I had read about it and was curious. There was a sale. It pumps things up well. I use a subtle approach. I am happy with my purchase.

It's the final touch on a mix. This plugin allows you leave that safe and necessary headroom then delivers the depth and volume you want for your mix to be competitively loud. Basically magic.

I love this plugin so much. It is the best. The updated version has info about the parameters in real-time so in case I forget what something does, I can briefly be reminded. The quality is top notch. The plugin is stable which is paramount for us. I can not imagine not having this in my workflow.

Really happy with the purchase.

This plugin is like a magic wand on the mix bus. Instantly louder track with dynamics maintained

The Oxford Inflator allowed me to adjust the vocals to a much better level cleanly. I can highly recommend this plugin !!!

INFLATOR is one of the best an easy to understand mastering helps plugin for me.

This works great on a master buss right before the limiter. I am able to get more out of a track that has trouble getting perceived loudness, without crushing it…like a piano/vocal track.

The Sonnox Inflator is a plugin that does something magical to whatever you put it on. It just makes tracks sound bigger. Inflated. It's easy to overuse the effect, so a little goes a long way. I use it on individual tracks or buses. I tried it on the stereo bus, but it was just too much, even at very mild settings. A great tool to have in my plugin arsenal.

I got an email from Jon Krempel giving me a heads up on this
Sonnox Oxford Inflator Plug-in, at a great price. He loves it, swears by it... and so do I.
It "sweetened" my vocal tracks, making them shine and step out in front of the mix.
I also used I on some of the midi virtual instrument tracks, with very nice results.
I'm a very happy customer! Thanks Jon, Thanks Sweetwater!

IDK what's going on behind the scenes in this plug in but how you can throw it on your mix bus and just get louder without adding more gain is amazing! I tried it on my vocal mix buss just for Sh!$ and Giggle and man its hard not to use it when the vocals need a bit of Shazam!

If you have been wondering if it really works, it does. Its a great plugin for getting perceived loudness without getting actually louder

Really smooth plugin that doesn't need much push to achieve a more present, upfront sound in your mix. Used it on VOX and on the master and it works great on either. Highly recommend.

Never do I get too excited for a new plug-in unless it's a game changer and this one is it. This just makes everything better! I don't even want to know what it's doing underneath the hood. It's just magic!

I bought it to place on my master bus as I find the limiters are just beating the life out of my mixes I spend a lot of time on. This just makes everything louder and fuller without crushing it. Exactly what I was looking for. Now im putting it on my drums, bass, acoustic guitars and vocal buses and it's just wow! Highly recommend

I never thought you could maximize loudness to such heights without blowing everything away in the mix! But, here with this plugin, the laws of the universe are somehow tweaked to allow your mix or track to reach the peak of loudness, without sacrificing clarity, clipping/peaking, and without much effort (the best part). Simple presets help you get started with the sparse yet effective controls. This thing will get you to 0 DB in a jiffy without much fuss or meter complaints, and without oversaturating or coloring the audio moving through it.

Most of these types of plugins claim to add old-school analog mojovibe, but instead just make everything sound distorted and fatiguing to listen to. The Oxford Inflator really does add that "extra dimension of life" to mixes, and doesn't create any major negative sonic artifacts that I can hear, unless overused. It can also liven up individual instrument tracks, make a vocal track sit better in the mix, or work magic on your drum bus, but the key here is to be very subtle, as a little bit goes a loooong way.


Here's a list of 5 things I hear the Oxford Inflator do:


(1) Brings each track within the mix further forward and in your face, while simultaneously creating additional depth

(2) Helps glue a mix together, yet maintains separation and definition

(3) Makes everything sound punchier and more powerful, without muddiness

(4) Adds juicy, rich color and a vibrant euphonic character, without sounding distorted or blurred

(5) Increases perceived loudness



It has sonic elements of tape saturation and vari-mu compression, except it seems the Oxford Inflator doesn't really compress in the classical sense, per se. I really can't explain what it does, it just does "it," whatever "it" is. Great job, Sonnox!

