Method · every number on this site
How we measure.
A number without a method is decoration. This is the method behind the deltas on every product page and the chain on the homepage, so you can judge them — or reproduce them.
The rules
Same method, every unit.
If a product page shows a figure, it came from this process. If this process can't produce a figure for a claim, the claim isn't made.
MaterialReal program material — vocals, drums and 808s, full mixes — chosen per unit for the job it does. The homepage chain runs one melodic-rap vocal through five units in order; every product demo is a single unit on its own program.
One instanceEach demo is exactly one instance of the plugin at the settings listed under the player. No hidden chain, no post-processing, no mastering on the A or the B.
Level matchingThe processed take is gain-matched to the dry take on K-weighted integrated loudness (ITU-R BS.1770). The match is a pure gain change applied after the plugin; nothing else touches the audio. Loudness deltas shown on limiters are the exception — that gain is the product.
LatencyEvery stage is time-aligned to the dry take by the latency the plugin reports, verified by cross-correlation, so before/after comparisons are sample-accurate.
What Δ crest meansCrest factor is peak minus RMS. A negative Δ crest means the unit reduced peaks relative to the body of the signal — what compression, limiting and saturation do. A positive Δ crest means transients came forward.
What Δ sibilance and Δ body meanBand energy deltas: sibilance is 5–10 kHz, body is 120–400 Hz, measured on the level-matched pair. They show where in the spectrum the unit did its work.
True peakMeasured with a 4× oversampled true-peak meter on the delivered file. Limiter demos state the ceiling; the true-peak figure shows it held.
FormatDemos are delivered as AAC at 192 kb/s from 44.1 kHz renders. Measurements are taken on the lossless renders before encoding, and the encode is checked for overs.
Bench receiptsBefore a build ships it passes a battery per unit: null tests against the design reference, aliasing floor, meter accuracy against measured gain reduction, program-dependent behaviour, and host validation across AU, VST3 and AAX. The receipts printed on a product page are the checks that build passed.
Stem separationWhere a chain demo needs an isolated vocal, the vocal is separated with a Demucs-family model; on the listening path the untouched original mix is used and only the vocal's processing delta is layered on, so the beat never passes through separation.
What isn't measuredPitch-correction accuracy is not yet on a bench figure; HALO's demo is listenable, not scored. Reverb decay and imaging correlation are not yet published. Where a number doesn't exist, the page doesn't invent one.
Hear it applied