Transient enhancer circuit comes after the limiting stage, the creator of LAAL stated + 3db of transients are added after the transient recovery is engaged (on LAAL gearspace page). So to mimic that in digital domain you have to use you transient designer after the limiting and make sure there are no positive peaks, not before.
The LAAL release groove sounds so nice. The Pro L2 seems more pumpy . great video . I use a bettermaker limiter which i love but i didn't know that one
Thank you so much for this thorough demonstration and deep-dive review of the LAAL. Suppose you end up renegotiating a better deal with the manufacturer; I highly recommend using it before your digital chain. As for the transient processing portion of the circuit, it seems as though they provide the user with an optimized analog peak detection circuit optimized to maintain critical dynamic range and transient program material while effectively and sonically preventing inaudible non-essential peak material from overstimulating analog, digital signal processors even including plugins) further down the chain with abundant gain reduction, including but not limited to dynamic processing, equalization, saturation, and overall gain staging. Wow! Thank you so much for your complete breakdown of this unit. By the looks of it and sound of it, the purpose of the duplicate controls on either side of the unit is to provide the operator with fully discrete stereo & dual mono functionality with fully independent use of dual transformer I/O switch course and a fine of the input and output transformers with what I can only imagine being compromise free zero distortion analog rotary switches and relays and or encoders. All in all, this is quite a highly efficient internal design. Miraculous. It's definitely a possible contender for the Tec Awards! Having managed only to occupy three rack units. BRAVO! My hats off to them. I'd love to take a look under the hood Very impressive. If only an option for an external linear power supply were available. Please forgive my curiosity has already killed a few of my big Cat 🦁lives. At this point, I’ve lost all ability to refrain from any inner monologue from drooling all over your comment section. Anyways. 😂 In many ways, it shares similarities with the Spectra 1964 V610 while also providing operators that are different and, in some ways, additional to the @spectra1964 V610. I hope I can see and possibly hear this unit at the NAMM 2025 show in January. Again, thank you. Without this video, I may not have known about this very unique circuit. Being an analog limiter, much like the Spectra 610 series, perhaps it’s better to consider this unit and its purpose as a peak limiter or “transient” limiter instead of merely as a Brickwall limiter. That said, if used correctly to provide its full potential, it could be far more effective and useful to the entire bus before the ladder of processing that follows it. Please excuse my lengthy comment/ dissertation per se. My sheer excitement and curiosity to integrate into my mastering chain has been imploding with possibilities, perhaps even as an alternative or a compliment to my Spectra’s I’ll be at NAMM Representing MASELEC & Gyraf would love to find some time to deep further with the manufacturer and possibly the chief engineer in a couple of months❤
I love the LAAL. I´ve had it for a little while now. I sometimes clip the audio with the Bettermaker Limiter 2.0 before hitting the LAAL, if I want a bit more loudness :)
do you ever clip after the limiter with the better maker, for the sound of clipping it sounds better with the clipper as the final stage? but maybe thats genre specific
wow man, another good video, cheers Thomas. Very interesting ! 3:28 The Fabfilter L2 is louder in this example, modern bright sound. But the interesting difference is the perception of distance. The hardware appears to set the sound back in depth. I love how hardware can do this while plugins are always upfront flat in your face. The hardware also has more control over the sounds somehow. Everything in place and controlled. But honestly in this example i would probably go with the FF L2 sound. The width however sounded amazing in the hardware. Listen to how glorious those vocal harmonies sound on full width. It's almost like a chorus sheen without chorusing. The plugin widened well but had none of that magic going on. The Dynamic Transient effect is very transparent in the hardware. Works well. Plugin could not compete at all. If i was a mastering engineer i would be looking at this for those features
excellent The hardware limiter is much better, the sound is less harsh, the transient is controlled and the sound is more linear, and the stereo wide sound is better and with more feeling and without harshness. Also, the transformer makes the low end sound much more attractive. In the end, 10 thousand is too much, of course, attention. The details are important The sea consists of small drops
Great Video ! The LAAL sounds more tight in the low end ( on the headphones anyway ) Would love to see those VS also with Electronic Music Keep Rocking 💪
The LAAL sounds great, very dynamic with lots of air to it which is why I personally think it would have been a better comparison with the Pro L2 in the Transparent mode. Thanks for the video!
