Dude this channel s too f*cking good. I was thinking about picking up this plug-in and have been trying to find a good video explaining exactly what it does under the hood. I must have watched like 7 videos before this one (including one from UA), and NONE of them explain the plug-in this well. Hats off, seriously, this channel is so consistent with down to earth, practical content. Just wanted to say thank you!!!
I sometimes use it as a „finisher“ on my drum buss or lead vocals, using it 25-30% of its effect. Then automate the effect fader or input fader instead of the volume fader is the track itself.
I finally got this recently and it's great. It's so funny though, once you've used it you can hear it in use on so many albums you've listened to hundreds of times before but never knew how they got that sound 👍
My friend DAVID,I know a year passed since this one posted,you can't believe today,I decided to learn how inflator process,imagine I started searching on UA-cam,and the first channel,for fourteen minutes I couldn't be sure if am catching up knowlegde or not,the second one is this channel'MIX BUS TV' for only just your introduction,for two and half minutes is just way much better,I wonder how if am gonna through,I trust you man,your shits make a lot of sense,I appreciate the way you don't want to bargain cheep ,and coz it's your real thing,and you love what your doin!it's real honest though.your helping a lot of us 'home studio' for real,thanks man,greatings from East Africa Tanzania 🇹🇿
Inflator has been hyped and over hyped for way too long now. It’s marketing makes you feel it uses a special alorithm to achieve loudness. It is a basic waveshaper. Mwaveshaper from Melda does the absolute exact same thing, and more… for free. The only argument being thrown around is “yeah but world class engineers use it everyday”. Well this is the perfect example of the fact that the majority isn’t always right. And that those world class enginneers fell for the hype marketing of Sonnox. It’s a just simple waveshaper.
The only thing I wish this incredible plugin has is a unity gain option to seamlessly compare before and after without the volume jump instead of having to manually do it.
I've had this plug for years, but never thought to play around with input gain like that. Also never thought to take the clip button off. Lol. Nice vid
SALE ALERT ! £28,75 today for Halloween :-) Thanks David !! (EDIT: Just got it, I already demo'ed it before but your video explains really well what's happening and it is very useful thanks !!)
I love your more honest responses haha. I bought this a couple years ago and have been neglecting it. I'll have to start trying it on things again. Thanks for the great reviews and other content you make.
Only not. Split function alone won't be matched. What you believe you can do is based on one static setting without split and no changes im curve. And that's still just close and you wasted time
Do some research and you'll see theres plenty of online opinion that disagree with you... But i'm not the one selling plug ins. Did the parent company pay you for this? :P
"I shouldn't do this." heh Thank you for sharing, David! no use keeping all the secrets to yourself :) I might pick this up soon and finally get around to acquiring the CLA plugins, too.
I remember I tested that plugin some time ago and I was impressed with it... I like your vids, so honest and useful. A "maximizer" shootout would be funny...so many developer has released real interesting plugins in latest years. Thanks
An incredibly helpful review David. I'm new to this plugin loved the way you covered all aspects of this plugin. Describing what it is and what it is not and demos on how to use it effectively . . . thank you.
The "effect" fader is literally just a dry/wet control. The "effect" itself is a rather simple construct around the sin(x) function, like a wave folder. With "clip" enabled, it will just hard-clip samples x>0.5π to 1.0, because 0.5π is where the sin(x) function returns 1.0. The "curve" just accelerates or decellerates the x that is passed into the sin(x) function, most likely by pow()-ing it first. There is zero look-ahead, zero dynamics processing, zero expansion, absolutely nothing magical going on, just school book math. The thing is a waveshaper, and it doesn't even oversample (read: aliases like hell). While I agree that sine-based clipping is the best and most natural clipping method around (because it stays closer to linear for longer than other sigmoid functions) and everybody should use it instead of tanh() based clippers, this video doesn't convey any of that. Just a lot of unfounded claims and assumptions that further the worshipping of a plugin as supernatural - while it's provably trivial in nature. My guess is, it was on sale at the time and this was an unmarked paid (or otherwise compensated) promotion, just like the Softube Weiss video. Sorry if I'm wrong, but I don't know what else would cause someone to ramble on for so long about something while clearly having no clue about its inner workings. 🤷♀
I don't know how someone could write a book bitching about a plugin that has been used to mix more records than he has ever listened in his life. But if you're so good where are your plug-ins? Or your records?
ua-cam.com/video/S5Lt3nuPOKw/v-deo.html Just released a mini-course on that, there's not inflator but another one alike and everything else. It's still in intro price for $20 USD
Can this plugin be used on individual busses eg … drums bass keys vocals etc for colour and percived loudness and also Just before the final limiter as a clipper to cut off clips
Hi mixbus hope your doing well. Whats the diffrence between this and lets say shapeshifter (if you know that plugin?) What i hear you do i achieve with shapeshifter. Is this plugin still worth it for future garage/hiphop? Its on sale now on pb.
