Professional Analog Mastering.
Professional Analog Mastering.
219K+ subscribers
This clipper is presented in a few ways, so I’m going to use the Ash Ultra version, which seems to include a lot of other iterations of the plugin.
There’s a zero-latency option, but I’m going to use the standard one with 3D-ish interface, since it’s easier to see the input/output graph.
Anyway, we get access to 24 different interations of the clipper, each with distinct curves and non-linearities. This can be controlled more with the soft/hard knee slider, a post clip ceiling, and input and output dials.
Oversampling and how each plugin handles that is a big component of most clippers - to reduce aliasing, which will almost always occur with a clipper, we get a lot of options. 16x seems to be enough to get rid of almost all aliasing, but you have the option to go up to 1028x - which if you’re computer can handle that, that’s impressive, but I was too nervous to even select it.
What I like about this clipper most are the 24 variations, each of which will cause waveshaping and subsequent harmonics in a unique way.
For example, the default Yellow X mode has a nice symetrically smoothed top at soft knee settings and some unique non-linearites at hard knee.
The Platinum maker mode is more aggressive and introduces a cleaner cut, making the sine wave much closer to a square - which means odd harmonics will have a high amplitude.
One small complaint is that each mode varies the point of saturation, requiring you change the input values to achieve similar amounts of attenuation. If they were normalized it would make it a lot more intuitive - you could switch between the algorithms and more easier hear the differences.
As for the ADSR, it’s what you’d expect - the transients are clipped without any envelope changes.
So, let’s listen to ASH clipping a stereo mix - I’ll vary the algorithms and adjust the knee so you can hear how you can achieve some variation with the plugin.
Watch the video to learn more >
This one’s my personal favorite clipper of the 5 we’re covering - for the price it offers a lot of flexibility, something I find kind of lacking in a lot of clippers.
The 8 algorithms make a big difference in the harmonic content and general sound - for example, smooth introduces a fair deal of distortion, tube does as well with a little more in the high frequencies.
My personal favorite is Crisp, which includes high amplitude low order harmonics include even harmonics which is hard to find in a clipper.
Meanwhile, the last 4 are great for creative effects - definitely too aggressive for a mastering session, but useful to have and adds some value to plugin.
Aliasing seems to be a bit aggressive, even with higher oversampling settings - so this isn’t the most subtle clipper on this list, but again, the Crisp option is a good choice for less noticeable distortion, and the soft-knee option can help reduce that as well.
The mid/side option could be useful depending on the instrument or instrument bus, and the 4 band function is really unique. This way you can blend different harmonic content depending on the frequencies you want to emphasize, keep relatively flat, etc.
So all-in-all it’s flexible, reasonably priced, and I imagine it’ll improve the more it’s updated.
Let’s listen to it - I’ll try the 4 band option since, to me, it seems like a defining factor with this plugin.
Watch the video to learn more >
Although other clippers have a more modern interface, I kind of like this HD version of Windows 98 thing they’re going for.
Also, the maximization feature tied to soft-clipping is something you’ll see in another plugin on this list; lower-level signals are amplified into the clipper, which has a huge impact on the sound and adds a lot more versatility than only being able to increase the input until clipper occurs.
The 4 modes also add some versatility, as does separate output gain and ceiling sliders to avoid aliasing.
What sets this plugin apart, in my opinion, are the comprehensive oversampling options.
You have the expected 2x, 4x, etc, but this can be fine tuned in the expert settings window.
The LP filter can be set as linear or minimum phase. In minimum phase you can adjust the slope - in linear phase you can increase the taps to improve accuracy at the expense of addition latency.
This makes it super easy to find a great mid ground between accuracy and latency - and as you can see, 4x with 256 taps is enough to make a huge dent in aliasing distortion.
There’s some mild variation between the left and right channels with this plugin, which some people might not like, but it doesn’t seem like too big of an issue.
It’s affordable, pretty versatile, and does exactly what you’d expect it to, so let’s take a listen.
Watch the video to learn more >
So, Newfangled Audio is a subsect of Eventide - so they definitely have an experienced team behind this.
The plugin is deceptively simple, but it has a lot of versatility.
One flaw I want to point out first is the cramping caused by the anti-aliasing function. Additionally, it introduces some strange harmonics that vary in amplitude and for all intents and purposes kind of behave like aliasing distortion anyway, but I suppose they get negated at higher input levels, so I’m not sure what to make of that.
Clipping behaves how you’d expect, but what’s great is that assymetical clipping is build in and very easy to control.
This means even harmonics can be introduced for what’s often a more musical sounding distortion.
And the quick on/off for the symmetry function makes it easy to decent what sounds better.
Detail preservation is another useful function, it alters the harmonics, and amplifies some higher frequencies to retain the range after clipping.
So, it’s a plugin with some flaws, but still has a great sound, especially with the variable symmetry option to fine tune the harmonics and shaping.
Let’s take a listen to it.
Watch the video to learn more >
So, at the risk of annoying some people, I have to be honest, I don’t understand the hype.
It’s a good plugin for sure, but I’m not really hearing or seeing what makes it all that different from other clippers selling for a much more reasonable price.
And that’s why I wanted to cover it last, becuase I’m noticing features that every other plugin had that have been either stripped down here or just not improved in any meanful way.
The Gold option is maximization, similar to what we saw with Standard Clip
There are 2 options, modern introduces less maximization, classic a bit more.
But what stands out the most to me with this plugin is the extent to which it shapes the frequency response.
For example, when the Box Tone is flat and I’m using the classic clipping shape, everything below 10kHz is attenuated. If I enable the low-pass filter, things become a bit more normal, but there’s a gradual attenuation to the highs for all 3 clipping algorithms.
Changing Box Tone to Classic or Modern makes some small adjustments - by the look of it, I’m guessing that these functions use impulse responses to alter the frequency.
I’m not saying this is bad, I just wouldn’t expect it from a clipper. Pre-emphasis or de-emphasis EQ is helpful with saturation or clipping, but this EQ is post clipping, so I’m not really sure why it’s here.
As for Alchemy, this appears to be a tilt filter with an variable Q value based on the amplitude that’s centered around 4kHz. It’s boosts the range below and attenuated the range above it.
For oversampling, there are 3 options with the ability to choose between linear or minimum phase low-pass filtering.
One plus is that the harmonics seem very program-dependent - they vary in amplitude depending on the incoming signal’s level, and don’t simply increase in amplitude.
It definitely sounds good, but again, I’m having some trouble figuring out what makes it unique other than the post clipping EQ functions that I don’t really want, and if I did I could use an EQ.
I don’t know! If you use this plugin and like it, let me know below if I missed something.
Watch the video to learn more >
Free Clip 2 by Venn Audio is a simple but good alternative - the knee can be adjusted, up to 32x oversampling can be introduced with No Post Oversampling Clip appearing to be the cleanest option. Meanwhile the input, ceiling, and output can be adjusted.
The oversampling has a strange effect on the frequency response. The level of distortion matches Gold Clip - and it does what it’s supposed to.
Let’s take a listen and compare it to a paid-for clipper with settings that are as identical as possible.
Watch the video to learn more >
The main reason people use clippers is due to how a limiter shapes the envleope - for example, notice how this Elephant limiter alters the amplitude of the sine wave due to the release time.
This means attenuation could affect other transients, instead of just shaving off the peaks like with a clipper.
That said, the EL INS algorithm seems to behave a lot more like a soft clipper. Reducing the transient time gets it close although not entirely to the point of hard clipping.
Meanwhile, the amount of harmonic distortion is comperable to clippers.
It’s still not the same thing, but let’s take a listen to see how far off these settings are from a clipper.