7/23/2019 Limiter6 En

1/6

Preface

I'm glad to introduce public alpha version of new limiter plugin (codename "Limiter6")!

This plugin is unique combination of slow #compressor$ pea% limiter$ high#frequenc&

limiter$ oversampled clipper and inter#sample limiter The idea of this combination is "gain

staging" when each stage used a little to ma%e a most clean sound

This is not a plugin with %nob and smart brain inside$ which allow ma%ing &our mi * d+

,ll settings are manual and there're a lot of %nobs

The -.I is a draft &et and will be redrawn to photorealistic militar& st&le

Modules and parameters description

In the beginning of the wor% &ou should set "tereo" / "ono" mode 0hen plugin is using on

mono trac% &ou should set it to "ono"

To the right from "tereo" / "ono" mode there's invisible "ealtime" parameter switch +&

default the plugin uses maimum latenc& (about 12 ms) to allow "smooth" turning on/off

modules and changing parameters$ which cause processing latenc& to change If minimum

latenc& is required the plugin can be switched in "ealtime" mode b& clic%ing on this empt&

space "ealtime" label will appear

=== 1. "RMS compressor" ===

This module is a ver& slow compressor It's used to stabili3e crest#factor of signal before

pea%#limiting modules ,lso this module was created under impression of slow release curves of

14 compressor

T&pical usage eamples5

,chieving manual "gain riding" effect when the sound in loud passages becomes quieter

and in quieter passages becomes louder

1 oftening the attac%s (if "loo%ahead" mode is on")

0hen signal reaches the level where pea%#limiting modules start to distort the sound

level automaticall& lowers

Parameters:

"7ompressor" 8 turns on ("9n") or turns off ("+&pass") the compressor

"-ain" 8 controls signal level at the compressor input

"Threshold" 8 controls the compressor threshold

"atio" 8 controls d&namic range compression ratio (&ou should lower the value to achieve

"invisible" compression effect)

"Loo%ahead" 8 if the parameter set to "9n" and the attac% time is set to minimum the compressor

starts to suppress attac%s of the signal If the parameter set to "9ff" the compressor passes signalattac%s through

7/23/2019 Limiter6 En

2/6

",ttac%" 8 the compressor attac% time

"elease" 8 the compressor release time The design of this compressor doesn't support

operation with the release time smaller than the attac% time It such case the release time

becomes equal to the attac% time The same happens when the "elease" %nob set to its

minimum "9ff" value

":nee" 8 controls the softness of compression curve %nee (for gurus)

"idechain" 8 controls high#pass filter in compressor sidechain .se it to shift frequencies

ma%ing the compressor to react in the midrange

The analog#st&le indicator shows the signal gain reduction level in d+ .se "1/ d+" control to

switch the indicator scale

T&pical ad;ustment steps5

Turn on the compressor

1 If attac%s should be passed through$ set "Loo%ahead" parameter to "on"$ or set it to "off"if attac%s suppressing is needed

witch indicator to " d+" and smoothl& reduce "Threshold" until the needle starts to

move a bit (about *1 d+)

4 ,fter that don't touch "Threshold" %nob but increase "-ain" parameter instead

on't avoid low ratio

values such as "1 5 "

2 ,d;ust the "sidechain" %nob if it's necessar& to change frequencies used for compressor to

react up to the about **#

7/23/2019 Limiter6 En

3/6

8 "+ric%wall" 8 the limiter acts as bric%wall limiter$ eg output signal doesn't eceed

the thresholdA

8 "oft" 8 the gain reduction change is softening b& filter$ as the result the limiter starts

to pass the pea%s through that can be suppressed b& subsequent modulesA

8 "/" 8 limiter acts in id/ide modeA

8 "ultiband" 8 limiter wor%s in #band mode 7rossover frequencies are hardcoded

and the difference between band thresholds is calibrated b& pin% noise

"T&pe" 8 controls limiter's release time and limiting %nee softness5

8 "T&pe ," 8 the release time equals to the attac% time (sounds aggressive)A

8 "T&pe I#III" 8 fied release time (about 4 ms) is used$ the difference between these

modes is in limiting %nee5 from soft one to hard oneA

8 "T&pe 7" 8 separate loo%ahead used for limiter release (sounds soft)