Inflator is a classic plugin that was used on countless hits, doens't matter if you could, somehow, mimic to get close to this working hard another plugin. This is IT, the original, THE one. It's on sale? Just get it.
Awesome thanks, totally going to snap this up, I wasn't aware of it. Wish it had some type of auto gain compensation option toggle though? Sure it's easy enough to use without though
Ha! 17 Years using this plugin, and after watching this, I think I finally understand it properly now! Thinking back, this was THE sound of some of my best mixes.
Really liked the song at the end ("New Moon Wish" by NEST) if anyone is interested... Thank's for the demo just bought it on plugin boutique for cheap !
It's great and it does what it sets out to do by making things LOUD! I compared it to my favorite clippers and it does not go louder without adding distortion. I was expecting another 1 or 2 dBs but I reach the same threshold before audible distortion sets in. When on sale it is a much cheaper alternative to the most expensive clipper/limiters out there.
It was released in 2007 and people only took 16 years to figure out what it was, and you're lol 'ing?? Lol that's pretty ironic 😂 besides, that is until you touch band split. I would laugh
@@mixbustv It is a multiband sinoid clipper when you press the band split button with the cut being around 100hz ish at 12db per octave. People have always known it is a clipper.
@@mixbustv for example your vocal chain Desser eq compression Multiband compressor etc.. where would inflator go at the end or beginning of chain to get the best results
@@producerfuji_official it's a saturator and unfortunately, there's no "set" place for it because nothing like saturation is program dependent. Usually you want it after your corrective eq and first stage of compression but whether or not you will need a deesser before, after, before AND after as well as eq (because depending on the material it can bring up unwanted frequencies) or anything else, it's anyone guess and it changes every time. Experience will tell you where and how much
Hi Dave, Have you had a chance to to try out DSM (Dynamic Spectrum Mapper) I could never really get to grips with it but know that I should, it seems pretty straight forward and very powerful but for some reason I can't get to using it to its full potential. I wonder if you could do a video on how to use it properly and whether or not it could be used in conjunction with the above Inflator to achieve a higher power mix ? Thanks
Yes and it's the one plugin that simply defeated me. I know it's great, I can't find uses for it aside from deessing. The problem is that has a quite long learning curve and I just don't have much time to experiment
@@mixbustv Dee-essing? hmm that's different. I thought is was a master buss comp full throttle thingy? ah well, some time in the future when you get some time, have a play with it and if you recon you can get your head around it, maybe enlighten me too. Thanks buddy and keep up the great work..
ONE THING THAT YOU DONT DO MUCH IN YOUR VIDEOS ISSHOW THE BYPAST SIGNAL ON THE SAME VOLUME SO WE CAN ACTUALLY HEAR THE COLOUR OF THE PLUG IN...I THINK IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO DO
they have reduced it again now to £69. What did people pay in their sale upto the 2nd? was it lower than that, i cant remember what i was about to buy it for on saturday...
@@mixbustv I usually use bx digital v3 Into SPL passeq, light saturation mix in the blackbox, shadow hills compressor, T-rack5 Clipper into a limiter. Not sure all of that is correct but thats what has given me decent results so far haha.
Superb, what it look ´s like in my room is when the curve it ´s increased the mix become wider, i don ´t like it for Hip Hop, or electronic at least on this mix u show us. thanks
Hi David, ...if I buy this and use it should it be very last in mastering chain so I would put it in this order limiter, clipper then inflator very last? Or should it be clipper, inflator and limiter last? Is it a waste of time if I push this to -9db lufs for Spotify when Spotify reduce it to -14db or will I still get perceived loudness on Spotify? Cheers mate
It's better to put a brickwall limiter after it. Even tho' it can function as a brickwall limiter, is not meant to be and depending on the settings you see in the video it can go past zero. As for the other question, it's a bit of an endless debate. Pushing a mix to high level is not just volume, it's density and many more things (check out my latest mastering course ua-cam.com/video/S5Lt3nuPOKw/v-deo.html ) So even given the same LUFS a well mastered mix (stress on WELL mastered) will still be perceived as louder, while a badly mastered mix will sound well, just bad and now lower in volume. So yeah, tricky question.
