Micro Limiter owners and users, who are you, where are you, what do you do?
I have read a few post here, especially from @AdamJay and others I don’t remember about this little beast that made me very interested in buying one for the end of the chain (with AH and/or Deco).
I was in the market for a FMR RNC, but this thing popped up my radar…
however I find very little information about this unit online! and most of the info I find is about squashing a drum bus… and didn’t find many positive advice on this for putting it on a master bus.
Can you tell me something more about how this sounds? Are you using this for squashing techno (for which I guess it shines), and how do you think it would do on other genres? (electronic oriented, no classical or jazz)
They’re from the 80s. Cheap. Durable.
Are a little noisy.
Set and forget.
Sound great for techno. Big sweet spot.
Nice and even compression, handles low frequencies well. Less suck&pump on master than my Platform limiter.
Very slight roll off of highs, but not in a bad way.
Uses weird 3.5mm plug power jack.
What else do you want to know?
My latest with it:
I don’t do other genres but imagine the added noise would be annoying for more dynamic genres.
@AdamJay, many sources I looked for information say the micro limiter is really dirty,
Do you think it adds a lot of dirt when not driving it into the red?
I guess it will not be the most transparent one, but how would you describe the dirt on it?
I’m asking because I would describe my own sound on the soft, organic and mellow side. but search for the right drive to make it warm. All very subjective words to describe a sound, but I would leave out the crunch and grit
probably as cheap as you can get for a stereo comp/lim with sidechain. such a small footprint too. i’ve been using mine lately for taming the levels of a jomox t-resonator
If you have audio you want me to run through it at different settings, let me know. I have the time and a pretty low noise Ultralite MK4 that will give you a clear picture of its sound.
Thanks, I really appreciate that! but I just ordered one on reverb for €75.
So I can have a go at it soon enough
They seem to go more expensive nowadays, I see a few of them for up to €200…
I am very exited and hope it will work. I am a bit afraid of compressors. I think I don’t have a good ear for setting them. All my experiments in the pasts failed… the simplicity and “set and forget” character is what calls me most.
There is something strange going on with my micro limiter… I started using the ios app Vectorscope for monitoring my levels, and I noticed that engaging the micro limiter does something with my left and right… You can see it on the left at the soft green RMS bars, and the L R bar at the bottom. is this a phasing issue?
here are some screenshots with microlimiter bypassed and engaged.
I own and like the micro limiter. I use it quite a bit. Now I have the same issue as you @peterklank
The right channel signal is stronger than the left channel. The more I drive the input knob, it increases the difference between Left/Right. Any thoughts on this?
Sorry for my extremely late reply! but I sold the micro limiter, never got to figure out the problem. And I found I liked it very much with some music, but not as much with other, and I need something to set and forget. I ended up with a RNC and Strymon Deco combo (nice, clean, smooth and subtle)
I stopped using limiters in my studio altogether because at times I find myself fiddling more with my “master chain” than actually making music… I only keep it for live purposes now
Just picked up a Microlimiter for 50 bucks and have to say, it was really worth it, works great on my machinedrum Also setting in input quite hot yields quite pleasant results
Did something happen in the last 6 months to make micro limiters more popular? They were around $100 in the fall and are now all over $200 on reverb and ebay! Should have bought first and asked questions later.