MXXX: Multiband limiter like Elevate, but with user defineable curve setting thresholds?

[Annabanna]

dbl post

[Annabanna]

I like Newfangled Elevate as a multiband mastering limiter, but every time I use it, I wish it had a user-defineable threshold curve so I could set those 23 bands up to match my desired mastering output curve (similar, I suppose, to defining a curve in MSpectralDynamics)

Anyone created a multiband limiter where you can set the thresholds to match a desired mastering curve?

Not sure how much of Elevate's crispy sound is AI driven proprietary mojo, and how much is just lots of bands, so wondering if it's worth taking the time to build in MXXX, if someone has already done something similar, etc.

[DarkStar]

Have a look at MLimiterMB (up to 6 bands).



For each Band, in the Advanced section you can set Attack and Release times and use custom detector envelopes

Attack
Attack defines the attack time, that is how quickly the level detector increases the measured input level. When the input peak level is higher than the current level measured by the detector, the detector moves into the attack mode, in which the measured level is increased depending on the input signal. The higher the input signal, or the shorter the attack time, the faster the measured level rises. Once the measured level exceeds the Threshold then the dynamics processing (compression, limiting, gating) will start.

Release shape
Release shape controls the shape of the release stage. The shape affects the ratio between pumping and distortion, which simply cannot be avoided. Please note that the release time parameter is quite dependent on the mode, so you may expect differences in actual release time for different modes of the Release shape.

There are also 2 custom modes available. With these modes you can actually draw the shape. Please note that what you draw is NOT what you get. The custom shape graph converts the difference between the input level and the current detected level (as represented by the X-axis) into the speed of level detection (as represented by the Y-axis).

[DarkStar]

Or with MXXX you could insert a LimiterMB on each of MXXX's 6 bands and theoretically get up to 36 bands (or 4 LimiterMBs on a single MXXX band!)
-- setting the band splits would be a little fiddly (but you can map them to Multiparameters to make it easier and changeable
-- other Multiparameters could be used to control many aspects of the bands, including the Threshold, Attack, Release and Peak Hold times.

[dakkra]

That really does sound like a job for SpectralDynamics as you already mentioned. The only real restriction being that you can't modify the ratio over the spectrum. Threshold, attack, and release are all able to be curved over the spectrum though, which is very versatile. If you really want it as a brickwall limiter you could set the ration to infinity or near infinity, then maximize if you're interested in that. Then then the threshold curve will act as a limiting curve over the spectrum.

[Annabanna]

That really does sound like a job for SpectralDynamics as you already mentioned. The only real restriction being that you can't modify the ratio over the spectrum. Threshold, attack, and release are all able to be curved over the spectrum though, which is very versatile. If you really want it as a brickwall limiter you could set the ration to infinity or near infinity, then maximize if you're interested in that. Then then the threshold curve will act as a limiting curve over the spectrum.

I went down the rabbit hole for a few days straight with that plug a few years back and never quite could get it to do what I want. I can't actually remember trying to use it as a MB limiter, though. I think I was mainly experimenting with super low ratio deep threshold compression. May have to take another look. I think I've still got some custom curves saved to it.

I wasn't aware of some of the custom options in MB limiter, though. It was an eye opener when I realized Melda users had done things with MXXX like recreate Trackspacer... only better and with more controls.

So much to look into...

Anyone actually done this particularly and spent time with it to compare to something like Elevate? I think it's mainly the separation of adaptive gain vs adaptive speed that separates Elevate, but not entirely sure it can't be roughly duplicated.