Thank you for the info. Is it wise to put it as last effect on my master chain? As a limiter? Or do I still put a limiter after this? (I know you said it isn’t a brick wall limiter... just checking to be sure)
Danny Jones if you kindly write to plugin boutique and see if they have an extra coupon code laying around as your funds was not yet available they may be able to help you. It worked for me numerous times 👍👍
Soundart001 not at all what happened with me was that the sale was over and I wrote to them via chat on their web page and said in so many words I didn’t know the sale was over or I was waiting for payday to get the Air complete bundle I think it was and the guy at pluginboutique wrote to me saying let me see if theirs any more codes laying around or something like that and all though the sale was over they complemented me with a code to put in at check out and it brought it down to the sale price. It may work try it.
Hey David, is the “enhance” feature in the Oxford Limiter the same as the Inflator? And is it redundant to use both the Inflator followed by the Sonnox limiter (with the enhance option) in the same mastering chain? Thanks so much
fine line and we could even say they are the same at the core but they have (all saturators do) important differences that makes their use very different. The differences are basically the algos used, this one has one versatile algo, saturn has many. This one is an enhancer, meaning it's purposely designed to do one thing, increase perceived loudness. Saturn is a saturator with different algos, it *can* increase perceived loudness as well on some material but in my opinion not near as good as this one (I love FF, saturn is the least in their line for me, still good tho') A saturator *can* have as a biproduct of the saturation soft clipping, a clipper soft clips as main task which does add some saturation. Again, it's a fine line but in use, you would rarely swap them
I just copped this. -2db LUFS here I come! jk lol EDIT: So far I have found that adding multiple instances of Inflator can lead to really nice results rather than simply pushing one instance.
@@mishalzeera yes of course they are, the video will probably clarify all of that. There are reasons as to why people still want loud, despite the few who like to say the loudness war is over, is not over, it's changed.
David can you please explain why would you use Inflator in mastering now that the "loudness war" is over? (Or so they say). I understand it's still useful in mixing, to increase density etc. But for loudness? Today it doesnt seem as crucial as it was years ago. Also, would you recommend inflator for scoustic music, jazz etc? Thanks a lot!
Yes definitely great for mixing single tracks groups etc.. But, why do you think the loudness war is over? Because it's not I can assure you. Some clients also want different versions for streaming and it's definitely not as bad as it was some years ago but for the most part, especially in some genres EDM, some Metal, etc.. it's still very much alive. But, the plugin can be used in mastering in a very subtle way, and it sounds great actually, if you think about it, this was designed for extreme levels, which will always bring some degree of distortion and "smashed sound" if you're not required to go up to stupid levels it's much easier. But no, the war is still there, and even if platform require a certain level, perceived loudness is not about numbers: you can have 2 mixes/masters measuring -14 and one it's gonna sound louder than the other. Inflator for acoustic and jazz for sure, classical? maybe not
Hey David thanks for this video! Do you normally put the inflator before your limiter? Also if using a clipper as well would that go before or after inflator? Thanks!
I don't know it's vst only, I'm not a fan of using vsts in Pro Tools, they should make an AAX. But lately I've been substituting almost all my Inflator instances with P42
Not at all, Limiter #6 is a compressor, HF reduction (deesser), brickwall limiter, clipper and sort of a final analog emulation of an adda clipping. This is at its core an exciter and psychoacoustic processor, it tricks your briain, Lim6 is a dynamic processor
so where in your mastering chain do you tend to place it? I know you like clippers too. Do you tend to use one or the other depending on the material or both? Does your final limiter get placed after it as the last process of your ITB mastering chain? always curious. cheers!
Brickwall lims are always the last thing. I don't use inflator in mastering really, once every blue moon but when that happens, it depends, just because I never know what it comes before it, most likely an eq but it could be before or after the inflator depending how much i'm doing with it and how the material reacts, but it's usually before my analog chain
If you listen carefully, he does say that sometimes at least he uses this in a chain with a clipper and a limiter. It would be useful to hear more about the common use cases, but I'm guessing a little experimentation on your own will reveal the cases that make sense and get the results you might need.
Getting this today, one question, what would be a normal place you would put the inflator in the mastering chain? Right at the beginning? Just before the final limiter? Or after the limiter? Cant seem to find a good answer online.