I love this plugin! I'm not sure if it's doing something with the harmonics, the width or both. Whatever it does it's amazing at making the track sound like it's coming from beyond the speakers!

Pure magic. Pixie Dust.
I use it on every mix. I don't know how it works but is is a beautiful thing. Love it.

Really useful plug-in, great customer care service from Sweetwater. Highly recommended!

It just works magic on tracks.

It adds more color than expected, but that can be contained. I'm impressed by the "compression without compression" results. I'm still experimenting but it's a nice addition.

Sonnox Inflator became one of my go-to plugins instantly! The algorithm is great!

I would give this plugin 4 stars except for the fact that it uses iLOK. But I am so incensed by how kludgey the iLOK experience has been that I am compelled to warn people. So the plugin is great if you can get past the iLOK experience, which for me was as follows:

Just getting it registered was a pain. First you register with Sonnox. Then you get an Email with a download link way down below the fold in the bottom right corner where no one ever looks - its the blind spot of screens. And then you have to give Sonnox your iLOK account name to connect Sonnox to iLOK. All that sounds easy enough but if you don't see the email or you think you can just register it directly with iLOK or miss any steps like I did, it is frustrating.

I finally got it registered it to iLOK. The choices were only "cloud session" and the physical iLOK key. I chose the cloud session thinking I could just register it once and that would be that. I didn't realize the iLOK app has to be running and has to remain connected to the internet, else the plugin UI locks you out.

Once I got locked out I thought maybe I could just transfer the key to my compute and just have it be local- but that is not allowed it seems. I suppose I could switch it to my iLOK dongle, but it is USB 2 and I am on a new laptop wit USB C and don't want to always have an adaptor dangling off the side.

Anyway, I shan't be buying from Sonnox again unless they get rid of this iLOK crap. It's a HUGE downside to an otherwise great plugin.

Good thing it was on sale!

The Inflator brings mixes to a commercial loudness level without having to resort to compression or limiting. Once I started using it, it became a staple in my mixing toolbox. Just don't tell anyone how good it is - it can be our secret, okay? :)

This thing is amazing. Not sure why it took me so long to add it to my arsenal. Throw it on your lacking instruments, vocals and even master bus. Just makes everything sound better! Really is magical.

Definitely beefs things up in a nice way, it add a depth and a "thickness" to any source.

If you know, you know. Put this on your Drum Bus, put this on the master, bring your 808s to life!

Works on a variety of things. Connor Smith was very courteous and professional.

I absolutely love this plugin. Try it on your synth bus and listen to its magic.

All I can say is WOW! The Sonnox Oxford Inflator is one of the best plugins I have ever used. It brings your mix alive. It brings out the dynamics, which appears to be louder, but it's not. You have to try this to believe it!

Today's modern electronic music production is ripe with the chase for "loud" and "full" productions. This tool is incredible for increasing perceived loudness, albeit with a bit of a black-box approach that simplifies the faders & other variables you really need to control to dial in the sound your after.

I've found myself using this in more mastering chains for client work than ever, and the benefits far outweigh the inherent risks of ruining the material.

The first unspoken rule of mastering for others is "do no harm". While every tool has its breaking point - applying too much will reveal it in unpleasant ways, it's actually pretty hard to break this one.

A couple of pointers for anyone looking to use this in mixing or mastering:
Push it to the absolute limit so you can hear the effect it has on your signal, then dial it back by about 75%, and if it feels like it's barely perceptible of a change, start gradually increasing it to taste until you're in the perceptual loudness ballpark. Don't use it blindly! Use visual aids like Voxengo's Span (free) and Youlean Loudness Meter (free) to get an idea of how your material is being changed.

4.5 out of 5 because it's a fair niche tool, and for the uninitiated, it can be pretty easy to start using it as a crutch, rather than with intention.

