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Hatsubai « Very powerful limiter »
Published on 07/06/11 at 13:59The L3 was a revolution when it came to limiters. It had tons and tons of features that most other limiters didn't have. Even today, some limiters don't have what the L3 can do. However, to always remain ahead of technology, Waves released yet another L3 version, and this time, it's CRAZY versatile. The thing features an intuitive paragraphic interface with a built-in linear phase equalizer, automatic release control, increased digital resolution with double precision bit requantization, complex dithering, linear phase filtering, free of phase distortion, up to 24 bit/96KHz resolution and whatnot. Basically, it means that this thing is awesome. To use this, simply enable it on your master buss and start going from there. It's very complex, so I recommend reading the manual. Waves is generally pretty good about this, but I find messing with settings is the best way to figure out how everything works.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
This plugin takes a bit more memory and processing power than some of the other limiters out there. I'm sure it'll run on older machines, but it's just something to be wary about. These plugins are rock solid, though. I've never experienced a single issue or crash directly related to a Waves plugin, and considering how important it is for music production, that's a huge plus. I'm a big fan of the fact that these Waves plugins are cross platform compatible. That means that they can be used on nearly any OS. I'm a Mac OS X user who uses Logic Pro, so that's definitely something I always have to keep in mind. There is one issue, however. This plugin is a 32 bit plugin, and that means my DAW needs to enable a special bridge to utilize this inside of my 64 bit DAW. It's not a huge deal, but I hope they fix that later on.
OVERALL OPINION
The L3-16 is probably the king of limiters. It can do everything and then some. There are so many features packed into this that even after months of messing with it, I'm still finding new things about it that help make a mix louder, clearer, punchier and overall better. It'll take some time to truly learn it, so be sure to set some spare time aside and fully learn how all these functions work. It'll benefit you in the long run.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
This plugin takes a bit more memory and processing power than some of the other limiters out there. I'm sure it'll run on older machines, but it's just something to be wary about. These plugins are rock solid, though. I've never experienced a single issue or crash directly related to a Waves plugin, and considering how important it is for music production, that's a huge plus. I'm a big fan of the fact that these Waves plugins are cross platform compatible. That means that they can be used on nearly any OS. I'm a Mac OS X user who uses Logic Pro, so that's definitely something I always have to keep in mind. There is one issue, however. This plugin is a 32 bit plugin, and that means my DAW needs to enable a special bridge to utilize this inside of my 64 bit DAW. It's not a huge deal, but I hope they fix that later on.
OVERALL OPINION
The L3-16 is probably the king of limiters. It can do everything and then some. There are so many features packed into this that even after months of messing with it, I'm still finding new things about it that help make a mix louder, clearer, punchier and overall better. It'll take some time to truly learn it, so be sure to set some spare time aside and fully learn how all these functions work. It'll benefit you in the long run.