BETTER than FABFILTER? || Sonible Smart:Limit

[@cougarman8]

I hate KZbin thumbnail surprise faces so much

[@modular7even]

I've been using the fabfilter limiter for a while now, and while it's served me well, this one's just better, I dialed in the same settings, and voila, I can definitely hear the difference, its just clean.. I always come thru your channel because I know your not gonna sugar coat a product, bless.

[@jspacone]

I just recently got Smart Limit, Smart Comp, Smart EQ, and Smart Reverb. I really appreciate that you can go fully automatic, fully manual, or anywhere in between. You can get excellent settings in just a few seconds with the auto mode, or you can tweak to your heart’s content. I really like these Sonible plug-ins, and I’m looking forward to getting more of them!

[@mixphantom0101]

Sonible nailed it. Sounds great, looks great and is ergonomically excellent... not a rusty screw in sight! 😁 I was concerned there was no oversampling setting but was pleased to see I couldn't coax any aliasing out of it! So, most likely it's always oversampled 4x... which makes sense! Raise your hand if you have accidentally output a master without oversampling!

[@HolarMusic]

i hate how fabfilter doesn't believe in offline oversampling

[@ryanpwm]

@@HolarMusic besides when they do it? If you set oversampling, it will oversample offline or not.

[@HolarMusic]

@@ryanpwm i thought it was clear enough that i was talking about an oversampling setting that's different offline from realtime

[@mrnelsonius5631]

@@HolarMusic FWIW I don’t believe in it either. I don’t want what I print to sound different from what I’m hearing pre print EVER.

[@CLdwyer]

I can hear the impact of the spectral balance. There was less distortion and more clarity on the midrange. Like this one. It’s a one stop shop! But you can also do what this thing does with an actual mastering chain & good monitoring. Limiter (Knee Control), Clipper, Resonance Control, Low End Control. BUT the fact that it’s all put into one plugin is really helpful to more users.

[@PASHKULI]

through KZbin... of course you can...

[@CLdwyer]

@@PASHKULI I use things like Soothe & Spectral/Resonance control often. I notice it because I know what I'm listening for. Doing it will impact the buildup in the midrange.

[@memeswillneverdie]

@@PASHKULIdo you actually know what KZbin does to your audio and why it would effect the fidelity, please, explain?

[@PASHKULI]

@@memeswillneverdie it compresses .flac\PCM, such as those FHD, 2K, 4K videos and so on. It is a form of an "AC-3" or .ogg like. Google is your friend.

[@memeswillneverdie]

@@PASHKULI you didn’t answer the latter half of my question, I’m aware of the codecs and the differences, my point being that the psychoacoustic filtering of the lossy codecs does impact the fidelity of the sound, particularly at higher frequencies, but wouldn’t change one’s ability to hear subtle resonance suppression, it might present slightly differently but you’d be able to hear it, I have smart limit myself and I hear the difference, the same way I heard it in the video.

[@heathrezabek]

Spectacular. And, once again we see why Sandstorm by Darud is the endlessly flexible gold standard for audio stress-tests of all kinds...

[@Tonehenge]

Long time Sonible customer. Downloaded the demo, used on one tune, saw the loyalty price, purchased on the spot. It has instantly become my go to limiter, displacing the excellent Boz "The Wall".

[@sadkebab]

Those 4 knobs are the best sound shaping features I ever heard in a limiter. I feel like Pro-L tends to make the sound of the mix a little boxy and dull and I always end up boosting few foundamental frequencies and add some presence before going into the limiter in order to preserve the impact of the song... and the difference I heard in the movements you made with those controls sounded a lot like the enhancement moves I make every time so I guess this could simplify a lot my workflow.

Besides the quality of the plugin, I liked the song you showcased in this example. It has some kind of GTAVC mood 😆

[@flavormusic523]

I have fabfilter and i thought it was amazing, i had waves plugins before that, and when i tryed out the fabfilter, i was amazed, like, i could listen to every little frequency, like, every sibilent of the track, i could do things 100% proffesional with the fabfilter that i couldn't do with waves. That was a step up for equilizer, also, i really liked the compressor, and i liked the reverb, like, i like everything with fabfilter, that was amazing to me, better then everything i've tryed before in equilizing. I think fab filter is a game changer in both equilizing and music, mixing and everything, i think.

