By Orfeas Boteas, Founder & CEO
I grew up in Athens, surrounded by music, sound, and a lot of noise. I loved music and technology, so I moved to Crete to study Music Technology and Acoustics in Rethymno. That decision gave me a solid technical foundation and set me on the path to working with sound.
Back in Athens, I dove into freelance life. I did sound editing for short films, ads, and TV shows. I also handled dialogue cleanup and boom operation—anything I could find. I worked on projects for Vodafone, Cosmote, and Mega Channel. I often put in long hours, but frustratingly, I didn't always get paid. I loved sound, but chasing invoices wasn’t what I had signed up for.
That’s when I started exploring sound design, and something clicked. It felt like the perfect balance of creativity, storytelling, and technical depth. In 2012, I packed my things and moved to Scotland to study for an MSc in Sound Design at the University of Edinburgh.
Dehumaniser was made when I was working on a student game with Varun Nair and Abesh Thakur. They later founded Two Big Ears, the 3D audio startup that Meta acquired. I had to create sounds for monsters, and it took a lot of time. I spent hours mixing animal recordings, tweaking plug-in chains, and testing new ideas to make something useful.
That frustration planted a seed.
For my final project, I asked myself: What if I could create something that turns your voice into a monster in real time? A tool that layers animal sounds, adds effects, and processes everything live?
I started prototyping the idea in Max/MSP, and to my surprise, it actually worked.
A friend suggested the name Dehumaniser, and it stuck immediately.
I used the tool a lot in the university studio. I often shouted into a mic late at night, making howls and growls echo down the hallway. More than once, someone came in to check if everything was okay. We even filmed a rough demo of that first prototype. It was clunky, but it captured something real: the moment the idea came to life.
At the time, I wasn’t thinking about launching a company. I shared the tool online for free. I also posted it in forums, especially in the Sound Designers group on LinkedIn, run by Frédéric Devanlay. The feedback from that community was honest and of great help. It shaped the development of what would become Dehumaniser 2.
Soon I started getting messages from professionals I had admired for years. Angelo Palazzo (Star Trek, Super 8) reached out. Then Coll Anderson (Black Swan, Captain Phillips) asked for a custom version. I began to hear the wildest things. Dehumaniser was used in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Stranger Things, The Witcher, and Game of Thrones.
That’s when I realised this wasn’t just a project any more.
In ancient Greek mythology, Krotos was a companion of the Muses, a symbol of creativity and applause. In modern Greek, the word “κρότος” also means loud sound or bang. It felt powerful and personal, and the name made sense.
Once I made the decision to turn the idea into a business, I needed a name that captured its spirit.
After weeks of searching, I landed on Krotos.
I visited the University of Edinburgh’s business support centre. There, I met Paul Devlin. He helped me grasp the basics. With help from a friend who knows Max/MSP well, I launched the first commercial version of Dehumaniser.
Not long after, Matthew Collings joined and became a core part of the journey. He helped improve Dehumaniser into a more professional tool and went on to become our Head of Product.
In the early years, we kept things simple. We didn’t raise funding. We listened to users, made improvements, and reinvested everything back into development. We rebuilt Dehumaniser in C++. Then, we released Dehumaniser 2. We also launched new tools like Reformer Pro, Weaponiser, and Concept. Each tool addresses real creative challenges that professionals face.
A pivotal moment was when Lora Hirschberg, (Academy Award-winning re-recording mixer for Christopher Nolan's Inception) used Dehumaniser 2. She applied it on The Lion King and also to help shape the voice of Ultron in Avengers. That kind of trust from someone at the top of the industry meant the world to us.
We had another unforgettable experience at Pinewood Studios. There, we met Glen Gathard, a legendary sound supervisor I had admired for years. It turned out he was already using Dehumaniser and genuinely liked it.
Later, Glen and his colleague Steve Whetman helped us create a cinematic weapon sound library at Pinewood. That collection became the foundation for Weaponiser.
At that time, I received a SMART grant and joined the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Unlocking Ambition Fellowship. I also joined the Entrepreneurs Business School, which helped to shift my mindset.
As a sound engineer, I was sceptical of business at first. But I began to see how it could support creativity rather than limit it.
Then came another turning point—my first trip to the US.
One of the first people I met was Scott Gershin at Formosa Group, who gave me a tour of his studio and offered thoughtful feedback on our work.
I also visited Blizzard Entertainment, where I met Scott Lawlor. As someone who had grown up playing Warcraft, standing inside Blizzard’s sound department felt surreal. Even more so when Scott later visited us in Edinburgh.
Seeing our tools in these spaces and receiving a warm welcome from people I had looked up to for years provided me with strong motivation.
Ian Ritchie, one of Scotland’s most respected tech entrepreneurs, came on board as our first angel investor and Chairman. His belief in the idea and early support gave us a huge boost when we needed it most. I then met Matthew Smith, who used to work at Rockstar Games, through a mutual connection. He then introduced me to Leslie Benzies, the former president of Rockstar North. Leslie had moved into investing in creative tools and became one of our first backers.
Old College Capital, the University of Edinburgh’s venture fund, joined the early round. They invested again when we raised a seed round led by Metavallon VC.
As the company grew, we began getting more recognition in the industry. Mentions in WIRED, BBC, and The Guardian, and awards such as:
From the start, we built our tools for professional sound designers—because I was one. That community continues to be at the centre of everything we do.
But over time, we started hearing from other creators. Filmmakers, streamers, podcasters, game developers, educators. They shared stories and created worlds, but they didn't always have the workflows that professionals use.
We didn’t want to replace professionals. We aimed to help more people use sound. At the same time, we wanted to give professionals more flexibility and creative control than ever.
That’s where Krotos Studio came in. It's a platform made for a wider creative community, based on technology that top post-production teams trust.
For professionals, we also built Krotos Studio Pro, which gives full control through:
Many of the people who shaped our early tools are still here today. They advise, experiment, and push things forward. Krotos Studio is an evolution of that spirit. It just opens the door a little wider.
At Krotos, we are working on a simple mission: To change the way people design and perform sound.
In my journey, I’ve learned that great tools come from listening. It’s not about what people say, but also about their struggles.
We’re still building, with the same curiosity that started it all. Still listening to every sound designer, creator, and storyteller we serve. And we’re only just getting started.
The future of sound is wide open, and we’re excited to help shape it.