Best free clippers?

[Ah_Dziz]

Gclip is awesome. I use it on masters regularly for a couple extra DB. Also the free Melda waveshaper makes an extremely versatile clipper with a completely configurable curve.

[heavymetalmixer]

Yeah a little touch of hard-clipping (only a bit on the peaks) can really help in a transparent way.

Not to hi-jack thread but just tried using clipping on master. Wow. Makes life a lot easier. Been struggling to get my songs louder by a 1 or 2dbs and not all mushy with limiting. Think the stars aligned when i came across this thread.

Using both d16 frontier (free) and Toneboosters Barricade limiter with the clipping option before brick-wall. Amazing. Just fell in love with TB Barricade4 a little more. D16 Frontier gets really nice grit to it too but lets a few peaks by. Nothing a free limiter like loudmax cant handle right after it if on master.

One note about Frontier:
The oversampling (quality) only works in the Soft Clipper is ON.

[Butwug]

One note about Frontier:
The oversampling (quality) only works in the Soft Clipper is ON.

Thats how I had it but there was another plugin after it/before oscilloscope, and it was causing random spikes to show up; old project and didnt notice there compression going on in a tape saturator, which is a mystery as to why I even had that plugin there

But anyways, once that was taken care of, it clips the peaks nice n clean. This plugin is even more sweet now

[heavymetalmixer]

From what I've tested the free clippers I've liked are: Venn Audio FreeClip, GMH Audio Buzz Cut, Vlad G Limiter No. 6, ClipMax, GClip and Airwindows ADClip 7.

Keep the thread alive, this is very interesting indeed.

[Cooker]

From what I've tested the free clippers I've liked are: Venn Audio FreeClip, GMH Audio Buzz Cut, Vlad G Limiter No. 6, ClipMax, GClip and Airwindows ADClip 7.

You could also test your existing plug-ins if their analog saturation can work as a soft clipper.

[heavymetalmixer]

From what I've tested the free clippers I've liked are: Venn Audio FreeClip, GMH Audio Buzz Cut, Vlad G Limiter No. 6, ClipMax, GClip and Airwindows ADClip 7.

You could also test your existing plug-ins if their analog saturation can work as a soft clipper.

Technically speaking all saturators chop the peaks, but in a less agressive way and still with way more harmonics all over the place (not just the peaks to cut). I've seen that the Audio Assault does this but it colors the sound a lot.

[Cooker]

From what I've tested the free clippers I've liked are: Venn Audio FreeClip, GMH Audio Buzz Cut, Vlad G Limiter No. 6, ClipMax, GClip and Airwindows ADClip 7.

You could also test your existing plug-ins if their analog saturation can work as a soft clipper.

Technically speaking all saturators chop the peaks, but in a less agressive way and still with way more harmonics all over the place (not just the peaks to cut). I've seen that the Audio Assault does this but it colors the sound a lot.

With most a ceiling can't be reached or noticed easily but some can be quite useful. I remember the inflator was very popular for clipping before all these clippers became available.

U-he comp. and tape, the glue has a dedicated button. Apqualizer, ozone eq are cool and ready to shape low freq.s if needed. We also have limiter's clip algo or settings, which can be more forgiving depending on the situation.

Sure not all will work as an alternative for everything, but I imagine many never gave thought about what their collection can do in such application.

[dare2die]

From what I've tested the free clippers I've liked are: Venn Audio FreeClip, GMH Audio Buzz Cut, Vlad G Limiter No. 6, ClipMax, GClip and Airwindows ADClip 7.

Keep the thread alive, this is very interesting indeed.

Sorry for hijacking this thread, i'm a newbie to recording & can't seem to find this info through Google. General question but referring specifically to a setting in Venn Audio's FreeClip (also asked on their product thread):

What does "Post-Oversampling Clip" actually do to the sound itself (& how does it work anyhow)? The way I understand it, oversampling is meant to deal with aliasing from the distortion harmonics after the waveforms are clipped right? In that sense clipping post-oversampling seems counter-intuitive? And yet the option is recommended in the product notes.

But this option is interesting to me as I'm looking for a final hard limit at the master (without another brickwall limiter if possible). Is it at least a trade-off of sorts? (it's hard to hear a difference when this newbie is not sure what to listen for)

[heavymetalmixer]

From what I've tested the free clippers I've liked are: Venn Audio FreeClip, GMH Audio Buzz Cut, Vlad G Limiter No. 6, ClipMax, GClip and Airwindows ADClip 7.

Keep the thread alive, this is very interesting indeed.

