Any thoughts on this unit?
There is very little info on any thread........

Im interested too...

I like the stenciling they employ on their meter faces!

Add me to the list of interested ones.

The front panel design is nicely minimal and classy, with a pretty unique look and operation for those limit knobs.

English specs are available here: limit.one - MasteringWorks - High-End Audio Gear
Or in German here: limit.one - MasteringWorks - High-End Audio Gear

The manual is quite well-done and interesting to read: http://www.masteringworks.de/wp-cont...one-manual.pdf

Their posted specs would seem to indicate a pretty flat and quiet signature, but is should surely show some color when working with the faster timings.

List price is 3,500 Euros.

Tested it some month ago here. It´s not what I understand as Limiter (analog) for mastering. For mixing maybe it can be really useful and the boxtone is also fine. Maybe it could be interesting to mix into it. Also the controls are really special and I wonder why not other manufacturer use that kind of extrafine adjustable pots.

Compared it soundwise to Pendulum PL-2 which I tested at the same time and I liked more, but also not so much that I found it worth to buy.
I stay with my current setup for analog limiting: VSM and/or Overkillers.

I use one every day for the last 3 months.

Its nothing like other limiters.

Its sitting in between the Gyraf Dynamic Infundibulum and the Maselec MPL2. And it sounds like half way between the 2.

Like a faster high res version of the soft clip on the Elysia Alpha that reacts to slightly different freq.

You can basically use it instead of clipping and its good for about 1/2 to 2dB. Its basically good when the lights just light up a little. 1/2dB stuff.
Keeps the punch but without the crunch in the side info that you get with converter clipping.

Does not work on everything. When it distorts its ugly and in the mid range. Great for EDM.

Boxtone is fantastic. Very slightly more solid/real/physical.

Happy to add it to my rig as a final piece.

Too subtle for a first unit and you really want to be able to measure just how much is being reduced as its really hard to hear that stuff. Easy to make an error.
That's why sitting behind the MPL2 is a must for me. I can see exactly how much limiting its taking away from the MPL2.

At the end of the day I like what it does a lot more than clipping. For the price tho 1/2 a dB better loudness may be debatable in value.

For myself in my rig I can do all analog mastering at commercial levels with more punch and weight than any digital combo. Personally that has a certain romantic appeal.

I am on the verge of buying one to experiment with. I'm a little sick of plug in limiters and I was hoping this would bring some fun and solidity back into the workflow.
Anyone got any strong opinions on this box?

i had one, sold it, because some parameters are not stepped and he had a "acoustic humm" (not hearable on the master, but in the room).
rockruepel didn't wanna fix the humm-problem and didn't willingly to mod the unit to a full stepped version.

the compressor is a very good and special vari-mu (can be quiet fast), but in my chain the knif pure mu and the new varis blue face fitting better.

Thanks Teebaum. I've bought one so I hope I don't hate it so much. I have so many compressors that I need some dedicated limiters. Are there any other cool hardware ones anyone can recommend?

That is really what I am aiming for. I'm sick go the plug ins spoiling the solidity and the image. Thanks for your experience and description!

Are you still using it? Where in the chain were you placing it?

Teebaum, are you talking the CompOne or the LimitOne?

I bought teebaums Comp One some years ago. Yes, the PSU has a small mechanic hum, Rockruepel offers a fix to me, but I never send it over as the hum is only percetible without any music modulation in the room and gets even lower when the unit is warmed up. I even put my PC in a external machine room and disabled fans from converters and power amps....
Attack and release are stepped with elmas, only thr, in and out are indeed potis (but high quality ones with very high precision, you can easily set them up per eye with perfect matching L/R). Really nothing to worry about, even with a lot of necessary recalls. In and out are fixed in my setup all the time, so Thr is the only one that gets moved while working.

Soundwise I often though about selling it as it often has a tendency to sound a bit too aggressive/forward in the mids. But this has completly changed after I changed my ADDA and some other small things within my chain. Its still very tight, open and "earthy" sounding, without the lowbump or the hi end sheen of other units (which I prefer very much). Even with quite high GR it still sounds open and never small or narrow and its indeed very fascinating how transparent it is especially in low freq (but impredance matching is a big topic here as it is a very puristic unit, in the wrong setup it could easily sounds like **** with quite thin lows...). Its running with the original tubes since about 5 years now, matching is still perfect and noise really low. I really could not be happier with it and cant really imagine another vari mu in my chain. For me its the perfect combination of transparent, yet musical compression without any obvious coloring (which I do not want in mastering) and without the problems other clean solid state based units offen adds.
Its a perfect partner for the michelangelo, in my ears. But they do not work well without any high quality solid state buffering stage between them.
What I heard from the new Varis quite impresses me in a charming way, but its for sure way more coloured than the RR and therefore more an additional unit.

