CRAYON Gainer

CRAYON Gainer is a free gain-staging tool built around one simple idea: getting your starting levels right shouldn't feel like guesswork.

It automatically analyzes the signal passing through it and brings it toward a practical -18 dBFS RMS target — so you can spend less time staring at meters and more time focusing on the music.

Official Demo Video.

Watch CRAYON Gainer in action, including AUTO mode, MAKINE's guidance, and the interactive tutorial.
{See video at top of page}

Serious DSP, shaped into a joyful toy.

At the heart of CRAYON Gainer is MAKINE — a child of the Wind-Up Folk — who talks to you through speech bubbles.

MAKINE gives you a heads-up when material is unusually peaky, offers a word of praise when your signal settles at a healthy level, and warns you when clipping occurs.

MAKINE's guidance is designed to be helpful without becoming repetitive, so the same warning won't appear over and over. Along the way, MAKINE also adds a little light commentary to keep you company.

A game-like interactive tutorial walks you through the entire process step by step, making gain staging approachable whether you're just starting out or working across multiple tracks in a busy session.

NEJIMAKI AUDIO is an independent audio plug-in developer focused on making essential music-production concepts easier to understand and apply.

Our products combine practical DSP processing with playful, interactive interfaces. We don't simplify away the underlying audio engineering — we translate it into controls, visual feedback, and guidance that musicians can understand through use.

Tested Hosts.

CRAYON Gainer was tested in the following hosts during pre-release testing:

Windows:
Cubase 15.0.30, REAPER 7.76, FL Studio 25.2.5, Ableton Live 12.4.2.

macOS:
Logic Pro 12.3, REAPER 7.76, GarageBand 10.4.14, Studio One Pro 6.6.

Other VST3- or Audio Unit-compatible hosts may also work, but the hosts above were used for testing.