CR-1
by Black Salt Audio · Compressor · Crush compressor with distortion
Not rated yet
CR-1 combines a CRUSH circuit, a compressor and a distortion stage to flatten transients and add weight and grit, mainly for drums.
A 2x switch increases the distortion, and it costs $59.
Best for: Drums, Drum Bus, Bass, Vocals. Genres: Rock & Indie, Metal, Hip-Hop & Trap.
Keywords: heavy, drums, aggressive, thin, bass, enhancement, gritty, kick, snare, vocals, minimal controls, parallel processing, bus processing, dirty, drum bus, extreme, harsh, mixing, perpetual licence, punchy, room mics, single-band, subscription, warm.
What it does
CR-1 is Black Salt Audio's drum-crushing processor: a transient crusher, a compressor and a distortion stage in one plugin. The developer pitches it at thin kicks and polite snares, saying it "doesn't polish your drums, it obliterates them."
- CRUSH circuit: axes transients and adds weight to thin, brittle sounds, with adjustable intensity, while keeping the low end.
- Compressor: a hard, aggressive stage that flattens erratic peaks for steady impact and punch.
- Distortion: adds dirt and warmth on top of the compression for extra character.
- 2x switch: doubles up the distortion for a more extreme, chaotic result.
- Short signal path: the three stages replace a chain of separate transient, compressor and saturation plugins.
- Few controls: built for fast results on drums, rooms and other sources that need more weight.
No version number is listed. A perpetual license with free updates is available. A 14-day trial is available, and CR-1 is also part of the Artist Pass subscription.
Source: Black Salt Audio product page
When to use it
CR-1 is the quicker pick when you want drums smashed and dirtied in one move rather than shaped. Compared with the Distressor, it builds the distortion and weight into a few controls, so it reaches aggressive room-style crush faster, but it gives you much less control over attack and release. It is closer in spirit to Soundtoys Devil-Loc, with the job split into separate crush, compression and distortion stages. Against Pro-C 3 or MJUC it is a one-trick effect: great for parallel smash, not a general mix compressor. It costs more than many single-purpose effects, but the trial lets you check it on your own drums first.
- Best for: parallel drum crush, aggressive room mics, thin kicks and snares, and gritty bass or vocals.
- Genres: rock, metal and hip-hop.
- Look elsewhere if: you want a flexible compressor with full timing controls; the Distressor or Pro-C 3 suit that better.
Where to buy
- Black Salt Audio: $59
- Plugin Boutique: $59
Tutorials and reviews
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