Opinions on Crusher-X in 2026?

[killmaster]

I'm curious how you all are liking Crusher-X these days? I just found out about it and have been going through the demo tutorial and feel somewhat blown away by it's capabilities, but I don't want to make a mistake and purchase an expensive piece of software haphazardly. Any feedback on how it's been for you would be most helpful!

Thanks,

Greg

[kraster]

Here's my pros and cons:

Pros:

Crusher-x is without doubt the deepest, most capable and most comprehensive granular processor in existence.

It's very mature software so it has tons of depth and is pretty stable.

It is both an instrument and a processor so is extremely versatile.

Cons:

The upgrade price to each numbered version is pretty outrageous, imho. It's not a cheap plugin by any standards. I bought it last year and the latest version would cost me a further 149 euro to upgrade so there's no way I'm paying that.

I also find that the upgrades are not that meaningful (at least to me) and many of the improvements seem like they could be included in point updates. I understand it's a high margin product but it's still a hefty outlay for not that much.

The addition of championing the Valhalla model of no sales and having kind of a consumer friendly approach is completely undermined by the upgrade cost and feels almost in bad taste. Like they're hiding behind some noble idea while raiding your wallet.

The interface is quite laggy and feels heavy. I understand that it's a heavy plugin but it never feels smooth to me. This isn't a deal breaker though. It's still totally usable.

It lacks certain things like musical divisions for things like grain life or grain emission rate. You can get around that by using a bpm converter. I think the latest version may have musical divisions but as above I'm certainly not paying 150 euro for the privilege.

All in all, it's a peerless granular processor but with a high maintenance cost and slightly long in the tooth UI/UX

[dayjob]

^^^^ same/ditto/well said.

[pekbro]

I bought one version, 5 or 6 versions ago, never upgraded or continued with it from that. Sadly, I turned out not to be the professional level of customer that the dev was/is aiming for I guess. The upgrades were cheaper even, back then IIRC.

[sandandpaint]

100% with kraster - is a great bit of software but is unlikely I upgrade again for that money. It is ridiculously power tho and I doubt have have explored 20% of what it can do. Probably less.
Biggest downside is very few good tutorials taking you from basics like a single bell into a complex sound environment. Which it can easily do, but learning how to control that process is a long way from trivial

[VariKusBrainZ]

In response to a comment above:

Practically every parameter set has sync settings available.

I find the interface responsive but I do have a newish Acer laptop Ultra 7 Core, Geforce RTX but CrusherX doesnt appear to utilise the graphics card

[kraster]

In response to a comment above:

Practically every parameter set has sync settings available.

I find the interface responsive but I do have a newish Acer laptop Ultra 7 Core, Geforce RTX but CrusherX doesnt appear to utilise the graphics card

Im not on the latest version. Im on 11.

As far as I can see there is no way of syncing the offsets to a musical division. And offsets are the main variation control of most parameters. ie. The leftmost control.

You can sync things like modulation and the auto trigger but not the offsets.

Say you wanted the delay (first parameter) to be exactly 1/8th note. The only way I can find is to use a bpm converter and convert the bpm at the current tempo to ms. Same for grain duration, grain emission rate, processing offset. ie. Anywhere there is a time based offset.


These kinds of parameters are the most important imho to have syncable time.

It’s an option in most grain processors.

[killmaster]

Well, I ended up buying it. It can do a lot more for around the same price as the hardware eurorack module I was thinking of getting.

Hope I don't regret the "investment". It just kept nagging me, especially the modulator results and the interface didn't seem to be too obtuse. I might actually be able to learn it. Hoping hoping... Maybe a little worried after reading some of these comments. Possibly indicating a kind of arrogance (?)

[Funky40]

same for me:

- the update price is ridiculous ! .....anyway looking at the og full price AND considering what -at least the last- update adds. It´s just nuts.

- yeah, hard to unleash it´s potential for me. I had to invest *significantly* more time. I sort of learn it each time by new when i want to create a new patch with it. (live-play stuff ). That way, i don´t find it very intuitiv or inspiring. But might lie in the complexity of its functionality ?

- as always: the real investment is the time spent / but in this case i just have to repeat: the update price is plain off / the guy just lost me with his recent last update and asking 149.- for that! WTF


My conclusion: This thing IS for some elite people or real pros and not for mere mortals like me.


/ rant

[kraster]

Well, I ended up buying it. It can do a lot more for around the same price as the hardware eurorack module I was thinking of getting.

Hope I don't regret the "investment". It just kept nagging me, especially the modulator results and the interface didn't seem to be too obtuse. I might actually be able to learn it. Hoping hoping... Maybe a little worried after reading some of these comments. Possibly indicating a kind of arrogance (?)

I have very little criticisms of the plugin itself. As I said above it's easily the most capable granulator out there. It 100% delivers on its capabilities. There's simply nothing else like it out there.

There are a few small niggly things like the lack of bpm for time based offsets (although that may be fixed in version 12) and the slightly laggy UI but neither is a deal breaker.

There is a considerable learning curve with it and I haven't really got through all the functions yet.

My biggest criticism is still the ridiculous upgrade price and the fact that is being offered under the auspices of being "consumer friendly"

[killmaster]

Well, I ended up buying it. It can do a lot more for around the same price as the hardware eurorack module I was thinking of getting.

Hope I don't regret the "investment". It just kept nagging me, especially the modulator results and the interface didn't seem to be too obtuse. I might actually be able to learn it. Hoping hoping... Maybe a little worried after reading some of these comments. Possibly indicating a kind of arrogance (?)

I have very little criticisms of the plugin itself. As I said above it's easily the most capable granulator out there. It 100% delivers on its capabilities. There's simply nothing else like it out there.

There are a few small niggly things like the lack of bpm for time based offsets (although that may be fixed in version 12) and the slightly laggy UI but neither is a deal breaker.

There is a considerable learning curve with it and I haven't really got through all the functions yet.

My biggest criticism is still the ridiculous upgrade price and the fact that is being offered under the auspices of being "consumer friendly"

Thanks! What you say seems reasonable to me!

[kraster]

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.

[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...

[kraster]

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.

[htothehza]

Personally, I think I wasted money buying it years ago and upgrading once. I don’t find it very inspiring to use and its overall stability has caused me to avoid it all together. I will not be upgrading again (especially at the insane upgrade price) and I regret buying it in the first place.