Regarding the RR limiter I saw some measurements and it also has the tendency to thin out the lows there, so I think careful lacement within the chain is anither must here. But, in my experience, that is often the case with the extraordinary gear out there. They may force you to overthink your complete setup and way of working easily. Character pieces....

sorry, i was writing about the comp.one!

the comp.one change the impedance depending on the output-gain. this can be a reason why he interact a bit more skittish with the following unit than others.

the comp.one is for sure one of the best vari-mu's you can get, but in my chain he was more colored than the varis blueface (who is not comparable with the older versions of the varis).
the varis blueface is IMHO also less colored than a knif pure mu - but this is not good or bad - just different. all of them have their strengthen.
which one you prefer is only a matter of taste and/or depending of your chain or the results you looking for.

Sorry to keep "off thread" for a bit as its about the Limiter not the compressor, but has anybody compared the Comp one vs Comp two ? Quick thought on both units ?

I have both CompOne and LimitOne. CompOne is on mixing duty. LimitOne is in front of the A/D. Love both units. Built like tank. Never had a single issue with either of them.

Thanks Simon, I look forward to getting mine. How do you generally have yours set before the A/D? Do you avoid clipping the A>D?

Hi Paul, in general you set up the threshold(Limit) according to the cal. level of your A/D. Adjust Speed based on the material you run it thru. TBH, how low or how high you set the threshold is really up to you. Avoid clipping, clip just a tiny bit, clip a bit more, etc. Whatever way that suits your need for the song you're working on. No rules really...

Thanks for the explanation Simon. As always : "case by case"

Loving it, it's more subtle than the marketing would have you believe but it's so solid sounding and rocks on the chain before the M-A-S.

Anyone here tried it as a first device in the chain?
How is the boxtone of the unit, any (low mid) woolyness or a low end bump from the used transformers? Transformer tone is something that really has to fit for me, too many bad/too colored once out there (even when pikatron has a good reputation here).

Anyone here willing to provide audio samples with/without (only boxtone) if I send over a file?

no woolyness in the lowend but euphonic, modern shiny touch, like you put a bit of light on the mix... so of course you have guessed definitively not transparent. Shiny, juicy... you have to listen

I find I don't really need plug in limiters with this on the end of my chain. Sounds so solid.

Paul_G, glad to hear that you're enjoying the Limit.One.

JP__, the best way to test is to have a demo unit in and see how it works with your setup and workflow. Sure getting a demo unit is not a problem with MasteringWorks in Germany.

I got my Limit.One two years ago when it was released. I like it very much and it suits my setup and workflow.

Love mine. Solid, subtle glow/sheen. Tightens up the low end dynamically but it feels "flat" ish. Perfect to shave off transients. Stereo linking is powerful. Same as I find the linking on the comp.two, but perhaps with an inverse "feel" in terms of width/stability compared to the vari-mu... hard to explain. I like it, great gain stage.

-T

Exactly what I have looked forward to read.
In my experience quite some transformers comes with some subtle low end tightening (in constrast to those which make it blurry), but to often with annoying sideeffects due to cheap builds.
But users should be awared of the fact that (in the rare measurements I have seen and due to impedance interaction also), the limit.one comes with some unlinearities frequency wise (the graph looks like a 0,5dB tilt torwards the highs here).
The borderline between hearing some tighening and producing some dampening in the lows is quite small for sure.
I toyed around with different transformers lately (again...) and while its possible to get them really flat in the lows, the lowend sounds completly different (often with smeary, wooly or blurry sideeffects) even with well regarded ones. Its just a hate/love thing with transformers for me, at least you have to be very carefull which one to choose.
So, after tube rolling there might come some transformer rolling...

REV2 has been out for a while with a 6dB/oct HPF in the sidechain fixed at 225Hz.

I'm sharing JP's curiosity - this sounds like an interesting potential unit at the start of an analog chain right after the DAC - for tucking in peaks and being able to really accurately and safely hit the sweet spot of more sensitive gear.

According to the manual it should be easy enough to set the threshold for 1-2dB limiting with an output ceiling at a specific conservative dBu value like +14.

I sometimes need to add 1-2dB of plugin clipping before the DA on really dynamic and sub-bass heavy material that can unpredictably overload amorphous core transformers. It may just happen a few times in a song from individual kick or bass hits that poke out a bit, and it's frustrating to be midway through a print and things are sounding great, then suddenly one single kick farts out.

Anyone else have more feedback in general or experience with the REV2?

Anyone else tried the REV2 yet?

Bump.
Is there still any love/use for the unit?

I absolutely love mine. Totally negates needing plugin limiting and sounds great.
I looked into the version 2 but the mod makes it act like a compressor and not a brick wall limiter so I passed on the upgrade as I don't need any more compressors.

Ok thank you Paul.
So if I buy a new one it will not act as the previous version?

I believe it's just a bass side chain setting that they have added to the original.