Who's using PSP Xenon Limiter???

[aleatoric]

I doubt such a small amount of DC offset is any where near audible. Never the less Xenon fundamentally should not introduce any amount of DC offset. I'd email PSP support and ask they release a small update to fix this.

[Bubbagump]

Originally Posted by aleatoric

One trick I have been using is to put Xenon in mode "A" which is a hard clipper, this is also the 2nd stage of "limiting". By adjusting the transient knob and release control you can effectively dial in how short or long of transients pass the first stage of limiting and go on to hit the clipper. Very unique. Shorter transients can be clipped while longer transients will be limited. The shorter the transient the less audible distortion occurs during hard clipping. Pretty genius design when you wrap your head around it. Mode B and C can keep things more transparent but softer (less punch). What mode to choose is very dependent on the material and overall desired RMS.

Then perhaps I am misunderstanding the manual. The attack and release are not worded as I would expect in reference to a typical compressor thus I was understanding it much differently then you describe it. So perhaps I should think of it more along the lines of a typical compressor?

Are you also saying that by setting it to Mode A you can in essence tune the second stage? I am still trying to get my head around what the first stage is really doing as it sounds like floating point voo doo to push levels before going to fixed point to me.

[aleatoric]

Originally Posted by Bubbagump

Then perhaps I am misunderstanding the manual. The attack and release are not worded as I would expect in reference to a typical compressor thus I was understanding it much differently then you describe it. So perhaps I should think of it more along the lines of a typical compressor?

Are you also saying that by setting it to Mode A you can in essence tune the second stage? I am still trying to get my head around what the first stage is really doing as it sounds like floating point voo doo to push levels before going to fixed point to me.

It took me a bit to fully understand it too (even after going through the manual a few times). The Mode setting is the second stage of limiting, Mode A is a hard clipper, Mode B is an intelligent brick wall limiter with some look ahead and Mode C is an intelligent brick wall limiter with more look ahead. The original PSP Xenon GUI had Modes A-C worded Hard, Medium, Soft if that is of any use to you. Essentially Mode A will create the most distortion but preserve the most punch and transients while Mode C is the cleanest but may tend to eat more transients. Mode B I guess can be viewed as falling somewhere in-between the two.

The Attack (Transient) and Release controls refer to the first limiting stage which is essentially a limiter but not a brick wall limiter. The first stage has some look ahead. By adjusting the Transient knob you control how fast the attack of the first stage of limiting is and thus determining how short or long of transients precede to the second stage of limiting.

PSP Xenon is an INCREDIBLY diverse limiter. I think many people simply try a setting or two or briefly fiddle with the knobs and draw a quick conclusion while never really full understand this thing can do anything from hard clipping to incredibly transparent limiting and everything in-between (including some things that are completely unique to Xenon). Since I bought it it has been the only limiter I have used. I own Ozone and Elephant too. I think Ozone's limiter is really great because its hard to "mess up", not many dials, Xenon to me though can accomplish everything I need from a clipper/limiter with incredible sound quality.

[Bubbagump]

Great info. Thanks! thumbsup I understand the first stage much more now. I somehow missed the fact that the first stage is not a brick wall limiter.

[aleatoric]

Originally Posted by Bubbagump

Great info. Thanks! thumbsup I understand the first stage much more now. I somehow missed the fact that the first stage is not a brick wall limiter.

No problem.

[Beyersound]

Originally Posted by aleatoric

No problem.

Nice one, great post, good to see that more people have an understanding of it! I also will probably use nothing else!

[disuye]

Originally Posted by aleatoric

I doubt such a small amount of DC offset is any where near audible. Never the less Xenon fundamentally should not introduce any amount of DC offset. I'd email PSP support and ask they release a small update to fix this.

Yeah it's not an audible problem, however I'm pretty fussy about getting mixes sounding right AND all the numbers looking right

[diogo_c]

Bumping this thread to spread the love for the Xenon and its lovely Leveller knob!

[aleatoric]

Originally Posted by diogo_c

Bumping this thread to spread the love for the Xenon and its lovely Leveller knob!

Well since this is an old thread of mine I guess it's worth stating I use Fabfilter Pro-L almost exclusively these days. When Pro-L first came out I spent a great deal of time shooting it out against Xenon as well as Elephant and Ozone. Once getting a handle on Pro-L I consistently found myself getting better, more transparent results with it on a wide range of different material. Xenon is great though. I still own a license. Pro-L however is my current go-to.

[Beyersound]

Originally Posted by aleatoric

Well since this is an old thread of mine I guess it's worth stating I use Fabfilter Pro-L almost exclusively these days. When Pro-L first came out I spent a great deal of time shooting it out against Xenon as well as Elephant and Ozone. Once getting a handle on Pro-L I consistently found myself getting better, more transparent results with it on a wide range of different material. Xenon is great though. I still own a license. Pro-L however is my current go-to.

Love the Xenon, but want to try the FF. How do you use it when keeping things around -10 to -12 RMS? Cheers

[aleatoric]

Originally Posted by Beyersound

Love the Xenon, but want to try the FF. How do you use it when keeping things around -10 to -12 RMS? Cheers

Completely depends on the material. Wish I could be of more help. I will say I do find myself in the "transparent" mode the most out of the 4 limiter "style" modes Pro-L has but I use the others style modes as well.

[Andy Krehm]

Originally Posted by aleatoric

Well since this is an old thread of mine I guess it's worth stating I use Fabfilter Pro-L almost exclusively these days. When Pro-L first came out I spent a great deal of time shooting it out against Xenon as well as Elephant and Ozone. Once getting a handle on Pro-L I consistently found myself getting better, more transparent results with it on a wide range of different material. Xenon is great though. I still own a license. Pro-L however is my current go-to.

I used to use the PSP most of the time but since I got the Pro-L last year, it is my go to limiter also. But, the PSP is still useful once in a while as is Ozone.

[aleatoric]

Originally Posted by Andy Krehm

I used to use the PSP most of the time but since I got the Pro-L last year, it is my go to limiter also. But, the PSP is still useful once in a while as is Ozone.

Yeah. I have Pro-L, Ozone (4), Xenon and Elephant. Not often I use anything outside of Pro-L but the others are good to have around for sure. Interested to hear Ozone 5's limiter. Haven't been able to though as my studio machine is a PPC G5. It wont run on a PPC mac. Probably getting a new cpu this year and checking it out is on my to do list. Loving Pro-L though. Pro-Q too!

[Red Mastering]

Originally Posted by aleatoric

Yeah. I have Pro-L, Ozone (4), Xenon and Elephant. Not often I use anything outside of Pro-L but the others are good to have around for sure. Interested to hear Ozone 5's limiter. Haven't been able to though as my studio machine is a PPC G5. It wont run on a PPC mac. Probably getting a new cpu this year and checking it out is on my to do list. Loving Pro-L though. Pro-Q too!

interesting opinion, as I did several tests with xenon against pro-l, against elephant and slate digital
I chose xenon, but it's also the way I work
I am very happy person, recently most of my clients ask (to do not make it uber loud), hence my very sparse use of limiter...
I am not a big fan of limiters at all,
noticed that after 40 min of tweaking song, when I get what I was aiming for,
I put limiter and if GR bigger then 1dB, my whole 40min work gone to bin...
limiter destroys mix, makes kicks/snares sound ugly, midrange aggresive, and low end somehow not as precise as it was....
it's just observation,