FX Limiter

G

guttadaj

New member
I have questions on how all the Dynamics Processors work actually, so if anyone can direct me to instructions for them, I'd be much-obliged. I can't find them in the SONAR help.

I pretty much understand the Compress and Dynamic Processor for the most part, and I thought I understood the Limiter as well since it seems fairly straightforward, but I was wrong. I have an audio clip that peaks at maybe -6db or so with RMS around -18db on average, judging by the meter. So to test out this Limiter, I patched it in to the track's FX bin and set the Limiter Threshold at -11db. I play it back, and the thing is cranked and clipping a bunch with a peak reading of 2.7db! :confused: Sure, I've got lots to learn, but I thought I at least understood what a Limiter was! Can anybody tell me what the heck is going on there? Shouldn't it "limit" the audio so it peaks no higher than the threshold (or maybe slightly higher due to some detection/clamp-down lagtime)?

Also, what's do the Maximum and Side Chain mean in the Stereo Interaction? Or how do you make it work in that mode? I thought to side chain a compressor meant to have the compression work on a track based on looking at levels on a processed signal of that track or a different track altogether... yes?

So many questions... I wish I could find this stuff in the help!

Anyway, thanks for any light you can shed on this stuff for me! :)
-Jeff
 
That's a pretty sweet link there, moskus! Could keep me busy reading for the next year or so! :eek: :D Thanks! :)

The stuff there just confirms to me though that I actually do understand how a limiter is supposed to work and makes the Cakewalk FX Limiter all the more confusing to me! Why would a passage with a max peak of -6db be clipping after I apply the Cakewalk FX Limiter to it with a Threshold of -11db and the Output Gain set to 0? :confused: Does that make sense to anyone? Is there any help for the group of Cakewalk FX dynamic processor plugins anywhere?

Thanks!
-Jeff
 
Your limiter must have an automatic makeup gain. It, more than likely, adds gain as you lower the threshold in an effort to bring the peak up to 0db.
 
Try setting your output gain at -6db instead of 0. This may in effect make up for your automatic makeup gain, just a thought.
 
Thanks for the ideas and suggestions, guys! :)

What would be really great would be if there were some help for these effects. Anybody know of any? I can find help on some of the other Cakewalk effects in the SONAR Help, like FX Reverb, Delay, Chorus, etc., but not for these Dynamics Processor effects. Let me know if anybody knows of a reference for these guys.

Thanks again!
-Jeff
 
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