[@MikaMoupondo]

I am pumped! Bought it already. This company is really good at saving me a lot of time to get started. My own personal audio engineer assistant... on a laptop!

[@supertoaster7]

song is "House Of Say - Addicted to Your Love" for the people asking :)

[@deidrim86]

🤝

[@professorscrim5303]

I think you'll find its actually 'Sandstorm by Darude' :)

[@baronvonbeandip]

@@professorscrim5303 Guy doesn't even know Sandstorm. Cmon.

[@AzureSymbiote]

Thank you very, very much!

[@exortor]

I thought it was "sandstorms - Darude"

[@palebluedotstudios]

I'm thrilled you heard what I heard: this is a QUALITY limiter. Reacts well to being pushed! I think this will become my main limiter now.

[@ReeWebster]

Feel like I already gelled with this limiter just from watching. Exactly what my ears expected, and wanted, to hear.

[@andyf6484]

based on this quick example and the tooltips, the balance control seems to work like a one knob gulfoss/soothe/ozone spectral processing, and the bass control seems like Ozone's low end control. if that's true (or even close to it), it's awesome they're packaged in one plugin!

[@donnythompson408]

Andy, I don’t use Ozone, so I am unfamiliar with what its low end control does…is it a basic low end shelf EQ, or, is it more of a dynamic EQ for the low end? Based on what I briefly heard here in this Sonible vid, when Wytse turned this control up, it sounded to me like it’s just a low end shelving EQ, but, the description he read about “tightening low end definition” sorta implies that there’s dynamic EQ involved… Anyhooo… Just interested in how Ozone’s low end definition control works. 🙏😊

[@lucgoyer9494]

Following your advice, after watching your video, I was a Fabfilter L junkie .... I did go on purchasing this product from Sonible and....after 2 masters completed with it...is it now my go-to limiter. Period. Thanks :)

[@djkickflip_amsterdam]

Great plugin, also: that song is sick!!! best sandstorm so far

[@valoelios40]

Can´t believe this!!!! Now Sobile is offer ing the entire smart:bundle for only 199,- €!!!!! Running over buying instantly!

[@jnaramusic]

Exactly what I needed to find. I’ve researched a lot of limiters and finally I find one that’s not too expensive (on holidays sales) and has great quality with great features. It will replace my Waves L2. Thank you for sharing🙏🏽

[@makemusicordie]

Recently bought the smart comp and have become such a fan of their layout and functionality that I backtracked and am now watching vids on the limiter. May have to get this one as well! Lovely stuff!

[@DonHardRisk]

Guys It's not the plugin, it's the song that's really hitting 😁

[@cjcurcio]

I NEED to get this! It will speed up my workflow!

[@filecciabilly7899]

It's the Best................. I have most on the Market, Smart Limit......................... Is Tight and Open and Transparent, all at the same time

[@mrnelsonius5631]

Oh man. I love the Sonible plugins. Love them. Didn’t think I needed this, but they included a delta setting! That’s my big thing with brick wall limiters: they should all have a delta built in so you can hear the artifacts/distortion, and most don’t. You can do it yourself with some routing (basically doing a null test) but it’s a pain in the butt. I’m broke right now but want this 🙃

[@Trackformers]

Black Friday just went.. we're all broke 🤣 Sonible got to me too late

[@kutchutozov]

@@Trackformers But now I need to get myself something for christmas 🤔🤓

[@Trackformers]

@@kutchutozov So true 😏

[@massivebeatzz]

almost as good as Weiss - but not quite - they are 550 dollars. So get your card ready haha

[@mrnelsonius5631]

@@massivebeatzz I actually own the Weiss plugins and am not a big fan of the limiter as a final brick-wall at all. The Weiss DS-1 is the best sounding multiband compressor I’ve ever used. It’s a class act. But the limiter (and it’s separate Maximizer) are good sounding but not great. And if you think about the aging Weiss hardware that makes sense: limiters are one thing where hardware doesn’t sound better even in a subjective sense. The modern limiters used on practically every mastered recording we’ve heard the last ten years (and more) were digitally limited, and by modern digital tech. I’d be shocked if the Weiss Maximizer has replaced any professional mastering engineer’s final limiter

[@TjMoon91]

I’m not usually too concerned with the aesthetics of a plug-in, but this thing really does look great. Hopefully it sounds as good as it looks!

