little clipper shootout (analog)

Lasse Lammert

HCAF Blitzkrieg
Feb 12, 2009
8,409
40
48
www.lasselammert.com
ok......you drove me to this ;)

Here's a little comparison converter-clipping (Apogee AD-16x)...it's pushed rather hard, usually I would probably use less clipping, but this is just for comparison.

I was too lazy to incorporate the software clippers in this test, but there's an "unclipped" file in 24bits, so you can do that yourself (and upload it here).


here's the unprocessed mixdown

raised the output of the C2 by ca 4dB (hard clip 4dB)

and the same but with "soft limit" enabled on the Apogee


and for shits and giggles here's a "almost taking the piss" mastering with softclip, hardclip, multiband comp and limiting from the finalizer and then some more limiting from a plugin...well, you can tell what that does to the snare and overall clarity of the mix....but it's loud ;) (it's actually really close to the actual final master)


I didn't adjust levels or normalize or anything, so the volume differences are the differences that come from the actual clipping.

for the visual oriented people: here is how it looks:

clipped.png


clippedzoom.png



EDIT: I have forgotten about the delay compensation on the finalizer file...you might wanna nudge it
 
as I'm listening to the differences.. What DAW is this? I just got a mac and am rethinking my current DAW for others... Logic maybe or DP? not sure

Sorry to be off topic. Good comparison btw. What is the method you are using here? Are you actually clipping your D/A and then recording the output?
 
as I'm listening to the differences.. What DAW is this? I just got a mac and am rethinking my current DAW for others... Logic maybe or DP? not sure

Sorry to be off topic. Good comparison btw. What is the method you are using here? Are you actually clipping your D/A and then recording the output?

He's using Pro Tools in the screen shots. IME, Logic is a nightmare and DP doesn't seem very popular at all so I imagine there's a reason for it... I personally love Pro Tools, give it a shot.
 
He's using Pro Tools in the screen shots. IME, Logic is a nightmare and DP doesn't seem very popular at all so I imagine there's a reason for it... I personally love Pro Tools, give it a shot.

The hardware, OH THE HARDWARE. Also, it's seems the plugs are mostly propreitary as fuck. On the same token I am using apple products on a daily basis.... so I can't really complain.

Maybe I will have to sell my damn MOTU units after all and just man up and get a damn pro tools rig with a profire 2626 haha.

Thanks for the info