Excited to download the trial and test and compare to my current methods. Was glad to see the price was only $70 compared to their other stuff that’s like $200
Ever since I got the email about Kraftur from Soundtheory I've been looking for someone who knows their shit to give me an honest detailed review. Great timing my man! I might have to buy this one. It's worth the $69 they're asking now. I already have the Black Box and The Oven so it's worth comparing for that price.
@@user-bo8ex4ji7n I like the way that this tries to be its own thing and isn't trying to emulate some golden or orange gear. It's more in the category that Newfangled's tools are in IMHO. I have no idea, what goes on under the hood, also the metering is a bit strange, but it sounds super good to my ears (though in some cases I still prefer Saturate/Elevate).
@@MixedByDotRob Yeah I usually like these kinds of tools like FabFilter because they often bring an improved workflow. Maybe it's the metering that is making me struggle with this one. The lack of obvious gain reduction is so strange to me. I own Gullfoss and it has a similar issue where the UI is not extremely intuitive to me (in spite of my reading of the manual a few times). I guess I just use it too infrequently and then forget about what the Bias and Tame all that stuff is actually doing and have to read it all over again lol
Duude you're always WAY ahead of the curve. I've found out about SO many plugins from your channel. Seems like people don't find out about them until months later!
I've been playing around with this a bit. It's pretty damn interesting. ICYMI: You can click on the graph lines directly to adjust the OFFSET/KNEE curves and drag up/down on the SHIFT curves to adjust those parameters. 👍
@@elevateaudioengineering4892 It certainly does, but it doesn't look that bad to me (running the Kraftur demo in Plugin Doctor and RX). It's always panic-inducing to people because the difference between "clean" and "something" is such a big leap but after analysing the actual likely levels of IMD, they're very low level. There are much "worse" mastering plugins (in graphs-and-data terms, based on equal-energy sweeps) that are well respected for their results that I also wouldn't think twice about using. The presence of a small amount of aliasing doesn't mean that something is unsuitable for professional use, and if it really bother you then you could run it inside Metaplugin and use its oversampling (but I might not necessarily want to, for the following reasons). I assume that lesser level of harmonics reflected from Nyquist is a result of Soundtheory's "minimised aliasing", and I would also give them the benefit of the doubt about why they've chosen this minimisation instead of oversampling. Everything's a compromise, whether it's a considered choice to use a no-antialias plugin or whether it's a decision to use one and take the hit to either high-end phase accuracy or transient response (for minimum phase or linear phase respectively). There's always a cost one way or the other, and no choice is perfect. It's not as if Soundtheory don't know how to add anti-aliasing, so we have to conclude that they made a choice about which design plan was least bad for the audio. To me, this Kraftur thing sounds great, does its job well, and doesn't seem to cause problems unless you use settings and inputs that you'd never see in a real-world case.
@@mixbustv it seems not so many people know much about it. Well its much more, it has two saturation modes to apply to each of the bands separately. Also Knee and Sustain you mentioned, are present in the similar graph like control plus so much more.
THANKS! @MixbusTv All I can say after playing with this plugin for 5 minutes is..............WT MOTHER F$%#!!!! So very tasty the saturation. VERY loud and CLEAN! I recommend .
Amazing video David. You're a true inspiration btw, seeing how you're constantly improving, your videos, your mixes, your studio. Thank you for all you do!
Hmmm this thing looks like a good buy. Sounds great! Is this similar use like the Inflator? That's my go to for tons of material but this seems so much more customizable and fine-tuning. And man how quality does that clipper sound! Wow. I mean I don't master my material but this would be great for using for adding some great sounding loudness.
W8 until the end of the year, David couldn't wish it to come any quicker because I know he's dying to do "the best of 2024 in such-and-such catagory" video playlist.
It's a clipper, distortor, sonic maximizer in one. It's a pristine clean output signal, but this can replace Acustica Audio's ASH ULTRA on the master bus chain. Can't replace Submission Audio's Flatline thats after the limiter on default values (i use it for the XO ADDA sound) because Flatline has the cleanest most ADDA converter sounding crossover filters up to 128x OSing in the plugin world game (even more so than LeapwingAudio's DynOne v3 and ADPTR HYPE)
I wish ALL Bypass/Effect comparisons were made with level matching. It's rather useless when the effect is louder to judge anything about the sound quality. It would be like trying to compare a before/after photoshop tweak where the before image is on a smaller screen and the after image is on a bigger screen. I've fooled people with using a simple gain plugin set to a few dB louder, switching between bypass and effect, telling them it's some complex effect.... and every time they absolutely love the louder one thinking it's this brilliant magical thing. Having said that, Kraftur really does sound good, but always tweak while level matching.
