D16 Group Lush 2

What D16 Lush-2 Is For

D16 Lush-2 is a synthesis plugin designed for modern music production, composition, sound design, and creating rich textures. Thanks to its multi-layer concept, it excels both in wide cinematic pads and dense basses, sharp leads, rhythmic sequences, or vintage-style polyphonic stacks. It naturally integrates into studios for electro, pop, techno, synthwave, house, film music, but also for any situation where a versatile synth is needed that can cover both main instrument roles and layering.

Main Features

8-layer Architecture: One Synth, Eight Personalities

The core of Lush-2 is its multi-layer architecture: each layer functions as an independent synthesizer, with its own polyphony, settings, and musical behavior. You can stack multiple layers on the same MIDI channel to create wider timbres (from a simple chorus sensation to spectacular stacks), or conversely split the keyboard into zones to build sophisticated splits. For advanced setups, Lush-2 can also be controlled in multi-channel mode to exploit up to 8 parts, while sending sound to up to 11 audio outputs for detailed mixing in your DAW.

"Analog Feel" Oscillators and Musical Filter

D16 emphasizes synthesis with an organic sound: the oscillators are designed to remain clean and detailed, even in extreme registers, to maintain a "hardware" feel without sampling. Vibrato and pitch bend behaviors remain stable, helping to keep a consistent color on played parts. On the filtering side, resonance is designed to stay even across the frequency range, making sweeps very musical. By pushing resonance and reducing oscillators, the filter can enter auto-oscillation and generate a pleasant sine wave, with the possibility to apply keyboard tracking to keep a cutoff that "follows" the keyboard in a controlled way.

Modulation Matrix: Expressiveness and Movement

Lush-2 offers a dedicated page for the modulation matrix: you choose a source, a destination, then an amount. The result: sounds that breathe, evolve, and respond to playing. The factory library extensively uses these modulations to offer presets that are more lively, more "instrumental," and less static. You also have velocity curves to adapt the response to your master keyboard's touch, improving playability and dynamic balance right from MIDI recording.

Inspiring Arpeggiator and Creative Sequences

The dedicated arpeggiator is designed to quickly produce grooves and catchy patterns, with its own presets to start from a solid base. A highlight: the gate and tie of the arp can also feed modulations, opening paths to complex progressions, unexpected rhythms, and very current sequenced textures, ideal for techno, house, synthwave, or underscoring.

Built-in Effects and Mixing: From Raw Sound to Finished Sound

Each layer has two insert effect slots, with a choice of 8 algorithms per insert to go from subtle to radical. To add space and cohesion, the built-in mixer includes essential tools: parametric EQ and compressor per channel strip, rearrangeable, as well as send effects to sculpt a wide and homogeneous ensemble. The three sends include a rich and spacious reverb, a fully featured delay with tempo sync, and a warm double-line chorus, perfect for widening layers and thickening pads.

Workflow, Ergonomics, and Performance

Lush-2's interface is designed to stay clear despite the instrument's power: color themes, alternative sizes, and HiDPI support facilitate work on all types of screens. The MIDI Learn function simplifies controller assignment, handy for automating macros and playing modulations in real time. Finally, multi-core management helps exploit modern processors according to your performance needs, a real plus when stacking multiple layers, effects, and modulations in a single instance.

Technical specifications

Type

Full software

Downloadable

Yes

Mac	OS X 10.13 to macOS 13	Arpeggiator	dedicated section with presets
Windows	Windows 7 or newer	Gate and tie	usable, including as modulation sources via the arp's MIDI output
Memory	4 GB	Inserts per layer	2 slots
CPU (Mac)	Intel x86 / Apple Silicon	Insert effect algorithms	8 choices per insert, per layer
CPU (Windows)	Intel x86 / AMD x86	Integrated mixer	volume, pan, channel strip per layer
Multi-core support	yes	EQ	parametric EQ per layer
Architecture	multi-layer, up to 8 layers	Compression	compressor per layer
MIDI Usage	layers assignable to the same channel (stack), keyboard zones (splits), or separate MIDI channels (up to 8 parts)	Send effects	3 (Reverb, Delay with tempo sync, Chorus)
Audio Outputs	up to 11 outputs	Presets	over 1600 presets (all types included), organized, categorized, and tagged
Oscillators	"analog feel" algorithms	Split library	presets dedicated to keyboard zone configurations
Filter	constant resonance across frequency range, auto-oscillation possible, keyboard tracking	Arpeggiator performances	factory content focused on playability and inspiration
Modulation Matrix	source/destination/amount assignment on numerous parameters	Themes	multiple color variants
Velocity Curves	several options to adapt keyboard response	Interface sizes	alternative sizes
MIDI Learn	quick controller assignment	Display	HiDPI support