"peed" 8 controls limiter timing5

8 "Bast" 8 normal attac% and release times usedA

8 "/1" and "/" 8 1 and longer times used (the limiter reacts 1 or times

slower)

The analog#st&le indicator shows the signal gain reduction level in d+ To view limiter gain

reduction "@ea%/?B" switch should be set to "@ea%" position In "ultiband" mode the indicator

shows maimum gain reduction for all of the bands The needle speed corresponds to @@

T&pe I

"Amber border" indicatoris a helper used to ad;ust "Threshold" parameter The pea% limiter

in case of continuous limiting starts to distort the sound To help locali3e distortions$ if the

limiter reduces gain for more than d+ longer than 1* ms the amber border appears around

"Threshold" %nob If the border appears for the short time it is recommended to draw attention to

threshold parameter If the border holds for a continuous time it is recommended to ad;ust

threshold to less aggressive value

=== 3. "H limiter" !a.k.a. acceleration limiter ===

This module limits the amount of high frequencies in signal .suall& such %ind of a limiter used

for vin&l recording to limit the speed of cutting st&lus In this plugin it intended to soften the

sound and ma%e the clipper wor% more "invisible" ,lso it can be used as a %ind of de#esser

Parameters:

"?B Limiter" 8 turns on ("9n") or turns off ("9ff") this module

"?B Thresh" 8 controls ?B limiter threshold

The analog#st&le indicator shows the reduction of high frequencies in d+ To view ?B limiter

operation "@ea%/?B" switch should be set to "?B" position

0hen this module should be usedC .se it in case of "anno&ing" high frequencies The

ad;ustment of this module can be made after the clipper ad;ustment (see below) to soften the

sound

T&pical ad;ustment steps5

et gain reduction indicator to "?B" and " d+" and turn ?B limiter on

7/23/2019 Limiter6 En

4/6

1 moothl& reduce "?B Thresh" parameter on t&pical sounding fragment until the meter

needle starts moving a bit (about *1 d+) Det increase "?B Thresh" a bit and forget

about this module If high frequencies become "unt&pical" this module will limit them

=== #. "$%ersampled clipper" ===

This module is oversampled clipper with ad;ustable clipping %nee It can be used either as hardclipper or as soft clipper This is the foundation stone of this plugin

0hen it should be usedC Bor percussive trac%s "Threshold" and ":nee" should be set to affect

onl& attac%s 9n other t&pe of trac%s this module can be used ver& subtle when signal should

reach onl& the beginning of %nee 3one

Parameters:

"-ain" 8 controls signal level at the clipper input

"Threshold" 8 controls the clipping threshold (see remarkbelow)

".psampling" 8 controls oversampling t&pe5

8 "9ff" 8 oversampling is not used .se this value in case of high sample rate or when

the clipper used on trac%s where aliasing can't ma%e them sound bad ,lso it can be

used to reduce 7@. usage

8 "4 -" 8 4 oversampling for gain reduction signal is used It means if gain

reduction is unit& the output signal is bit#eact equal to the input signal This mode

can reduce aliasing and consumes less 7@. than "4 signal" mode

8 "4 signal" 8 4 full signal oversampling is used Bor maimum sound transparenc&

double precision (64#bit) signal processing used which leads high 7@. load The

mode is recommended to use onl& on master trac%s

":nee" 8 controls the start level of the clipping (the clipping %nee) Bor eample if "Threshold"

is set to 86 d+ and %nee is set to 86 d+ the clipping will start from 81 d+ and the signal below

is not affected In rightmost %nob position called ">igital" digital clipping is used (see also

"9range border" indicator)

