BbAltered
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Best Free Limiting Plug-In
Hello. I'm running Sonar X2a and Win 7 (all 64 bit).
I would like to have a transparent limiting plug-in on my main mix bus to prevent clipping. I'm not interested in maximizing volume, only in preventing digital "overs". And free if possible.
What are your recommendations? Anyone using the included CW plugs for this purpose?
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dubdisciple
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/28 12:58:44
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I like W1 for that sort of thing among free limiters. It's simple and no frills. Basically a stripped down clone of Waves L1 with just the basic limiting elements.
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michaelhanson
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/28 12:59:58
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Sanderxpander
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/28 13:00:29
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I hear Limiter6 is pretty good, it's free. It won the KVR plugin challenge some years back. It's multiband though.
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BbAltered
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/28 13:03:37
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Thanks guys for your input. I will check them out.
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Elffin
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/28 13:05:50
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...wicked
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/28 13:51:35
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If you're on X3, the bluetubes bundle has a very good limiter in it.
=========== The Fog People =========== Intel i7-4790 16GB RAM ASUS Z97 Roland OctaCapture Win10/64 SONAR Platinum 64-bit billions VSTs, some of which work
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...wicked
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/28 13:52:15
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(whoops, just re-read original post) Upgrade maybe? You'll get tons of good plugz! ;-)
=========== The Fog People =========== Intel i7-4790 16GB RAM ASUS Z97 Roland OctaCapture Win10/64 SONAR Platinum 64-bit billions VSTs, some of which work
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Anderton
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/28 14:20:10
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BbAltered
Hello. I'm running Sonar X2a and Win 7 (all 64 bit).
I would like to have a transparent limiting plug-in on my main mix bus to prevent clipping. I'm not interested in maximizing volume, only in preventing digital "overs". And free if possible.
What are your recommendations? Anyone using the included CW plugs for this purpose?
The Sonitus multiband has a limiting option. On the common page, set the Ratio to 1.0 so it doesn't do any actual multiband compression, then enable the Limit button. That might be all you need to trap transients.
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dubdisciple
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/28 14:39:18
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lawp
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/28 14:40:24
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sstteerreeoo ffllllaanngge
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clintmartin
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/28 16:29:23
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Sanderxpander
I hear Limiter6 is pretty good, it's free. It won the KVR plugin challenge some years back. It's multiband though.
Multiband is just one of the options. LimiterNo.6 is one of the best regardless of price IMHO.
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Paul P
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/28 21:57:54
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If you're patient (and you have the ProChannel in your version of X2) you can wait for the Concrete Limiter to go on sale for 20$. It does so every once in a great while.
Sonar Platinum [2017.10], Win7U x64 sp1, Xeon E5-1620 3.6 GHz, Asus P9X79WS, 16 GB ECC, 128gb SSD, HD7950, Mackie Blackjack
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Anderton
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/28 22:57:47
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All he wants to do is prevent clipping, not volume maximization, so why not just use the Sonitus multiband? It's free, it's available, it's QCed with Sonar, and it works. I wouldn't hit it with transients much over +6 to +8 dB, but then again, I wouldn't hit any maximizer so hard it would have to apply more than 6-7 dB of maximization.
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Sanderxpander
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/29 05:27:22
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I don't consider L1 to be all that transparent by the way, maybe W1 is more so? I think L2 is the "transparent version".
And thanks for the Limiter no. 6 heads up. I really need to try that out sometime.
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Sidroe
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/29 08:16:14
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Thumbs up on the Concrete Limiter! Once I got that plug it virtually replaced Ozone with the plugs available in Sonar.
Sonar Platinum, Sonar X3e, Sonar X2a , Sonar X1 Expanded and 8.5.3 (32 and 64 bit), Windows 10 on a Toshiba P75-A7200 Laptop with i7 @ 2.4 quad and 8 gigs of RAM and secondary WD 1 Tb drive, Windows 10 desktop, Asus i5 @ 3.2 quad, 12 gigs RAM, 1 Tb drive, 1 500 gig drive, MOTU 24io, 2 Roland Studio Captures, Saffire 6 USB for laptop, Soundtracs Topaz Project 8 mixer, Alesis Monitor 2s, Event BAS 20/20s, Roland Micro-Monitor BA-8s, and 45 years worth of collecting FX, Mics, Amps, Guitars, and Keyboards!
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dubdisciple
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/29 15:11:24
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Sanderxpander
I don't consider L1 to be all that transparent by the way, maybe W1 is more so? I think L2 is the "transparent version".
And thanks for the Limiter no. 6 heads up. I really need to try that out sometime.
