Originally Posted by ajscent ➡️

sonnox does not need ilok now - its great

Originally Posted by explorer ➡️

Still needs iLok software, but now they've enabled machine authorisation for most of their products so you don't need a hardware iLok key/active internet connection for cloud.

Originally Posted by lestermagneto ➡️

New version of the free GitHub knockoff:

Originally Posted by Cornvalley ➡️

The best way to set it up to get an idea of the effect is to;

- make sure it is set to direct mode (i.e. non band split)
- set the effect control to maximum,
- set the input control to just achieve max modulation (i.e. the first red point on the meter),
- set the output control to maximum to get full modulation,
- set the curve control to central position (this is the neutral position).

If you now operate the in/out button you should hear an increase in loudness of around 1.5 to 2dB - without any apparent loss of dynamic range. Please also note that there is no increase in peak output level - the output red light should not come on despite the apparent increase in volume.

Now if you advance the curve control +vely the loudness will increase even further, but at the expense of greater distortion and a reduction in apparent dynamic range. (Sounds a bit like instantaneous mild compression without a time constant).

Decreasing the curve control -vely the reverse is true in that the loudness gain will be reduced, but the dynamic range will apparently increase with the loud stuff seeming proportionately louder with respect to the quieter passages. (Sounds like mild expansion without any time constant).

If you obtain a setting that suits your programme you can try pushing things even harder to get yet more loudness. To do this;

- make sure the clip 0dB function is inactive,
- increase the input level control so that the peak level increases to around +3dB into the over drive range (i.e. beyond the original red mark on the meter, towards the overall red mark at the top).

Depending on your programme type it may be possible to increase the input peak level by 3dB or more without any apparent loss of the peaks or dynamic range. If you can achieve this level of boost without too much loss of programme quality the total overall apparent loudness will have increased by 4 - 5dB.
The amount you can do this will depend on the relationship between the duration of the peaks wrt the average levels in the programme. Best results are normally obtained when the peaks in the over drive region are relatively short term, e.g. percussion or attacks (i.e. if it hasn't been too compressed and squashed intially).

The total volume increase can be heard by operating the bypass function. It's interesting to compare this method with what can be achieved with a conventional limiter.

The inflator can actually provide useful loudness increase even when used after a limiter - but the increase will be less - and of course, the peaks lost by the limiting cannot be recovered afterwards.

Things worth noting;

- The inflator will only block all output overs when it is used in non bandsplit mode and with the effect control always at maximum setting. Reducing the effect control or operating the bandsplit function will always produce higher levels and will force you to reduce the output gain - which detracts from the aim of maximum loudness.

- For loudness enhancement is should always be the last thing on the buss. Putting EQ or compression after it may ruin it's effect, cause overs and accentuate the artefacts.

- Whilst it is ok to use it on singal tracks in the mix (to fatten out or add weight to some tracks) and still use it on the main buss for loudness enhancement as well, care should be taken to never end up with two inflators directly in series on complex mixed programme.

- Programme consisting almost exclusively of extreme HF may not survive the inflator - some examples include certain post pro sound effects and foley.


- The clip 0dB in combination with effect control settings (less than max) are provided to allow distortion and saturation effects to be added to individual sounds.
- The bandsplit mode is intended to add weight and presence to complex mixed music - and isn't primarily intended to increase apparent loudness significantly.



You may also find that you can reduce your compression to some extent and produce mixes that seem to have significant dynamic range, even though they are still very loud and very highly modulated.

The best way to achieve this is:

Reduce the output of the limiter gain between 3 and 6dB (to avoid TDM buss overs).
Reduce the attack time of the limiter to allow short term peaks to pass up to full level again - to get back some 'attack and sparkle'.
De-select the 'Clip 0dBr' and 'Bandsplit' options on the inflator, so it works in direct mode.
Wind up the 'Effect, Curve and Output' controls to max.
Then start increasing the inflator 'Input' level control beyond the 0dB red digital max mark on the meter into the overdrive area, to make up for the level you lost by adjusting the limiter down.

Depending on the programme, you may find that you can wind all the gain back on again and still hear the peaks you allowed through the limiter, that would have otherwise caused overs and red lights on your final output.

What's happening here is that the inflator is including the harmonic content of the short term peaks in your output (up to 6dB above digital max) without actually producing more peak level. This can sound much better than simply shaving them all off with a limiter :-)

You can then fiddle with the 'Curve' control to optimise the sound of the result, max +ve will give the greatest loudness and mid position will provide slightly less loudness but more realism. Max -ve will seem to actually increase the dynamic range making the loud bits louder than the softer bits - which may allow you compress even harder in your comp/limiter and use shorter release time settings - because the inflator will cover up some of the side effects this would have caused.

Originally Posted by XAOSMOS ➡️

Free Inflator course 2006

Originally Posted by tviler ➡️

Intrigued by the air of mystery, I also investigated this plugin and came to the same conclusion as others before me; it's a waveshaper.

That doesn't make it bad or not worth the asking price. The controls and curves are very well tuned for the purpose of increasing perceived loudness. However I have to say the vague way Sonnox describes the plugin feels a little disingenuous. For example the manual seems to imply it is some kind of probabilistic statistical process:



If that is how it is implemented, then the effect appears to be identical to a conventional waveshaper. Perhaps a good plugin dressed as secret sauce sells better than just a good plugin.