"ode" 8 controls the clipper mode5

8 "Dormal" 8 regular modeA

8 "/" 8 id/ide modeA

8 "ultiband" 8 #bands mode (the same as pea% limiter "ultiband" mode)

The analog#st&le indicator shows the signal gain reduction level in d+ (eg when the clipper

starts to "clip" it actuall& reduces the level of signal and this reduction is shown on the indicator)

To view the clipper operation set "7lip/I@ protect" switch should be set to "7lip" position In

"ultiband" mode the indicator shows maimum gain reduction for all of the bands

"$ran&e border" indicator. The clipper sounds prett& good in the ver& beginning of the %nee

0hen the %nee ends and the clipping curve become hori3ontal the sound qualit& dreadfull&

reduces This hori3ontal part of curve leads to "flat tops" of clipping waves and it sounds reall&

bad If the %nee is set to ">igital" this hori3ontal 3one starts immediatel& after the threshold but

when used for ver& short periods of time it can sound acceptable 0hen the clipper enters to this"hori3ontal 3one" the orange border around "Threshold" is shown It allows to control entering

this "hori3ontal 3one" when it is not acceptable and also to control the time of being in this 3one

7/23/2019 Limiter6 En

5/6

Remark. In oversampled mode the limited waves don't have "flat tops" >ue to that and due to

implementation specific features ver& short pea%s (usuall& of one sample duration) can eceed

the threshold If oversampled mode is not used$ this effect doesn't happen Thus when the clipper

operates in oversampled mode additional limiting stage is required (see below)

=== '. "$utput sta&e" ===

This module contains inter#sample limiter The real signal curve is calculated across sample

values and true signal level value is anal&3ed ,fter that the signal is suppressing in such a wa&

that true signal level will not eceed the threshold If such %ind of limiting is not needed this

module implements simple digital clipping

Thereb& this module can be used for the following tas%s5

To limit occasional pea%s when the clipper operates in oversampled mode In most cases

it is enough to use digital clipping with threshold * d+ higher than clipping threshold

1 To limit true analog signal level (which occurs after the >,7 conversion) for those who

reall& needs it To act as ver& cool sounding bric%wall limiter (with attac% time about *< ms)

Parameters:

"9utput" 8 controls signal level at the module input

"7eiling" 8 controls the limiting threshold

"@rotection" 8 controls the limiting t&pe5

8 ">igital" 8 digital clipping is used (see "ed border" indicator)

8 "I@ Bast" 8 simplified inter#sample limiter is used This mode sounds li%e "I@

@recise" one but requires less 7@. power and doesn't guarantees true signal pea%s

limit

8 "I@ @recise" 8 normal inter#sample limiter operational mode (4 sinc#function

oversampling used to get true signal level)

"Red border" indicator. If digital clipping mode is used and this clipping occurs the red border

around "@rotection" is shown If the border holds for a continuous period of time it is

recommended to reduce the signal level

T&pical ad;ustment steps5

Bor the clipper in oversampled mode set "Threshold" parameter to 8*4 d+$ "@rotection"

parameter of the output stage to ">igital" and "7eiling" parameter to 8* d+B ometimes

"9utput" signal level can be boosted from * to *1 or even *< d+ To soften the sound

"@rotection" parameter can be switched from ">igital" to "I@ Bast"

http5//vladgsoundwordpresscom

vl#gE&anderu

-reat than%s to >a Liniere for his help!www.puzzlefactory.com.au

http://vladgsound.wordpress.com/mailto:vl-g@yandex.ruhttp://www.puzzlefactory.com.au/http://vladgsound.wordpress.com/mailto:vl-g@yandex.ruhttp://www.puzzlefactory.com.au/

7/23/2019 Limiter6 En

6/6

Than%s also to5

Fital& Golotarev http5//wwwvital&musiccom/

>ean ,%a De%ro

Ha& :e&

Honas %strJm http5//wwwmastertonese/

http://www.vitalymusic.com/http://www.mastertone.se/http://www.vitalymusic.com/http://www.mastertone.se/