salute you...
Dee Bramble - MDR
David Bowie, Faith Hill, Whitney Houston, Will Smith, Elliott Yamin, American Idol
The sound and feel of Korneff Audio's Talkback Limiter are unmistakable and indispensable in my workflow. It's ridiculous and one of a kind.
Peter Klett - tbl
Peter Klett (original Candlebox guitarist) and creature of @citysessionssound
The WOW Thing is a powerful tone box. Its uncanny ability to create space in a mix while retaining punch and character is fantastic, just like my favorite analog gear.
Kristofer Crummett - WOW
Dance Gavin Dance, Issues, Sleeping With Sirens, Fame On Fire
The pawn shop comp kicks all the ass. Feels like the real thing. Does exactly want I want it to do. Love it on drums. Has been getting plenty of work on recent mixes. For the price this thing is a no-brainer.
William Putney - PSC
Body Count, In Heart’s Wake, Reflections, Sleeping Giant
My favorite thing about the Pawn Shop Comp is just how ridiculously hard I can push it without everything falling apart. Whether I want clean, pumpy, or totally annihilated, I know PSC will deliver.
Jeff Dunne - PSC
Motionless in White, Crystal Lake, Fit for a King, Ice Nine Kills
INSTANT MAINSTAY ON DRUMS. 10 years of flip flopping on other reverbs is over, thank goodness. The other thing this is for me is a great vocal reverb. I’m always dialing in pre-delay, and I love short, thick reverbs. Honestly, I used this on guitars the other day just to see, and I kept it. It's SO EASY to dial in, you’re not wasting time searching, just turn it and burn it!
Cory Brunnemann - MDR
Darkness Divided, Upon a Burning Body, Nine Shrines, Backwordz, The Royals
My goal for a long time now is to make a frictionless-as-possible studio…. Where someone comes up with an idea and then it’s basically a lubed-up waterslide to completion. Things like this, the MDR is definitely aligned with my guiding principles. Every mix will have an instance of it somewhere.
Charles “Chicky” Reeves - MDR
Prince, UB40, Ray Charles, Tito Puente, Johnny Cash, Radiohead
I wanted to let you know I’ve been working for a solid week now using the AIP and Pawn Shop. Excellent, excellent work. It’s weird: rarely do I have a single plugin or channel strip or the like that can absolutely transform audio to where I want it, in just a few steps, mind you, but AIP nails it. Like, every time! Crikey. I’m so impressed. And it doesn’t hog the cpu or anything. I... think I’m in love. With a plugin.
Charles “Chicky” Reeves - AIP
Prince, UB40, Ray Charles, Tito Puente, Johnny Cash, Radiohead
It’s mistake to think of the Pawn Shop Comp as just a compressor. “The front side” is definitely a great sounding compressor, but where it really separates itself from the pack is as a tool to sculpt audio. “The other side” of this plugin is what makes it so much more than just a compressor.
Gary Conahan - PSC
Enuff Z Nuff, Black Letter Days, Almost Honest, Aggressor D, Corvette Summer
Pawn Shop Comp is full of analog colour, it has been incredible for so many instruments, especially drums. With Dan putting his amazing electronics knowledge into the tweakable elements of the plugin, it has made this such a versatile compressor for me.
Romesh Dodangoda - PSC
Motorhead, Bring Me The Horizon, Funeral For A Friend
The pawn shop compressor has become my go to plugin on every project. I’m not sure how I ever mixed without it, especially on drums! Thanks Dan for making mixing so much easier.
Eddie Wohl - PSC
Anthrax, Fuel, Ill Nino, Smile Empty Soul
The Compressor: A Modern Classic
A unique hybrid tube/FET circuit lets the Pawn Shop Comp handle virtually any compression task you throw at it. Complete controls for all compressor parameters let you tailor response from smooth to punchy to total crush.
- THRESHOLD: 0dB to -100dB
- RATIO: 2:1 to 50:1
- ATTACK: .2ms to 200ms
- RELEASE: 10ms to 1.2s
- AUTO MAKE-UP GAIN: interactive with Threshold and Ratio
- MANUAL MAKE-UP GAIN: +/-18dB
- PWR ON/OFF: switch the compressor off and use the PSC’s great sounding preamp and equalizer.
PSC Block Diagram
- Input and Output Trim
- PSP Proprietary Signal Processing
- IMF Insufferable Midrange Filter
- Filters 1st Order High and Low Pass
- EQ 4 band Fully Parametric
- VCA VCA Compression
- FDR Frequency Dependent Reduction
- Stereo Width Stereo Width Enhancement
- Dry / Wet Use the AIP as a parallel processor
Ultimate Control
This Ain’t No One Knob Plugin.
