Crane

The large display at the top shows Crane's output as a real-time frequency spectrum from 20 Hz to 1 kHz — a live trace (green) with a peak-hold line (blue) behind it. Use it to see exactly how much harmonic content Crane is adding and where. The vertical purple line is the Crossover — click and drag it directly on the spectrum to set the split frequency, and the XOVER readout in the top-right shows the exact value. As you raise the harmonic cells, translucent marker “bells” rise on the display at each active harmonic’s frequency, so you can see exactly what Crane is building.

The bottom row holds the global controls that shape the overall signal flow — Boost, Drive, Crossover, Focus, Fund, Mix, Auto Gain, Delta, Mono, and Output. These apply to the whole plugin, not individual harmonics. (Boost has its own section below.)

The BOOST button sits next to the global knobs. When enabled it increases the internal harmonic intensity — the generator's level multiplier jumps from 1.5× to 2.5×. This gives you a more aggressive, dense harmonic stack. Use it when you want a heavily saturated, growling bass tone rather than subtle warmth.

The six panels across the middle of the plugin each represent one harmonic order — 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th. Each one is independently controlled. Think of them as individual harmonic layers you can blend to taste.

The bar in the header steps through Crane's presets — click the name (or the arrows) to load one. Crane ships with seven factory presets as starting points: Init, Sub Fatten, 808 Definition, Small Speaker Translate, Reese Growl, Wobble Teeth, and Trap Dirt. Save your own with the save button — user presets are stored as .cranepreset files under Documents\Audubon Audio\Crane\Presets, so they show up in the bar on every session.

Want a fast start? Load a factory preset (808 Definition or Sub Fatten are good springboards) and tweak from there. Building from scratch, dial in your crossover first: drag the purple line on the spectrum display to the point where your bass fundamentals live — usually somewhere between 100–300 Hz for a typical bass sound. Everything below that point will get processed; everything above stays clean. Getting this right means your harmonics appear in the right frequency range and don't muddy the mid frequencies.

Set Drive to around +6 dB to start, then bring up just the 2nd harmonic to around 30–50%. Listen to how it fills out the sub. The 2nd harmonic doubles the fundamental — great for making sub-heavy basses translate on smaller speakers. Once you have a feel for it, start adding the 3rd for grit. Even-order harmonics (2nd, 4th, 6th) tend to sound warmer and more musical; odd-order (3rd, 5th, 7th) are grittier and more aggressive.

Once your harmonic levels are in a good place, use the Even/Odd slider on each cell to shape the tone. Sliding toward Even leans the cell to its even-order neighbour — a rounder, analog-tape-like warmth. Sliding toward Odd leans it to the odd neighbour — transistor-style edge and bite. Try leaning the 2nd toward even and the 3rd toward odd for a classic bass enhancement sound that's warm on the bottom and aggressive in the mids.

Adding harmonics raises the perceived and actual loudness. Pull the Output knob back until the processed signal matches the level of your bypassed signal — this gives you an honest comparison, or switch on Auto Gain to level-match the enhanced band automatically. Tap Delta any time to solo just the harmonics you're adding. From there, use the Mix knob to blend in as much of the processed signal as you need. For subtle sub reinforcement on melodic basses, 30–60% Mix is often all you need. For full-on dubstep bass treatment, run it at 100%.