Good question James. I'm a big proponent of the Sonnox stuff, got the Dynamics a while ago and use it all the time.
The inflator is a pretty unique device, there really isn't anything out there that does the same process. It's affecting the density of the mix and adding some harmonics similar to analog saturation. So this does result in louder mixes but it's not operating the same as a limiter with a threshold and time domain attack and release parameters. What this is good for is getting hotter level without directly affecting the dynamics, although they will be affected by virtue of the saturation going on. It's a somewhat difficult process to explain actually, as the manual states:
"Because the Inflator does not employ signal compression there is no ‘pumping’, dynamic level changes, loss of presence or flattening of percussive attacks. The full dynamic information of the music is largely preserved despite the increase in average modulation density."
As an example the manual also states that even white noise can me made to sound louder, or any material no matter how much its been compressed or limited previously, not that this would always sound good ;-)
The limiter on the other hand gives you a lot more control over the dynamics of the mix, in fact it's probably the most flexible limiter out there. In fact because of this a lot of people dismiss it as not sounding good when generally its operator error due to not understanding how it works that's the issue.
They've really tried to allow you to not only gain louder level but also retain some snap to the transients by a special process that mixes enhanced transients back into the material. Another great feature is the recon meter which shows you reconstruction levels which is the true output coming out of your converter.
What happens with a digital signal is that the stairstep you see in a DAW programs waveform display gets filtered and rounded off to resemble an analog waveform. By doing this though there are cases where sample levels that were at 0dbFS are now reconstructed above 0 and therefore are clipping. So even though your DAW might tell you that you are only peaking at 0 the actual level coming out the DA can be higher.
The recon meter in the Sonnox limiter shows you this so you can create masters that don't include what's reffered to as 'illegal' levels, or clipped reconstructed samples.
As with all the Sonnox stuff you really want to have them all ;-)
The inflator is a good way to just bring up the density and thickness of a track as well as add some harmonic distortion to things like basslines or synths, think thicken and more full here. The limiter gives you ultimate control over the final output of your stereo buss and can actually make things sound better unlike a lot of limiters that are only really degrading the sound as they limit it. It can add a nice crispness to drum groups as well, or the whole mix for that matter.
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