Absolutely not, and if you watched the whole video you'd know why I purposely didn't do it. Testing plugins is part of my job, anything I do is for a reason
The difference between modern pro engineers and amatuer enthusiast engineers is understanding the energy, power, loudness of each track.. its fundamental. I literally jumped out of my seat with a "YESS!" when @mixbustv left off the "match" and explained why. You understand the energy and everything else is art..
Thanx for this, as always, straight forward and educational walkthrough.🤩 The variation of music examples really helped me understanding how it works in different situations. I wonder though… Where in the mastering chain do you place Kraftur, or any clipper for that matter? I haven’t been using clippers that much.
@@mixbustv Now I'm lost. I thought all happens in the analog world with drive a signal over 0db what process the signal just with difference behavior. Saturation e.g. TubeAmplifier, Waveshape e.g. Distortion Shapes (Analog, Medium Curve,...), Clipper e.g. Soft/HardClip (what are more or less curves of shapes. What is the Tube in Kclip? Driving a Signal in a Tube? And what is the final Clipper in Kraftur? A Saturator or a Clipper?
I will give this a try in my mastering chain even though I cannot imagine that this beats the AOM Limiter. I'll try to combine them. Thanks for the video
@@mixbustv Yes, I know, mate. Wanna use the AOM clip mode instead and additionally I try to combine them for a proper loudness without distortion. Thanks
I bought it. Now I wonder whether the inflator, kclip, aboreal pimax (which has widening options for each band) do the same things. After using it on two masters now, I think it is perfect for mastering. It makes the mixes cleaner and louder, but NOT necessarily more 3 D or punchier. The multiband saturation takes some punch and edge (which can be wanted). For punch I grab a PSP tool such as the vintage warmer or Oldtimer MB. Kraftur stays on my mastering chain though right before my Sonible limiter. Do I need an external mastering engineer? Will comparen
Hi, would it be possible to make a comparison with the Laidback Limiter? It has 4 clipper bands, it also has a multiband slider, I don't know if it's like a wet dry. It has a slider for transients and more things. I hardly see any videos or promos about this plugin and I would like the opinion of someone who knows. How could I use this type of plugin with Master-Plan, for better final touches? Is that possible?
@@snubdawg1386 personally, I feel that the Low-Mid-High Shifts are a 3-band EQ saturator module of the plugin and that would be a decent use-case for using it on the 2-bus/single channels. :) :) :)
When I link the shift parameters, the broadband curve does not shift on the graph. Makes the whole thing very confusing. I do wish there was clearer GR metering as well
It doesn't because it's not controlled by the shift sliders. Those are for the multiband. Also, I can't think of another clipper that has not only clearer but a more comprehensive visual representation of the gr on the entire market
@@mixbustvreally? Just about any other clipper is more straightforward in its GR metering than this one. How would you tell exactly how many DBs of GR you are getting in the low band, for example? Flatline or Ash by contract though obviously not MB, have clear, easily interpretable GR metering
If this is as good as Gullfoss I’m gonna have to cop it 🤷🏽♂️ I just bought RX 11 Standard last week and Acustica Audio Wine the week before…. Jeez my landlord can’t get a break nor a bligh 😏
They keep inventing new clippers😂. Maximus in FL studio been offering multiband soft clipping for years. I bet with your ear and experience, you'd get similar results with Maximus🤔. But it's FL studio only lol
Very Nice Indeed.... So.... While this is focused (from all the demonstrations around RU-vid) primarily on a mix, with some use on buses (drums is the common example, as it caters well to demonstration). How would Kraftur fare if applied on individual tracks, in the sense that one might use a clipper on an individual track for shaving a few DB off waveform spikes, would this be applicable as a tool for shaping sound while shaving spikes? Is this something that makes sense to apply at that level? ---and, if so, how efficient on processor is Kraftur? Or am I barking up the wrong tree? ...just wondering how much scope is there for using this at different levels of a mix project... any insights, musings, wrist slapping?
