Sonnox Oxford Inflator Native

What Oxford Inflator (Native) Is For

Oxford Inflator (Native) is a loudness and enhancement plug-in designed to give your productions more power, density, and presence without falling into the typical pumping of a compressor. It naturally sits on a master bus (pre-mastering), on subgroups (drums, guitars, synths, vocals), or directly on individual tracks to push them forward in the mix. It is also an effective ally to help a vocal better "cut through" the arrangement by adding weight and a sense of energy while maintaining a clean and clear sound.

Main Features

Louder loudness without compressor-related issues

The core of Inflator is to increase the perceived level and sense of impact while avoiding the classic artifacts of overly constrained dynamics. Where aggressive compression can squash transients, reduce the breathing of the track, or create pumping on rhythmic elements, Inflator aims for a more immediate result: louder, more present, with a clarity that remains musical. This is particularly relevant on dense mixes (rock, modern pop, hip-hop, electronic) where every element must keep its place without becoming harsh or fatiguing.

Restoring a sense of dynamics to already "hot" signals

Oxford Inflator can also provide an apparent increase in dynamics on previously clipped signals. This makes it useful in very common production situations: stems or samples already pushed, recordings with little headroom, or tracks processed upstream. Instead of simply "turning up the volume," Inflator helps regain a livelier and more solid perception, which can facilitate the integration of these sources into a modern mix.

Direct and Band-split Modes: choose the right color

The plug-in offers two processing modes to suit your goal. The Direct mode favors a global and simple action: ideal when you want to quickly enhance a track, bus, or master without multiplying settings. The Band-split mode provides a more flexible approach, useful for preserving more clarity between the low and high spectrum or to prevent a very energetic low end from dictating the entire processing behavior. In practice, this allows you to achieve more density and presence while maintaining a clean tonal balance.

A simple interface designed for mixing flow

Inflator is renowned for its immediate ease of use. Its streamlined interface promotes a fast workflow: set, listen, adjust. It's the kind of tool you can insert early in a session and then tweak throughout the mix, or conversely keep as a final touch to add the extra energy that was missing. And if you push it harder, it can deliver a harmonic warmth with a "tube-like" character, featuring that famous sonic glue effect that helps a mix hold together, as if the elements naturally come together.

Technical specifications

Type

Full software

Downloadable

Yes

Mac

OS X (Mac OS X 10.12 or later)

Windows

Windows (Windows 10 or later)