LoudMax is a Look-Ahead Brickwall Loudness Maximizer Plugin with a clean transparent sound. It is designed to retain the original character of the music as much as possible even at high compression levels. LoudMax - Free Dynamics plugin by Thomas Mundt LoudMax is a Look-Ahead Brickwall Loudness Maximizer with a clean transparent sound. It is designed to retain the original character of the music as much as possible even at high compression levels. Main range of application.
There is a surprising number of free limiter plugins available online in VST and AU formats, and even some in AAX format for Pro Tools.
They come with varying levels of features. Some are brickwall limiters, some are soft limiters, and some add extra clipping and compression features.
Some of the free limiters are exceptional, and have a better reputation than paid commercial gear.
Limiter #6 from vladgsound is one of the most popular free options.
There’s a clone of a Waves L1 limiter that is also quite popular.
Most DAWs include a limiter plugin as well, but they are can be fairly basic or not as transparent as some of the plugins below.
Paid limiter plugins can cost upwards of a few hundred dollars each, like Waves’ Limiter plugins. But you can get pretty good results from these free options as well.
Best Free Limiter Plugins
Limiter No6
Limiter #6 is a mastering plugin that includes five modules: RMS compressor, peak limiter, high-frequency limiter, clipper, true peak limiter.
It has brickwall and soft limiting features with different timing settings, M/S and multiband modes, 4x oversampling, and more.
Limiter #6 is available in VST and AU formats for Mac and PC in 32 and 64 bit. There are 3 different GUIs (here’s the page with all three downloads).
LoudMax
LoudMax is a look-ahead brickwall limiter plugin designed to be a clean and transparent loudness maximizer that retains as much of the original sound of the music as possible. It’s a low latency, low CPU usage plugin with an easy to understand interface.
LoudMax is available to download in VST and AU formats in 32 and 64 bit. It works with Windows and Mac OS 10.5 and higher.
George Yohngs W1 Limiter
W1 Limiter is an easy-to-use plugin that was cloned from a Waves L1 limiter and boasts identical output. It also features an approximation of Waves L2 with adaptive release enabled.
W1 Limiter is available in VST, AU, and RTAS formats for windows and Mac (OS X) and it comes in both 32 and 64 bit. /garritan-vst-plugin.html.
EasyLimiter
EasyLimiter is a free, donationware VST limiter for Windows that features look-ahead peak detection, stereo link, and a number of other features. Its claim to fame is that it uses less CPU than other limiters.
EasyLimiter comes in VST format only and works with Windows 32 and 64 bit systems.
ClipShifter
ClipShifter is a clipping style limiter that can go from transparent compression to hard clipping distortion. It offers controls for clip shaping and harmonics, it has a waveform display, and is low on CPU usage.
There are free and paid versions of ClipShifter. The free version is fully-function; the paid version adds extra features like mid/side processing, oversampling, independent frequency clipping, etc.
ClipShifter is available in AU, VST, VST3, RTAS, and AAX formats for Windows and Mac, both 32 and 64 bit.
Xhip Limiter
According to the website description, Xhip Limiter is designed for maximal sustain and minimal distortion, and aims to be as transparent as possible in terms of timbre.
The Xhip Limiter plugin is available for Windows only, both 32 and 64 bit.
Faraday Limiter
The Faraday Limiter from Goodhertz is described as having colorful dynamics with warm, tape-like saturation. It features advanced stereo linking, variable L/R or M/S linking, adjustable ratios, and a gain reduction history meter.
Goodhertz plugins are only available in AU and AAX formats for 64-bit Macs with OS X 10.7 and up.
L2007 Mastering Limiter
According to the description, the L2007 is a mastering-grade look-ahead brickwall limiter. It’s made by Massey Plugins and is offered free with Massey’s other plugins but the free versions have limited features.
However, this one of the few free limiters that is available in AAX format for Pro Tools. Both Mac and PC are supported.
