Hi! i hope you're all well

I'm looking for the best plugin that soft clips and has limiting functionality to be used on master channel when producing/mixing - not for master!
I use the free initial clipper and would like to be able to replicate my preset with whatever is suggested ideally, TDR is meant to be good but heavy on cpu, as i'm running an i7-3770 :P

thanks!


edit: some great suggestions, some are wallet-conscious too, thank you!


edit 2: i'm clipping for the distortion created, not as a lazy way of managing dynamics but i want a gritty master and i use it on all my music, a stylistic choice

 

Last edited: Jun 2, 2023

https://plugins4free.com/plugin/2797/
Since it's free, it must be the best.

 

The best I've used is https://www.siraudiotools.com/StandardCLIP.php but as well Plugins that knock clipper. Both are very good, easy and light on cpu. Around 25 bux

 

I know that the coding from Kazrog is great. Their plugs use low CPU. They have a free KClip: https://kazrog.com/collections/audio-plugins/products/kclip-zero
And they also have a full version: https://kazrog.com/collections/audio-plugins/products/kclip-3
And their prices are fair and affordable.

 

if you like TDR but want lower CPU maybe you should check this thread :

https://audiosex.pro/threads/vintag...the-best-limiter-plugin-money-cant-buy.70000/

 

I find Black Salt Audio's Clipper to e pretty good too.

https://www.blacksaltaudio.com/clipper

 

so older builds of TDR are more eco or do they mean the free version? very interesting!

 

Every clipper is doing this.

This is in general a bad idea - when you render it this way, for testing, not.

Basically, clippers do not need much CPU. What can make them really CPU consuming is the oversampling. So you'll need any clipper which is capable of soft clipping and has adjustable OS.
Some clippers come with different algorithms, which can be usefull, Apogee's free clipper (called Soft Limit) features a bunch of even harmonics, which is pretty rare.
I'd go for the one which suits your needs most in terms of GUI and handling and maybe price (apart from the mentioned features, of course).

 

Plugins that knock clipper

 

it's eco, you can turn off the module you don't need, it has everything you need. It's free and I just love the skinned version I posted there, it's pretty. Pro tips, eye candy is important for good mixes. It means you have good taste and good taste leads to good mixes.

I was gonna say the same, but don't want to hurt you. It's way better to move the clipper to the individual channel that needs it. A wise man once told me be the best clipper for stereo bus during production is turn down the fader and turn up your monitor volume. Ok I just made up the last part but there's some truth in there.

 

According to their homepage it's a hard clipper...

 

The working class hero, StandardClip. It's one of the lightest plugs out there and has offline rendering for OS. I don't like the expression "Industry Standard" but this one is the only plug that i think is really a standard BC is totally functional (lots of options) and cheap AF

 

Is it just for preventing the occasional transients going over 0dB? If so, you could use any free hard clipper, or plug-in with hard clipping at the output. There are tons of them.

If you are actually mixing into it, I would probably go for something else. Thomas Mundt LoudMAX is a great (and free) lookahead brickwall limiter. It introduces some latency (lookahead always does) so it's not optimal to monitor through when recording.
https://loudmax.blogspot.com/

If you need to monitor through the clipper/limiter while recording, I can recommend Jon V Audio FirComp. It's s zero-latency, and can limit with 0 samples of attack, through some DSP trickery/magic (probably hard clipping only the first few samples of the attack, or something). It also has the option to use lookahead when you want an even cleaner sound.
https://jonvaudio.com/fircomp/

 

Huge - Airwindows

 

Melda MWaveShaper is excellent.

 

To me, DAW's stock limiter is the best limiter. I mean it does what it does. I don't expect extra favour.

 

Venomode Maximal 3?

 

Don't you mean ClipOnly? ClipOnly is very transparent safety limiter I use all the time, but I use it and also don't, if you know what I mean, because at the audio level I work with it rarely has to actually clip something. Also worth mentioning is SoftClip, but it's not transparent and it adds harmonics, so not really for safe clipping, but creative clipping.

 

Code:

2/(1+exp(-2*x))-1;

is sufficient for me.