ThwakkKick drum enhancer effect · a tuned sub, punch and click for every kick
The only kick drum enhancer plugin you'll ever need to make every kick hit harder.
Make any kick hit harder without layering samples: a tuned sub thump under every hit that follows how hard it lands, a harder front, a beater click that cuts through and harmonics for small speakers, all at the same loudness. Four kick recipes, at zero latency.
- Use it on 5 computers per copy
- Lifetime updates
- 90-day money-back guarantee
- Download link in minutes
- VST3, AU and AAX, Windows and macOS
- Try it free
Formats and DAWs
Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit): VST3 and AAX
macOS 11 or later: VST3, AU and AAX
Works in any 64-bit DAW that loads VST3, AU or AAX plug-ins.
Licence
Use it on up to five of your own computers per copy you buy. Yours for good, no subscription. Unlock it with your email and a six-digit code, no dongle and no password. It checks in now and then and works offline in between.
Delivery
Download links by email within about five minutes, and always in your account under Downloads.
Hear the difference
The same dry kicks, without and with Thwakk.
Dry kick, bigger and punchier
A dry studio kick, four to the floor · Modern Kick (the default: SUB 40 %, PUNCH 30 %, 50 Hz)
Trap kick, growl harmonics
A trap kick pattern · Trap / Growl Harmonics (DRIVE 60 %, SUB 50 %)
Rock kick, beater snap
A dry, hard rock kick · Rock / Beater Snap (70S, CLICK 40 % at 2.5 kHz, SUB 25 %)
Metal kick, bullet click
A big acoustic kick in eighths · Metal / Bullet Click (METAL, CLICK 70 %, PUNCH 50 %)
Boom-bap break, a sub under the kicks
A boom-bap drum loop · Loop / Sub Under Break (INPUT LOOP, SUB 50 %, 48 Hz)
Drum-machine kick loop, deep club sub
A clean drum-machine kick loop · Club / Deep Sub Boom (TUNE 32 Hz, SUB 60 %)
Every clip is level-matched, so the difference you hear is tone, not volume.
Thwakk in action
Why Thwakk
A tuned sub under every hit
Thwakk hears every kick and fires a short sub thump under it, dropping onto the note you set with TUNE, from 30 to 100 Hz, with the note name under the knob. Each thump follows how hard its hit lands, so soft hits stay soft and accents boom.
Punch and click where they count
PUNCH sharpens the front of every hit and, past halfway, tightens the tail. CLICK adds only the very front of each hit in the recipe's band, so the beater cuts through without a brighter kick. DRIVE adds harmonics above 100 Hz so the kick reads on phones and laptops.
Bigger, not louder
Thwakk holds the kick at the dry loudness at every setting, so you hear the kick hit harder, not just get louder, and at normal levels every factory preset sits within 0.1 LU of the dry on the median. Switch ENGAGE on and off and judge the sound, not the volume.
Sub. Punch.
Two big knobs do the work: the tuned weight under your kick, and how hard its front hits.
- VST3 · AU · AAX
- Windows and macOS
- 0 ms latency
- 12 presets
The kick drum enhancer effect
- A tuned sub under every hit. A short thump fired by every kick, on the note you set from 30 to 100 Hz, following how hard each hit lands.
- Four kick recipes. MODERN, 70S, SOUL or METAL: the sub's length, the body EQ and the click's band in one click.
- Kick tracks or drum loops. On a loop, only the kicks fire the sub; snares and hats do not.
- Bigger, not louder. The loudness is held to the dry; at normal levels every preset sits within 0.1 LU of it on the median.
- Zero latency. 0 samples at every setting.
- SUB, PUNCH, TUNE (30 to 100 Hz, with the note name), CLICK and DRIVE.
- MODERN, 70S, SOUL and METAL, KICK and LOOP, and SUB SOLO.
- MIX, the IN and OUT meters, the SUB, CLICK and PUNCH meters and ENGAGE.
- 12 factory presets and your own preset files; A/B, undo and redo, MIDI Learn on every control on the face; a window from 75 to 200 %; the full manual.
METAL
A bullet click that cuts through.
Metal / Bullet Click: a sharp 4 kHz click on the front of every hit, a harder front and a tight, short low end, so fast kicks stay clear.