Maxwell Smart
Maxwell Smart is simple limiter plugin that claims to be a true transparent peak limiter and loudness maximizer with look-ahead functionality designed to increase loudness while maintaining transients without audible distortion.
The plugin features 3 modes to control the sound: smooth, normal and loud, and the compensated latency is 4ms. It’s available for Windows and is 32 bit only.
Article Content
As I cover in my new course Mastering in the Box, there are some incredible plugins available for anyone interested in computer-based mastering. Although nothing can replace an experienced engineer, working in an expertly designed room, on high-end equipment, there are some fantastic free tools available online that will aid engineers working on projects with limited budgets.
Here are some completely free plugins that you can work into your in the box mastering workflow …
1. Voxengo SPAN
As I cover in the course, Metering is absolutely essential to mastering, and SPAN is a versatile and free utility plugin.
Loudmax Vst Plugin
It provides spectral analysis, correlation metering and clipping detection, as well as displaying RMS and max crest factor. The interface is simple, clear, and even somewhat customizable. It’s a truly deep, accurate and useful metering plugin, which is refreshing considering that it’s free. It’s also compatible with virtually every DAW.
2. LoudMax by Thomas Mundt
Described as “a look-ahead brickwall loudness maximizer plugin with a clean transparent sound, designed to retain the original character of the music as much as possible even at high compression levels,” LoudMax is a wonderfully simply tool. It has two sliders: threshold and output — and that’s all it needs.
If you’re interested in learning how a limiter works and affects your material, LoudMax boils the concept down to its most basic elements, all while providing a mostly transparent sound.
3. Limiter №6 by Vladg Sound
This is a more complex and versatile take on limiting. It offers more control than LoudMax, which can be helpful if your program material requires detailed tweaking.
Its five modules include: RMS compressor, peak limiter, high-frequency limiter, clipper, and true peak limiter.
Each of these modules have extremely flexible controls. There are some expensive and well-known limiter plugins that don’t come with features like mid-side processing, oversampling and true peak detection. The fact that these features come included with Limiter №6 makes it even more special.
4. mvMeter from TBProAudio
I’m still pretty shocked that this plugin is free. It looks great, it’s easy to use, and it’s deeper than some metering tools that cost hundreds of dollars more. It allows you to measure PEAK, RMS, EBU R128, VU and PPM. Additionally, it has multi-channel metering so you can see what’s happening on the stereo, left, right, mid, or side channels.
The five different themes allow the user to change the look to various classic VU and PPM Meters, which is a nice touch. (It doesn’t improve the sound quality — I prefer the sleek look of the retro skin.)
5. Stereo Tool v3 by Flux
Some mixes require a bit of balancing the information spread between the channels, and Stereo Tool v3 is prefect for this application. It includes panning controls for the left and right channels, a vector scope display, global stereo width and pan controls, PPM Input and Output meters, a phase correlation meter, and a variety of other useful features.
If the content you’ve been delivered has balance and phase issues, this is an excellent free plugin.
6. Voxengo Marvel GEQ
Being able to sculpt your signal using an equalizer is essential for a mastering engineer. This linear-phase 16-band graphic equalizer is impressive in both functionality and sound.
I’m not sure why every plugin doesn’t have an “undo/redo” function, because after using this equalizer, I find it to be quite helpful. Being able to work in mid-side mode allows the user to treat information in the center separately from the sides, which, when used properly, can result in a much clearer stereo spread, and a more defined space amongst individual elements.
As with each of the great tools on this list, it’s surprising that such a useful tool is free.
I generally believe that in audio, you get what you pay for, but each of the aforementioned plugins are exceptions to this rule.
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As I cover in my new course Mastering in the Box, there are some incredible plugins available for anyone interested in computer-based mastering. Although nothing can replace an experienced engineer, working in an expertly designed room, on high-end equipment, there are some fantastic free tools avai
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