Because it's not a given that you'd put it on a mastering chain in the first place. This is a pretty heavy handed processor and it can make a mastering chain 1 out of 10 times. The second reason is because other than before the final limiter, there's no way to know where because there is also no way to know what else do you have at any given time. Understand what it does and that will tell you case by case where
The good old inflater baby, the inflater is beast i been since 2006 i only use it to bring up my mix probably like extra 1 or 2Bd, i have use it in minute, i might start using again
@@mixbustv thanks a lot! There use to be days when basic knowledge would never be given without years of dedication… thankfully we’re wise and mature enough these days to create a even platform… thanks again for everything you do, easily my most watch audio production channel
Yes, i don't know why some people here say no, also it works on everything including mastering and no need to put a limiter after or before, of course you can do it but i been using it and it works well just itself
Hi David. Another excellent video! Thank you. When using the Inflator for mastering, is it typically the first plugin in the chain before any EQ, compression, stereo imaging and limiting?
eq can be before or after, sometimes it can bring up boxiness at negative settings, everything else after, given I rarely use compression in mastering at all and stereo imaging might be 50% of the times
Dude this channel s too f*cking good. I was thinking about picking up this plug-in and have been trying to find a good video explaining exactly what it does under the hood. I must have watched like 7 videos before this one (including one from UA), and NONE of them explain the plug-in this well. Hats off, seriously, this channel is so consistent with down to earth, practical content. Just wanted to say thank you!!!
🙏
I sometimes use it as a „finisher“ on my drum buss or lead vocals, using it 25-30% of its effect. Then automate the effect fader or input fader instead of the volume fader is the track itself.
It's a bout time that SOMEBODY has a coherent video on HOW this works, and all of its functions. THANK YOU, David!
I finally got this recently and it's great. It's so funny though, once you've used it you can hear it in use on so many albums you've listened to hundreds of times before but never knew how they got that sound 👍
Yep!
@@mixbustv Do you usually leave effect at 100% and add in the curve?
My friend DAVID,I know a year passed since this one posted,you can't believe today,I decided to learn how inflator process,imagine I started searching on UA-cam,and the first channel,for fourteen minutes I couldn't be sure if am catching up knowlegde or not,the second one is this channel'MIX BUS TV' for only just your introduction,for two and half minutes is just way much better,I wonder how if am gonna through,I trust you man,your shits make a lot of sense,I appreciate the way you don't want to bargain cheep ,and coz it's your real thing,and you love what your doin!it's real honest though.your helping a lot of us 'home studio' for real,thanks man,greatings from East Africa Tanzania 🇹🇿
Inflator has been hyped and over hyped for way too long now. It’s marketing makes you feel it uses a special alorithm to achieve loudness. It is a basic waveshaper. Mwaveshaper from Melda does the absolute exact same thing, and more… for free. The only argument being thrown around is “yeah but world class engineers use it everyday”. Well this is the perfect example of the fact that the majority isn’t always right. And that those world class enginneers fell for the hype marketing of Sonnox. It’s a just simple waveshaper.
You know who coded that plugin right? Don't believe everything you say on YT
You’re absolutely right, it’s not a compressor yet it fools into thinking it is, who care who coded it or how it was done what does it sound like?
The only thing I wish this incredible plugin has is a unity gain option to seamlessly compare before and after without the volume jump instead of having to manually do it.
AGREED
This is great! Thank you! 🙌
your clients got some fire songs lol damn, appreciate your tutorial by the way man..your communication skills are A1
Man you aint never lied
I've had this plug for years, but never thought to play around with input gain like that. Also never thought to take the clip button off. Lol. Nice vid
Using Inflator on my master bus sometimes with band split desingaged.
SALE ALERT ! £28,75 today for Halloween :-) Thanks David !! (EDIT: Just got it, I already demo'ed it before but your video explains really well what's happening and it is very useful thanks !!)
I love your more honest responses haha. I bought this a couple years ago and have been neglecting it. I'll have to start trying it on things again. Thanks for the great reviews and other content you make.
Great video as always David! Best channel about audio on UA-cam BY FAR!
I know this is an old video now but, did you ever run the inflator followed by the Oxford limiter?
You can make your own on abelton with the saturater plug in - it’s like 99.9 pct accurate
Only not. Split function alone won't be matched. What you believe you can do is based on one static setting without split and no changes im curve. And that's still just close and you wasted time
Do some research and you'll see theres plenty of online opinion that disagree with you... But i'm not the one selling plug ins. Did the parent company pay you for this? :P
this one is definitely on my list of things to pick up. Currently I like using the XL knob with the brainworx limiter for a similar approach
BX_XL_V2 FTW!
That BX limiter is ridiculously good.
"I shouldn't do this." heh
Thank you for sharing, David! no use keeping all the secrets to yourself :)
I might pick this up soon and finally get around to acquiring the CLA plugins, too.
Man great video on the Inflator. Great explanations and insights. Really appreciate. Thanks brother.
Great music. Great demo!
int it just a static wave shaper?
No
Yes it is !
YOU are the Inflator of UA-cam mixing channels! Thank you David.
Awsome Plugin -i use it as an Aux Send to almost all my channels. Proper Gain Staging on the channels and then inflate the crap out of em.
