Whose on first: Crystal or Limiter?

WaveLab
1

Is there an objectively better or correct position for where Crystal Resampler is placed in the master plug-in section?

I did a search here, and saw that people (myself included!) have different rationales and placements. I wonder if I’m missing some variables in my assumptions:

  • by placing Crystal ahead of my peak limiter (PSP Xenon mostly, L2 on occasion), the limiter can handle any intersample peaks in the 64 bit space where it can’t really clip.
  • by placing the limiter ahead of Crystal, I can eliminate any anomalous peaks that cause might cause issues in conversion, but give up the absolute control of peaks provided by the limiter (for MfiT projects, this means I must lower the ceiling on the limiter a tad farther).

I tend to default to Crystal>Limiter because I presume the headroom of the bus makes the levels coming in to Crystal somewhat irrelevant. If this is wrong I might consider adding a “ranging/safety” limiter ahead of Crystal with a high threshold to catch nasties…

Thanks.

2

Limiter has always to be put after resampler, as resampling can create “true peaks”.

3

Phew! Thanks PG, glad to have “official” confirmation. :wink:

4

I like to use the limiter if I’m “Heavy lifting” before the Crystal RS especially if I’m working at 96k.
Then apply a limiter post SRC for intersample peaks, ceiling to .2 – .5 and dither.