Polysquasher, Elephant and Soniformer all claim to be transparent mastering limiters.

Looks a bit baffling to me ... short of downloading three dems and spending an evening or more with them.

I'm sure they are different, but it ain't obvious from looking at the page.

How many mastering limiters does one need?

hm
i tried em
are very good.

you must try em.

Elephant is a limiter, Polysquasher is a single band compressor with a unique algorithm and Soniformer is a multiband compressor.

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Elephant is a limiter, Polysquasher is a single band compressor with a unique algorithm and Soniformer is a multiband compressor.

yep ... so what to you pick ... erm ... I'll have the gizmo with the most flashing lights please.

Or maybe ppl really do take their mastering limiter armoury as seriously as needing three of the buggers

Well, how many mastering thingies do Waves do?

I think that Voxengo stuff is quite experimental. Polysquasher was the result of an experiment which turned out so well that Aleksey released it. It has a mode where it 'spectrally rebalances' the mix - It's very audible. I don't know exactly what it's doing, but it seems to change the EQ balance.

Of course I'm confused as to what I need because Curve EQ has analogue saturation modelling and I don't know how it differs exactly from Lampthruster.

I'm sure all the plugs will get major overhauls so that the range makes more sense.

But basically, Soniformer plus Elephant cover all the usual mastering needs, and Polysquasher is an additional possibility. It's common to use gentle single band compression after a multiband just to tighten things up slightly more, so my chain would run: Soniformer, Polysquasher, Elephant.

Please, don't mix up 'experimental' and 'innovative' things. Voxengo plug-ins are mostly innovative. Of course, there is an experiment at first. In development of everything there is an experiment in the first place.

I still cannot understand why one can take Soniformer and Polysquasher for limiters. They are compressors, not limiters. Elephant is a limiter, not compressor. Sorry, if that is not obvious from the product info.

All these products have their unique application, and in reality the one plug-in cannot replace the other.

There's no need in some kind of overhaul since all three products work pretty well for mix post-production.

Lampthruster has a much more sophisticated algorithm than CurveEQ has. CurveEQ's vintage processor - not saturator - can be compared to Lampthruster, but of course it is totally different. CurveEQ's saturator is closer to Elephant, but again is different. In any case, both VP and saturation in CurveEQ are mostly bonus features. You simply have some additional colouration choices with these.

I hate something like this: "Voxengo plug-ins are mostly innovative."
You have to possiblitys: You say why your stuff is innovativ and than the reader can decide on his/her own, whether this is realy innovativ. The other thing is you don't say you're innovative. But just saying:"Hey guys, I'm innovative" is just stupid.

helium wrote:

But just saying:"Hey guys, I'm innovative" is just stupid.

if you check just the demos you will hear yourself how innovative they are after comparing them to your usual plugins..

Why does poor picoder always get stuck with the naysayers in threads concerning his plugins? Innovation is not an opinion, it can be fact. If the idea has never been done before, it is innovation... Period. Enough said. Voxengo is innovation. If you can find a plugin that does the same thing with the same results, Im sure there would be some changes made

-R bert

I would use Elephant to get a higher level for my mix as it stops the very high levels in a song from causing clipping (ie. going over 0db). Waves L1 & L2 do the same thing but at about 10x the price.

I like Lampthruster because it warms up the song and gives the impression that it's gone through different types of amplifiers (eg. tube amps). Different frequencies in the mix can be adjusted.

Soniformer allows the adjustment of compression in the mix. Again different frequencies can be adjusted so if you want a tighter bottom end where the drums and bass pack more punch then this can configured. Or if the high frequencies are too prominent in the mix then they can be tweaked with Soniformer.

What's great about these plugins is that they have very useful presets, they are cheap in comparison to other brands and most importantly of all, they bring excellent results to any mix.

With mastering it's always important to start with the most balanced mix possible and then use the Voxengo plugins to achieve a more powerful, warmer and cohesive master.

I think they have helped give my mixes a more cohesive and warmer sound. I've still got a long way to go before I get to grips with the whole mastering process but with these three plugins I think I've got the right tools to get me there.

helium wrote:

I hate something like this: "Voxengo plug-ins are mostly innovative." You have to possiblitys: You say why your stuff is innovativ and than the reader can decide on his/her own, whether this is realy innovativ. The other thing is you don't say you're innovative. But just saying:"Hey guys, I'm innovative" is just stupid.

Have you even tried these plugins? Obviously not, because if you did you'd realize they are extremely good plugins. PiCoder need not say why his "stuff" is innovative because his "stuff" speaks for itself. Why bash someone for thinking their work is innovative? You have a right to your opinion, but your opinion thus qualifies you as a moron.

hey lucidone hold your horses a bit will you?

helium didn't say anything about picoders plugins just about his statement - which to me also seemed a bit arrogant... and i don't think that this is bashing - he didn't say that his opinion qualifies picoder as a moron , which imho is quite a bit closer to bashing...

anyway, as far as the voxengo plugs are concerned - i'm not sure if i can use them myself, but there are certainly enough people who use them quite regularly so maybe it's just me

please try and don't be so oversensitive guys and gals

cheers, jo

Aleksey is arrogant? You can't possibly be serious. He has always been clear and honest in his responses to customer or potential customer enquiries. Not to mention the fact that English is not his native language.

Does this mean that every other company on the planet that promotes their ideas are also arrogant? That must be the entire business and academic world then. People better stop saying positive things about their products in order to promote them, lest they also be labelled as arrogant.

-Tronam

Aaaaaarrrgghhhh!!!!!!!
What the f is wrong with you guys!?!?!?!?!
Can't I even post that a statement seemed arrogant to me anymore?
Reading it again my opinion still has not changed - nobody in this thread said that Aleksey was arrogant - helium said that the statement was stupid - oh,well - and I said that it seemed a bit arrogant to me. It does so (to me ) because he seems to be talking down to us imbeciles from a higher level, telling us that we got it all wrong. (ok ok, chill out again, i'm exaggerating to make my point clear )

It's not what you say but how you say it (or as we say in german: der ton macht die musik )

and the start of this post might come off more harsh than intended, no offence ok

cheers, jo

ok... this may be a studid question.

What the hell do you mean by 'transparent' when talking about compressors and limiters?

Norman

Using compression is altering a waveform, yes, but to what degree is it possible to increase the overall loudness whilst retaining the musical characteristics of the track? Different compressors sound different, distort at different levels etc..

norman666 wrote:

What the hell do you mean by 'transparent' when talking about compressors and limiters?

This is an important issue because different types of compressors affect the sound of your mix or master. Some introduce a pumping effect which might be useful for certain types of music while others compress or limit without introducing any added colouration to the sound. Waves L2 and Voxengo's Elephant are considered transparent in their loudening capability as they raise the overall peak level without pumping. Different types of analogue and digital compressors/limiters/eq's introduce a certain sound characteristic which is individual to their design. Some are highly prized because of this.

A lot of the time I can't tell the difference between one type of compressor and another so it's more for the mastering brigade who claim to have 'golden ears' I think.

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Not to mention the fact that English is not his native language.

mine neither.

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Aleksey is arrogant? You can't possibly be serious.

Perhaps this is a typical german problem, because I am a german, too.

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Have you even tried these plugins? Obviously not, because if you did you'd realize they are extremely good plugins.

I tried most of his plugins and they are realy good. Where did I say the opposit?