What Thwakk does
Every control has one job: a kick that hits harder, faster.
SUB
A tuned thump under every hit
Up to 30 %, a resonance at TUNE blooms the kick's own low end. From 30 % a sub thump is fired by every hit, about 6 dB under the kick's own low end at the default 40 % and 4 dB over it at 100 %, and each thump follows how hard its hit lands. The line under the knob reads OFF, BLOOM, THUMP, BOOM or HUGE.
PUNCH
A harder front
A transient shaper on the whole kick: the front of each hit about 1.7 dB harder at the default 30 %, 3.9 dB at 100 %. From 50 % the tail also gets shorter and tighter. The line under the knob reads OFF, FIRM, PUNCHY or SLAMMING.
TUNE
Put the thump on your note
The note of the sub thump and of the resonance, 30 to 100 Hz, with the note name under the knob: G1 at the default 50 Hz. The thump lands within 35 cents of it for every recipe, at 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz, so it sits in your song's key.
CLICK
The beater, cutting through
Only the very front of each hit, in the recipe's band: 3 kHz for MODERN, 2.5 kHz for 70S, 900 Hz for SOUL and 4 kHz for METAL. The beater cuts through the mix without making the whole kick brighter.
DRIVE
A kick that reads on phones
Harmonics made from the kick and its sub, kept above 100 Hz and blended in, so the low end still reads on phones, laptops and small speakers. It works at one fixed level, so it colours a quiet and a hot kick alike.
TYPE
Four kick recipes
MODERN: trap, pop and 808 kicks, the longest sub. 70S: the deadened kick, body at 90 Hz, knock at 225 Hz, little sub. SOUL: a deep round sub, a scoop at 500 Hz, the attack at 900 Hz. METAL: a 4 kHz click, a short tight sub, the boxiness cut at 350 Hz.
INPUT
A kick track or a whole loop
KICK for a kick track or a kick sample. LOOP for a drum loop or drum bus: Thwakk listens to the kick's own band, so only the kicks fire the sub; snares and hats do not, and the click is kept to the kicks.
SUB SOLO
Hear just the sub
The added sub on its own, so you can set TUNE to your song's key by ear. It is a listening switch: never saved in a preset, never an undo step.
SUB, CLICK and PUNCH meters
See what Thwakk adds
Three dotted meters in the footer show the sub's peak, the click's peak and how far PUNCH lifts the front of each hit, so you see every layer at work.
MIX
Parallel, already done
SUB, CLICK and DRIVE already blend their layers with the kick, so MIX normally stays at 100 %. Turn it down to blend the whole effect back toward the dry kick.
IN and OUT
See the level in and out
Input and output meters on the face, and input and output gains of -24 to +24 dB you can automate from your DAW. An automatic level inside means a quiet kick and a loud one get the same drive and the same trigger.
12 sourced presets
Start from settings that work
Modern, trap, deadened, soul, metal and rock kicks, a sub-kick mic, small speakers, a deep club sub and two settings for whole drum loops: twelve starting points built from documented kick-mixing practice, every one level-matched to the dry.
A face that moves
See every hit land
A violet shock ring punches out across the drum head on every hit that gets a sub, and a white star flashes at the beater point with every click. The glow at the centre follows the output and the wordmark's light breathes.
Inside the plugin
The Thwakk window: two big knobs, the tuned sub, the click, the drive and four kick recipes.
Every feature
Everything in Thwakk, down to the smallest switch.