I've been wanting this plugin for years and finally picked it up at Sweetwater at a sweet cost! And it is pure magic on the master fader. It doesn't mess with the mix as much as it brings it up front and adds gain and depth you never knew was possible. Sonnox got it right with this plugin...just get it.

This simple plugin enhances and focuses the elemental transients of the audio passing through it. It seems there is some subtle compression and harmonic content added behind the scene. So, it’s more than just a gain boost. It acts more like tape. It can be subtle or not but is extremely effective and helpful in a mixing situation. Really nice on drums and vocals.

Really glad I got this gear. It maximized my tracks perfectly.

For drum buss and bass. Add life and clarity.

I don't know exactly what this is doing under the hood but it sounds phenomenal. Also I really like the fact that you can get a perceived 3db gain without it really adding any volume. Crazy and unbelievable but it's true. Also pushing it will add a little warmth.

If you search reviews and forums nobody really understands how inflator works under the hood and that's what makes it so special. It will add warmth and perceived loudness to any mix but not in the regular ways other plugins do.

It's one of the plugins you need in your arsenal.

Threw is on master bus at 50% effect before Ozone 6 and Boom!!!!
Great depth of sound, although I have no idea why, must be MAGIC.
Must be some sort of compression and harmonic enhancement combo.
Just get it, it's great.

I heard about this plug-in being used in Electronic Music mix & mastering sessions (as well as many other forms of music,) and downloaded a trial version of it.
After learning a few things about it (as well as some of it's quirks) from Youtube vid tutorials, I put the Inflator on my 2-Bus while mixing out (not Mastering.)
In single band mode and boosting the Effect slider blew my mind in how the mix got "big" and seemingly louder but my gain hardly boosted at all.
Note that the Inflator is NOT a limiter. Even though it has the not-over-0db button on it, it should not be treated as a limiter. It is something else and I love it's character and subtlety even though it seems like it is doing some Master-style boosting & limiting in one step.
I love it and will now have it on my 2-Bus for when I am mixing out.
During Mastering, I have learned to keep it toward the end of my Mastering Chain. I like it just before my final maximizer.
As unpopular as the Loudness-Wars are, in Dance Music, if your tracks aren't at industry volume, DJs won't play them. Sad fact.
This plug-in gets your mixes & masters a lot closer to that perceived loudness and I recommend it to anyone on that quest.
I love my Oxford Inflator.

This is just one of those plugins that will instantly add warmth and magic to any mix. It can even boost perceived loudness without destroying your mix. I now use it on almost everytihng.

I have been using the Sonnox Oxford Inflator for a few weeks now with Pro Tools 10 and I wish I had had it a year ago. It is a very simple Plug In device to use but I have found it can me over used. It's very effective in bringing out vocals, drums, guitars without distortion.
I'm still learning how to make adjustments when using it with the Master Fader. I really like the way the Inflator helps give individual instruments an audio "placement" in a final mix.

It's hard to describe what exactly is happening when you engage this plugin, but you'll love the results. I use this on all my mixes now, usually inserting it right before a loudness maximizer. It seems to push everything upfront but not in a way that makes the mix seem crowded or busy. I usually dial in about 50% on the effect setting. It increases the perceived loudness and you consequently don't have to dial in as much on your maximizer to get the results you want.
Haven't used it on individual tracks yet but I can see how it would help bring out an instrument that's fighting for a spot in your mix. Try it, you'll like it!

A really great option to breathe life into a track/instrument...anything. The boost is similar to compression but it's not compression. The curve can add great warmth or crispier highs. This plugin really does glue a track together all the while adding some tube like warmth and character.

A nice plug...It gives you a nice volume-thickness push without the edge or you can push it hard and get an edge. I'd recommend it.

The product works pretty good after the hassle with getting the license to install with the i lock I did get through the process successfully. Pretty easy to learn the curve. Noticeable difference is obvious. It was worth the money for me anyway. While it gives me back my desk real estate space.