Best ISP Limiters?

[plexuss]

Loudmax 1.27 was released a few days ago, anyone that could tell me how much the ISP part improved?

https://www.kvraudio.com/product/loudma ... omas-mundt

I just tested 1.27 for you. Mac AU. With ISP engaged it now appears to mitigate ISPs and doesn't throw warnings with AppleRoundTrip. I pushed a mix to 8 LUFS and it only warned ISPs on a 128k stream, but only mildly.

[heavymetalmixer]

Loudmax 1.27 was released a few days ago, anyone that could tell me how much the ISP part improved?

https://www.kvraudio.com/product/loudma ... omas-mundt

I just tested 1.27 for you. Mac AU. With ISP engaged it now appears to mitigate ISPs and doesn't throw warnings with AppleRoundTrip. I pushed a mix to 8 LUFS and it only warned ISPs on a 128k stream, but only mildly.

Thanks, what about the sound in your opinion?

[plexuss]

Thanks, what about the sound in your opinion?

You decide... Here are two downloadable tracks. One is limited with DMG Limitless ($200) with a flat response, the other is LoudMax ($0). Both set to -12 LUFS. What do you think?

https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/li ... ax/s-4ajSo



https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/li ... ss/s-xlduR



https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/li ... st/s-lzqTl

[heavymetalmixer]

Thanks, what about the sound in your opinion?

You decide... Here are two downloadable tracks. One is limited with DMG Limitless ($200) with a flat response, the other is LoudMax ($0). Both set to -12 LUFS. What do you think?

https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/li ... ax/s-4ajSo



https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/li ... ss/s-xlduR



https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/li ... st/s-lzqTl

In general I like Limitless more, it has more impact, but it sounds more narrow and nasal for some reason.

[dionenoid]

Thanks, what about the sound in your opinion?

Loudmax is pretty good for a free plug-in, but it shows high frequency distortion and aliasing when pushed.

[michal.ochedowski]

Thanks, what about the sound in your opinion?

Loudmax is pretty good for a free plug-in, but it shows high frequency distortion and aliasing when pushed.

I think that LoudMax has been significantly improved. I've just checked it with 6 dB of reduction on a sine wave sweeping between 1 kHz and 22 kHz. There was no aliasing. Personally I would require maximum of 3 dB reduction from a limiter on final mixdown anyway, so this is still a great alternative to paid products.

[heavymetalmixer]

Thanks, what about the sound in your opinion?

Loudmax is pretty good for a free plug-in, but it shows high frequency distortion and aliasing when pushed.

I think that LoudMax has been significantly improved. I've just checked it with 6 dB of reduction on a sine wave sweeping between 1 kHz and 22 kHz. There was no aliasing. Personally I would require maximum of 3 dB reduction from a limiter on final mixdown anyway, so this is still a great alternative to paid products.

Since the latest version (1.40) Loudmax became the best free limiter IMO. Note that it's with the ISP button OFF, 'cause once I turn it ON the sound always becomes worse (I'm starting to think that true peak limiting in all limiters sounds worse anyway).

[michal.ochedowski]

Since the latest version (1.40) Loudmax became the best free limiter IMO. Note that it's with the ISP button OFF, 'cause once I turn it ON the sound always becomes worse (I'm starting to think that true peak limiting in all limiters sounds worse anyway).

I trusted LoudMax without any comparison between two modes. I figured that it wouldn't hurt, so I switched it on. Now I will definitely check it without ISP. Thanks.

[plexuss]

Since the latest version (1.40) Loudmax became the best free limiter IMO. Note that it's with the ISP button OFF, 'cause once I turn it ON the sound always becomes worse (I'm starting to think that true peak limiting in all limiters sounds worse anyway).

So hard clipping sounds better to you?

[simon.a.billington]

Waves Audio - WLM Plus Loudness Meter

I have a couple, IK Stealth, bx_limiter, but oddly this is the one that gets used alot be me and the reason is pretty simple...

I already have it on my master working to inform me of the loudness levels, so its already there. Since it's there I can use pretty much any other limiter as the main one in the mix and just tun on the WLM+ option to just catch the overs. It's pretty useful that way.

[michal.ochedowski]

Since the latest version (1.40) Loudmax became the best free limiter IMO. Note that it's with the ISP button OFF, 'cause once I turn it ON the sound always becomes worse (I'm starting to think that true peak limiting in all limiters sounds worse anyway).

So hard clipping sounds better to you?

LoudMax with ISP off doesn't have to hard clip. Of course it all depends on material and amount of limiting. I've just tested it on a drum loop with 4 dB of reduction and didn't see any chopped off peaks.

[Hermetech Mastering]

Still Limitless here, 99% of the time. 0.5% Elephant, 0.5% Xenon.

[Ploki]

LoudMax with ISP off doesn't have to hard clip. Of course it all depends on material and amount of limiting. I've just tested it on a drum loop with 4 dB of reduction and didn't see any chopped off peaks.

have you checked with a true-peak meter tho

So hard clipping sounds better to you?

i mean, i always hard clip (oversampled) pre-limiter

[michal.ochedowski]

LoudMax with ISP off doesn't have to hard clip. Of course it all depends on material and amount of limiting. I've just tested it on a drum loop with 4 dB of reduction and didn't see any chopped off peaks.

have you checked with a true-peak meter tho

Yes, I always do that. It makes no sense to me, to use a meter that doesn't show where those nasty peaks are hiding. Truth be told, I have LoudMax's Thresh and Out set at -1.1 to achieve a True Peak readout of -1 dBTP. I just accepted it as a fact. I've seen some paid limiters having similar issues.

[plexuss]

We all love our saturators and clippers. But, try something... try a mix with no saturation or clipping tools. Clean analogue emulations are ok but avoid any heavily harmonically distorted tools. Or open an existing mix and turn off all the saturation and clipping and tweek the mix. See what it sounds like and A/B with the last mix you approved with all those tools engaged. Just try it. You might find it interesting.