Old Multicompressor

Nuendo
#1

I don’t know if there is a solution to this but I’ll give it a try.

I have been using Steinberg’s Multicompressor in Nuendo for many years now as a brickwall limiter. I haven’t found anything better (have tried DMG Limiteless, Fabfilter L2, Sonnox Limiter, Slate FG-X and others) for getting things really loud and being transparent at the same time. I know it wasn’t made for it but it is kind of magical in that it works so well, though not by design. Just select softclip and classic and that’s it. By the way it was made in 2001.

Multicompressor doesn’t work in N8 (which I am currently demoing) because of the removal of 32 bit support. It won’t work with Jbridge either because it seems to be tied to Steinberg and needs to used directly - I get an error message that says this plugin requires Wavelab 4 (though it worked in every previous Nuendo version).

I can’t find a work around and want to know if anyone else has found this gem and/or has found a solution or may have thought of something.

I could do my limiting as a second step in wavelab but this messes with my workflow.

Thanks,

Dean
Multicompressor.jpg

#2

The “Soft Clip” button in all of these pre-historic 2000~2005 Cubase and Nuendo plugins is actually a hard clip that creates a ton of distortion. It’s anything but transparent. It comes last in the signal flow (after the output knob) so it’s the compressor that’s doing most of the job if you activate the compression curves.

The new Distortion effect and the Distortion algorithm in Quadrafuzz v2 (which is multiband) are also hard clippers. Using the Distortion plugin, set the tone knob to max and keep in mind that it starts clipping earlier so you’ll need some proper gain staging, and you’ll get a similar (if not the same or better) result.

#3

You got me excited for a minute. I tried it and it doesn’t do the same thing at all. It doesn’t limit and does distort.

Multicompressor distorts like any brickwall limiter will distort when you hit the wall, but it sounds very clean compared to others at the same level. Of the commercial limiters I’ve tried, DMG Limitless can get similar results but takes a little work to keep the low end and the pumping down when you hit it hard but I’ve been able to match Multicompressor.

#4

What the soft clip button does is definitely clipping and not regular limiting. Even the most aggressive limiters wont turn a saw or triangle wave into a (almost) square wave so easily.

I tried the old multiband compressor again and realized that its clipping behavior is a bit more gradual than I remembered. Sorry about that.

The clipper seems to be 2 stage. It starts with very soft clipping and then shifts to what seems to be accidental internal clipping after a certain threshold (due to the soft clipping being too soft?). The gain reduction is very low if the input doesn’t exceed 0 dB, the compressor isn’t used, and the output is set to 0 dB. Around less than -2 dB.

I’m getting a feeling that Limiter 6 will give you the results you’re after. It has a soft clipper module with controllable threshold and knee (allowing you to make it very soft or very hard) which can be followed by a limiter with an optional hard digital clipping mode. This should give you very good results once you figure out the right settings. It’s a very highly regarded plugin.

#5

Great. I’ll check out limiter 6. I tend to like hard knees as it doesn’t sound as compressed and the low end isn’t affected as much, but it does gets crunchy earlier.

With Multicompressor it doesn’t seem to matter whether I drive the input hard or use the output control. Distortion and rms are the same.

Thanks,

Dean

#6

You should check out FabFilter L2. There have been some substantial improvements in version 2. Now has 8 different limiting algorithms.

#7

I’ve tried Fabfilter L2 and It didn’t work as well as the Multicompressor or Limitless.

I tried the TDR limiter 6. I love the features and flexibility. It seemed to work best for me using the clipper section after lightly touching the limiting section. But I couldn’t get it as clean when pushed hard as Limitless or Multicompressor.

Then I tried the Vladg limiter 6 and using just the clipper and output module I was able to match Multicompressor and Limitless. Low end is retained and the the signal sounds the same until distortion creeps up when pushed hard. It looks like a light version of the TDR but it sounds different. I think I found a replacement.

Dean