Finally a video on this!! Wonder how it compares to the bettermaker. I’d think that a delay line on the sidechain shouldn’t be that hard for the people at bettermaker to figure out
One question I always had was, if most people that work hardware keep saying tha the sweet spot for most units is -18dbufs, how much input gain an analog limiter can handle?
Well, at 05:00mins you can clearly hear that the fabfilter eats up the snare drum & thats a biiig NO GO when using a limiter im Mastering,,, at that point the fabfilter sounds more like a clipper...so yeah, LAAL all the way... + the beautiful Transformer sound it can produce + the StereoWith funktion, I mean thats just so many plus`s in a row...
Not that much different when matching them. Wonder if one can get louder LUFS on H/W unit? I felt the stereo with to be fuller on the LAAL vs Leapwing. Transformer, didn't perceive any difference, perhaps better for bass heavy material.
Hi thanks for the video. I don't like Pro L2 that much in general. What's your personnal take on the LAAL? Have you ever tried the Bettermaker limiter?
I haven’t tried the bettermaker yet, but the LAAL is an interesting piece for sure. Not necessarily a unit that gives me loudness or punch, but it gives me more depth and smoothness i feel. And it can do a little more limiting without pumping like the L2 does
i've always preferd the sound of the ik stealth limiter and ddmg limitless over the Pro L2, the l2 is great but since it has so many options its easy to get out of the sweet spot
Yea I’d definitely move from Eurorack to Buchla .. Or finish my Harley Davidson Road Glides motor work. This sort of kit is for major mastering houses. Or lotto winners lol
there are some slight differences (i guess, maybe i imagining), but probably you just need to tweak some settings at pro-l to get it 100% there. plugins these days are insane
Good video man! But IMO you used the fab filter limiter with the worst setting possible :) No look ahead (even if you are comparing it with a lookahead hardware limiter), modern setting (which is not really transparent) and NO oversampling, which which is crucial in compression/limiting. Thanks !
Thanks! I did use the pro l2 exactly because its the only limiter i own that has a lookahead function, i believe i also mention that in the video. I tried multiple settings and the modern worked best on this material to me. I decided to not oversample on purpose too. Anyway, there’s a million ways to compare and i could, but it’d make these videos 5 hours long😂 thanks for your input tho! Keeps me sharp!
@@thomasvopstal my pleasure mate 🙂 And thanks for your time! The FabFilter setting I see from your video looks like the default setting. In my opinion, you should deselect the TP limiting, use 16x oversampling (or the max your computer can handle) and a transparent\all around style, which are the most conservative styles. The oversampling is the most important for me... it changes depth and stereo image dramatically, which are the biggest differences I hear between L2 and LAAL :-) Thanks again!
It is probably worth the money if you are a mastering engineer, but I would probably buy something more versatile for this price, like the Alpha Compressor…
Feel like the hardware is just smoother and more relaxed overall, l2 sounded more harsh and stressing to listen to. But i felt on the heavy limiting setting the l2 was way better
The "modern" character on the L2 is my least favourite. The "transparent" sounds much better, and min of 4x oversampling is essential for heavy limiting.
To me, Pro L sounds dull in the first example, mushy low mids. This disappears a bit when you do the smash test. You make the test with a slower release. I would have loved to hear it on the faster release settings. Price is high for this unit, but it adds up. On this level where i am at, i want that extra 5%
Hey Thomas, first: please give up that infantile popups. I know they are common at RUclips now but you loose integrity and sobriety, just my well-intentioned advice, though I like your videos. The LAAL sounds better in my ears and on my loudspeakers (Kii Three) and it seems to be versatile too. Although the comparison is quite hard because the loudness is not matched I guess, the hardware makes more sense. Nevertheless, FabFilter and Leapwing does a good job and there are about 9700 Euro price difference.... Uff.... there is not a big gap between hw and sw .
