Primary Controls
Threshold
Controls the point at which limiting and more pronounced saturation will occur (the saturation intensity depends on the Color setting).
Threshold includes a level meter embedded in the slider. This meter shows the peak level of the input signal before Faraday Limiter’s processing, which can be helpful when choosing a threshold.
If the signal peak exceeds or equals 0.0dB the meter color turns red, indicating that clipping could occur. Faraday Limiter will never clip internally, due to its double-precision floating-point processing, but the signal might be clipped at a later stage (by the host/DAW or DAC).
Threshold also has a triangular indicator ▶ floating to the left of the slider. This shows the threshold value where compression would begin, based on the peaks of the detector signal. When Threshold is set below these peaks, the triangle will disappear. If you see the triangle, no compression is occurring.
Top Bar Readout
Top Bar Readout switches Faraday Limiter’s numeric readout mode in the top bar.
Option | About |
---|---|
Max GR | Max Gain Reduction |
LUFS (LT) | Long Term LUFS |
Loudness Range | Loudness Range |
Ratio
Controls the ratio of Faraday Limiter’s gain reduction.
The ratio changes the severity of the gain reduction. For example, a ratio of 8:1 means that for every 8 dB the input signal is above the Threshold, the output signal will only increase by 1 dB.
Vibe
Color
Controls the amount of analog coloration and transformer saturation.
At 0%, Faraday Limiter is rather clean sounding. 100% is a nice analog middle-ground, and 200% gives you fully-saturated transformer growl.
The perceived analog coloration is greatly influenced by the Threshold. As the threshold decreases, the Color character becomes more tape-like, with increasingly pronounced odd-order harmonics.
Warmth
Alters the frequency-dependant characteristics of the limiter’s detector circuit.
A big part of Faraday Limiter’s thick, punchy sound is its frequency-dependent gain reduction. Low and high frequency sounds hit the limiter differently, and — depending on the Warmth setting — will exhibit different attack/release characteristics. High values, such as 100%, generally sound thicker and punchier, while low values, like -100%, have a quick, bright limiter sound.
For example, you can often use the warmth control to emphasize different aspects of a snare drum: more Warmth gives more thud & low end; less Warmth gives more stick & snare presence.
The Warmth control is not EQ, and will not change the frequency response of the plugin.
Speed
Attack Time Constant
Modifies the speed of the limiter’s attack.
This control is unitless (i.e. not specified in seconds or milliseconds) because Faraday Limiter does not have a traditional fixed attack time. Smaller Attack Time Constant’s will clamp down quickly, dampen transients. Larger Attack Time Constant’s cause the limiter to react more slowly, emphasizing the attack and punch of the incoming signal.
Release Time Constant
Modifies the speed of the limiter’s release.
Like the Attack Time Constant, this control is unitless (i.e. not specified in seconds or milliseconds). Smaller Release Time Constant’s cause the limiter to release more quickly, often sounding louder and causing more audible pumping. Larger Release Time Constant’s cause the limiter to release more slowly and smoothly.
Output
Output Gain
Varies the output gain.
Output Gain includes a level meter embedded in the slider. This meter shows the peak level of the signal both pre (lighter color) and post (darker color) Faraday Limiter’s processing.
Output Gain also has a triangular indicator ◀ floating to the right side of the slider. This triangle’s location is based on the peaks of the input and output signals, and indicates approximately where Output Gain would need to be set in order to match the input and output volume.
Auto Gain
Sets the reference peak level used by the auto gain algorithm.
Faraday Limiter’s automatic gain compensation attempts to automatically make up for the gain lost during compression & limiting so that the output volume remains approximately constant for different Threshold and Ratio settings.
It works best when the Auto Gain setting matches the peak level hitting the sidechain. For example, if your detector signal consistently peaks at -6.0dB, set Auto Gain to -6.0dB.
The maximum gain compensation is applied when Auto Gain is set to 0.0 dB. At -20.0dB, Auto Gain is turned off completely.
Master Mix
Overall Faraday Limiter mix. 0% is all dry signal and 100% is all Faraday Limiter.
Setting Master Mix anywhere between 0% and 100% layers dry and compressed signal — an easy way to do parallel compression.