Opinions on Crusher-X in 2026?

[killmaster]

I think I'm particularly ticked off because I suggested bpm quantized offsets in the Accsone forum and they were implemented in 12.

I have zero interest in spatialisation or 3d panning but I'm not paying 149 euro to get bpm quantization.

I totally get that. I wouldn't want to either. Can't help but wonder if they'd develop a lot larger base without that rigid policy. Maybe it's too specialized for that, I don't know...

I paid 350 for it last year. And adding another 149 to that would bring you up to 500 essentially.

They claim don't do tiered upgrades because they think that it creates a "must get" feeling around every release. The flip side is that someone can pay some nominal amount years ago and pay the 149 upgrade fee for the latest version.

That's approaching 50% of the initial outlay, FFS.

The policy just seems all over the place and the actual amounts just seem to belie the intent. I think that's what annoys me most.

I think tiered upgrade pricing is fundamentally more egalitarian in practice. Positing some kind of psychosocial reason for not following it seems to me to be some half-assed post hoc justification.

They also link to Valhalla DSP as an example of a company that never have sales but I've owned Vintage verb for 14 years and never had to pay for an update and it's still the same price today as it was in 2012.

That's a completely different model and it feels like they're piggy backing off that unbelievably generous policy.

I'm not even suggesting that they should follow the same route but trying associate themselves with Valhalla DSP's policies while charging outrageous upgrade pricing seems completely ridiculous to me.

I'd feel better if they didn't try and present it like they're doing the "community" some kind of favour.

Yeh, that's the annoying part. Gee, I kinda wish I hadn't gotten it now. I forgot that I asked the question here and ended up impulse buying. Alreay feel regret. Maybe I can make something good with it. Or maybe I can sell the license. I wonder if they allow that.

[tommy2tone]

I echo what's already been expressed about the upgrade pricing. It seems out-of-touch with the market and I won't pay the over $230 CAD to upgrade, ever. Gotta wonder how much in lost sales this has meant for Accsone over the years because of their "principled" stance. Thankfully in 2026 there are some extremely decent alternatives in the granular space that are frankly more approachable (especially regarding ease of use and understanding).

[wagtunes]

Question: What are the limitations of the demo? $369 Euro is a lot without taking it for a spin first. I'm listening to a track at the Music Cafe right now made with Crusher-X and it sounds amazing.

[killmaster]

I echo what's already been expressed about the upgrade pricing. It seems out-of-touch with the market and I won't pay the over $230 CAD to upgrade, ever. Gotta wonder how much in lost sales this has meant for Accsone over the years because of their "principled" stance. Thankfully in 2026 there are some extremely decent alternatives in the granular space that are frankly more approachable (especially regarding ease of use and understanding).

O! I'm so interested in the alternatives. Can you name a few?

[vurt]

crusher x is the king of granular.
there are some issues regarding upgrade prices for sure, but whichever version you get in at, will probably still be giving you new sounds for years to come, upgrading isn't really necessary imo.

not cheap, but worth the price, again, imo

[sandandpaint]

This last upgrade was after only a year rather than two years as previously and is quite a bit more expensive which makes it seem worse and does push into 'unique territory' compared to upgrade pricing from some other higher end products I have. But I am happy with V11 and am nowhere near exhausting it.

[VariKusBrainZ]

You could try Soniclab Cosmosf FX
Its not granular but its an equally nutty audio buffer effect

[sandandpaint]

You could try Soniclab Cosmosf FX
Its not granular but its an equally nutty audio buffer effect

they have a major update to the Cosmosf synth coming soon as well

[wagtunes]

Okay, I downloaded the demo.

I get that I can load the FX version and have it modify the signal of the synth that's on that track. But is there a way to load the instrument version and not have it play continuously and then control it with my MIDI keyboard? I haven't figured out a way to do that, if it's even possible.

[sandandpaint]

Okay, I downloaded the demo.

I get that I can load the FX version and have it modify the signal of the synth that's on that track. But is there a way to load the instrument version and not have it play continuously and then control it with my MIDI keyboard? I haven't figured out a way to do that, if it's even possible.

yeah you can - open the Welcome patch then open the envelope editor by clicking on the little ADSR symbol toward the bottom left. Make the release shorter. That seems to be needed for a lot of the patches

[tommy2tone]

...Thankfully in 2026 there are some extremely decent alternatives in the granular space that are frankly more approachable (especially regarding ease of use and understanding).

O! I'm so interested in the alternatives. Can you name a few?

I'm using (on Windows) granular-centric software such as FRMS (Imaginando), Padshop 2 (Steinberg), Novum (Dawesome), and eFX Fragments (Arturia), though I'm aware there's other stuff out there too, like Portal (Output), Silo (Unfiltered Audio), and Dust (SoundMorph), to name a few.

[pekbro]

Red Timbre Graphiti is another good one, on sale atm too.

https://www.redtimbreaudio.com/product-page/graphiti

[dayjob]

I just want the granulator device from Audiomulch.

Don’t link to _that_ plug in because it doesn’t have all the same features and doesn’t sound the same.

[VariKusBrainZ]

I just want the granulator device from Audiomulch.

Dude, Im the same. Such s sweet unique sound

[dayjob]

I just want the granulator device from Audiomulch.

Dude, Im the same. Such s sweet unique sound

And the timing sync options are funky. I used to make whole tracks in audiomulch by automating snapshots in the timeline. Switching between granulator snapshots was such a great time.