Overview
Limiter keeps every peak under the ceiling while turning the level up with Gain. It looks ahead, so it lowers the gain before a peak arrives, smoothly, without clipping. In True peak mode it also holds the peaks between the samples that a converter or an encoder would make.
Getting started
- Set Ceiling (-1 dB for streaming), raise Gain until the reduction is what you want.
Controls
| Peaks | Sample peak or True peak. |
| Gain | The push into the ceiling, 0 to 24 dB. |
| Ceiling | The highest a peak may reach, -12 to 0 dB. |
| Release | How fast the gain comes back. |
| Lookahead | How far ahead it looks, 0.5 to 10 ms; the DAW makes up for the delay. |
| Link | How much the sides share their gain. |
Settings
The gear in the header opens the settings panel; it covers the lower panel until the gear is clicked again.
| Release mode | Fixed, or Auto: quicker after a short peak, slower during long limiting, so dense music pumps less. |
What the screen shows
Five seconds: the input after Gain in grey, the output in orange, the ceiling dashed, and the gain reduction hanging from the top.
Tips
- In True peak mode the limiter aims 0.25 dB under the ceiling, so the ceiling is a promise.
- The Output knob comes after the ceiling and can exceed it; leave it at 0 for a final master.
Technical notes
- Latency 239 samples at 5 ms and 48 kHz (255 with True peak).
Common to every plugin
| The header | Every window opens with the same header. On the left a dot-matrix display shows the main reading large and the details under it; text that does not fit scrolls. Next to it a hint with a coloured dot says what the plugin is doing or what to do next. On the right: Undo and Redo arrows (up to 100 steps of everything done in the window), the Bypass button, and the gear, which opens the plugin's settings panel when it has one. |
| Bypass | With Bypass lit, the plugin lets the sound through untouched. It is the same switch as your DAW's own bypass for the plugin, so either can be used and automated. The input is held back by exactly the plugin's latency, so the timing stays right, and switching fades over 10 ms, so it never clicks. Bypass is not part of Undo. |
| Input and Output | Most plugins have a column on the right with a pair of VU meters for the input and the output, each with its own gain knob (plus or minus 24 dB). Analog shows the classic VU scale, dBFS the digital one. A click on a meter opens a large view of it. The CLIP lamp lights when a sample reaches 0 dBFS. |
| Knobs | Drag a knob up or down to turn it. Knobs that go both ways, or that have a natural middle, catch briefly at their centre. A double-click returns a knob to its default. |
| About and the demo | A click on the xsidfx logo in the footer opens About. In the demo version the plugin's name ends in (demo), its settings are not saved with your project, and About opens each time the window does. |
