Audio Limiter/Expander

Butch Moore wrote on 5/9/2013, 12:49 PM
Back in the old days, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, most equipment was 19" wide and capacitors could be changed with a soldering iron and a prayer, we had a simple Expander/Limiter at the beginning of our AM Radio broadcast audio chain. It was a two rack space unit, single meter (mono) and may have been manufactured by MARTI.

The beauty of this unit was that you could push virtually anything through it with good results...being an output of "leveled" audio. It would soften the peaks while softly and slowly raising the level to a threshold on levels that were too low. It was one of those devices that you could "set it and forget it!" Although we used additional processing down the chain, this was a great first treatment.

Is there a similar and affordable VST plugin that offers the same type of audio processing results?

Comments

JHendrix2 wrote on 5/9/2013, 1:09 PM
i tried to use native sony plugs and they are ok for eq but i dont like the comp. others i have tried where not that great. i end up begrudgingly back to waves. begrudgingly only becasue of price and they are sometimes buggy in vegas (and when waves quit support dx format i lost 4 years worth or presets!! - (they offered no tool to recover-trans-grade to vst). about the bugs...for example, for no known reason right now i cant use them becasue if i put any of them on i get audio tearing.

the other HUGE missing plug in vegas is a good deesser...no easy way to do it and no free or cheap ones that sound good. without waves deesser i am at a loss of what to do for flawless deessing in vegas

in terms of price, if you wanted just the good nuts and bolts plugs from waves i would say the ren collection (rencomp, reneq...etc) they are pretty great and it would be less than a bundle of stuff you dont really need. - but as said, for me in V11 they are not working.

i use ozone as an alt but its kind of a beast to work with and always seems too aggressive. i have not found anything free of cheap that is as good as waves ren in terms of sound and ease of use . and i too am looking. personally i would pay quite alot for a great compressor and/or deessor for vegas as its indispensable for me and with my expensive waves collection i am presently DOA in vegas
larry-peter wrote on 5/9/2013, 3:07 PM
You could try Terry West's Steady leveler. Free VST plugin - easy to find on Google. Not as transparent as RCL, but you can't beat the price.

JHendrix2 wrote on 5/9/2013, 3:40 PM
wow...anyone using Terry West's plugs to replace the Waves L1/L2/L3? which one?
rraud wrote on 5/9/2013, 6:53 PM
I was working in studios when dinosaurs roamed the earth.. or so it seamed. Walking from W55th & B'way to the Port Authority bus terminal after a night session was much more dangerous than dinosaurs I would think.
I rather like the (free) Digitalfishphones plugins. 'Blockfish' attempts to emulate the old optical rack mount comp/limiters. The Spitfish de-esser is absolutely great on vocals.. if needed. I also would recommend trying the 'Classic' limiter, compressor, ect. not to mention SCS's two-stage Wave Hammer, if not used to excess.. The (Sonitus) Ultrafunk suite of plug-ins are worth a listen as well .. if you can find them.. the expander/gate sound reminds me of the Valley People Dynamite. I don't know if the Ultrafunk plug-in suite is still available from Cakewalk, which was taken over from Sonitus quite a few years ago.
B.Verlik wrote on 5/9/2013, 11:00 PM
Kjerhaus Classic Master Limiter, Free VST, (one knob) also the Digital fish stuff
BrianSzep wrote on 5/10/2013, 11:55 AM
Hi,

It's not free but this might be what your looking for. They have a free trial too.
http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/CA-2A/

Brian
wwjd wrote on 5/10/2013, 2:13 PM
my free go to faves:

http://loudmax.blogspot.com/
simple, quick, easy, I HIGHLY recommend this one. Look ahead, no distortion

http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=548
"BROADCAST" is a 3 band, not for beginners, it can mash the crap out of things and still sound good.

musicvid10 wrote on 5/10/2013, 3:21 PM
Warm limiters abound in the digital world, and the effect is indeed, "nostalgic."

My personal feeling is that companding was a necessary evil for bandwidth conservation in analog RF transmission, and that is probably where it should stay.
;?)
MikeLV wrote on 11/22/2013, 9:15 PM
How do the free ones mentioned here compare with George Yohng's W1 Limiter (it's the only one I've used so far)
musicvid10 wrote on 11/22/2013, 9:34 PM
In the digital world, audio compression is a snap, and expansion is a bear. It was much more forgiving in analog processing days. Same lesson we learned about digital imaging fully two decades ago . . .
wwjd wrote on 11/23/2013, 9:02 AM
I loved the W1, but you can push it to distort if I recall. I use LOUDMAX on most things now - it's a "look ahead" so it never distorts, even when maxed out. I RARELY use it maxed out though. It is perfect for LIMITING peaks, but also if you want to bring stuff up easily without sounding faked over.

BROADCAST is a different beast. Can take a lot more work to tame, but the presets work well.

Because they all act differently, there is room for all of them depending on your need and sound desired.
But LOUDMAX goes on nearly every voice track of mine anymore. REALLY helps with certain effects also. Sometimes, I'll use BROADCAST on an individual dialog if it is really a mess, and usually (depending on desired project outcome) I use BROADCAST on the MASTER.
I haven't looked back to W1 for a few years now. It is still fine, but I found what I think is better.

Sony has built in effects that can accomplish mostly the same thing, and I understand how to work compressors, but I really don't enjoy taking lots of time futzing with 9 different buttons and sliders to fix a track when a one button plugin works fantastic.
Guitartoys wrote on 11/23/2013, 2:01 PM
Just an FYI,

You might want to check

http://www.kvraudio.com/q.php?search=1&q=expander

They have a pretty solid database of plugins, many free

Also, Computer Music, has great reviews on many plugs. They are my bible often on where to start. In every issue, they have a full suite of free plugins, you can buy just one issue, and it's on the DVD, or get it through Zinion, and you can download if from their website.

http://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/music/computer-music-magazine-subscription/?ns_campaign=MFM-Subscriptions-US&ns_mchannel=ppc&ns_source=google&ns_linkname=Computer-Music-US&ns_fee=0&gclid=CJiJqYLZ-7oCFRQaOgodnDYAIQ

You absolutely get a great expander plug.

Peace

Michael