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Hatsubai « Auto-summing multiband limiter »
Published on 07/05/11 at 19:11The L3 plugin is the one that really started to put Waves ahead of the competition in terms of flexibility and power. The L1 and L2 plugins were always great, and they contained an awesome look-ahead feature to help really dial in the perfect loudness mix. The L3 takes it to an entirely new level with multiband limiting. The plugin has a PL mixer, linear phase EQ, huge digital resolution, re-quantization and dither, master and individual automatic release controls, supports up to 24bit/96KHz resolution and has mono/stereo components. To use this plugin, you simply enable it on your master buss and start shaping the tone. This is one of the more complex limiters out there, so you might want to check out the manual for this. Another thing you can do is check out Youtube videos on how to properly use a complex multimaximizer like this.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
This plugin takes a little more RAM and processing power than the standard L1 and L2 plugins. That said, it's still not a huge deal with today's machines. Waves is the king when it comes to stability. I've never experienced a directly related crash with these plugins, nor have I experienced any freezing or glitches. The plugin is cross platform compatible, so Mac and PC users alike can use this without any issues at all. As a Mac user, that's a big thing for me. There is one issue, however. This plugin is a 32 bit plugin for OS X. I work in a 64 bit DAW, and I need to have a special bridge application run every time I want to use this. It's not a huge deal, but I hope they update it later on in the future. I've been using the Mercury bundle for the past six or so months now, and I'm loving every second of it.
OVERALL OPINION
This is one of the more powerful limiters out there. There are lots of features packed into this, and it can be a touch overwhelming for first timers. That said, just take everything one step at a time, and you'll soon realize what everything does and how it shapes the sound. I actually prefer L1 and L2 at times for simple mixes, but when I'm concentrating on professional style mixes, I'll break out something like this, or its newer brother -- the L3-16.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
This plugin takes a little more RAM and processing power than the standard L1 and L2 plugins. That said, it's still not a huge deal with today's machines. Waves is the king when it comes to stability. I've never experienced a directly related crash with these plugins, nor have I experienced any freezing or glitches. The plugin is cross platform compatible, so Mac and PC users alike can use this without any issues at all. As a Mac user, that's a big thing for me. There is one issue, however. This plugin is a 32 bit plugin for OS X. I work in a 64 bit DAW, and I need to have a special bridge application run every time I want to use this. It's not a huge deal, but I hope they update it later on in the future. I've been using the Mercury bundle for the past six or so months now, and I'm loving every second of it.
OVERALL OPINION
This is one of the more powerful limiters out there. There are lots of features packed into this, and it can be a touch overwhelming for first timers. That said, just take everything one step at a time, and you'll soon realize what everything does and how it shapes the sound. I actually prefer L1 and L2 at times for simple mixes, but when I'm concentrating on professional style mixes, I'll break out something like this, or its newer brother -- the L3-16.