Clipping aux track do the same as a hard clipper?

[OrderedAudio]

Yeah, I was wondering if clipping an aux track would do the same as a hard clipper.
so instead of using a vst to rtas wrapper for Veoxengo Elephant
I was wondering if the same effect could be achieved by this particular routing

Source tracks (Not clipped) -> Aux track (Input) -> (Clip) Aux track (Output) -> Aux track (unclipped for playback)
This could be the most unintelligent thing I have done or maybe something that might actually work for hard clipping.
Anyone wanna clear up my thought process?

 

[hurdy]

Da fuq did I just read?? LOLZ

 

[Kohugaly]

Could work, but most DAWs are internally Clip-protected - they have plenty of headroom also over the 0dB... in that case your chain would have no effect on the audio at all. Hard clipping is typical for AD and DA converter when you exceed It's range. Might appear also in certain plugins and on the aux tracks as well (if they are not protected as I mentioned above).

I thought Elephant is an limiter... it has also an hard clipper in it? (I dunno - never used it)... Also good thing to mention is, that hard limiting and hard clipping are totally different processes.

 

[OrderedAudio]

I understand the difference between limiting and clipping and the idea is a pretty valid one
I just don't know if internal clipping is the same as clipping your a/d or how to go about internally clipping
I am just looking to transparently clip internally and I don't know what I could use for the best effect
I am just looking to sear off the tops of the transients from the snare and kick on my drum bus so I can compress my tracks harder without pumping
this is the product I am getting with it
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/55959737/Recording Samples/Derp2.mp3

and I really enjoy the mix, however I recently switched to Pro Tools and I can't use VTSs in Pro Tools

 

[jackbraglia]

there is absolutely no fathomable reason in the world why you would EVER want digital clipping to occur...nothing good will come of it.

With that said, this is exactly what you are looking for: http://www.stillwellaudio.com/?page_id=16

download the vst evaluation copy, which will work without restriction (except for a message that sits for about 10 seconds every time u open it unless u pay the $40 license, totally worth it.) wrap it and throw it on your master bus just before your limiter.

 

[jackbraglia]

oh and what you're looking to do here is called soft clipping, not hard clipping. Hard clipping will sound distorted since the wave forms are chopped with a "hard edge"

here's what I'm talking about:

 

[hurdy]

oh I see what you mean now... just get hold of a limiter/clipper plugin for protoolz, heck there should be one with the stock plugins that come with protoolz
Load that on the buss and clip away at the transients, you can also run multiple instances of the clipper plugin, each instance should be shaving off about 3-6 db MAX imo
say you have 2 clipper plugins shaving off 5db each, thats 10db in total. So if you shaved off 10db with just one plugin, chances are it'll probably start sounding like shit

 

[jackbraglia]

oh I see what you mean now... just get hold of a limiter/clipper plugin for protoolz, heck there should be one with the stock plugins that come with protoolz
Load that on the buss and clip away at the transients, you can also run multiple instances of the clipper plugin, each instance should be shaving off about 3-6 db MAX imo
say you have 2 clipper plugins shaving off 5db each, thats 10db in total. So if you shaved off 10db with just one plugin, chances are it'll probably start sounding like shit

read my post just above yours...he's not looking for a limiter

 

[OrderedAudio]

No no, I want a hard clipper and again, I'm running an RTAS system
I don't like how soft clippers sounds
thats why I would consider the internal clipping but I don't know how to achieve it

 

[Kohugaly]

there certainly must be native Pro tools digital distortion where you can program the transfer curve

 

[jackbraglia]

No no, I want a hard clipper and again, I'm running an RTAS system
I don't like how soft clippers sounds
thats why I would consider the internal clipping but I don't know how to achieve it

i think you're misunderstanding a few things. Firstly, you can use VST plug-ins in pro tools or else I wouldn't have suggested it. Get the VST wrapper by FXpansion. Secondly, you said you want to be able to compress your tracks harder without pumping and losing your snare. Thats what a clipper does...its SOFT clipping. Hard clipping won't do this for you. A lot of people here use gclip, but its a windows-only vst. So Event Horizon is really your only good option.

 

[Trevoire520]

I use T-racks clipper in Pro Tools. has an adjustable hard/soft knee

 

[hurdy]

The only way you can get "good" sounding hard clipping internally is by using a RTAS or VST clipper plugin as I and others have suggested.
As mentioned in the post above, T-Racks Classic Clipper is good sounding and if the hard clipping is not what you want then you can adjust with one knob (by making it softer)
If you want hard clipping of over 6 db gain reduction then you could use two plugins in a row to make sure it doesnt clip too much at once (as I have mentioned before)
To clip more off you just turn up the input knob within the clipper plugin and adjust the output of the plugin until it sounds like the same level as it was before

 

[jackbraglia]

I've compared t-racks and event horizon side-by-side. t-racks sounds "thin" in comparison.