Inflators, exciters, saturators and all that

[Guy Rowland]

There was a thread recently that mentioned Oxford Inflater as something unique and wonderful. I've had it for many years and I've more or less stopped using it - I find that for hyping things other products get me there better.

I understand that under an oscilloscope it's basically a wavefolder. It has a dramatic effect on a sine wave, but the more complex the waveform the less noticeable it is.

I thought it would interesting to spend a hour comparing some tools on a full commercial mix, crucially ALWAYS gain compensating.

Fist was Inflator, and I turned the effect up to 100%. The original master was quiet, so I added gain beforehand. Then by ear I compensated the output so that it sounded the same loudness-wise. Once I'd done that, the honest truth of it was - I couldn't tell the slightest difference between bypassed and in-circuit, and I'd have definitely failed a double blind test. Also there was no difference in Loudness reading either according to iZotope Insight - it didn't magically increase perceived loudness without being detected.

I found much the same thing on Zynaptiq's Intensity when I demoed it. It sounds amazing until you gain compensate, then it sounds like nothing at all that you cant do with other basic tools.

I then went to Waves' BB Tubes, which offers odd (Beauty) and even (Beast) harmonics. Up until I hit the red I couldn't hear any difference here either when gain compensated. However there was very clear difference when pushed, with the nice and nasty distortion was clearly audible.

But distortion - even nice - isn't really what I was after. So next up was iZotope Neutron 3's Exciter. What does this do? Distorts, more obviously and with different flavours, and also compresses. I can clearly hear it working when pushed, but I didn't like it as a general excitement thing because when I perceived a change I just perceived a distortion with compression.

At the end of the little test, I'm pretty cynical about all of it. Compression is available in a billion nice and nasty variations, obviously. So is distortion. But I don't think there's a whole lot of magic beyond that that will take a master and make it sound louder for the same measured loudness or more exciting without distortion. "Warmth" is just odd harmonic distortion I think.

Am I wrong? What am I missing? Be honest with me, is it just old ears?

[Lawrence]

Try the TDR Limiter GE, a Piet recommendation. I’m definitely able to push my loudness with it before things distort.

The Inflator does nothing for me personally and never has.

BB Tubes are ok for a little warmth. I like Satin better.

[Guy Rowland]

Try the TDR Limiter GE, a Piet recommendation. I’m definitely able to push my loudness with it before things distort.

But it's just a comp/limiter, right? I have several that can push very well without distortion, but of course they proportionally increase technical loudness. The magic trick would be - can it make things sound louder without making it technically louder, or more exciting in a way that isn't just distortion?

[Lawrence]

Yeah, doubtful.

[wst3]

it depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

If you just want to sound louder the easy path is a compressor pushed till it flatlines the waveform. Energy density. Sadly it will sound like the remnants of a horses breakfast.

For other things there are other tools.

Exciters are an interesting category. I've used them since the days of hardware, like the Aphex Aural Exciter. Used judiciously it could add a little sparkle, or even a little clarity, and yeah, you got the impression of being a little louder - again energy density, but this time that density occurs in the upper octaves where the harmonics live. My favorite trick was to apply a LOT of aural excitement and then send it through a dynamic low pass filter. Instant noise reduction, and pretty effective at that, with minimal artifacts. Of course we ca do a LOT better with more modern toys.

My experience with Zynaptiq Intensity is mixed - it can do a lot of the same things the old Aural Exciter did, but better, and less obvious (which I guess is better?). I do use it from time to time, mostly on tracks that I want to bring out a little bit (and only a little bit).

My experience with the Oxford Inflator was "meh". I think my expectations were set a wee bit high, but I was disappointed.

For me I think it comes down to tools looking for a problem to solve. But then I am not competing with a lot of over-compressed mixes. (ask me some day about my time in broadcasting!)