So about those Limiters with sidechain capabilities...

[Unaspected]

Maybe try the VST3 version of Barricade by Toneboosters. A very clean and open sounding limiter with a complementary compression section that can be switched in or out.

[Andreya_Autumn]

Other than Pro-L2, what are they? Anybody?

Done a LOT of searching to no avail. Usually the comment is "Pro-L is one of the few limiters to offer external sidechain" or similar, but nobody seems to list the other few.

The search results are pretty contaminated by Fabfilter topics, and excluding the brand name helped me find only Blue Cat's Protector.

Appreciate your help!

Having read what you want to do, my recommendation would be FIRcomp 2. With lookahead on there's a little latency (obviously). But even without it, it should be able to give you what you need. It's a very transparent-sounding compressor.


EDIT: Oops, just realized this thread was old. My bad.

[Ah_Dziz]

I have the same use scenario, and I generally get by with a super standard compressor (C1) set to as close to brick wall as it will get and keyed to the master stereo mix then I put a soft clip on each stem. It works fine for me. You could sub C1 wit reacomp or any other simple and versatile digital compressor. In some cases though I've had to tell the mixers that they can have a stereo file or nothing (the type of "stem mastering" you're referring to is not always compatible with many creative effects that use any type of randomization).

[kintsugi]

To answer, Klanghelm did allow me to deliver what I was asked to (blast from the past at this point but there you go).