Which limiters are considered to be good?

[Walnutcracker]

I don't hear a lot about limiters on Linux so it got me curious, what limiters does everyone use and which ones are considered to be the best ones available?

[diizy]

SWH Fast lookahead

[bluebell]

CALF limiter offers lookahead, too. Are there really audible differences between the several limiters?

[antiesen]

My favorit is foo limiter2.

[aprzekaz]

Yeah for me the Foo limiter v2 is the best one to put on the master channel.

[bazsound]

ive only used calf limiter, it does what it says on the tin. Super simple.

when you bring the limiter threshold down it increases the gain, very usefull if you have a mix that is a bit quieter as expected as you can just keep bringing the threshold down and thje track gets louder then stop once it starts limiting.

very basic and just what you need if all you need is very basic limiting to stop those very breif transients that are stopping you from getting more average volume

[diizy]

Yeah for me the Foo limiter v2 is the best one to put on the master channel.

IMHO better not to use limiters on master. Much better to limit earlier, control the volume of each channel separately, and adjust them so that they don't clip in master...

[antiesen]

IMHO better not to use limiters on master. Much better to limit earlier, control the volume of each channel separately, and adjust them so that they don't clip in master...

Yes you´re right - there should be no clipping in the channels while mixing. But some are mixing and doing stereo processing at the same time. So the "final master" comes directly out of the daw.

[bluebell]

I began to insert Calf limiter in every track/bus (Qtractor), audio and softsynth. So I have
- a vu-meter (important because linuxsampler can be really loud)
- same delay (because of the lookahead function) in every bus
- no distortion even when the synth's too loud

I though about a clipping LED for every track but it would have to be a clipping LED for every plugin.

[diizy]

IMHO better not to use limiters on master. Much better to limit earlier, control the volume of each channel separately, and adjust them so that they don't clip in master...

Yes you´re right - there should be no clipping in the channels while mixing. But some are mixing and doing stereo processing at the same time. So the "final master" comes directly out of the daw.

Doesn't matter. The clipping in channels isn't the problem per se. The thing is, if you have clipping in master, then there's a problem earlier in the chain and it's better to fix it there rather than try to "cover it up" by limiting in master. Using a limiter in master often just leads to audible "jumps" which sounds bad.

[antiesen]

Doesn't matter. The clipping in channels isn't the problem per se. The thing is, if you have clipping in master, then there's a problem earlier in the chain and it's better to fix it there rather than try to "cover it up" by limiting in master. Using a limiter in master often just leads to audible "jumps" which sounds bad.

No, it´s not about fixing a problem or prevent clipping (technical it´s the opposite); it´s called brickwall-limiting.

[aprzekaz]

I don't even use a limiter in any other channel usually, Just compression and eq. I make sure no channel is clipping though and the mix sounds as best as it can to me. Then I push everything up into that master limiter to get it a little louder. But Alas, I still have much to learn about mixing.

[bazsound]

I began to insert Calf limiter in every track/bus (Qtractor), audio and softsynth. So I have
- a vu-meter (important because linuxsampler can be really loud)
- same delay (because of the lookahead function) in every bus
- no distortion even when the synth's too loud

I though about a clipping LED for every track but it would have to be a clipping LED for every plugin.

I dont find the vu meter of much use, in my projects which are pretty optomised for loudness a vu meter just reads solidly in the red.

Peak+ RMS seems to give a more usefull meter showing both peak and RMS signal.

VU meters are very slow to respond

[dednikko]

Limiterrs, even software limiters, all have their own charateristics and use cases.

If you want to know what it is good for, I'd have to ask what the purpose is.

SWH Fast Lookahead: This sounds clean smooth so long as it isn't limiting a massive peak. This means that if you just need to tame some peaks that are a few dB above the rest of the track, it should be transparent and ideal. Any peaks too loud will cause audible distortion. I use it on guitar and vocals

Hard Limiter: This is similar to the SWH in that it is clean until you stress it, but is still different. This will tame bigger peaks with ease but seemingly always with mild distortion. I could be completely wrong, but I think I also get differing results when using this in Audacity instead of ardour. i can cleanly smash tracks in audacity. I will have to make a proper test soon.

FC70: non-free, modeled after a Fairchild limiter. It is not transparent, and has a nice effect to the sound even when the threshold is set to not limit the sound. I use this on the final output, as well as bass, guitar, or vocals. Or drums. It's just nice!

Calf Limiter: I love this plugin, but it will color the sound a lot, and can get distorted pretty quickly. I do appreciate that it automatically makes up the gain, unlike the rest. If you just want something to give it an intentionally limited and pumpy sound, I'd drop this on there.

I do completely agree with the idea that the tracks should be limited before they are summed on the master buss. Fighting a big clicky bass track after the fact will end up distortion everything else as well, and that is no good. Assuming you are getting things mastered by someone who is dedicated to that skill, you should not be sending the something like that either. I have, and it was a total waster of money. The final rpoduct I got back was completely affected by that mistake, and I know better now =).

[diizy]

IMO, basically master should have nothing except a spectrum analyzer. Unless you're doing some kind of master highpass or tapestop or glitching or somesuch, which isn't used all the time... but other than those special cases, I believe all effects - including limiters, compressors and eq's - should almost always be applied earlier in the chain.