Oftentimes when playing with my Elektron devices, I change a parameter that causes the output signal to become much louder, which is annoying. I would like to place a device before my speakers that prevents the output signal from ever exceeding my normal output level.
I think I need a dedicated limiter or a compressor (set to a very high ratio) to achieve this, correct? Do you have any suggestions for a hardware device that meets this criteria, and can both receive and output a stereo signal? Preferably, it should be as small and cheap as possible. It doesnāt have to be particularly āgoodā because I plan to set it up so that the normal level always sits just below the point at which the device will have to start working. In most sessions, I donāt expect it to do anything other than pass the original signal through.
That seems to be exactly what Iām looking for actually (and it seems to be pretty cheap compared to other compressors). Thanks for the tip! Iāll check it out.
What kind of settings on the FMR RNC (or any other standard compressor) would be ideal for the kind of end-of-chain, non-obtrusive limiting suggested by OP? Iāve been working with more feedback lately and have been curious about setting up something similar as a precaution.
Considering the use case, I wonder if the FMR RNLA (really nice leveling amp) is more appropriate? I would look into that too. But yeah, canāt go wrong with the RNC either
So, I know you asked for hardware suggestions, but Iām just throwing this out there -
Iām going to be the contrarian here and say that if youāre using elektron units, you absolutely do not need an external piece of hardware to do thisā¦ several of the machines include a compressor in the FX. But even for those that donāt, you can just plock the vol or level to compensate for the parameter changes.
FMR RNC is great, and itās certainly useful, but I donāt think itās necessary. IMHO
It isnāt a limiter, so I would keep that in mind. You can do 25:1 gain reduction ratio, but not really a limiter.
I use mine on the end of the chain a lot. I think your settings are going to depend on the source material. Personally I tend to have long attack and short release, because I do a lot of fast breakbeat stuff and I want to preserve the transients and let the compressor āpumpā. I also tend to match the release to be roughly in time with my tempo. I mostly do this by ear, and it really depends on what youāre sending into it.
Another good option that doesnt break the bank is the ART Dual Limiter. Its a 1U rackmount unit and is an actual limiter not a compressor. It is also dual mono/linkable stereo which provides a lot of flexibility with Elektron devices
In my experience it does exactly what it is supposed to do really well and as the last thing in your signal chain it will keep your levels in check while being very transparent.
Its not fancy, and adds very little character (if any) to the signal and its super easy to set an forget.
The FMR RNC is also an awesome unit, and its size is unbeatable. Compared to the ART Dual Limiter, the RNC adds a little more color and also has a side chain insert which allows you to do things like ducking and side-chain pumping (if you want that)
dbx MC6 (see this SoS review) typically available used for far less than $ā¬100.-, compression goes up to ā:1, this makes it a limiter with fast attack times. I have one, sounds good, works well.
RNC is nice, but I would not use it for this particular use case as itās not fast enough.
I agree with @fatfreesprout though. first it would be best to see why and when these spikes happen and make changes to your workflow to solve the issue for the most part that way. A limiter can protect but it wonāt solve the issue.
In any case you need a limiter that can catch peaks immediately and fast. Which often means adding a little bit of latency (1ms or so) for a look ahead function)
Regarding @DaveMech and @fatfreesprout comments on maybe revising the workflow: Unfortunately, I donāt think thatās possible for what Iām trying to achieve. Iām talking about never have the volume go past a certain level (not only during performances but also while just playing around with the devices).
As a more concrete scenario, when browsing through presets, some presets are very quiet, meaning I have to turn the volume up to hear them. Then I switch to a preset with a much louder volume, forget to adjust the main volume knob (I donāt really want to have to adjust the main volume either) and I blow my eardrums out Or the other day, I accidentally turned the drive knob on my Syntakt, making all hell break lose.
I donāt think thereās any way for me to protect myself from these happening other than having some kind of limiter that I never touch before my speakers. My goal is to be able to have someone sitting in front of my instruments trying to make everything as loud as possible to not be able to go past a certain dB SPL (unless they tamper with the limiter of course) no matter what they do.
So, with this in mind, would a compressor, such as the FMR work or do I need something with an even faster response/higher compression ratio?
This seems like a nice device. But how can I tell whether itās any different from the FMR RNC1773 mentioned above? When reading the specs, it doesnāt say anything about the ratios or attack and release times So for all I know, it could have a lower ratio and a slower attack time than whatās possible with the aforementioned compressor.
I agree, there should be specs available to make an educated choice. But it is advertised as a limiter, while the RNC is not, itās a compressor designed for āinvisibleā compression (IIRC it is controlled by a microprocessor and contains a second compressor that is added in series to the first one when super nice mode is active). So I would assume that the SL33b has faster attack times, and is a steeper compression rate than the RNCās 25:1.
That being said, you might want to check the amazon reviews for the SL33b, several people complain that that it distorts the sound when the limiter is active.
I think I still have one somewhere, which I bought but never used, Iāll try and dig it out tonight to check how it compares to the RNC.
Hard Limiters and distortion kinda go hand in hand. If you are trying to keep a signal from ever going above a certain threshold you are gonna end up cutting off the tips of some waves when they do go above that threshold.
Now that theyāve got the low frequency preservation mode, the Source Audio Atlas is another choice here, and possibly actually the best option Iāve seen ā you can use their editor to configure it as a lookahead hard limiter, and youāve also got the option of adding in a more musical bus compressor and a parametric EQ before the limiter, all midi-controllable. It looks pretty solid as an end-of-chain box, really.
Or the other day, I accidentally turned the drive knob on my Syntakt, making all hell break lose.
So for all I know, it could have a lower ratio and a slower attack time than whatās possible with the aforementioned compressor.