Inflator vs. MWaveShaper
This video compares the two in a null test, with MWaveShaper emulating the curves of Inflator.
Gearspace user tviler figured it out.
The waveshaping function of Inflator is:
f(x) = A⋅x + B⋅x² + C⋅x³ - D⋅(x² - 2⋅x³ + x⁴)
where the coefficients A, B, C and D are given by the Curve parameter:
A(curve) = 1 + (curve + 50)/100 B(curve) = - curve/50 C(curve) = (curve - 50)/100 D(curve) = ¹⁄₁₆ - curve/400 + curve²/(4⋅10⁴)
This gives us the following resulting curves:
At +50: 2⋅x - x²
at 0: ³⁄2⋅x - ¹⁄₁₆⋅x² - ³⁄₈⋅x³ - ¹⁄₁₆⋅x⁴
At -50: x + ³⁄₄⋅x² - ¹⁄₂⋅x³ - ¹⁄₄⋅x⁴
The Clip 0 dB off mode: In this mode Inflator takes overshooting samples and maps them back under 0 dB. It uses the curve according to the shape parameter for levels up to 0 dB. The overshooting samples are mapped back down below 0 dB according to a curve similar to the +50 curve, ie. 2⋅x - x², regardless of what curve is set to.
I didn’t investigate the multiband mode. According to the manual it splits the signal into three bands, which are processed independently.1
MWaveShaper has an edge over Inflator in that it can be oversampled.