Want to change the compression curves of the PSC? Swap in different FET’s. Want to get a vintage sound? Swap in Carbon resistors. Need something bright and modern? Switth over to Metal film resistors. Looking to experiment? Crank up the OPERATING LEVEL control and emulate what happens when you blow up gear in the studio - but without the smoke, fire, repair bills or chance of electrocution. And if you go too far, you can back it all down using the WET/DRY control, or the INPUT and OUTPUT trims. Set the OVERSAMPLING rate to better manage your CPU usage. Browse the PRESET LIBRARY. Adjust the size of the GUI to fit your monitors and studio set-up.
A Tube Preamp
Use the Pawn Shop Comp’s tube preamp to add saturation and the warm harmonic distortion that is the mojo of tubes. But push GAIN even further to add overdrive and distortion, and adjust the BIAS for total shred. The PSC preamp can add character to vocals, hype to guitars and bass, and incredible color to room mics and the drum bus.
Swap Tubes and Transformers
Swap between three different sets of tubes and three different transformers to adjust the response of the Pawn Shop Comp from timid to street thug. Combined with the preamp Gain and Bias, tubes and transformers let the PSC sound like a classic tube limiter from the early 60’s, to modern, high end bespoke compressors, and all shades in-between.
Essential Sonic Sweetening
The EQ can be used to compensate for the loss of lows and presence that happens at high compression settings, and also for more creativity and enhancement. The WEIGHT control can be set for extreme lows (think kick drums) or slightly higher to give a signal warmth. The FOCUS control is centered in the midrange and adjustments in this band can add presence and width to a track. With +/- 8dB of gain, and wide, gentle peaking curves, use the eq to beautifully sculpt a track or an entire mix.
Videos and Media
The Pawn Shop Comp is a Game Changer for Audio Production
Find out how this can revolutionize your sound in the studio.
Compressing a Bass to get it to sit in the mix using the Pawn Shop Comp 2.0
When the bass is a bit all over the place, compression is your new bestest friend. And the Pawn Shop Comp is the bestest friend you could ever have in the studio.
Installing Korneff Audio Plugins
How to install your brand new Korneff Audio Plugin!
Having iLok issues? Go here: https://env-korneffmain-staging.kinsta.cloud/sound_vision/setting-up-ilok-for-korneff-audio-plugins/
Setting up iLok for Korneff Audio Plugins
Ah, iLok, that little copy protection device that enables software companies to stay in business! Here is a video on how to authorize our plugins using iLok hardware or cloud based accounts.
Trouble installing your plugin? Go here: https://env-korneffmain-staging.kinsta.cloud/sound_vision/installing-korneff-audio-plugins/
PSC Review by Sound-Guy on Gearspace
A comprehensive Pawn Shop Comp review from Dennis (Sound-Guy) on Gearspace
KUSH AUDIO SILIKA vs KORNEFF PAWN SHOP - Are these the best compressor plugins 2020?
Paul Third compares the Kush Audio Silika and the Pawn Shop Comp, reviewing both while indicating potential strong points and weaknesses.
Korneff Audio Pawn Shop Comp 2.0 - supercompressor from Dan Korneff
For our Russian speakers (English subtitles are available as well), Yorshoff Mix dives into the technical aspects of the Pawn Shop Comp.
BCS GEAR REVIEWS - KORNEFF AUDIO "PAWN SHOP COMP"
This 30-minute video by Bridge City Sessions gives an in-depth look at our Pawn Shop Comp.
Pawn Shop Comp REVIEW
Jay provides a review of the Pawn Shop Comp and demo using his own music in this 10-minute video.
First Look: Korneff Audio - Pawn Shop Comp Compressor
In this 10-minute video Tim Talks Audio provides a walkthrough and demo of our Pawn Shop Comp as well as a brief review.
Minimum System Requirements
- 1 GHz Intel Dual Core Processor or AMD equivalent (PC)
- 4GB of RAM
- Mac OS X 10.7 or higher, 10.14 or higher recommended
- Windows 7 & Above
- Screen res: 1024 x 768 or higher
- iLok dongle, iLok Cloud, iLOK Sytem/Machine Authorization
- 64 bit DAW support only
Supported Plugin Formats
- Intel Mac 64bit: VST3, AU, AAX
- Windows 64bit: VST3, AAX
★★★★★
Just played with the PSC for a few minutes but I already fall in love with the sound. Really a great tool and I just started to play with it. Since I already saw how deep u can go, I know I will need a while to learn it in and out. But it look […]
★★★★★
What is this sorcery? Great work guys. Had me at the talkback limiter and now this!!!
★★★★★
Thought I had enough compressors but obviously not ..Korneff You had me at Demo lol
★★★★★
Both plugins sound excellent and great support 🙂
★★★★★
Great action and color. Excellent support!
★★★★★
Love this thing. Super flexible tones, movement, and color. Will probably prove indispensable from here on out. Thanks for the great customer support and for making great quality tools!!!
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