Can I ask you what's the difference between something like the Standard Clipper and Inflator? In your opinion which one is the best?
I remember I tested that plugin some time ago and I was impressed with it... I like your vids, so honest and useful. A "maximizer" shootout would be funny...so many developer has released real interesting plugins in latest years. Thanks
Thank you David. On my to buy list now. ;-)
An incredibly helpful review David. I'm new to this plugin loved the way you covered all aspects of this plugin. Describing what it is and what it is not and demos on how to use it effectively . . . thank you.
The "effect" fader is literally just a dry/wet control.
The "effect" itself is a rather simple construct around the sin(x) function, like a wave folder.
With "clip" enabled, it will just hard-clip samples x>0.5π to 1.0, because 0.5π is where the sin(x) function returns 1.0.
The "curve" just accelerates or decellerates the x that is passed into the sin(x) function, most likely by pow()-ing it first.
There is zero look-ahead, zero dynamics processing, zero expansion, absolutely nothing magical going on, just school book math.
The thing is a waveshaper, and it doesn't even oversample (read: aliases like hell).
While I agree that sine-based clipping is the best and most natural clipping method around (because it stays closer to linear for longer than other sigmoid functions) and everybody should use it instead of tanh() based clippers, this video doesn't convey any of that. Just a lot of unfounded claims and assumptions that further the worshipping of a plugin as supernatural - while it's provably trivial in nature. My guess is, it was on sale at the time and this was an unmarked paid (or otherwise compensated) promotion, just like the Softube Weiss video.
Sorry if I'm wrong, but I don't know what else would cause someone to ramble on for so long about something while clearly having no clue about its inner workings. 🤷♀
I don't know how someone could write a book bitching about a plugin that has been used to mix more records than he has ever listened in his life. But if you're so good where are your plug-ins? Or your records?
100% correct. I was hopping to see a comment like this here 👍🏽
Hey David. It was a very insightful tutorial. Could you please make a mastering tutorial using inflator, clipper, and a limiter working together?
ua-cam.com/video/S5Lt3nuPOKw/v-deo.html Just released a mini-course on that, there's not inflator but another one alike and everything else. It's still in intro price for $20 USD
@@mixbustv thanks man. Will surely check it out.
Best audio channel on UA-cam. End of discussion.
Can this plugin be used on individual busses eg … drums bass keys vocals etc for colour and percived loudness and also Just before the final limiter as a clipper to cut off clips
Yes.
Which limiter do you use in combination with the inflator?
Hi mixbus hope your doing well. Whats the diffrence between this and lets say shapeshifter (if you know that plugin?) What i hear you do i achieve with shapeshifter. Is this plugin still worth it for future garage/hiphop? Its on sale now on pb.
Inflator is a classic plugin that was used on countless hits, doens't matter if you could, somehow, mimic to get close to this working hard another plugin. This is IT, the original, THE one. It's on sale? Just get it.
@@mixbustv yeah its on sale for 40 bucks right now. Thnx for the reply👍
What the f.....,this is exactly what i need!!!!! Thanx for this Video Man!!!!!
Great explanation, I bought this and haven't used it much but will be giving it another shot with this new info
What are the pros and cons of mixing into the Inflator?
I would never mix into it. It's like starting a paint with a red canvas instead of white
@@mixbustv Wait a second? Didn’t I just hear you say you do it yourself from time to time, depending on the genre? 8:30
Once again, another fine demonstration with all of the right talking points. Thank you so much!
I’d like to see an example of a single track vocal for voice-over people.
Great Channel man, keep the good work and do not let a few individuals let you down. Thanks for everything :)
Awesome thanks, totally going to snap this up, I wasn't aware of it. Wish it had some type of auto gain compensation option toggle though? Sure it's easy enough to use without though
Nice Front242-ish, Cassandra Complex-ish, etc-ish like tune :)
I forgot how good this sounds, better than any of ozones setting for loud without pumping or distortion.
Ha! 17 Years using this plugin, and after watching this, I think I finally understand it properly now! Thinking back, this was THE sound of some of my best mixes.
Really liked the song at the end ("New Moon Wish" by NEST) if anyone is interested...
Thank's for the demo just bought it on plugin boutique for cheap !
It's great and it does what it sets out to do by making things LOUD! I compared it to my favorite clippers and it does not go louder without adding distortion. I was expecting another 1 or 2 dBs but I reach the same threshold before audible distortion sets in. When on sale it is a much cheaper alternative to the most expensive clipper/limiters out there.
Right? I agree. Trying out a demo of it currently, but I find the T-Racks classic clipper is just as good, if not better for me.
@@Noisa yes, it seems like there is a general ceiling to the loudness clippers can reach. I will check out that clipper you are referring to. Thanks.
