db Audioware dB-L Mastering Limiter

DB Audioware's DB-L Mastering Limiter is an inexpensive plug-in that can be used as a Direct X plug-in on Windows based systems. I'm no longer running this plug-in since I'm now running Pro Tools LE on a Mac, and when I was running this plug-in it was in Cubase SX on a PC. The process of downloading and installing this plug-in should be pain free as long as you have a properly compatible system to run it on. Figuring out how to use the plug-in should only take a minute for experienced users, and even those without much experience with limiters shouldn't have too hard a time with this. It's only got the bare bones in terms of parameters, which is really what you want to see when it comes to a mastering limiter. It's got control for gain, release, and output, as well as dither and a few different attack modes to choose from. It also has metering for stereo input and stereo output levels, as well as how much your limiting the sound. No manual is necessary to use this plug-in.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

When I was running the DB Audioware DB-L Mastering Limiter plug-in, it was on a Hewlett Packard Pavilion dv8000 lap top that had a 3.0 Ghz processor and 2 GB of RAM. I ran it in Cubase SX 2.0 and later in Cubase SX 3, and ran everything through a MOTU 896 HD audio interface. I don't ever recall having issues running this plug-in, as I only ever had a need to run one of them at a time within a session, as this is indeed a mastering plug-in. Even if you wanted to run a few instances of this plug-in within a session, I don't think that you'd have a problem as long as you have a pretty stable system to work with.

OVERALL OPINION

While inexpensive enough for most DAW owners to afford, I'm not sure that it is worth it for the DB Audioware DB-L Mastering Limiter. While it's an okay enough plug-in that is extremely cheap, I wouldn't recommend doing anything but quick mastering jobs with this. It won't give you any sort of instant mastering, which you shouldn't expect from any plug-in like this. However, I do think that it lacks the fullness that other mastering limiter plug-ins bring to the table like the Massey Plug-ins L2007, which in my opinion is the best bang for your buck that you can get. I guess it does depend on what kind of platform you have, as most users won't be able to run this plug-in anyway. While I guess I'd say that those interested should try the demo, I'd still recommend going with the Massey L2007 over this as it doesn't cost too much more and has a sound on another level.