Sonnox Oxford Inflator plugin for Powercore

Full Description

Click link below for a video introduction to Sonnox Oxford Inflator Plugin

Features

• Adds presence and tube-like warmth
• Increases perceived loudness of any material
• Provides virtual headroom above digital maximum
• Direct and band-split modes

No matter how limited and crushed programme material already is, the Inflator will provide even more loudness. It will even add apparent volume to a full scale white noise signal, or add musciality to previously clipped signals.

The Inflator was developed in response to requests from mixing and mastering engineers who are required to compete on the basis of the overall apparent loudness of their final results. Its capable of producing much louder mixes without without overloads or compression pumping. Since it is truly a real-time process, there are no time constants involved, as would be the case with limiters and compressors. For the same reason, there is absolutely no chance of losing presence or the flattening of percussive attack.

Used more subtly, it can add natural warmth and character to acoustic or jazz mixes. Use it on single instruments to add presence, softness and depth, or use it on percussion and drum tracks to produce amazing dynamic presence, tightness and volume. The full dynamics of the programme is largely preserved but with an increase in the average modulation density.

A further aspect of enhancement provided by the Inflator involves the creation of warmth reminiscent of good 'tube' or 'electronic valve' systems. Significant 'musical overdrive' can be achieved working especially well on individual tracks.

Inflator GUI

Input Section

The input section can be used in two ways:

• If the CLIP 0dBr button is selected, then the input clips at 0dB, in the same manner as any normal input. As soon as the signal reaches levels of 0dB or greater, overloads will be indicated by the meters.
• If the CLIP 0dBr button is off, the Inflator is able to process signals beyond the equivalent of the normal digital maximum. The INPUT fader has up to 12dB of gain for additional input level in order to help the creation of saturation effects, where the Inflator can absorb levels up to 6dB greater than normal digital maximum, as indicated by the input meters.

Effect & Curve

The CURVE fader sets the characteristic of the Inflator effect. 0.0 is a good starting point, when the fader is set in the middle of its travel. Settings above 0.0 give more saturated sounds, whereas settings below 0.0 give cleaner, more sublte results.

The EFFECT fader sets the amount of Inflator effect applied, where 0.0 leaves the signal unaffected and 100 is maximum effect. The effect meter indicates the amount of effect in action.

Band Split

Selecting BAND SPLIT causes the signal to be split into three separate bands which are processed individually. (Active on RTAS and Band Split TDM plug-ins only.)

Output Section

Meter indicates the OUTPUT level from the Inflator, which can be fine-tuned using the fader. The fader can be left at maximum in most cases using the non-bandsplit mode, as the Inflator does not increase the signal peak level.