KVR Audio

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:05 am

justin3am wrote: McDSP ML4000.

you protools users get ALL the fun

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:06 am

I can vote for the TbT Plugin stuff. The TLs Maximizer is one hell of a limiter. You can push it and push it and push it without massive distortion. Something that other limiters can't do.

Also it's dead simple to handle, extremely transparent (only Kjaerhus MPL can top that, but starts to distort at around 4-5dB gain boost), you can also change the charactersitics of how fast this thing responds and it doesn't eat more than 1% of CPU power on my single core Intel.

I dunno about Mac compatibility, but TBTs limiter is actually my most used weapon of choice if it comes to brickwall limiting while mastering (even while mixing sometimes, though I barely use limiting while the mixing stage anymore). Since it's also one of the less plugins who doesn't create any overshots or hidden clippings at -0.3dB, it's a "secret weapon" from the freeware realm.

Definitely worth a look.

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:07 am

hibidy wrote:
justin3am wrote: McDSP ML4000.
you protools users get ALL the fun

You forget that "we" ProTools users are also always broke because of that.

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:15 am

hibidy wrote:
justin3am wrote: McDSP ML4000.
you protools users get ALL the fun

Depends on the material and on your mixing/mastering style. ML4000 for me really stands out when used aggressively. For anything that requires a lot of dynamics, I like the Flux limiter or the Sonalksis one.

alteregoxxx · Post by **alteregoxxx** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 3:45 pm

BUDGET: Timeworks Mastering Compressor(i know i know the name says compressor...

)

FREE: on the same league of budget plugins,except TimeworksMasteringComp that is a step up on the other rivals retaining a beautiful punchy sound,there are only two brilliant plugins TLsMaximizer and Aradaz Maximizerv5.3....

Sleep Distance · Post by **Sleep Distance** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 5:48 pm

Wave Arts Final Plug - does an excellent job. Clean, and does not let any peaks clip.

Kjaerhus MPL-1 Pro - Sounds very good.

Sonnox Limiter - I think on certain material, this one sounds the best of any I've tried. By certain material, I mean the loud, heavier, classic rock I have used it on. It seems to preserve a little more of the stereo width of the material. Mixes sound a little wider and more spacious with the Sonnox Limiter to me than through some of the other good limiter plugins on the market. Curiously, there was one tune on my cover band's last demo which started out with just a clean electric guitar being strummed. Though nothing was going in the red, when using the Sonnox Limiter on this song, there was audible distortion. I have no explanation, other than perhaps the narrow frequency range of that strummed electric threw it for a loop. And perhaps fiddling with the parameters some more to adapt it to the material might have solved the problem, though of course making a few adjustments is the first thing I try before just slapping a different plugin on it. But I ended up using the Kjaerhus MPL-1 on that one song and it sounds fine.

Something to consider: One of the major complaints that mastering engineers have is that projects they receive from home studios are full of clipped samples. One day I did an experiment. Actually this should be routine procedure for any serious project that you are mixing or mastering. I ran a mix of a song processed with a couple of differnet limiters through Elemental Audio (now Roger Nichols Digital) Inspector XL plugin. Inspector XL is a full featured metering plugin suite, and includes a display that alerts you if your audio has clipped samples, and keeps a tally of how many there are.
So my experiment was running a mix of a song, processed with a few different limiters (one at a time), through Inspector XL, so it could tell me how many peaks these limiters were still letting through.

A couple of limiters allowed hundreds of clipped samples through.
Wave Arts Track Plug allowed only 3.
I didn't own the Sonnox Limiter yet at the time so that one wasn't part of the test. I feel that it's a great quality plugin though, and other Sonnox plugins that I use like the EQ and Dynamics, have excellent metering that alerts you right away if there is a digital over. If you pay attention to these alerts when mixing and adjust your levels to prevent overs, you should end up with a mix that has minimal clipped samples.

I encourage anyone considering buying a limiter to use not only their ears, but try a metering plugin like Inspector on the result to see if your limiter plugin is allowing clipped audio to pass through.

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 5:52 pm

Excellent advice there.
But correct me if i'm wrong but isnt the clipping tolerance on inspector adjustable???? So I assume you had it set on the "zero tolerance" (or equivalent) setting??

Sleep Distance · Post by **Sleep Distance** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 6:02 pm

Mushy Mushy wrote:Excellent advice there.
But correct me if i'm wrong but isnt the clipping tolerance on inspector adjustable???? So I assume you had it set on the "zero tolerance" (or equivalent) setting??

I think that's right. You may be more familiar with Inspector than I am.

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 6:07 pm

Ambassador Kosh wrote:
Mushy Mushy wrote:Excellent advice there.
But correct me if i'm wrong but isnt the clipping tolerance on inspector adjustable???? So I assume you had it set on the "zero tolerance" (or equivalent) setting??
I think that's right. You may be more familiar with Inspector than I am.

Its a great tool that I forgot about installing on my new PC.
But now that you've reminded me gonna do it tonight.
Thanks mate

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 8:12 pm

Voxengo Elephant V3 is currently the best limiter, imho. It can mimic the sound of nearly all the others, once you know how to tweak it. Hence it is suitable on a very wide range of material.

We'll see how the iZotope v4 limiter sounds. It might be interesting.

Cheers!
bManic

eduardo_b · Post by **eduardo_b** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 8:20 pm

afreshcupofjoe wrote:BTW, why would you need to buy two? Brickwall limiting is not somewhere someone would normally need variety.

BWL for mastering should be transparent, which is not necessarily the case for tracking and mixing.

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 9:49 pm

afreshcupofjoe wrote:BTW, why would you need to buy two? Brickwall limiting is not somewhere someone would normally need variety.

Of course it is. Audio varies a lot depending on style/source and because all the various limiters sound different it is of course in ones best interest to have several to cater for the maximum amount of audio material and to be able to get the results you want for a particular situation. It's no different in this regard from any other effect like compressors or reverbs.

This is precisely why Elephant V3 is so strong. It can be tweaked to respond in a wide variety of ways. It's the exact opposite to a "1-trick pony" when it comes to limiters.

Cheers!
bManic

darem · Post by **darem** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:11 pm

UAD Precision Limiter. It's the one I use in 99% of all cases.

eduardo_b · Post by **eduardo_b** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:22 pm

darem wrote:UAD Precision Limiter. It's the one I use in 99% of all cases.

Got it, love it. Some say it's the best software limiter on the market.

Nokenoku · Post by **Nokenoku** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:32 pm

- PSP Xenon
- Sonnox Limiter
Those are the best native ones for PC in my opinion (don't have a MAC).
I personally like the Xenon the most, but for a few things the Sonnox just gives some uncredible pressure.

Direct behind:
- Elephant 2
- MPL Pro

But I have to say, that I haven't tried the Elephant 3 or the new MPL Pro SE out yet.

If I had to pick one "best", it'd be the PSP Xenon.

Best brick wall limiter VST MAC and PC?