[@gulagwarlord]

I just tried it on a dubstep track, sounds a lot better than the other limiters I've tried like pro-L, ozone, and boost. The "learn" function actually works incredibly well. Really nice!

[@h.s.4508]

I am not a professional, just a hobbyist. I compared this limiter with Pro L2 head to head, and found this a bit more transparent, so ended up buying this.

[@DeltaWhiskeyBravo13579]

Smart move. Ahhh their next plugin maybe...

[@InsideOfMyOwnMind]

Addicted To Your Love by House of Stay. There you go. Y'all are welcome.

[@_wrks]

I love Sonible plugins. I havent used them a lot in my mixes recently, but I do use them as a teaching tool. When I'm dealing with difficult source material, being able to utilize AI to develop a solution or at least get me close is invaluable. Even in this video, I've learned a lot about limiting... Thanks Wytse!

[@jeromejamies3641]

I was watching Plugintester review of his limiter shootout. For sure won't buy it now. AI is not sufficient

[@mrnelsonius5631]

I’m a big fan of Sonible. The smart EQ recently really helped me out on some poorly recorded acoustic guitars I had to mix. In this video he comments on the spectral balance control being subtle, but that’s likely because the track he’s using was already well-balanced. I’ve noticed the same thing with other spectral balancers (teote, Gulfoss): their effect isn’t as pronounced on an already well mixed source, because it’s already balanced against a loudness curve

[@maxtrone539]

@@jeromejamies3641 that dude clearly rushed a video out without understanding the work flow

[@phlexo]

I'm very glad you read my infinite comment on Spotify specs and algorithm. A THANKS would have been cool too 😊

[@nicholasedgett7889]

It's a pretty neat plugin i must say! Theres definitely some very impressive features and id like to explore it some myself

[@memorylane3457]

That's what she said.

[@EliteOnTheBeat]

@@memorylane3457 She slide down the pole i mean down the road of memory lane.... 🤪

[@atomas59]

It's started here, after watching this video, a few months ago now. I just bought the smart bundle and I just love all of sonible plugin, included in the bundle. I've had the FabFilter bundle, for 2 years now. It's been my go for until now. Beautifull accurated and best sounding plugin, with a little twist of smartness....))) Just love it!

[@beto5720]

Name of the track is Please keep uploading content so I can keep procrastinating

[@alchemistrpm82]

Nice to see you sign off on this one. I’m fond of Smart EQ… On the limiting tip I’ve been enjoying True Peak by bx as well as Eventide’s Elevate. But I will absolutely check this one out (sounds great)

[@levondarratt787]

and, did you?

[@alchemistrpm82]

@@levondarratt787 I did. Very impressed. They crammed in everything you could want out of a limiter. Replaced Smart EQ as my favorite Sonible plugin, even.

[@mikelo303]

It's teh cleanest limiter on the market in my opinion. i tested all the top ones and this one wins with my best limiter (which is spectral as well).

[@elkolo2857]

I tried it, it’s really good but i don’t find it better than elevate 🤷‍♂️ Imma keep testing during the trial time and see if i like it better than the others since it’s my first day with it.

[@Trackformers]

@@elkolo2857 I just got Elevate my self, and i like it. But this sounds goood! Damn it..

[@Rhythmattica]

@@elkolo2857 Im with ya. But Elevate isnt just a limiter.... and thats where I think this Limiter works... Its specific to particular tasks... As with elevate, you've really got to know how to use it, and when you do, I agree, there is no substitute.

[@gulagwarlord]

This thing sounds incredible with just a few clicks. Wow!

[@TraxtasyMedia]

This plugin wins the loudness war easily. Your turn Dan Worral 😎 The song is: DaRickAstleyrude - Sandrollstorm

[@johnjhonny646]

Finally the new limiter plugin is here

[@1disturbedjunglist]

Love the ⁸⁰'s vyb on the darude tune 👌

[@AKAtAGG]

It's the best limiter plugin available. if you don't have it you should get it.

[@davidasher22]

I’m pretty sure he’s using the secret song off of Ministry’s first album “With Sympathy”. Very rare track indeed.

[@TonyLeTone]

Can't find the song. Got a link please?