L1 is nowhere near as transparent as L2, but for the mild use the OP seems to need,I believe it is up to the task. The differences really come into play when you try to maximize. Doesn't sound like he plans to push it at all. I like Limiter no 6 but I think the interface is clunkier than W1 for simple needs and at that level does not sound noticably better. It's all preference of course but. I weill add the discliamier that I have used W1 for audio limiting in video projects more than audio. At the time I started using it, I needed a free limiter that actually worked in my video editor and it fit the bill. So we are not talking about taming clipped audio or major attempts at leveling. For the most part I was just making sure audio already at decent levels were limited to -6 or -12.
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BbAltered
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/29 22:25:19
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Thanks to all for your suggestions. Very helpful indeed.
So it looks like I have some homework to do - so far I've been checking out the sonnitus multiband and the LoudMax plug-ins. Both seem fine for what I want to do.
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rodreb
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/29 23:41:54
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I used to always use either Waves or Sonnox limiters. Always. Then I got the Concrete Limiter and that's it for me now. I love the Concrete Limiter. It just sounds perfect for my style.
PS
For a freebie, the Vlad G Limiter 06 is amazing, too.
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raweber
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/30 10:29:58
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I've been using Boost 11 for years now. Granted, it's not free if you didn't buy a version of Sonar with it bundled, but I've tried several other limiters and always end up coming back to Boost11.
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bitflipper
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/30 12:18:28
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BbAltered
I would like to have a transparent limiting plug-in on my main mix bus to prevent clipping. I'm not interested in maximizing volume, only in preventing digital "overs". And free if possible.
Any limiter will be adequately transparent when used in this manner. "Transparency" only becomes a relevant term when you're asking the plugin to fundamentally alter the dynamics of the music through aggressive gain reduction and "smart" release calculations that hopefully disguise what's happening. Catching the occasional peak will almost never cause a noticeable audible change or distortion. If it does, then you need to go back into the mix and lower that peak. What you're after is a limiter that performs the one essential, basic function of any limiter, which is to guarantee that no peaks ever exceed a specified value. Any of the above-mentioned plugins will do that reasonably well, as long as your maximum amplitude is reasonable. However, very few of them can guarantee no overs in every scenario. For example, if your material is hitting 0dB (or higher) on a regular basis and average peaks are only slightly below that, then it's unrealistic to expect any limiter to be "transparent". That'd be expecting a plugin to do your work for you. Bottom line is don't sweat it. Use whatever strikes your fancy, and just don't push it. Don't set your brickwall to 0 dB and don't set your volume so high that the limiter is constantly engaged. Sounds like that's your plan already.
 All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
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dubdisciple
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/30 18:04:03
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bitflipper
BbAltered
I would like to have a transparent limiting plug-in on my main mix bus to prevent clipping. I'm not interested in maximizing volume, only in preventing digital "overs". And free if possible.
Any limiter will be adequately transparent when used in this manner. "Transparency" only becomes a relevant term when you're asking the plugin to fundamentally alter the dynamics of the music through aggressive gain reduction and "smart" release calculations that hopefully disguise what's happening.
Catching the occasional peak will almost never cause a noticeable audible change or distortion. If it does, then you need to go back into the mix and lower that peak.
What you're after is a limiter that performs the one essential, basic function of any limiter, which is to guarantee that no peaks ever exceed a specified value. Any of the above-mentioned plugins will do that reasonably well, as long as your maximum amplitude is reasonable.
However, very few of them can guarantee no overs in every scenario. For example, if your material is hitting 0dB (or higher) on a regular basis and average peaks are only slightly below that, then it's unrealistic to expect any limiter to be "transparent". That'd be expecting a plugin to do your work for you.
Bottom line is don't sweat it. Use whatever strikes your fancy, and just don't push it. Don't set your brickwall to 0 dB and don't set your volume so high that the limiter is constantly engaged. Sounds like that's your plan already.
Boom! +1
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clintmartin
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/30 19:19:52
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Bit has a way of making the best point the clearest. I thought he was talking about inter sample peaks for some reason. LimiterN0.6 has that in the last module. I'm not sure how Loudmax or Concrete Limiter deals with that exactly.
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Paul P
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Re: Best Free Limiting Plug-In
2014/10/30 23:52:57
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It seems to me that it should be a fairly straightforward thing to detect just the peaks above a certain level and bring them down, much like if you did it by hand on a waveform (I often do). This wouldn't affect the rest of the signal at all and all peaks would be guaranteed to be addressed.
I get the impression that compressors, and limiters, have a more blanket like operation in which everything is affected by the ratio, the louder stuff just more so. Not what BbAltered is looking for. I suppose if the signal is all peaks then yes, the overall sound would be affected.
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