@@this_is_jmdub Yes, I believe, there are a lot of people who like that. Not me. For me it's a reason to leave the channel. It is distracting and unnecessary in my eyes.
Good loudness matched test on the limiter vs Fabfilter L2. There were no winner to me in terms of sound which is what I expected actually. You need 8k $ to match ProL2 in analog.
Transient enhancer circuit comes after the limiting stage, the creator of LAAL stated + 3db of transients are added after the transient recovery is engaged (on LAAL gearspace page). So to mimic that in digital domain you have to use you transient designer after the limiting and make sure there are no positive peaks, not before.
Oh cool! I didn’t know about that or the LAAL gearspace page, but thanks for letting us know!
The LAAL release groove sounds so nice. The Pro L2 seems more pumpy . great video . I use a bettermaker limiter which i love but i didn't know that one
Thank you so much for this thorough demonstration and deep-dive review of the LAAL. Suppose you end up renegotiating a better deal with the manufacturer; I highly recommend using it before your digital chain. As for the transient processing portion of the circuit, it seems as though they provide the user with an optimized analog peak detection circuit optimized to maintain critical dynamic range and transient program material while effectively and sonically preventing inaudible non-essential peak material from overstimulating analog, digital signal processors even including plugins) further down the chain with abundant gain reduction, including but not limited to dynamic processing, equalization, saturation, and overall gain staging.
Wow! Thank you so much for your complete breakdown of this unit. By the looks of it and sound of it, the purpose of the duplicate controls on either side of the unit is to provide the operator with fully discrete stereo & dual mono functionality with fully independent use of dual transformer I/O switch course and a fine of the input and output transformers with what I can only imagine being compromise free zero distortion analog rotary switches and relays and or encoders. All in all, this is quite a highly efficient internal design. Miraculous. It's definitely a possible contender for the Tec Awards! Having managed only to occupy three rack units. BRAVO! My hats off to them. I'd love to take a look under the hood
Very impressive. If only an option for an external linear power supply were available. Please forgive my curiosity has already killed a few of my big Cat 🦁lives. At this point, I’ve lost all ability to refrain from any inner monologue from drooling all over your comment section. Anyways. 😂
In many ways, it shares similarities with the Spectra 1964 V610 while also providing operators that are different and, in some ways, additional to the @spectra1964 V610.
I hope I can see and possibly hear this unit at the NAMM 2025 show in January.
Again, thank you. Without this video, I may not have known about this very unique circuit.
Being an analog limiter, much like the Spectra 610 series, perhaps it’s better to consider this unit and its purpose as a peak limiter or “transient” limiter instead of merely as a Brickwall limiter. That said, if used correctly to provide its full potential, it could be far more effective and useful to the entire bus before the ladder of processing that follows it.
Please excuse my lengthy comment/ dissertation per se. My sheer excitement and curiosity to integrate into my mastering chain has been imploding with possibilities, perhaps even as an alternative or a compliment to my Spectra’s
I’ll be at NAMM Representing MASELEC & Gyraf would love to find some time to deep further with the manufacturer and possibly the chief engineer in a couple of months❤
I love the LAAL. I´ve had it for a little while now. I sometimes clip the audio with the Bettermaker Limiter 2.0 before hitting the LAAL, if I want a bit more loudness :)
do you ever clip after the limiter with the better maker, for the sound of clipping it sounds better with the clipper as the final stage? but maybe thats genre specific
wow man, another good video, cheers Thomas.
Very interesting !
3:28 The Fabfilter L2 is louder in this example, modern bright sound. But the interesting difference is the perception of distance.
The hardware appears to set the sound back in depth. I love how hardware can do this while plugins are always upfront flat in your face.