[@davidasher22]

@@TonyLeTone I’m pretty sure you need a modem that connects to the multiverse to download the song. I can send you the sheet music!? 😂

[@OliverAmberg]

I am shocked. You used a PRESET!!!!!???!!!!! :) Thanks for the review!

[@vijayanand1154]

Nice one - will give this a go !

[@alexmasters23]

for those wondering about the song used it's Rude Sand by Da Storm

[@rafalvarezsevilla]

-1 is good so you don't get intersample peaks while converting oh yeah you said that right now, nice

[@DeviHisgen]

nice... I just bought the Fabfilter limiter.... now I want this one... lekker bezig XD

[@ronson795]

Don´t worry. You are totally fine with FF L2 if you combine it with a decent clipper in your chain.

[@old-school-cool]

Thanks! Helped me make up my mind. So I'm helping the algorithm.

[@helisoma]

great review, also entertaining presentation style, and i'm sold as well! thanks! 😎👍🏻

[@shinyisshiny7780]

what a great song! the song is Darude - Sandstorm.

[@marin4311]

Excellent review as usual. Quality check = top notch.

[@ShaniAce]

THanks, that was really insightful! Looks like a really useful plugin, I'm gonna try it out.

[@CROWNJAMSTUDIOS]

An absolutely great limiter - I think about replacing my PRO L2 with it. A few days of comparison tests in my current productions and then I decide \m/ Keep on rockin’

[@tonezou3918]

Yeah, easy said than done - my Pro L2 is part of a bundle, I'll have to sell my whole bundle :(

[@GTSongwriter]

So, I downloaded and tried it. Sonible Smart:Limit is replacing my Waves WLM Plus plugin from Waves Audio! Got it at best service * common for about sixty-one trees. They do grow on trees.

[@Nik_Rubin]

Section on the right is input histogram vs. output histogram, so you can see how dynamics are squeezed.

[@doug.heartstringssound]

Thanks White Sea! This looks awesome!

[@shadowminer9439]

The track is Dastorm by Rudesand

[@nanob0zo]

Don’t say it. Don’t say it. Daru…. Must resist. Looks pretty good. Like Sonible stuff. Really easy to use and to my ears sounds good.

[@GrumpyGr3g]

An update from you in shorts in the next weeks would be nice to have more words from your point of view after several use! But definitely looks nice, sounds nice and deserves a good try! Thanks for the review! Take care.

[@carstensorensen154]

Great review of a great plugin. Purchased!

[@paul.j.diwiak]

This one is SUPER NICE! But I like nearly all sonible plugins! Such a nice company! Nice stuff!

[@charleskp947]

song is badass and song is: "Addicted to Your Love - House Of Say"

[@paulgilbody]

Great track choice - love Darude

[@emphatic001]

Looks and sounds very good. Quickly bought with the crossgrade deal that works with ANY other Sonible product.

[@DeltaWhiskeyBravo13579]

Smart Limit looks great. I'm "forced" to add it to my never ending wishlist. There's a rumor using Smart plugins makes you smarter. OK, that's fine, because I could use every advantage available. 😎☕️

[@530Zeno]

If you own a focusrite product, go get the Fast bundle right now for only $99. Seriously. I've been going between FF Pro-L2 and Ozone Maximizer. I've been trialing this smart limit and think I'm about to shelve them both. This thing is insane. A little more cpu intensive, and no visible Oversampling that I've seen, but at least 3x the features otherwise and sounds AMAZING

[@davidspingler6337]

So, how long until the SmartEngineer AI powered plugin comes along to replace the inconvenience of having to use a human engineer? 😅

[@parboilrice]

You may have convinced me to pick this one up

[@desperateBeauty]

sounds good, and all the options (in one place) seem v. useful.

[@johnnyvegas2015]

Thanks for this vid, it was really well explained... demo track was awesome as well....cheers😃

[@Bluelagoonstudios]

A must have if you are into content creation, and finally a user friendly one. I have plugs which measure audio, but don't do anything, this one is on my favorite list, thanks for the review. I noticed they have other great plugins, fabfilter style, but for less $. Happy holidays!!