38 features
The kick
-
SUB
A tuned sub thump under every hit, following its strength
-
PUNCH
A harder front, and a tighter tail past halfway
-
TUNE
30 to 100 Hz, with the note name under the knob
-
CLICK
The beater's snap in the recipe's band
-
DRIVE
Harmonics above 100 Hz for small speakers
-
TYPE
MODERN, 70S, SOUL or METAL kick recipes
-
INPUT
A kick track, or a drum loop where only kicks fire the sub
-
SUB SOLO
Hear the sub on its own to tune it
Mix and output
-
MIX
The whole effect against the dry kick
-
SUB, CLICK and PUNCH meters
See every layer Thwakk adds
-
Auto input level
A quiet or a loud kick gets the same drive and trigger
-
Level-matched
The loudness held; every preset within 0.1 LU on the median
-
Peak safety
The output never passes -1 dBFS
Workflow and control
-
A/B compare and A>B
Two complete settings, switch in one click
-
Undo and redo
Step back and forward, or press Ctrl+Z
-
MIDI Learn
Take complete control of your workflow: right-click any control on the face, move a knob
-
Host automation
Automate every control from your DAW
-
ENGAGE
Click-free bypass, to hear the before and after
-
IN and OUT meters
See the level going in and coming out at a glance
-
Tooltips
Every control explains itself as you point at it
-
Resizable window
75 to 200 %, and the size you pick is remembered
Presets
-
12 factory presets
Starting points built from real settings producers use
-
Previous and next arrows
Audition presets one click at a time
-
Save your own
Keep your settings as .kickdrumenhancerpreset preset files
-
Open presets folder
Back up or share your presets in one click
-
Reset to default
Back to a clean start in one step
Performance
-
Zero latency
0 samples at every setting: use it while you track
-
Measured CPU
About 5 to 7 % of one core; about 1.2 % more with the window open
-
Mono or stereo
On a kick track, a kick sample, a drum loop or a drum bus
-
Audio-reactive face
A violet ring punches out with every sub, a star flashes with every click
Licence and compatibility
-
VST3 and AAX, Windows 7 SP1 or later
Loads in any 64-bit Windows DAW with VST3 or AAX
-
VST3, AU and AAX, macOS 10.13 or later
Loads in any Mac DAW with VST3, AU or AAX, Intel or ARM
-
5 computers per copy
Studio, laptop and more on one licence
-
Email and code unlock
No dongle, no password, no extra app
-
Works offline
No internet needed between check-ins
-
Check for updates
From the plugin's menu; nothing installs without asking
-
Lifetime updates
Every future update included
-
Platinum priority support
Questions answered by the people who build it
How Thwakk compares
The whole kick-enhancing chain in one insert, with the controls most leave out.
| Thwakk | Typical kick enhancer plugins | |
|---|---|---|
| The chain | Tuned sub, punch, click and harmonics in one insert | A sub layer, a transient shaper, an EQ and a saturator, routed by hand |
| The sub | Fired by every hit, following each hit's strength | A sample lined up by hand, or a static low boost |
| Tuning | TUNE with the note name, and SUB SOLO to hear it | Tuned by ear against an analyser |
| Drum loops | INPUT LOOP: only the kicks fire the sub and get the click | A low boost that reaches the whole loop |
| Level | Held to the dry; every preset within 0.1 LU on the median | Louder the more you add |
| Latency | 0 samples at every setting | Depends on the detector |
| Try-and-compare | A/B, A>B, undo and redo | Often missing |
| Hardware control | MIDI Learn on every control on the face | Often host automation only |
| Licence | 5 computers per copy, no dongle, works offline | Often fewer activations, or a dongle |
| Updates | Lifetime updates included | Often paid upgrades |
"Typical" describes what we commonly see in this category; it does not describe any particular product. Thwakk facts are from the plugin and its manual, October 2026.
What you get
Vox Samples
90-day money back · Thank you
Specs and system requirements
- Formats
- VST3 and AAX on Windows; VST3, AU and AAX on macOS
- Operating system
- Windows 7 SP1 or later, 64-bit; macOS 10.13 or later, universal (Intel and ARM)
- Host
- Any 64-bit DAW that loads VST3, AU or AAX plug-ins
- Channels
- Mono or stereo
- Sample rates
- Whatever your session runs at
- Latency
- 0 samples at every setting
- Sub
- 0 to 100 %: up to 30 % a resonance at TUNE (+3 to +6 dB by recipe); from 30 % a tuned sub thump on every hit, about 6 dB under the kick's own low end at the default 40 %, 4 dB over at 100 %
- Punch
- A transient shaper: the front of each hit about 1.7 dB harder at the default 30 %, 3.9 dB at 100 %; a shorter tail from 50 %
- Tune
- 30 to 100 Hz (50 Hz, G1, by default), with the note name; the sub lands within 35 cents of it
- Click
- The front of each hit in the recipe's band: MODERN 3 kHz, 70S 2.5 kHz, SOUL 900 Hz, METAL 4 kHz
- Drive
- Harmonics above 100 Hz, blended in parallel, at a fixed working level
- Kick recipes
- MODERN, 70S, SOUL and METAL: a sub of about 250, 70, 130 and 50 ms, each with its own body EQ and click band
- Input
- KICK, or LOOP for a drum loop or bus: only the kicks fire the sub, about 25 ms after each kick
- Output
- Never past -1 dBFS
- Presets
- 12 factory presets; your own as .kickdrumenhancerpreset files
- Tail
- Reported to your DAW: 1 s
- Window
- 960 x 600 at 100 %, resizable from 75 to 200 %
- MIDI
- MIDI Learn from any controller routed to the track
- Licence
- 5 computers per copy you buy. Unlock with your email and a code we email you. Checks in now and then and works offline in between.
