I’m considering purchasing an MDS-2, and would like to ask if anyone who owns one would be kind enough to run a little bit of material through it for me, so I can compare it to the Weiss Deess plugin, and a Etec DBTL20 that I’ve demoed on access analog.

I can help you. Just PM me.

However I will say that one isn’t necessarily a replacement for the other. I often use both the Weiss and the MDS in conjunction as they can solve different problems.

That’s very much appreciated - thank you.

What I particularly enjoy about the Weiss plugin is how it clamps down on high frequency transients (even in its default attack and release settings), and the type of shaping it creates.

I do utilise other tools in conjunction with the Weiss, when necessary. But the Weiss lives on my chain permanently, and is mixed into, sometimes intentionally hyping transient information into it.

I’d love to hear how the Maselec compares to the Weiss in that particular task (for every fast transient energy)

The Weiss is more surgical. The MDS due to its adaptive envelope response is more shaping and more powerful at broad strokes

Can be subtle to some, but for me it’s essential and one of my favorite outboard pieces.

I believe the hf limiter section of tdr limiter 6 to be more comparable to the mds2 than the weiss. That said, here’s a video I made comparing the mds2 with the Weiss and some others-

https://youtu.be/Gr9O1udnAEQ?si=l78wOv34E-PVKpVG

I'd love to know the sonic differences between the Etec and the Maselec. Etec can do Bass limiting too and is a lot less expensive.

Anyone looking for a HF Limiter on mixbus: Get an MDS-2.

It is not only built for that job, but also one of the best tools to treat your audio in this age of digital mixing.

Resurrecting this thread because I want the Masalec MDS-2, but I’m wondering if I can save $2,000 and get a similar result with the Etec DBTL20. Etec’s site looks like it hasn’t been updated since the 90’s, but it does look like they’re still selling it. I’d be very curious to hear people’s experiences with the aforementioned units.

It seems like high headroom/mastering grade analog HF compressors/limiters are hard to come by. I’m not interested in buying a SSL fusion for the HF comp, the 500 series Deresser’s, or older units with low headroom because i’d love to put the Maselec right before my Dangerous AD+ to tame a bit of the distortion from when I’m clipping it hard, kind of functioning like the alcehmy knob from the Gold Clip plugin.

Didn't had a chance to compare them, I went with the sure shot and bought the Maselec.

Putting a HF limiter before the AD isn't going to help really, not all converters lend themselves to clipping either, sounds like you are hitting it too hard, there is a limit before obvious distortion. Prism Dream & Lavry are widely used. I think there's some great clippers available now anyway, I use Apushape, I also have Sir Clip, Kazrog's, Newfangled Saturate, fuse Ocelot sounded basically the same as Apushape, I like Gold Clip but wasn't worth the money. With clippers the anti aliasing strategy is what makes these plugins sound better. Plugins allow you to adjust the clipping during mixing or mastering, you can't do that with converters.

I definitely hear ya, but the Dangerous AD+ converter was designed to be clipped and sounds great. I find it very transparent and generally prefer it to Gold Clip, Newfangled Elevate, StandardClip etc. I’m usually clipping a few db at most, but i’d like to push it a bit harder when I work with clients that demand it, especially with hard hitting EDM tracks.

Weiss, TDR, Oeksound, etc make great digital de-essers, but I love the distinct de-harshing and “flattening” that the Maselec achieves when pushing things a bit harder. I also love analog (for many reasons including emotional ones) because I don’t have to worry about CPU usage or non-linear processing causing audible aliasing. I know you can over sample, but even if you apply oversampling and add harmonics to an already saturated signal (even above the audible range) you get intermodulation that folds back into the audible realm. I know you can place something like TDR’s Ultrasonic filter between stages, but i’d rather not worry about that

To many people this stuff may seem silly, but in mastering and in context of an entire mix these little things add up.