TransAudio Group announces the Bettermaker Mastering Limiter is now shipping.
Like all Bettermaker products, the Mastering Limiter combines a pure analog signal path with a USB connection that allows it to be controlled, recalled, automated, and A/B’d from its associated plugin. (The USB connection and plugin only control the functionality of the hardware unit, no audio passes through the USB connection or plugin.)
This unit is comprised of two separate level control circuits, an infinity to 1 limiter followed by a clipper. Both are fixed threshold circuits, with the limiter threshold approximately 3dB lower than the clipper. A user adjustable ratio controls the amount of work done by the limiter versus clipper, achieved through adjustment of the limiter attack time.
Additionally, this unit features variable odd- and even-harmonic coloration, locally stored user presets, and responsive metering that frees up your computer screen for other workflow tasks.
“You cannot look at the Bettermaker Mastering Limiter as just one tool,” explains Brad Lunde, founder and president of TransAudio Group. “It is a whole mastering system that replaces more than a few plugins and analog devices: limiter, clipper, saturator, M/S matrix, and a very sophisticated metering device. Its bright touchscreen display is pleasant to look at and frees up the computer screen. Bettermaker’s plugin control is great. Not only can users recall and automate settings, but they can easily A/B settings from the plugin to make smart decisions. Users can also store and save presets right from the front panel or within Pro Tools or other DAW’s.
“The ‘color’ section is our original design; we did not model it on anything that is currently on the market,” says Marek Walaszek, CEO at Addicted To Music group and the lead designer of the Bettermaker products. “The idea is to give the user the ability to add odd harmonics, even harmonics, or both to the signal. The harmonics target a user specified area of the audio spectrum, which allows you to, for example, add even harmonics to the highs to give them a more smooth sound and odd harmonics to the lows to give them more bite.
“The color section mimics a wide-Q equalizer and users can apply equalization techniques when using this capability; after finding the target area users adjust the amount to color to apply. Also, the color is not a mix of saturated signal and dry signal; the harmonic content becomes part of the original dry signal.”
The metering page includes input, output, and reduction meters, a VU meter, RMS metering, LUFS (Short Term, Integral, Momentary, Loudness Range, View in Time) with TruePeak metering, K-metering, a FFT analyzer, a goniometer, a correlation meter, and three points of measurement: the plugin, the physical input of the limiter, and the physical output of the limiter. An additional page allows users to customize their metering to fit their workflow.
U.S. PRICING: $3495.00 List • $2995.00 MAP
Visit TransAudio Group at Summer NAMM booth #425
