Standard compressor plug in: Built in Limiter

Question

Hi,
i have a question: Whenever i try to use the Limiter that is part of Logic's standard compressor, it induces clipping noise instead of preventing it. So, if i leave it off and use a standalone limiter plugin (in the chain right after the compressor), everything is fine. But when i try to use the built in thing (at the right side of the compressor plugin), clipping noises occur.
What am i doing wrong? Or is this simply a long known bug? Or does this "limiter" simply clip the sound in such a non-musical way that the brickwall is as hearable as "hard" digital clipping?
Tnx for any answers!
Fox

Answer 1

Hi DaCaptain,
no offense, but a lookahead of 0 is nonsense for any plugin that has to pre -vent something from happening. With a time of 0, the event occured and the "limiter" can do nothing about it but do a hard clip. It's no miracle the limiter cannot do this and makes noises. The problem is that the built in limiter of the compressor plugin *has no* lookahead.
Concerning release time: 500ms is half a second. This is longer than a geophysical age compared to what needs to be done when limiting a signal. Surely, 500ms means the compressor ducks the signal for half a second, which means in this time, the signal is reduced in volume, as are it's peaks. As the peaks are reduced, they won't reach the limiter's treshold. In consequence, the limiter doesn't chime in - and of course, it doesn't induce the nasty noises, because the compressor has done it's work before it. So, release time has nothing to do with a lookahead.
From a sound engineer's point of view, 500ms release is used for maybe speech, or non-percussive voices and instruments. It is way to long for a signal that features many peaks that happen during this time. A drummer can easily hit more than 5 percussive sounds during 500ms, which will all be eaten by the long release. In consequence, the first drum hit would punch through (given a long enough attack) and all hits that occur during these 500ms will be chewn away by the long release. So: That's no workaround for the bug.
Cheers,
Fox