Dehumaniser, which swept the audio industry with excitement in 2013, has surprisingly simple beginnings. While you might assume a large creative developed the software, the now, industry-standard vocal software was the pure result of a final-year MSc assignment.

Interested in music and technology since childhood, Orfeas Boteas worked in audio post-production (covering everything from location recording for commercials, documentaries, TV shows and short films) leading up to doing an MSc in Sound Design at the University of Edinburgh. However, during his masters, he worked on a project requiring monster sound design and, due to lack of tools, was left to using his own voice and various plug-ins. Frustrated with the time-consuming process, it gave Orfeas an idea – create a real-time application himself.

Although he had never made a program, he knew what he wanted: a customizable software including all the sounds and effects sound designers use within a workflow. Traditionally, creating monster and creature sounds used technical knowledge, professional audio software, various plugins at an extra cost, sound libraries and recording equipment. Orfeas was simplifying that. After researching and experimenting plenty with Max/MSP (a visual programming language), the Dehumaniser prototype was ready and a video demonstration posted online with a free download.

His university project was done. It was time to graduate.

But suddenly, Orfeas received a lot of attention. Comments showed up on the video. Emails populated his inbox. Sound designers were showing interest in Dehumaniser. Professionals were using his software in films and games – not just in the UK, but around the world. Seeing the demand for updates and changes, he got to work on producing a tuned-up commercial version. Teaming up with Nick Konstantakopoulos and some funding and advice from the University of Edinburgh, Krotos LTD was incorporated and the commercial version of Dehumaniser released in November 2013.

Since then, Krotos has released multiple updates and various versions of Dehumaniser with extreme success. It was challenging to release and maintain professional software – but Orfeas succeeded, the programme has been used in many games, films and TV series like the Avengers: Age of Ultron, Sleepy Hollow and Far Cry 4. It’s been a whirlwind three years for Krotos and Orfeas, but exciting at every step. The Krotos team is now growing and the company has received various awards including the Edge Higgs Award and the SMART Award. Though it all though, Krotos has been proud to stick to their values of making innovative audio software by inventive employees.

And while there’s plenty of future projects in the pipeline for the company and its developers, sometimes it’s nice to stop and take a look back at where it all started, at the first impressions a student’s final project made.

Luckily, those impressions were saved and we’ve pasted them below for reading.

Comments from the Original Dehumaniser Site:

20 JUN 2013

Bruno Boselli

A few months ago I had the privilege of being hired to create the sound effects for “Kingdom Rush: Frontiers” (a mind blowing tower defense game I strongly recommend) and Dehumanizer really came in handy all the way through. Besides the moans and growls of Ashbite, the dragon hero, and some other creature’s voices, I used it to create layers for rock explosions, avalanches and firebursts. Thanks for sharing such an awesome and versatile tool, I really admire your work.


15 MAR 2013

Cory Choy

I am a sound designer in NYC. A fellow sound designer here showed me this application, and it looks AMAZING. I am trying it out for the first time today, and couldn’t be more excited. What a great gift to the sound design community! Keep up the awesomeness!


17 DEC 2012

Felix

Hello there!

I have downloaded and tested the Dehumaniser and I am really impressed. So I have started using it for the creation of creature sounds for two upcoming video games that I am working on as a sound designer (Dragon Commander & Divinity Original Sins): I really enjoy working with the tool and love the results; thanks a lot, this is a great addition to my tool set which makes my life a bit easier definitely

Cheers!


07 NOV 2012

Joseph Concha

Fun stuff. I think it will be just about the best foundation for creature sounds out there. Throw some sweeteners on a good vocal acting take and I bet you can make some mean stuff! Thanks again!


05 NOV 2012

Phil Strong

This is really great, Orfeas! – in my current project I’m also using it to help create biological sounds and dynamic fire fx. Good stuff!


 02 NOV 2012

Angelo Palazzo

Hey everyone, I am a sound designer working and living in Los Angeles and have worked in post for almost 20 years on many features and tv shows:

IMDB Profile

I want to endorse this software. I’m currently the sound designer for the ABC show 666 Park Ave and am always looking for new ideas and sound sources to play around with to keep things interesting. I learned of Dehumanizer and decided to give it a shot. It turned out to be very useful and a lot of fun. You can hear my results in the next episode airing this Sunday, Nov 3. I used Dehumanizer as a layered element to breathe character into the “Evil Box.”

Check out the software. Its very easy and fun and lets you “perform” your sound to give it an organic quality. Very nice work Orfeas.


10 OCT 2012

Mark Taylor (Chameleon Music)

Tried it now over three days – system Windows XP SP3

1) very stable – no issues here at all…CPU use acceptable on my old machine.
2) Creates an excellent, wide range of creature sounds…easy to customize and tweak.
3) Workflow is good – easy to use…intuitive GUI
4) You could do all this in other software, but here you have it all packaged together very effectively.

Recommended!

Future improvement….VST for DAWs would be a major bonus!


10 OCT 2012

David

Ahhh perfect, going to have some fun with this!

I’ve been coughing up furballs trying to make these sounds for works before now!!


09 OCT 2012

Dimitris, hiscoremusic.com

Thumbs up, sounds great and it’s so tweakable!

Many thanks Orfeas – Ευχαριστώ!