[@auralsunrays9229]

I did various level-matched blind tests now on 4 different songs with: smartLimit, Ozone, Stealth Limiter, Barricade, Limiter6, Pro-L2, Ursa DSP Boost and bx_limiter_True Peak. smartLimit was definately one of the best in my tests, however, for my ears, Ozone beat any other limiter on any song always. It just retains the transients very well and has low pumping and distortion. So my personal conclusion: the AI feature, the extra controls (like Saturation) and metering are handy. But if you are willing to set your limiter yourself by ear, use additional tools in your mastering chain and a good loudness metering plugin (like the free Youlean) you can actually get a similar or better result. I'll probably pass on this one at $65. And to answer the video's question (imho): Yes, better than Fabfilter, but worse than Ozone.

[@saricubra2867]

How about Newfangled Audio Elevate? is kinda overlooked at this point.

[@pardzzn]

I really want this !!

[@Griuofficial]

Thanks for the review!

[@shadowminer9439]

I think they should release that saturation knob as an independent plugin

[@normanlove222]

This plugin will replace like 3 other plugins on my master bus. Thanks.

[@scattystormborn]

Damn it. I already purchased Newfangled Elevate because of you.. now this

[@ENIACofficial]

looks good thx for testing it

[@KOjoeBeats]

Yes, it's a lot better. This VST is a gem

[@Trian0ng]

so did you end up replacing it with your L2? Also are you using the same limiter today in 2024

[@Reda.94]

thank you so much for what you're doing man 👏

[@SickAzzTonez]

I guess this will replace the Pro_L2 and Flatline for me. Sonible is really knocking it out of the park. ....and is priced extremely fair. Cheers!

[@Drfresh1402]

You sold this. They should pay you. Great song.

[@Aonoexorcist100]

Woah! this looks sick!

[@k3ff793]

you can sidechain with focusrite fast ;)

[@YassDavid]

Great review

[@GingerDrums]

Does it have oversampling?

[@robbiemichaels2347]

This is mind blowing

[@ThomasVogtFreiburg]

Sounds really great - but is missing a dithering option like Pro-L has

[@TheSakuraGumiLTD]

I’m watching on a phone on a train so can’t really listen to it, but I’m f you saying it a great limiter then I guess we have a great limiter on our hands 🙌… a win on the anti snake oil side

[@AziDoesQuestionableThings]

Sonible. Limiter. Sold. Take my money.

[@maxborosiuk3570]

I read a lot of commetns but haven't found the name of the song being used in the review, could somebody tell the name of a track??? tnx

[@BartekEVH]

Yes. Fantastic plugin!! :)

[@RJ1J]

I did a long shoot out. This limiter, L-2 and Newfangled Elevate. When reasonably pushed, the Sonible had obvious aliasing (Where is the over-sampling?). Elevate sounded great. L-2 was ok-ish, sounded better at x16 than Sonible. Sonible is good for quick cheap mastering jobs, not a serious limiter. I can buy it for £45 with intro offer, I think that says a lot.

[@saricubra2867]

Newfangled Audio Elevate is special by that godlike transient processor, by far the best that i ever heard on a plugin.

[@FLAVMEDIA]

The Best Smart Limit!!!!

[@classmanOfficial]

3:40 is Darude - Sandstorm btw

[@JoeyFTL]

How is the distortion monitoring feature so different from that of Pro L's?

[@FedericoMcCartney]

I can't understand why says "spotify will turn down.. bla bla" That's not true, if you realease a song -14 it's gonna be quiter than the others, every master engineer are delivering a -10 -11 lufs at the very least if not -9, and spotify it's not turning down the difference

[@johnc7671]

So this is half-right. Mastering engineers are sending song on a wide range of loudness measurements mainly based on genre and arrangement, but the implication is If a listener turns on loudness normalization in their streaming service, then all songs will be “leveled” in loudness to a degree by auto-mastering by that service. Some just turn the volume down, some have some kind of dynamics algorithm, etc. So the mastering engineers for streamers that shoot for -10s get away with it using a -1 dbfs output level for competitive loudness standards, but that’s what people usually mean when they say services “turn down” the records, etc.

[@ChivasKimber]

I want it but can't really spend the money right now. Next year this baby will be mine!

[@michaelsupryn7184]

The way i look your videos: Going to conclusion first.. Dependent on what u say there watch then the whole video or not.. With conclusions like that.. i think i'll get the thing first and then watch the video.. xD

[@chillingFriend]

Hey man, in you "plugins that i use" video you said you still use proL2. What made you stick to it in the end? Cheers!

[@iokjdjisos_322]

Is there an oversampling function?