Post by: Darius van H on December 20, 2010, 08:37:04 AM
http://www.fabfilter.com/products/pro-l.php
I've been using this for a few weeks and am really impressed with the sound and tweakability of this plug. It can be pushed quite hard before getting ugly and distorted, as well as working great at more conservative settings.
Anyone else try it and have any thoughts / observations?
Post by: Macc on December 20, 2010, 08:47:38 AM
The sound is very good, and you have the ability to really tailor the sound as a part of the overall chain. Some limiters are kind of restrictive, they just do their thing, whereas with this you have a lot of options on how to set it up.
I'm in dynamic mode almost exclusively, btw. Generally I'm using longish attack times (~400-500ms), short lookahead and seeing what the release does for the material. When you need to go really really loud, you can start bringing the lookahead up and attack down to smooth things out a bit.
Sits nicely alongside Elephant, they have a fairly different sound. Elephant has a sort of.... sheen (?) to it which I like, but isn't always appropriate. This one feels more 'sterile' (for want of a better word), which isn't a bad thing in a limiter.
Anyway - it's a good 'un!
Post by: Waltz Mastering on December 20, 2010, 11:47:56 AM
Might have been a previous thread here mentioning the Fab, but over all one of my favorite limiters. Probably best I couldn't get the Fg-x to work for me after all.
Post by: jdg on December 20, 2010, 12:07:05 PM
got some amazing results with it a few times, and some terrible ones at other times.
Post by: Patrik T on December 20, 2010, 12:37:12 PM
Best Regards
Patrik
Post by: TotalSonic on December 20, 2010, 01:16:18 PM
I also like the fact that there's no "it's not a limiter" hype behind this one! (unlike another company with a recently introduced new limiter who shall remain nameless).
Best regards,
Steve Berson
Post by: Andy Krehm on December 20, 2010, 09:54:29 PM
I too like the versatility in the advanced mode.
Post by: lowland on December 31, 2010, 10:08:41 AM
Post by: subvertbeats on January 01, 2011, 10:51:05 AM
Bob introduced me to it whilst I was over in December, and since getting home Ive been using it on almost all projects.
Good stuff for sure.
Post by: Andy Krehm on January 01, 2011, 11:20:36 AM
When I recall a setting, the volume doesn't always go to where it was saved. A mouse click on or near the volume display restores it to where it was saved. This doesn't happen with any of the other saved settings.
Anyone else notice this?
Post by: hnewman on January 02, 2011, 05:51:37 PM
Post by: lowland on January 06, 2011, 10:32:24 AM
Got up the courage to use it on an actual job, a well-recorded cast album, the other day and the producer gave the limiter a big thumbs-up. Musical theatre records typically have quite a bit more dynamic range than a pop album, and what we ended up with was in the pop loudness range without sounding strained on the big sections. Obviously most of that was down to good mixes with lots of loudness potential, but I liked the way this limiter could shoot for something a little louder than I would usually go for (at the producer's request) and keep us both happy!
Incidentally, I used the 'Allround' algorithm without touching the advanced settings, 4x oversampling, max GR of around 3dB on top of normal gain-staging through the chain. I notice that on my system when you alt-drag the threshold slider (so the output is correspondingly reduced and you can hear the effect of limiting without a change in loudness) the linkage only seems to work in an upward direction: when you pull the slider down with alt still held the output doesn't go up but stays at the lowest point. I think the two should be linked in both directions, I don't imagine it would be hard to program.
Post by: Macc on January 06, 2011, 02:47:58 PM
| hnewman wrote on Sun, 02 January 2011 22:51 |
Finally demoing this now. Like the sound, but it takes forever to render. Anyone else encounter this? Suggestions? I have not spent much time optimizing Sequoia's CPU handling, but I'm guessing that would not effect the plugin engine anyhow...? |
It certainly takes a lot longer to render with 4x oversampling on. With oversampling off it is much faster, but with the obvious drawbacks.
I seem to be preferring either no oversampling or 4x... I don't like the 2x so much. It could be placebo but I hear something different about it...
Anyway, like the limiter a lot, though Elephant is still getting used on certain stuff that doesn't get on with Pro-L.
Post by: Thomas W. Bethel on January 06, 2011, 03:00:54 PM
Post by: hnewman on January 06, 2011, 04:24:40 PM
| Macc wrote on Thu, 06 January 2011 14:47 | ||
It certainly takes a lot longer to render with 4x oversampling on. With oversampling off it is much faster, but with the obvious drawbacks. I seem to be preferring either no oversampling or 4x... I don't like the 2x so much. It could be placebo but I hear something different about it... Anyway, like the limiter a lot, though Elephant is still getting used on certain stuff that doesn't get on with Pro-L. |
You are correct, it was the oversampling that was causing the slowdowns. Still getting a feel for the limiter, it's interesting at the very least.
Post by: SafeandSound on January 09, 2011, 06:08:14 AM
Props to Aleksey for it.
I will have to have a listen to the Pro-L limiter at some point.
Post by: mastertone on January 09, 2011, 07:01:16 AM
| SafeandSound wrote on Sun, 09 January 2011 12:08 |
...when my primary limiter is not quite working out. |
Which is?
Post by: Andy Krehm on January 09, 2011, 10:50:25 AM
| Andy Krehm wrote on Sat, 01 January 2011 11:20 |
I'm still liking this limiter as much as when I first posted but have discovered a glitch, at least with my processing setup (Mac G5 Dual/PTs 8/RTAS). When I recall a setting, the volume doesn't always go to where it was saved. A mouse click on or near the volume display restores it to where it was saved. This doesn't happen with any of the other saved settings. Anyone else notice this? |
I received a email from the Pro-L guys and thought I should post it in case I am not the only one who didn't notice this!
From: Floris Klinkert, "FabFilter Software Instruments"
Hi Andy,
Ah, I think I know what you mean now!
At the top of Pro-L's interface, near the Help button, you see a little lock icon. That's the 'Lock Output Settings' button. If it's enabled, all output settings (like Output Level and Gain, but also Dithering and Oversampling etc.) will -not- be changed when loading presets. This makes it easier to compare how different settings work on a piece of audio...So if you disable that setting, Pro-L will load all parameter as you expect, also the Output Level.
Post by: Slip on January 13, 2011, 07:25:21 AM
| lowland wrote on Thu, 06 January 2011 17:32 |
I notice that on my system when you alt-drag the threshold slider (so the output is correspondingly reduced and you can hear the effect of limiting without a change in loudness) the linkage only seems to work in an upward direction: when you pull the slider down with alt still held the output doesn't go up but stays at the lowest point. I think the two should be linked in both directions, I don't imagine it would be hard to program. |
This must be a bug. It works here as intended, alt-drag simply reverse links the gain and output controls and works both ways.
I've got this working on both Windows 64bit and 32bit in Reaper and Wavelab 6 (can't stand the new version 7.. what a mess).
Cheers!
Niklas