- Internet
- Needed once to unlock, then for the occasional check-in
90Day money-back guarantee
Our guarantee
-
90-day money-back guarantee
Not for you? Email contact@voxsamples.com within 90 days for a full refund.
-
5 computers per copy
Use it on up to five of your own computers per copy you buy, and move it yourself from the plugin's Licence menu.
-
Lifetime updates
Every future update and upgrade of Thwakk, included.
-
Platinum priority support
A real person at contact@voxsamples.com, first in line.
Try Thwakk free
The whole plugin, with the same sound as the full version and no time limit. It goes silent for a moment every few seconds; the full version never does.
Windows and macOS installers in one download. Like what you hear? Get the full version on this page, with a 90-day money-back guarantee.
Questions
How do I make my kick hit harder?
Put Thwakk on your kick track: the default, Modern Kick, already adds a tuned 50 Hz thump under every hit, a harder front and a clearer beater, at the same loudness. Turn SUB up for more weight, PUNCH for a harder front and CLICK for more beater.
How do I tune the sub to my song?
Switch on SUB SOLO to hear the added sub alone, then turn TUNE until the thump sits on your song's root note; the note name shows under the knob. Switch SUB SOLO off again to hear it under the kick.
Does it work on a whole drum loop?
Yes. Choose INPUT LOOP: Thwakk listens to the kick's own band, so only the kicks fire the sub and get the click, while the snares and hats are left out of the layers. For the sharpest beater, put it on the kick track itself.
Will it make my kick louder?
No. The loudness is held to the dry at every setting, so you hear the kick hit harder, not just get louder; at normal levels every factory preset sits within 0.1 LU of the dry on the median. The output never passes -1 dBFS.
Does it add latency?
No: 0 samples at every setting, so it lines up with every other track and you can use it while tracking.
Does it work in my DAW?
Any 64-bit DAW that loads VST3, AU or AAX plug-ins, on Windows 7 SP1 or later or macOS 10.13 or later. There is no standalone app.
How many computers can I use it on?
Up to five of your own for each copy you buy. To move it, deactivate it in the plugin on the old computer and unlock it on the new one.
Does it need the internet?
Once, to unlock it with the code we email you. After that it checks in now and then and works offline in between.
Is there a manual?
Yes. The full manual explains every control, every preset and the menus, with tips. It opens from the help key (?) in the plugin's top bar, and lives at https://voxsamples.com/thwakk-kick-drum-enhancer-effect-manual.
What if it's not for me?
Request a refund from your account within 90 days.
Founder's Story
"When COVID hit, I finally had time to dive into music production—only to discover I was missing the right tools. The plugins I tried were clunky, overloaded with unnecessary features, and killed my vibe with endless tweaking. I knew there had to be a better way.
So, with my engineering background, I started making free and simple audio plugins for my producer friends. They loved them! That’s when I set out on a mission to create plugins that save you time, streamline your workflow, and keep your creativity flowing."
- Ryan Svensson (Founder & CEO)
Every kick, hitting harder. One insert.
A tuned sub under every hit, a harder front and a clear click: four kick recipes, the level held, at zero latency.
$42.50 AUDRegular price $141.71 AUD70% off
- 90-day money back
- Five computers
- Lifetime updates
Pairs with
Thwakk Kick Drum Enhancer Effect
$42.50 AUDRegular price $141.71 AUD70% off