Bus Ride
Where your mix finally comes together
A complete sonic finisher for your instrument buses and master channel. Analog drive, precise compression, and a musical EQ in one intuitive plugin. From subtle glue to aggressive energy, get your mixes sounding huge, fast.
Glue your mix. Shape your sound
Tone, vibe, and character. All on one Plugin
Most buses in a mix are under loved. They're either left dry or patched together with three or four separate plugins that don't quite gel. Bus Ride fixes that. It gives every bus in your session the tone, color, and cohesion it needs to sit right in the mix. More glue. Better punch. A sound that feels finished and intentional, not just loud. Everything you need is in one place, designed to work together or on its own, and laid out so you can dial in results fast without overthinking it. Whether you're adding subtle warmth to a vocal bus or tightening up a drum bus that's falling apart, Bus Ride gets you there quickly and musically.
Bus Ride allows me to work on instrument busses and/or the master bus in a very intuitive way. It speaks for itself, with easy to use EQ, compression, saturation and width control. It is subtle and has everything I need to give my mix glue, color and character. And using it within an immersive wrapper, I can even use it for Dolby Atmos mixes!
Gert Keunen
Producer, educator, mastering engineer and author of ‘Stereo Was A Nice Try’
Analog character. Right from the start
Drive adds console-style harmonic saturation right at the front of the chain, giving your bus that subtle warmth and weight that makes processed audio feel more alive. The more you push it, the more character you get, from gentle color to full preamp-style grit. It's the difference between a bus that sits in the mix and one that owns it.
Compressor Glue, punch, and control. All in one
The compressor is the heart of Bus Ride. Dial it in gently for subtle glue that holds your bus together, or push the ratio for more punch and energy. With parallel mix, a sidechain high-pass filter, and a stereo/dual-mono switch, you have everything you need to shape dynamics exactly the way you want, on any bus, any genre, any style.
EQ Tone shaping that feels musical, not surgical
The three-band EQ in Bus Ride is designed to bring out the best in any bus. Add low-end weight and body, dial in the midrange for more presence and punch or pull it back to clean things up, and open up the top end with more air and clarity. Every band is tuned to work musically on bus material, so you can shape the tone of a bus quickly and confidently without overthinking it.
Saturation Deeper tone. More character.
Tape or tube, your call. The tape mode was crafted to bring warmth and density while adding a more open harmonic character, so your bus gets that cohesive, finished feel without losing clarity or going dark. Tube adds a rich, full-bodied glow that makes everything feel more alive. Either way, it's the kind of finishing touch that's hard to put your finger on but impossible to ignore.
Tight, centered, and punchy low end
When sub-frequencies are scattered across the stereo field, the low end can feel loose, muddy, and unanchored. Mono Bass fixes that by summing everything below your chosen frequency to mono, giving your low end a tight, focused center that punches harder and translates better on any system. One knob, and your low end finally sits where it should.
Stereo enhancement that feels natural, not obvious
Most stereo wideners can make a mix feel stretched or unnatural if you push them too hard. The Width module in Bus Ride takes a more musical approach, adding stereo space in a way that feels open and transparent rather than processed. The result is a wider, more spacious sound that enhances your mix without drawing attention to itself. Subtle, transparent, and always in service of the music.
Sound Examples
AAX, AU, VST3 versions
64-bit only
Ableton Live 11+ (Mac & PC: AU, VST3)
Bitwig 4+ (Mac & PC: AU, VST3)
Cubase 13+ (Mac & PC: VST3)
Digital Performer 11+ (Mac & PC: AU, VST3)
FL Studio 23+ (Mac & PC: VST3)
Garageband 10+ (AU)
Logic Pro 10+ (AU)
Pro Tools 12+ (Mac & PC: AAX)
Presonus Studio One 5+ / Fender Studio (Mac & PC: AU, VST3)
Reaper 6+ (Mac & PC: VST3)
Cakewalk Next by BandLab (PC: VST3)
AAX is a trademark and software of Avid Technology. Audio Units is a trademark and software of Apple Inc. VST3 is a trademark and software of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.
AAX, VST3, AU versions included
64-bit only (Mac / PC)
Mac OS X 10.15 or higher (Intel native | ARM native)
Windows 10
At least 4GB of RAM, 16GB is recommended
At least 200MB of free drive space (OS drive)
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