The hardware also has more control over the sounds somehow. Everything in place and controlled.
But honestly in this example i would probably go with the FF L2 sound.
The width however sounded amazing in the hardware. Listen to how glorious those vocal harmonies sound on full width. It's almost like a chorus sheen without chorusing. The plugin widened well but had none of that magic going on.
The Dynamic Transient effect is very transparent in the hardware. Works well. Plugin could not compete at all.
If i was a mastering engineer i would be looking at this for those features
🙏
excellent
The hardware limiter is much better, the sound is less harsh, the transient is controlled and the sound is more linear, and the stereo wide sound is better and with more feeling and without harshness. Also, the transformer makes the low end sound much more attractive. In the end, 10 thousand is too much, of course, attention. The details are important
The sea consists of small drops
I might buy Pro L after hearing this.
Nice low end from LAAL....but hey Fab L2 held quite well!
Great Video !
The LAAL sounds more tight in the low end ( on the headphones anyway )
Would love to see those VS also with Electronic Music
Keep Rocking 💪
Thanks! the last track is pretty electronic right? or do i need to pull up hardcore/raging techno?
@@thomasvopstalsomething super 808 heavy please
The LAAL sounds great, very dynamic with lots of air to it which is why I personally think it would have been a better comparison with the Pro L2 in the Transparent mode. Thanks for the video!
I would like to see this comparison with the Bettermaker Limiter
That might be interesting!
Would liked to have seen oversampling enabled on the L2
Finally a video on this!!
Wonder how it compares to the bettermaker. I’d think that a delay line on the sidechain shouldn’t be that hard for the people at bettermaker to figure out
Hmm i don’t know, i’m not an expert, but i believe adding an exact amount of delay in the analog domain is not that easily done
It seems to have its purpose, not sure on the price tag though.. great review !!
One question I always had was, if most people that work hardware keep saying tha the sweet spot for most units is -18dbufs, how much input gain an analog limiter can handle?
Stereo image and transient both had better lows! Nice vid!
thanks! yeah there's something special about the LAAL, but the pro l2 definitely held it's own!
Thank you so much for this important video!
Well, at 05:00mins you can clearly hear that the fabfilter eats up the snare drum & thats a biiig NO GO when using a limiter im Mastering,,, at that point the fabfilter sounds more like a clipper...so yeah, LAAL all the way... + the beautiful Transformer sound it can produce + the StereoWith funktion, I mean thats just so many plus`s in a row...
you are new into mix and mastering right?
What is mix and mastering?
amazing solid low end with LAAL ... i sorprise .
Not that much different when matching them. Wonder if one can get louder LUFS on H/W unit? I felt the stereo with to be fuller on the LAAL vs Leapwing. Transformer, didn't perceive any difference, perhaps better for bass heavy material.
Hi thanks for the video. I don't like Pro L2 that much in general. What's your personnal take on the LAAL? Have you ever tried the Bettermaker limiter?
I haven’t tried the bettermaker yet, but the LAAL is an interesting piece for sure. Not necessarily a unit that gives me loudness or punch, but it gives me more depth and smoothness i feel. And it can do a little more limiting without pumping like the L2 does
@@thomasvopstal Ok, thanks man for your time
i've always preferd the sound of the ik stealth limiter and ddmg limitless over the Pro L2, the l2 is great but since it has so many options its easy to get out of the sweet spot
I would love to hear your opinion at the end to sum it all up
If I had $10k right now I wouldn’t spend it on a limiter.
Yea I’d definitely move from Eurorack to Buchla ..
Or finish my Harley Davidson Road Glides motor work.
This sort of kit is for major mastering houses.
Or lotto winners lol
there are some slight differences (i guess, maybe i imagining), but probably you just need to tweak some settings at pro-l to get it 100% there.
plugins these days are insane
I prefer simple gain and clipping over any limiter.
Ikr! Let alone a 10k limiter 🤦♂️
Plugs sound flatter as expected. HARDWARE more 3D.