Try the free JS Inflator which is a knock off, or the free MWaveShaper with the Inflator preset.
@@phadrus thank you
Look at the plugin doctor analysis on it its literally just a sinoid clipper you can do this with a waveshaper.
It was released in 2007 and people only took 16 years to figure out what it was, and you're lol 'ing?? Lol that's pretty ironic 😂 besides, that is until you touch band split. I would laugh
@@mixbustv It is a multiband sinoid clipper when you press the band split button with the cut being around 100hz ish at 12db per octave. People have always known it is a clipper.
Question in your your plugin chain should this plugin go first or last in your plugin chain to get the best results???
what chain?
@@mixbustv for example your vocal chain Desser eq compression Multiband compressor etc.. where would inflator go at the end or beginning of chain to get the best results
@@producerfuji_official it's a saturator and unfortunately, there's no "set" place for it because nothing like saturation is program dependent. Usually you want it after your corrective eq and first stage of compression but whether or not you will need a deesser before, after, before AND after as well as eq (because depending on the material it can bring up unwanted frequencies) or anything else, it's anyone guess and it changes every time. Experience will tell you where and how much
@@mixbustv ok thank you 🙏🏽
Hi Dave, Have you had a chance to to try out DSM (Dynamic Spectrum Mapper) I could never really get to grips with it but know that I should, it seems pretty straight forward and very powerful but for some reason I can't get to using it to its full potential. I wonder if you could do a video on how to use it properly and whether or not it could be used in conjunction with the above Inflator to achieve a higher power mix ?
Thanks
Yes and it's the one plugin that simply defeated me. I know it's great, I can't find uses for it aside from deessing. The problem is that has a quite long learning curve and I just don't have much time to experiment
@@mixbustv Dee-essing? hmm that's different. I thought is was a master buss comp full throttle thingy? ah well, some time in the future when you get some time, have a play with it and if you recon you can get your head around it, maybe enlighten me too.
Thanks buddy and keep up the great work..
ONE THING THAT YOU DONT DO MUCH IN YOUR VIDEOS ISSHOW THE BYPAST SIGNAL ON THE SAME VOLUME SO WE CAN ACTUALLY HEAR THE COLOUR OF THE PLUG IN...I THINK IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO DO
WOULD ALSO BE A GOOD IDEA NOT TO SCREAM IN THE COMMENT SECTION, THANK YOU!
they have reduced it again now to £69. What did people pay in their sale upto the 2nd? was it lower than that, i cant remember what i was about to buy it for on saturday...
@@saardean4481 weird i see £69. cant afford even that, sue it was less than that, oh well
very powerful plugin. Are there alternative out there from other plugin manufacturers?
nope
Yes, Inflator is a basic waveshaper. The Melda Mwaveshaper is free and does the same thing and more.
🙌🏿🙌🏿great video
Another superb video. thank you
If you are using this in a mastering chain, where would you recommend placing it for maximum efficiency
It depends what other things you're using, assuming a baasic chain of eq first, this would go after, before the final limiter
@@mixbustv I usually use bx digital v3 Into SPL passeq, light saturation mix in the blackbox, shadow hills compressor, T-rack5 Clipper into a limiter. Not sure all of that is correct but thats what has given me decent results so far haha.
@@spacecadet3879 you'd put it in place of the clipper and most likely won't need the blackbox at all
Superb, what it look ´s like in my room is when the curve it ´s increased the mix become wider, i don ´t like it for Hip Hop, or electronic at least on this mix u show us. thanks
I wish the comparison was Volume compensated .
The level drops way to much when you bypass , hard to make a judgement.
That is the entire point of the video and this plugin. The perceived loudness increases given the same peak level.
@@mixbustv gottcha!
Thank you for great and informative content!
"I shouldn't do this."
lmao!!!
David ditched this plugin for the P42 Climax new version lololololol For that new plugin, The Sat on M/S has me sold!!!
Thanks sensei!
Voxengo - Vari Saturator is a perfect alternative.
you are the loudness monster, señor; thanks for these videos !
Hi David, ...if I buy this and use it should it be very last in mastering chain so I would put it in this order limiter, clipper then inflator very last? Or should it be clipper, inflator and limiter last?
Is it a waste of time if I push this to -9db lufs for Spotify when Spotify reduce it to -14db or will I still get perceived loudness on Spotify? Cheers mate
It's better to put a brickwall limiter after it. Even tho' it can function as a brickwall limiter, is not meant to be and depending on the settings you see in the video it can go past zero.
