Best brick wall limiter VST MAC and PC?

[Dean Aka Nekro]

The one i use most of the time is Elemental Audio Systems Finis, its available through RND,Inc. i think (they probably changed the name and GUI - i never bothered checking or upgrading it). I am not sure if its the most transparent of limiters out their but i prefer it over the Waves L3 as a wideband limiter then the L3 makes up the other part when i need a multi-band limiter.

Voxengo's Elephant 3 looks and sounds very good so i think if i were buying a limiter today i would probably go for that and...McDSP's ML4000 is top notch and i really think that is as good as it gets, the only reason i do not use that limiter is because its no dice unless im using Pro Tools (which i do anyway) but i also use other applications so the VST & RTAS compatibility swayed it for me.

Though the ML4000 (hell the bloody whole Emerald Bundle lmao) is on my shortlist of stuff to buy; but there are things i need way before that in order of priority

Dean

[Compyfox]

In case of the three I use regulary:
- TbT TLs Maximizer => even with a boost of 12dB, no overshots at -0.3dB

is tls max even better then pocket limiter? just downloaded tls, about to try it with the novakill synths. which as everybody knows can get quite loud

I don't know what's wrong with Pocket Limiter, but to me it's working kinda wonky. The "knee" feature actually declares the attack time, the gain knob drives the signal into limiting (which is limited/locked to -0.1dB or -0.2dB) and I don't really know what the IQ setting does other than maybe affecting the knee.

In terms of versatility the TLs Maximizer is better for a more broader usage (in my case even mastering), while the Pocket Limiter could be the thing for you if you only need a track limiter (which this thing seems to be aimed at).

I have to admit though that I barely use it but TLs, TubeLimiter (which colors to no end! But heck it's good for punchy stuff) and the SX Mono Button.

Just my 2c here.

[adl]

Pocket Limiter is nice on the Drumbuss with like 4-6dB of gainreduction
But i wouldn't use it on my Masterbuss, just because it has so limited controlls. I really like Elephant 3 (purchased it last month and still have to explore all controlls) or the Precision Limiter (UAD).

[dacaumodo]

Voxengo Elephant is very good. I haven't upgraded to v3 because v2 is so good already. Very transparent and efficient.

[_gl]

If anyone wants to sell the v3 license, please PM me.

[Arksun]

Voxengo Elephant is very good. I haven't upgraded to v3 because v2 is so good already. Very transparent and efficient.

Night and day difference for me, its really REALLY worth upgrading from v2 to v3 of Elephant. Way better imho

[ozmoz2008]

Pocket Limiter is nice on the Drumbuss with like 4-6dB of gainreduction
But i wouldn't use it on my Masterbuss, just because it has so limited controlls. I really like Elephant 3 (purchased it last month and still have to explore all controlls) or the Precision Limiter (UAD).

+1 on Precision Limiter...really transparent...haven't tried Elephant yet

[Ubiety]

Voxengo Elephant is very good. I haven't upgraded to v3 because v2 is so good already. Very transparent and efficient.

Night and day difference for me, its really REALLY worth upgrading from v2 to v3 of Elephant. Way better imho

I noticed that it has several oversampling choices. 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x. Does that make a difference in transparency?

[Dean Aka Nekro]

...which is all well a good if you have a UAD card (not that i am envious or anything ) > The more i hear the more i like and would like to buy a UAD2 card: Im constantly visiting the site and always reading nothing but good things about them and i really like the 3rd party partnerships they have going as well - are they classic symptoms of 'Working Without UAD Syndrone'?

I just can't afford one at the moment and i know i want the 2XQuad deal just to be greedy mwah ha ha ha

Dean


Yes i am a little

[Arksun]

I noticed that it has several oversampling choices. 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x. Does that make a difference in transparency?

A subtle difference, depends on the audio material too really. But when comparing them side by side limiting, ver3 can sound much more transparent and less coloured than ver2 (though ver3 can become rather coloured too if you want it to, thats the beauty of all the extra tweakable controls in the new version)

[Ubiety]

I noticed that it has several oversampling choices. 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x. Does that make a difference in transparency?

A subtle difference, depends on the audio material too really. But when comparing them side by side limiting, ver3 can sound much more transparent and less coloured than ver2 (though ver3 can become rather coloured too if you want it to, thats the beauty of all the extra tweakable controls in the new version)

OK. Thanks!

[chj]

is tls max even better then pocket limiter? just downloaded tls, about to try it with the novakill synths. which as everybody knows can get quite loud

One thing I did notice with Tls maximizer is that it introduced a delay when playing a mix in realtime. My PC isn't terrible, but it's not blazing fast either. My guess is that this delay might not show up in a final render (I haven't used it enough to say for sure). The pocket limiter did not create this delay on my PC. So, as others have said, looks like pocket limiter is designed for individual tracks/instruments while Tls maximizer provides more control, higher quality for final mix rendering.

[Blue Cat Audio]

If you are still looking for an alternative, you might want to check our Blue Cat's Protector brickwall limiter that has just been updated (and it's now available for the Mac as well).

See this thread for more info.

[Aziraphal]

No votes for the free Buzzmaxi3? IMHO it gives much better results than W1

[fceramic]

Why is not Sonalksis' MaxLimit mentioned? Seems extremely transparent to me. Had to double check to see if it was actually doing anything to the audio.