Sorry for hijacking this thread, i'm a newbie to recording & can't seem to find this info through Google. General question but referring specifically to a setting in Venn Audio's FreeClip (also asked on their product thread):

What does "Post-Oversampling Clip" actually do to the sound itself (& how does it work anyhow)? The way I understand it, oversampling is meant to deal with aliasing from the distortion harmonics after the waveforms are clipped right? In that sense clipping post-oversampling seems counter-intuitive? And yet the option is recommended in the product notes.

But this option is interesting to me as I'm looking for a final hard limit at the master (without another brickwall limiter if possible). Is it at least a trade-off of sorts? (it's hard to hear a difference when this newbie is not sure what to listen for)

1) TBH I can't answer that, I'm not sure how the plugin works on the inside and I'm not a developer so I don't know how to read code : /

2) Clippers are better for chopping off the most extreme peaks effectively, but not too deeply because they produce more distortion than limiters. Limiters on the other hand, can go deeper but end up touching more of the tail and are sometimes harder to use than clippers.

Mastering engineers often use both, the order isn't something set in stone. Also, just like in mixing, it's also recommended to use more than one limiter in series, so each one reduces only 1dB and makes a more transparent job.

[Ploki]

so oversampled clippers effectively replaces "clipping the converter inputs" if i understand it correctly?

I've done some testing for the non-free Voxengo OVC128 an Venn Vclip, and at least on paper OVC is cleaner.

[dare2die]

JHVenn replied my question on the FreeClip thread, following up on that answer there:
viewtopic.php?p=7620849#p7620849

Thanks heavymetalmixer for your quick reply! I had assumed the setting was a 2nd round of clipping to handle the post-downsampled peaks, & JHVenn confirmed it. What i'm still wondering is how does it affect the sound? Will it reintroduce back the aliasing that oversampling was meant to remove? My newbie ears can't tell the difference.

I'm exploring various options to dead-stop my peaks at 0 dbfs sharp. Weirdly for me putting limiters (like LoudMax) at the master seems to be pushing things below the ceiling.

[heavymetalmixer]

JHVenn replied my question on the FreeClip thread, following up on that answer there:
viewtopic.php?p=7620849#p7620849

Thanks heavymetalmixer for your quick reply! I had assumed the setting was a 2nd round of clipping to handle the post-downsampled peaks, & JHVenn confirmed it. What i'm still wondering is how does it affect the sound? Will it reintroduce back the aliasing that oversampling was meant to remove? My newbie ears can't tell the difference.

I'm exploring various options to dead-stop my peaks at 0 dbfs sharp. Weirdly for me putting limiters (like LoudMax) at the master seems to be pushing things below the ceiling.

For the sake of your songs not getting turned down (too much) online platforms, never limit/clip to 0dB, this is because what's know as True Peaks or Inter Sample Peaks.

To put it simple: Each sample is captured byt the interface and in the time between one sample and the next one, an even bigger peak can happen in the sound. Because of this, even if you limit/clip at 0dB, the True Peaks can go even 3dB over (usually written as "3dBTP").

To prevent this, use a True Peak meter like Youlean Loudness Meter (it has a free version with most of the features) to see how high the True Peaks go, and never let them go above -1dBTP. This number is what most of the online platforms use, and what most mastering engineers recommend.

[dare2die]

*snip* ...use a True Peak meter like Youlean Loudness Meter (it has a free version with most of the features) to see how high the True Peaks go, and never let them go above -1dBTP.

Again, appreciate you taking the time to reply me! I'm familiar with intersample peaks & have been using free Youlean 2. Trying to get a perfect/flat true-peak number in Youlean is why i'm currently exploring all these clip & limiter functions. I'm having trouble getting a solid -1.0dBTP ceiling using free clippers or limiters, so i'm temporarily aiming for 0dBTP first & then bringing everything down by -1.0 before the master. Someday i'll figure it all out.

[trackbout]

Not free but Eventide/Newfangled Saturate is on sale for $29 and is very good https://www.eventideaudio.com/products/ ... n/saturate

[Halonmusic]

Yeah a little touch of hard-clipping (only a bit on the peaks) can really help in a transparent way.

Not to hi-jack thread but just tried using clipping on master. Wow. Makes life a lot easier. Been struggling to get my songs louder by a 1 or 2dbs and not all mushy with limiting. Think the stars aligned when i came across this thread.

Using both d16 frontier (free) and Toneboosters Barricade limiter with the clipping option before brick-wall. Amazing. Just fell in love with TB Barricade4 a little more. D16 Frontier gets really nice grit to it too but lets a few peaks by. Nothing a free limiter like loudmax cant handle right after it if on master.

Anyway, clippers can do wonders even though i rarely use them. Frontier is great though.