Kraftur on single tracks is perfectly fine, and groups too. As long as you're conservative and you don't try to chop as much as possible on every track just for the sake of loudness. This is an amazing coloring tool 1st
Thx David, gold as always :) u dont try Boost (Devious Machines) or Hype (ADPTR AUDIO) yet? and Lagrange by UrsaDSP (both previous made in collaboration with them as well btw)
YEah Kraftur, Boost Rev. B, and Uberloud are in the same plugin catagory, but Kraftur would win in a shootout no question. I`m crazily impressed with Kraftur.
LUFS cannot be the same if perceived loudness is different because that's what (roughly) LUFS measures. Peak level vs perceived loudness. That's the point of a plugin like this.
Hello, David. If I asked you which piece of hardware, or combination of two, would you consider the one that influences the most for obtaining the weight, bigness, 3D sense, richness of the mix by being used in the 2 bus, wich one would it be. I know, from your videos, that the effect of the RND 542's is really determinant, more so than the SSL Fusion in my opinion. Would you think of something that would be more crucial for getting that radio ready, controlled, polished, fat, dense mix?(Black Box, Gain Lab’s Empress, SPL PQ, Stamchild, Dictator, api 5500)
@@mixbustv As suggested on other video, please do vari mus battle. Manley Vari mu, Stamchild, Herchild, Unfairchild...maybe IGS Tubecore. Thank you for all the info.
@@doradayeh1550 Buying a vari mu isn't gonna give u the magic sauce you are looking for. Mixing itb will never sound as fat/dense as an analog console mix on a neve or api for a myriad of reasons. I have to do so little, often no 2buss processing on my mixes and mastering is very fast. Putting mixes through $70 plugins is pretty amusing.
@@mollyoko oh well, I don't have a console nor I am planning to buy one. I work in a hybrid project studio so I try build the mix thru different stages. I've got the eqing, compressing, clipping/limiting/saturation of individual instruments or groups with plugins inserts and then some more control with hardware inserts on busses like api 550B and 2500 on drum bus, Retro Instruments 176 on vocal or bass, Distressors on bass or kick and snare...then 8 stereo stems go out and get summed and/or saturated(if needed) in an RND Orbit 5057; the summing goes to a SSL Bus+ where more dynamic control and saturation happens, and then to an api 5500, and finally to (2)BAE1073 before going back to the DAW. For the myriad of reasons you mentioned, there is hardware that improves sound and make it sound more like records I've listened to, at least according to my ears, just by being used in the chain(D.W. Fern VT-7, UTA Unfairchild, Manley Vari Mu, Dictator, etc...). I get you, I don't think plugins are on par with some hardware but many of my favorite engineers work ITB with some complementary hardware.(Serban Ghenea, Dave Clauss, Josh Goodwin...)
I think that you are somewhat incorrect (somewhat correct obviously) because Black Box (either version of it) doesn't have a loudness "antialiasing" incremental loudness maximiazer and a multi band to single band clipper switch like Kraftur does.
According to a forum thread the developer explained that they are 'mixed phase filters'... Pretty much linear in the passband, but with deviation in the stop band. They are able to mix dry, single and multi because the three signals get the same nonlinear phase alterations.
This is not a multiband clipper. It's a multiband wave shaper/saturator. The clip part is not multiband. With that said, it depends on the material and what you need which one will work better. Personally I never use multiband clipping
I know man. I took a look at that, I would not say same features, kind of not even close :D and when we start splitting bands.. you want someone you can trust with what's going on under the hood
I wouldn't say they are interchangeable. This is not a limiter, it doesn't have an EQ or the different algorithms MP has. But MP can't do what this does, multiband wave shaping and clipping.
@@mixbustv should mids be less loud than bass and high frequency range i heard about the fletcher monsun curve if, can you use this plugin to clip the high and low frequencies so the mix are percived louder?
Inflator actually has a multi-band operation with their 'Band Split'... so, it lets you minimize intermodulation distortion to an extent, but doesn't give you as much control over the multi-band operation as Kraftur. And Inflator is actually a naive waveshaper that introduces aliasing...
@@mixbustv Hehe, I didn't call Inflator naive. I think they found a great transfer curve... But the implementation of the curve is naive in the sense of 'straight-forward'. No oversampling or anything. Therefore it aliases. I'm referring to this RU-vid video ID: v=B0yd3amDn8s
