moosers
Published on 05/18/10 at 17:07
The Orban 418 Stereo Limiter comes in two models - the 418A and the 418B. This review is for the 418A, as is pictured above. I don't know all that much about what's inside the 418A or what type of connections it has, as I don't own one and have only used one on a few occasions. We didn't have to make any connections to it as it was already hooked up to the patch bay for easy patching. It will fit in a traditional rack casing, and it takes up two spaces.
UTILIZATION
The configuration of the Orban 418 Stereo Limiter isn't out of the ordinary and is easy to understand. The parameters that you've got to work with include those for input attenuation, output attenuation, release time, and one for high frequency limiter time constant. It then has a knob to set what your VU shows - it can be set to show left and right input, left and right output, and gain reduction. I haven't seen a manual for this, and I think it would be kind of hard to find one since it is a somewhat rare piece of gear.
SOUND QUALITY
The sound quality of the Orban 418 Stereo Limiter is really quite good. The obvious application for this unit would be for mastering purposes, and situations like it where you would want a stereo set of signals being sent to a limiter. I've actually only used each of the channels separately on the 418. At the studio where I used it there were plenty of other compressors and limiter that I used on the session before I got to this one, so I was really just using this when I didn't have any other limiters to work with. This isn't to say that I don't like the sound of the 418, because I do very much. It does the job well with a realistic sound that works well for just touching signals or hitting them hard...
OVERALL OPINION
Although my experience isn't as deep as it is with some other similar pieces of gear, I definitely enjoyed using it when I got to. I'm not sure why, but it seems like it's hard to find most pieces of gear out there that are made by Orban, and this is definitely the case with the 418 Stereo Limiter. The only one that I've seen was the one the I used. I guess either Orban didn't make too much of these, or maybe they died out over the years. Either way, if you come in contact with one of these guys, I'd recommend it as a second tier compressor/limiter option...
UTILIZATION
The configuration of the Orban 418 Stereo Limiter isn't out of the ordinary and is easy to understand. The parameters that you've got to work with include those for input attenuation, output attenuation, release time, and one for high frequency limiter time constant. It then has a knob to set what your VU shows - it can be set to show left and right input, left and right output, and gain reduction. I haven't seen a manual for this, and I think it would be kind of hard to find one since it is a somewhat rare piece of gear.
SOUND QUALITY
The sound quality of the Orban 418 Stereo Limiter is really quite good. The obvious application for this unit would be for mastering purposes, and situations like it where you would want a stereo set of signals being sent to a limiter. I've actually only used each of the channels separately on the 418. At the studio where I used it there were plenty of other compressors and limiter that I used on the session before I got to this one, so I was really just using this when I didn't have any other limiters to work with. This isn't to say that I don't like the sound of the 418, because I do very much. It does the job well with a realistic sound that works well for just touching signals or hitting them hard...
OVERALL OPINION
Although my experience isn't as deep as it is with some other similar pieces of gear, I definitely enjoyed using it when I got to. I'm not sure why, but it seems like it's hard to find most pieces of gear out there that are made by Orban, and this is definitely the case with the 418 Stereo Limiter. The only one that I've seen was the one the I used. I guess either Orban didn't make too much of these, or maybe they died out over the years. Either way, if you come in contact with one of these guys, I'd recommend it as a second tier compressor/limiter option...