Small form factor Limiter for live use?

I expect the RNC can do this for you. Both ratios are 25.

This is exactly why I chose the RNC too. While I don’t have an AH yet, I imagine the two would make a hell of a mix / master pair and with the AH I have more control over the coloring.

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…only no brainer and beyond all doubts solution is this hardware rack unit from waves…the maxx bcl…
clear knife sharp brickwall that can’t be bothered, no matter what signal it has to treat, while a nice shaped, perfectly tailored low end lets u shake and rumble any kind of location/pa , while all transparency go hand in hand with all transients to blow ur senses…

but that’s hi end full on…also pricewise…another solution is the allen&heath qu pac…a 16 channel digital small footprint mixer with a very versatile fx suit, that can limit easily as standard…and gives a perfect backend for any kind of sonic situation…stage, studio, recording, converting, monitoring, mixing, finishing, installation…u name it…

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Haha Waves Maxx BCL… €3000 or so? I’m sure it’s great but that’s a completely different league!

Re digital mixer: I want to keep it analog. My mixer is the hub to send signals all over the place. With a digital mixer that 'd mean many AD-DA conversion steps with inherent delays, and thus audible phasing and artifacts.

…not with the qu pac…it’s made for all this…and they really know what they’re doing…solid converters and per channel free adjustable anti phasing delay on board…industry standard for all live and studio configuations…
and i don’t think u would need all these easy to handle anti phasing solutions anyway…since u don’t have to serve a full band with drums and stuff…all u need is solid fine tuning for no matter what monitoring and a phase truu balanced master out…

it’s a serious backend for all situations for 1300 bux…pay once, be happy for the next ten years…and it really has a small footprint since it’s missing all faders but worx smoothly via an internal touchscreen…with lot’s of free configureable buttons around it…that can always give u instant access to ur favourite shortcuts u might need…so u can even have ordinary play/stop/record buttons ready to go for the internal recorder or any external playback situations…all .free routable in any directions and cycles…and whatever u record…no need for computers…BUT any recordings can be treated in the box or any computer end of the day anyways…
send and return games as much as u want, ten additional balanced analog outs, 4 different complete mix stages, four fx slots with free access to an open libary of heaps of dedicated fx plugins, recodings up to 18 independant channels…puh…no analog console can offer that much within a space and price wise footprint like this…and only real good hi end analog consoles still sound better than any digital mixing…

Other than lack of input knob, which is easily remedied by using the output knob of the device feeding into it, the Platform seems like a solid solution. It looks like the drive section can be very subtle if you want it to be.

I may have to sell some unused pedals and other bits and pick one up to see just how solid it is.

Ok thanks for the details. I run an AV rental company and own several Soundcraft and Digico digital mixers, and Midas, Soundcraft and Mackie analog ones. I know well the capabilities and drawbacks of each type. For some live performers it will always be a no-go to have to deal with touch screens, pages and menu s. The advantage of having built in fx doesn t weigh up against loosing hands on control. For others that trade off will be perfectly acceptable. For my personal live performance work i need the hands on controls. For live sound engineering work i prefer digital because it s just so much less equipment to transport and set up.

Platform looks like a neat little package. Looks more useful and flexible than RNC with the added drive control. I’m only using RNC for compression on recordings in the chain with analog heat. Once processed in the DAW I will export eveything into MPC live where it will need little to no further processing, particularly on the master out.

Otherwise for live use I would definitely want to try Platform out. Would be useful in the studio too.

Those Bogner Harlow pedals are rare (in the UK and Europe). Very interesting although might be out of the comfort zone using 2 separate pedals for a stereo signal. Some nice pedals like the JHS colourbox & Hudson Broadcast that might get into similar territory.

Also looking at this for recordings but could work -

http://looptrotter.com/sa2rate/

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From what Ive read, I would guess that Boum is still capable of what you’re after. Not sure if there is a way to turn the distortion engine off? Or leave the drive control at a level where it sounds more neutral? From there, basically drive the inputs into the red or till it starts catch the peaks.

AH can do this starting from the INIT patch. The drive is set at 50% on clean boost and you can drive the inputs into the red, where it will catch the peaks. You just adjust to taste (the volume of the device going into the Heat). Plus you also have all the different circuits/flavours to choose from. You can also dial back the drive parameter below 50% for a cleaner signal too. It’s taking me a while to learn AH and how it can be use more subtle ways. Again though, I’m thinking that Boum can be used in a similar way.

+1 for the FMR RNLA

and, to be honest, for the relevant criteria (price, weight, size and sound) this one is THE one to beat…

note that it is technncially a “Levelling Amplifier” and while it does practically limit, that is not it´s intended use…

(re: the person that mentioned that even with fastest attack it still lets through some transients)

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You know, at the price, I’m tempted to order both RNC and RNLA and send one back if necessary. I don’t exclude finding a use for both either.

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might also be worth checking out 2nd hand offers.

I picked up my RNLA used and it was in pristine condition, they are pretty sturdy even though they are lightweight…

and the savings might be worth not having a “return” option:
the RNLA comes in at about 260€ new right now, and I saw one just the other week for 150€ used.

but your plan is solid, I´d say.
I know plenty of people buying gear just like this. :wink:

I have a company and deduct 21% VAT. 2nd hand will usually still be a bit cheaper but the little difference is worth getting it unused with warranty and return possibility, for me.

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true that, then I´d say: happy testing! :slight_smile:

oh and you might want to get some more Y-Cables / insert cables, the FMR boxes can be hooked up like that if you want to (they still have separate in/out jacks) and it´s pretty convenient especially for live not having to bring as many leads…

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Good point. I just send the Boum back and shipping cost was payed by the retailer. Really appreciate that service.

@Naboo Yes the first distortion mode is Clean boost and if Drive is at zero there is no distortion except if the compression settings are not right of course. Still I agree with others that it’s not the cleanest compression especially when stressed. And since the distortion settings were too extreme for me and not even something I really need, since my Elektron machines all have that, I found that it wasn’t what I’d been looking for.

Actually my MLimiterX from Melda production delivers very clean limiting and can boost the signal greatly while keeping the dynamics with no gain pumping at all but I don’t want to use my laptop with latency and I believe that hardware compressors/limiters still are preferable if they are good. So I hope the RNC will give me this.

I just got the Platform from EHX and had a RNC a while ago. I’m surprised how clean sounding the Platform is (without the drive). I’d say the RNC is a bit cleaner but so far i really like the Platform. The RNC can use a simple eq as sidechain so it only effects for e.g. the high frequencies and leaves the low end intact. The Platform can’t do that.
But the drive on the Platform sounds very very nice. It goes from saturation to distortion and the range is nicely calibrated. No sudden jumps from a little drive to too much. It’s exactly the drive i need for drums or the whole mix. On the Analog Heat (which i own) this would be one of the best drive setting imo. It just sounds good.

I still have to test it more with subtle compression settings and on different modes to see if i would use it one the master of e.g. a live set. But i’ll definitely keep it.

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Nice! Curious for your findings. Do you know whether it s analog or digital?

It’s fully digital

This should be clarified.
The EQ side chain capability on the RNC interacts with the control signal only.
It will not equalize the input/output signal at all. All frequencies are left “intact”.

It only tells the compressor which frequencies to listen to (or ignore) in order to determine threshold.
All frequencies are then compressed accordingly.
If the EQ is used to remove bass frequencies, bass frequencies are not removed from the input/output signal. They are only less influential in when the compressor engages in compressing the entire signal.

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Interesting. Any sound examples are most welcome.

That’s what i meant but you described it way better. :slight_smile:

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