I figured out the waveshaping function it uses (or at least something close), and was able to create pretty good nulls using Melda MWaveShaper. Here's a video demonstrating that:



The waveshaping curves:
(Math warning)

The waveshaping function of Inflator is:
This gives us the following resulting curves:

At +50:
2⋅x - x²

at 0:
³⁄2⋅x - ¹⁄₁₆⋅x² - ³⁄₈⋅x³ - ¹⁄₁₆⋅x⁴

at -50:
x + ³⁄₄⋅x² - ¹⁄₂⋅x³ - ¹⁄₄⋅x⁴


The Clip 0 dB off mode:
In this mode Inflator takes overshooting samples and maps them back under 0 dB. It uses the curve according to the shape parameter for levels up to 0 dB. The overshooting samples are mapped back down below 0 dB according to a curve similar to the +50 curve, ie. 2⋅x - x², regardless of what curve is set to.

I didn't investigate the multiband mode. According to the manual it splits the signal into three bands, which are processed independently.

Curve presets for MWaveShaper attached:

Originally Posted by Mikael B ➡️

And 2020:

Originally Posted by traumerei1838 ➡️

I sure am glad I had the $29 to get the real thing and not have to deal with this approximate hack that doesn't null when Clip is disabled, and didn't even attempt to do Band Split mode.

Originally Posted by dikrek ➡️

how

Originally Posted by traumerei1838 ➡️

There appear to be myriad Inflator clones out there.



But to stay on the topic of this thread, Inflator is $29. IMO if time is money, I'm not going to chase down imitations and the subsequent shoot-outs to see how close I get to the real thing.

Back on topic, Inflator is one of a handful of plugins that can situate the low mids and mids correctly and make a mix project forward, properly. For weak mixes, it's a no-brainer.

Paul Frindle recommends Band Split mode for harmonically complex material, though sometimes I've found it useful on really simple acoustic singer-songwriter material.

It's so low on CPU that I would think it's at least auditioning on a signal before assuming it can't help out.

Originally Posted by hello people ➡️

I don't know. From a novice perspective what Inflator does is increase the volume. I get that there's probably all manner of harmonic this and soft clipped that or subtle distortion here and slight saturation there. But to the untrained ear it just...increases the volume.

Originally Posted by dikrek ➡️

It’s not $29 any more it seems, over 100 when I posted this right now.

Given the free JS inflator also added oversampling and linear phase, what does the original do better?

Originally Posted by dikrek ➡️

It increases the apparent volume - not the real levels

Originally Posted by crx979 ➡️

If you're not chasing the latest and lowest LUFs world record it provides zero value. It's one of the most overhyped plugins out there.

It just doesn't sound good.

Originally Posted by tviler ➡️

Intrigued by the air of mystery, I also investigated this plugin and came to the same conclusion as others before me; it's a waveshaper.

That doesn't make it bad or not worth the asking price. The controls and curves are very well tuned for the purpose of increasing perceived loudness. However I have to say the vague way Sonnox describes the plugin feels a little disingenuous. For example the manual seems to imply it is some kind of probabilistic statistical process:



If that is how it is implemented, then the effect appears to be identical to a conventional waveshaper. Perhaps a good plugin dressed as secret sauce sells better than just a good plugin.

I figured out the waveshaping function it uses (or at least something close), and was able to create pretty good nulls using Melda MWaveShaper. Here's a video demonstrating that:



The waveshaping curves:
(Math warning)

The waveshaping function of Inflator is:
This gives us the following resulting curves:

At +50:
2⋅x - x²

at 0:
³⁄2⋅x - ¹⁄₁₆⋅x² - ³⁄₈⋅x³ - ¹⁄₁₆⋅x⁴

at -50:
x + ³⁄₄⋅x² - ¹⁄₂⋅x³ - ¹⁄₄⋅x⁴


The Clip 0 dB off mode:
In this mode Inflator takes overshooting samples and maps them back under 0 dB. It uses the curve according to the shape parameter for levels up to 0 dB. The overshooting samples are mapped back down below 0 dB according to a curve similar to the +50 curve, ie. 2⋅x - x², regardless of what curve is set to.

I didn't investigate the multiband mode. According to the manual it splits the signal into three bands, which are processed independently.

Curve presets for MWaveShaper attached:

Originally Posted by Asherd0825 ➡️

The presets don't open for some reason. I made the folder and imported the presets but when I click the curve it still looks like the default preset.

Originally Posted by Asherd0825 ➡️

The presets don't open for some reason. I made the folder and imported the presets but when I click the curve it still looks like the default preset.

Originally Posted by Mikael B ➡️

I went back all the way to v15 and v14 and this problem was the same in all of these. Tried VST, VST3 and AU. v12 wouldn't load. Not even in Live 10 running under Rosetta2.

Originally Posted by dikrek ➡️

It’s not $29 any more it seems, over 100 when I posted this right now.

Given the free JS inflator also added oversampling and linear phase, what does the original do better?

Originally Posted by traumerei1838 ➡️

$29 on plugin boutique.

Originally Posted by Mikael B ➡️

This on PB now seems gone, but Sweetwater has Inflator for $39 for 10 more days or so.

Originally Posted by dikrek ➡️

Sure but is it better than the free one?

Originally Posted by dikrek ➡️

Sure but is it better than the free one?