This video makes me want the Leapwing 😂
The Leapwing plugins are great!!
The snare tells you everything. Bye
The box tone on that hardware is awesome.
Right?!
Good video man! But IMO you used the fab filter limiter with the worst setting possible :)
No look ahead (even if you are comparing it with a lookahead hardware limiter), modern setting (which is not really transparent) and NO oversampling, which which is crucial in compression/limiting. Thanks !
Thanks! I did use the pro l2 exactly because its the only limiter i own that has a lookahead function, i believe i also mention that in the video. I tried multiple settings and the modern worked best on this material to me. I decided to not oversample on purpose too. Anyway, there’s a million ways to compare and i could, but it’d make these videos 5 hours long😂 thanks for your input tho! Keeps me sharp!
@@thomasvopstal my pleasure mate 🙂 And thanks for your time!
The FabFilter setting I see from your video looks like the default setting. In my opinion, you should deselect the TP limiting, use 16x oversampling (or the max your computer can handle) and a transparent\all around style, which are the most conservative styles. The oversampling is the most important for me... it changes depth and stereo image dramatically, which are the biggest differences I hear between L2 and LAAL :-) Thanks again!
The LAAL seems to have a nicer more natural sound. the L2 is louder but it doesn't have a nicer sound... its not bad but the LAAL sounds better.
It is probably worth the money if you are a mastering engineer, but I would probably buy something more versatile for this price, like the Alpha Compressor…
😅😅😅 this is exactly what i chose to do i was waiting on an order for the laal and end up getting the Elysia Alpha comp hardware
@@1kingstan795 Good decision!
Just paid for a guy to master a track with analog gear, real tape, and he didn't use an analog limiter (used Fab Filter)
Got plenty of loudness
analog is to much more easier to get louder as it gives better rms :)
Feel like the hardware is just smoother and more relaxed overall, l2 sounded more harsh and stressing to listen to. But i felt on the heavy limiting setting the l2 was way better
The "modern" character on the L2 is my least favourite. The "transparent" sounds much better, and min of 4x oversampling is essential for heavy limiting.
IMO its no reason. Maybe for some live events... but in a modern studio... no way... no time.. no place for it LOL
This is fire homie frfr 🔥🔥💯 I'ma post this on my Spotify rn thanks so much bro bless 🙏
You can never put a analog limiter with a plugin limiter what the plugin can do the hardware cant
And that’s exactly why i’m comparing it in a series called ‘Plugin vs Hardware’😉
Just buy the bettermaker limiter 2.0 done and done.
Hmm, bettermaker stuff is definitely great, but i think this is another flavor in the world of analog limiters
I Had the better maker but sold it when I demoed the Laal better maker is good but this Laal is another league
To me, Pro L sounds dull in the first example, mushy low mids.
This disappears a bit when you do the smash test. You make the test with a slower release. I would have loved to hear it on the faster release settings.
Price is high for this unit, but it adds up. On this level where i am at, i want that extra 5%
pro L transients getting smashed up...
Hey Thomas, first: please give up that infantile popups. I know they are common at RUclips now but you loose integrity and sobriety, just my well-intentioned advice, though I like your videos. The LAAL sounds better in my ears and on my loudspeakers (Kii Three) and it seems to be versatile too. Although the comparison is quite hard because the loudness is not matched I guess, the hardware makes more sense. Nevertheless, FabFilter and Leapwing does a good job and there are about 9700 Euro price difference.... Uff.... there is not a big gap between hw and sw .
I found it funny
@@this_is_jmdub Yes, I believe, there are a lot of people who like that. Not me. For me it's a reason to leave the channel. It is distracting and unnecessary in my eyes.
@@masteringdeluxethen leave.
Good loudness matched test on the limiter vs Fabfilter L2. There were no winner to me in terms of sound which is what I expected actually. You need 8k $ to match ProL2 in analog.
Yes I spend 10000€ and it’s great, using it day by day and it’s just amazing @MKF Mastering