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Hatsubai « Slimmed down L3 »
Published on 07/06/11 at 13:46The L3 is an awesome limiter, and it's very complex both in operation and sound. The L3 Ultramaximizer basically takes the L1 and L2 approach to limiting but with the great sound of the L3. I'm sure there are those out there who are thinking this kinda takes away what made the L3 so great, and I somewhat agree, but this is a pretty amazing limiter in its own right. You have the simplicity of the L1 and L2 limiters, but it sounds as complex and transparent as the L3. To me, that's a HUGE plus. I no longer have to mess with tons of options to get that sound I'm looking for. To use this, simply enable it on your master buss and start going from there. For those of you who have never used a limiter, keep the output ceiling below 0.0, and you should be good to go.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
When it comes to things like stability and performance, Waves is awesome. They're basically unmatched in this aspect. First of all, they're cross platform compatible. That means both OS X and Windows users alike can use these without any problems. Another thing is that they're crazy stable. I never once experienced an issue with this plugin causing my DAW to slow down, crash or act quirky. There is one issue, however. For the OS X plugins (not sure about the Windows ones as I'm a Mac user), they're 32 bit. That means that Logic Pro has to open up a special bridge application every time I want to use a 32 bit plugin inside of my 64 bit DAW. I find it a tad annoying, and I'm hoping they'll fix that in a new update or something. I've been using the Mercury bundle for quite awhile now, and it's been absolutely heaven.
OVERALL OPINION
The L3 Ultramaximizer is great if you're looking for something that sounds like the L3 but without the complex multiband features that it has. If I'm just doing a quick mix and don't feel like messing around with all these different frequencies, I find that plugins like this are much easier for me to use. It leads to less frustration, and that's a huge thing when it comes to mixing. While there are more complex and versatile options out there, this is still a very solid option that you shouldn't look past.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
When it comes to things like stability and performance, Waves is awesome. They're basically unmatched in this aspect. First of all, they're cross platform compatible. That means both OS X and Windows users alike can use these without any problems. Another thing is that they're crazy stable. I never once experienced an issue with this plugin causing my DAW to slow down, crash or act quirky. There is one issue, however. For the OS X plugins (not sure about the Windows ones as I'm a Mac user), they're 32 bit. That means that Logic Pro has to open up a special bridge application every time I want to use a 32 bit plugin inside of my 64 bit DAW. I find it a tad annoying, and I'm hoping they'll fix that in a new update or something. I've been using the Mercury bundle for quite awhile now, and it's been absolutely heaven.
OVERALL OPINION
The L3 Ultramaximizer is great if you're looking for something that sounds like the L3 but without the complex multiband features that it has. If I'm just doing a quick mix and don't feel like messing around with all these different frequencies, I find that plugins like this are much easier for me to use. It leads to less frustration, and that's a huge thing when it comes to mixing. While there are more complex and versatile options out there, this is still a very solid option that you shouldn't look past.