As for the other question, it's a bit of an endless debate. Pushing a mix to high level is not just volume, it's density and many more things (check out my latest mastering course ua-cam.com/video/S5Lt3nuPOKw/v-deo.html )
So even given the same LUFS a well mastered mix (stress on WELL mastered) will still be perceived as louder, while a badly mastered mix will sound well, just bad and now lower in volume.
So yeah, tricky question.
Its on SALE for CHEAP RIGHT NOW!!!! (as of 11.3.20)
that was great, thanks!
Thank you for the info. Is it wise to put it as last effect on my master chain? As a limiter?
Or do I still put a limiter after this?
(I know you said it isn’t a brick wall limiter... just checking to be sure)
No you don't want this as you last
ugh! nearly bought it on saturday night, now it's not on offer. maybe next time. thanks for the info.
Danny Jones if you kindly write to plugin boutique and see if they have an extra coupon code laying around as your funds was not yet available they may be able to help you. It worked for me numerous times 👍👍
@@Cramz It only works if one has a coupon?
Soundart001 not at all what happened with me was that the sale was over and I wrote to them via chat on their web page and said in so many words I didn’t know the sale was over or I was waiting for payday to get the Air complete bundle I think it was and the guy at pluginboutique wrote to me saying let me see if theirs any more codes laying around or something like that and all though the sale was over they complemented me with a code to put in at check out and it brought it down to the sale price. It may work try it.
Cramz Burry cool! thank you :)))
@@Cramz thanks, can't remember what was the sale price?
Hey David, is the “enhance” feature in the Oxford Limiter the same as the Inflator? And is it redundant to use both the Inflator followed by the Sonnox limiter (with the enhance option) in the same mastering chain? Thanks so much
No it's quite different but I can't imagine using both on a mix as they're both pretty heavy and for the most part, both enhance the midrange
@@mixbustv thanks David! 👊 You’ve been a huge factor in my growth as an engineer.
Thanks for the info! Where is the offer though? The price on Sonnox website is lower than what’s on plug-in boutique! Is there a coupon code?
expired
What song is that on 11:30 ? :) Sounds interesting. What is the name of that band?
Sydney Vallette
@@mixbustv thank you so much man! :) :)
Sorry if I ask this stupid question but what is the difference between a clipper like this and a saturator like saturn?
fine line and we could even say they are the same at the core but they have (all saturators do) important differences that makes their use very different.
The differences are basically the algos used, this one has one versatile algo, saturn has many. This one is an enhancer, meaning it's purposely designed to do one thing, increase perceived loudness. Saturn is a saturator with different algos, it *can* increase perceived loudness as well on some material but in my opinion not near as good as this one (I love FF, saturn is the least in their line for me, still good tho')
A saturator *can* have as a biproduct of the saturation soft clipping, a clipper soft clips as main task which does add some saturation. Again, it's a fine line but in use, you would rarely swap them
@@mixbustv thank you for the explanation. I need a clipper now hahahaha
I just copped this. -2db LUFS here I come! jk lol
EDIT: So far I have found that adding multiple instances of Inflator can lead to really nice results rather than simply pushing one instance.
Yeah, like serial compression almost. Interesting idea.
Holy shit can't believe I slept on this after all these years. This thing really is magic. -2 with no effort at all 🤣
Depending on intended end platform, isn't excessive loudness less desirable for streaming services?
I have a video coming up on this subject, is not as straight forward as it seems
I have noticed that since I took Spotify's loudness normalising into account, my mixes do come up quieter. Somethings afoot here.
@@mishalzeera yes of course they are, the video will probably clarify all of that. There are reasons as to why people still want loud, despite the few who like to say the loudness war is over, is not over, it's changed.
11:28 cool track
what's the song at 13:19? Pretty cool
The Nest - New Moon. I mixed and mastered it some time ago
The inflator was Dr Dre's secret on his 2001 album 😜😁
Proof?
David can you please explain why would you use Inflator in mastering now that the "loudness war" is over? (Or so they say). I understand it's still useful in mixing, to increase density etc. But for loudness? Today it doesnt seem as crucial as it was years ago. Also, would you recommend inflator for scoustic music, jazz etc? Thanks a lot!
Yes definitely great for mixing single tracks groups etc.. But, why do you think the loudness war is over? Because it's not I can assure you. Some clients also want different versions for streaming and it's definitely not as bad as it was some years ago but for the most part, especially in some genres EDM, some Metal, etc.. it's still very much alive. But, the plugin can be used in mastering in a very subtle way, and it sounds great actually, if you think about it, this was designed for extreme levels, which will always bring some degree of distortion and "smashed sound" if you're not required to go up to stupid levels it's much easier. But no, the war is still there, and even if platform require a certain level, perceived loudness is not about numbers: you can have 2 mixes/masters measuring -14 and one it's gonna sound louder than the other.
