Alesis Micro Limiter

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Micro Limiter owners and users, who are you, where are you, what do you do?

I have read a few post here, especially from @AdamJay and others I don’t remember about this little beast that made me very interested in buying one for the end of the chain (with AH and/or Deco).
I was in the market for a FMR RNC, but this thing popped up my radar…

however I find very little information about this unit online! and most of the info I find is about squashing a drum bus… and didn’t find many positive advice on this for putting it on a master bus.

Can you tell me something more about how this sounds? Are you using this for squashing techno (for which I guess it shines), and how do you think it would do on other genres? (electronic oriented, no classical or jazz)

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#2

They’re from the 80s. Cheap. Durable.
Are a little noisy.
Set and forget.
Sound great for techno. Big sweet spot.
Nice and even compression, handles low frequencies well. Less suck&pump on master than my Platform limiter.
Very slight roll off of highs, but not in a bad way.
Uses weird 3.5mm plug power jack.

What else do you want to know?

My latest with it:

I don’t do other genres but imagine the added noise would be annoying for more dynamic genres.

I have two now and I blame @tr909 who owns three :laughing:

8 Likes
#3

nice sound!!

this is what I m looking for :slight_smile: I guess I will go for it and see what it can do for me…
thanks for your reply, now I wil own one because of you :smiley:

#4

@AdamJay, many sources I looked for information say the micro limiter is really dirty,
Do you think it adds a lot of dirt when not driving it into the red?
I guess it will not be the most transparent one, but how would you describe the dirt on it?

I’m asking because I would describe my own sound on the soft, organic and mellow side. but search for the right drive to make it warm. All very subjective words to describe a sound, but I would leave out the crunch and grit :slight_smile:

#5

worth looking at the FMR RNLA as well. it’s punchier than the RNC. different sound/vibe.

#6

I have a 3630 and RNC already, is this still worth tracking down?

#7

The more you drive it, the noisier is gets.
It’s not warm, or cold. Just a little noisy.

2 Likes
#8

probably as cheap as you can get for a stereo comp/lim with sidechain. such a small footprint too. i’ve been using mine lately for taming the levels of a jomox t-resonator

#9

If you have audio you want me to run through it at different settings, let me know. I have the time and a pretty low noise Ultralite MK4 that will give you a clear picture of its sound.

#10

Thanks, I really appreciate that! but I just ordered one on reverb for €75.
So I can have a go at it soon enough :slight_smile:
They seem to go more expensive nowadays, I see a few of them for up to €200…

I am very exited and hope it will work. I am a bit afraid of compressors. I think I don’t have a good ear for setting them. All my experiments in the pasts failed… the simplicity and “set and forget” character is what calls me most.

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#11

There is something strange going on with my micro limiter… I started using the ios app Vectorscope for monitoring my levels, and I noticed that engaging the micro limiter does something with my left and right… You can see it on the left at the soft green RMS bars, and the L R bar at the bottom. is this a phasing issue?

here are some screenshots with microlimiter bypassed and engaged.

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#12

I own and like the micro limiter. I use it quite a bit. Now I have the same issue as you @peterklank
The right channel signal is stronger than the left channel. The more I drive the input knob, it increases the difference between Left/Right. Any thoughts on this?

#13

strange. neither of my two ML’s do this.

#14

Hi there!

I have same phase issue between left and right channel with my micro limiter,
have you solve this problem?
Thank You!

#15

@josefinalgren and @liveact,

Sorry for my extremely late reply! but I sold the micro limiter, never got to figure out the problem. And I found I liked it very much with some music, but not as much with other, and I need something to set and forget. I ended up with a RNC and Strymon Deco combo (nice, clean, smooth and subtle)

I stopped using limiters in my studio altogether because at times I find myself fiddling more with my “master chain” than actually making music… I only keep it for live purposes now :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#16

Just picked up a Microlimiter for 50 bucks and have to say, it was really worth it, works great on my machinedrum :slight_smile: Also setting in input quite hot yields quite pleasant results :slight_smile:

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#17

Did something happen in the last 6 months to make micro limiters more popular? They were around $100 in the fall and are now all over $200 on reverb and ebay! Should have bought first and asked questions later.