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Limiter

The Limiter module controls the volume so that it does not exceed a user-specified threshold.

The Link Channels check box enables linking the response of the Limiter across channels. By default, this option is unselected and the channels are limited independently.

There are three Limiter modes available: Hard-knee limiter, Soft-knee limiter, and Advanced limiter. The available parameters differ for each mode and are summarized in the following table:

Limiter ModeAttackReleaseGainLatency
Soft-knee limiterConfigurableConfigurableN/AN/A
Hard-knee limiterN/AN/AN/AN/A
Advanced limiterN/AConfigurableConfigurable2.67ms

Soft-knee limiter

When the audio signal exceeds the threshold level, the soft-knee limiter temporarily allows the threshold to be exceeded, and gradually changes the audio signal back to the threshold level over the specified attack time. When the audio signal drops below the threshold level, the signal attenuation is gradually stopped over the specified release time.

The soft-knee limiter keeps distortion to a minimum and produces natural-sounding results. However, there is no effect unless an appropriate threshold and attack time are set with some margin. If the threshold is too high, or if the attack time is too long, the soft-knee limiter operates in the same way as the Hard-knee limiter when the signal reaches 0 dB.

Hard-knee limiter

With the hard-knee limiter, audio signals are cut off at the threshold value. This is useful when the signal only exceeds the threshold for short periods of time, but significant distortion could occur if the threshold is frequently exceeded.

Advanced limiter

The advanced limiter is the most transparent of the three limiters while allowing more control over the output. This is because the signal does not exceed the threshold. It achieves this by introducing a small latency of 2.67 ms. This allows the limiter to automatically configure the attack and react to peaks smoothly, before the input reaches the threshold. The threshold, release stage, and an output gain can be configured in this mode.

[Warning]Warning

The advanced limiter mode is not supported when mixing with Audio Objects. For performance reasons, the advanced limiter mode is replaced by the soft limiter mode when mixing with Audio Objects.


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