Inflator for acoustic and jazz for sure, classical? maybe not
@@mixbustv Thanks a lot David! Long life to MixbusTv from a fellow italian! :-)
12:18 has this been released!? what a track.
Yes, it's Syndey Valette, don't remember the title it should be the Brothers EP, I mastered it all so yeah, one of the songs in there
Do yoy put it before or after the compressor? Thanks.
Thank David!
🤘🙏
wow, do you think this will work well on the master channel for House music?
yes, used conservatively, for sure. On sale now for $30 USD bit.ly/3lHxKAK
Dave i need to do my music but also i am wasting away 9 st now. How do you divide your time in the studio and working out ? Thanks Sean.
I live in the studio pretty much
Is there a big difference compared to Waves Vitamin? They are very similar, or?
They're not even close
Hey David thanks for this video! Do you normally put the inflator before your limiter? Also if using a clipper as well would that go before or after inflator? Thanks!
Limiter (s) go last, always. And yes there can be a clipper, 2, 3, before after no rules
@@mixbustv Thanks!
What about the Arboreal PiMAX as a cheaper alternative? Is it good enough?
I don't know it's vst only, I'm not a fan of using vsts in Pro Tools, they should make an AAX. But lately I've been substituting almost all my Inflator instances with P42
i have the same keyboard as you!
You got nice music my G 🔥🔥🔥
Isn't this doing almost what Limiter no6 does?
Not at all, Limiter #6 is a compressor, HF reduction (deesser), brickwall limiter, clipper and sort of a final analog emulation of an adda clipping. This is at its core an exciter and psychoacoustic processor, it tricks your briain, Lim6 is a dynamic processor
so where in your mastering chain do you tend to place it? I know you like clippers too. Do you tend to use one or the other depending on the material or both? Does your final limiter get placed after it as the last process of your ITB mastering chain? always curious. cheers!
Brickwall lims are always the last thing. I don't use inflator in mastering really, once every blue moon but when that happens, it depends, just because I never know what it comes before it, most likely an eq but it could be before or after the inflator depending how much i'm doing with it and how the material reacts, but it's usually before my analog chain
@@mixbustv fabulous, thank you so very much for sharing your perspectives and general methods. absolutely dynamite.
Would you use it in the end of the master chain , instead of a limiter ? tnx
If you listen carefully, he does say that sometimes at least he uses this in a chain with a clipper and a limiter. It would be useful to hear more about the common use cases, but I'm guessing a little experimentation on your own will reveal the cases that make sense and get the results you might need.
Getting this today, one question, what would be a normal place you would put the inflator in the mastering chain? Right at the beginning? Just before the final limiter? Or after the limiter? Cant seem to find a good answer online.
Because it's not a given that you'd put it on a mastering chain in the first place. This is a pretty heavy handed processor and it can make a mastering chain 1 out of 10 times. The second reason is because other than before the final limiter, there's no way to know where because there is also no way to know what else do you have at any given time. Understand what it does and that will tell you case by case where
Thx bro!
I love this HIP HOP song Bro........ I mean the second song you used for this demonstration. Is it out bro?
It should be out yes, the artist called Melodius if I don't remember wrong
Thank you , this is very helpful and a well done video. For mastering, where would you place this plugin in relation to compressors and limiters?
I would not use it in mastering 90% of the times. If so, it's always before compression. Nothing goes after limiters, ever
@@mixbustv thank you for the insight!
The good old inflater baby, the inflater is beast i been since 2006 i only use it to bring up my mix probably like extra 1 or 2Bd, i have use it in minute, i might start using again
Another plug-in to the must buy list… (after testing ovi)
Would you recommend a lot of the sonnex plug-ins?
Yes, Sonnox are overall amazing plugins, Drum Gate, Limiter, Inflator being my favs, their deesser is also extremely good and the comp too
@@mixbustv thanks a lot! There use to be days when basic knowledge would never be given without years of dedication… thankfully we’re wise and mature enough these days to create a even platform… thanks again for everything you do, easily my most watch audio production channel
so can i use like a limiter?
Yes, i don't know why some people here say no, also it works on everything including mastering and no need to put a limiter after or before, of course you can do it but i been using it and it works well just itself
Hi David. Another excellent video! Thank you. When using the Inflator for mastering, is it typically the first plugin in the chain before any EQ, compression, stereo imaging and limiting?
eq can be before or after, sometimes it can bring up boxiness at negative settings, everything else after, given I rarely use compression in mastering at all and stereo imaging might be 50% of the times
MixbusTv Thanks brother!
So this should be used in the mix and not the master?
This should be used where your ears tell you to use it