Hello Y'all!

I was testing a couple of limiters but i choosen only 3 limiters for this shootout:

L3-Ultramaximizer Price: $350





Fabfilter Pro-L Price: $229





AOM Invisible Limiter Price: $119






I took a 1 year old mix with no headroom (close to 0dbfs) and i've set 7.5db of gain for each limiter as you can see in the pictures above. (I know it's alot, but i wanted to see how these limiters stand against eachother in this particular gain amount/hard situation)
I maxed the available features of each Limiter, like "oversampling". I also set Pro-L on Transparent algorithm, because Invisible Limiter is meant to be transparent too, so.. well... about Waves L3, it seems to have no oversampling feature, but it's presence in this test is not irrelevant.

I rendered only a short fragment of the song, please pay attention to the transients and overall feel. I won't tell which file is which Limiter, i just named them randomly by A, B and C. You can download them here: http://we.tl/sIp8TFdh70

Tomorrow I'll tell yall which limiter is which file and i will also make available the exact RAW file(i don't share it now because if you have the same limiters in your computer and you copy the settings from the pictures above, then you will figure out the test files), till then, please share your opinion about these 3 tools if you have them/used them or whateva'.. and tell me which Limiter you bet/think performed the best.


P.S. This is only a test of some software tools, so i don't want to see any arguments about being pro or con to loudness war because the tastes will never be the same, so please relate as much as possible only to this thread. Cheers!

EDIT: I didn't produced that track, i know it sounds weak, but there's a clear difference between the performance of the limiters (depending though... on how good your monitors are)

 

The B file has the drums louder. The A and C are similar. I can't decide which one I prefer, and sincerely, I am not fond of this genre of music.
There is something like a noise or ambience which can be heard more clear on the C file, but I am not sure I would want to hear this.
If you would post something acoustic or less electronic, I could figure out which one sounds better, since in this mix there is almost nothing that I would desire to hear. No offense.

 

Thanks Victor, I took that mix fragment randomly from an archive folder in the media browser. I was more interested by the processing itself. The loudest elements in the raw file are indeed the drums, so let's say B kept that intact (everyone: don't take in consideration my opinion)

 

you forgot Izotope ozone 4 maximizer

 

Ok here goes, probably way off the mark but I'll go with A Pro L, B L3 and C AOM

 

Ok, let's play:

A - Invisible Limiter
B - Waves L3
C - Fabfilter

 

Seems like the B sample is completely squashed, the synth is clipping ( crrrrrrrr crrrr). -7.5db is a lot, but the two other limiters are not destroying the sound like this one. Not sure who's who thought..

 

A sounded best in my monitors cause it had the best overall balance and representation of the bass, though I think in C the pad had a bit more full and clear sound. But that should be possible to achieve also with limiter A by some tweaking of just the pad track EQ and FX.

Don't have experience from those tools so really no idea about which is which

 

When i'll reveal the raw file, you'll see also if the balance that you meant about in the processed test file was also present in the raw file.

BTW Guys: Don't judge the overall mix balance (which is related to the mixing stage which as far as i know it was mixed by the same guy who produced the track) but only to what a limiter should do, like loudness level and also preserving transients/clarity/punch. I know it's a short test, but i pushed the limiters hard so we can see which one will preserve the transients the best and also sounding louder. As you can see in the Waves L3 snapshot, the attenuation hit even -8.2db of Gain Reduction (which is exagerrated with the purpose of this test)

 

hmmm

1. Waves L3
2. AOM
3. Pro-L

or not haha

 

Even if we choose wrong, we'll still be able to tell which made the best impression.

 

Right, and the limiter who seems to preserve the bass punch/transients even on a exagerrated gain reduction, the genres like Pop/R&B/EDM//Hip-Hop would benefit from it (if that particular producer/artist is based on the commercial side of music industry and he wants his tracks as loud as possible without losing too much balance).

 

From my experience with limiter plugins Pro-L gives you the most flexibility when it comes to dealing with and shaping transients. The algorithms are extremely useful if you're looking for a particular sound and the ability to control both the attack and release times as well as release transient linking is great. I'm always able to get more from this limiter than any other limiter out there, although it does take some experience and practice when it comes to choosing the settings. I find the L3 too generic and haven't played around too much with the AOM but like the clipping option and the oversampling is top notch

 

It's always D!!!! All of the above.

 

kratos from kuassa abd buzzzroom buzzmaxi 3 better than all you got even fabfilter and especialy waves L2
anyway in how you choosed them im with proL first then the aom one, last waves

 

Ironically enough, he makes a good point. I run 3 limiters L3-Multi > AOM Invisible > L2, just to get like 3-4db GR in total lol

Though the results of this experiment may make me re think the order I run them in.

 

i guess 1 Waves 2 Pro-L and 3 AOM

 

Maybe, not sure...

A. Pro L
B. L3
C. AOM

It's subjective when B is so much louder than the others, although for EDM I would go with that L3 for sure over the others (if it really is an L3).

It really all depends on the end product, doesn't it? One limiter may be fantastic on Rock but horrible on a Lounge style track.

Come on, time's up - please tell us! *yes*

 

As i promised, today i'll say wich one is which, so:

A - Pro-L
B - Invisible Limiter
C - L3-Ultramaximizer

Raw file: http://we.tl/CbmUObcYn8

IMO, Pro-L is the most versatile (+1 Fuad) when it comes about a broader range of music genres because it's very tweakable. Customizable look-ahead, attack, release, channel linking settings and four algorithms with different characters makes it a very versatile weapon. It also have 4x oversampling wich is nice too. In this example, it felt like Pro-L did a little touch of "mastering" too because it pushed the snares/snaps back a little bit but not in an unpleasent way. (I didn't tweaked it's settings too much, but as Fuad said, you can get alot from this limiter if you tweak it right regarding the music genre/sound material you want to process with it)

Well... If you compare the raw file with the processed ones, you'll notice that Invisible Limiter kept the snares/snaps smack & bass more fuller giving a louder feel. Invisible Limiter is not that tweakable due to it's automatic attack/release optimisation but it has some extra features too, like 3 modes of overshoot mode, Highest over-sampling i met on a limiter, two shape modes (Linear/Logarithmic), M/S - L/R and Unity Gain Monitoring (lets you listen what limiter does at the same loudness level with the unprocessed mix which is a nice thing if you want to check the transparency.) If you're really after a big-ass loudness without messing around too much with tweaking settings, this is a go-to limiter for you.

Waves L3-Ultramaximizer... well.. i never understood it's price but.. well... is a generic limiter which is usable when you have no choice and is good enough in small amounts of limiting for acoustic genres or whatever...

So... i asked these limiters to describe themselves in a short way and they answered:
Pro-L: " I'm not the boss but i'm a reliable work horse "
Invisible Limiter: " If you like it loud, i promise to make you proud "
Waves L3: " I promise i swallow everything you put into my mouth if it's not too much "

 

Yamaha hs8's here. After listening to all of them, the best sounding is A (Pro-L) which sounds almost exactly the same as C (Waves L3) but with more definition, especially on the low freq. B is *hit :D