Indeed.

Erm. -1...

Like the bx_XL more and more.


G

I'm a new member here and this is my first post. So first of all, I would like to say hi to all.

Now, about the Brainworx bx xl plug, I just downloaded it and tried it out on my 6-year-old laptop running Win XP with single-core 1GHZ Intel Centrino and 512MB of RAM in Wavelabs 5.

I loaded a 2 track stereo mix track and the moment I activated the bx xl plug, it instantly killed the CPU (shot up to 100% immediately) and everything on the screen just froze for several seconds while the audio struggled to continue playing until I was eventually able to hit stop to stop the audio. According to Brainworx website, the minimum PC requirements for their plugs processor and memory wise are at least a 1GHz processor and at least 256MB of ram. So, my laptop does meet those requirements, but for some reason, my computer doesn't like this plug. I was using Wavelabs 5 and I did read an earlier post here from Brainworx saying there were some issues with the plugin and Wavelabs 7 gui, but I was using bx xl version 1.1 which supposedly should have those bugs fixed. Maybe I still should try another VST host anyway. I think I'll try Adobe Audition 3.0 next and see if it works in there.

So, as you can see, I was unable to really test this limiter because of performance issues. However, I was able to try the FabFilter Pro L and I must say that is the best limiter plug I have ever heard as of yet!!!!!! I can turn it up as loud as it can go without distorting and it will preserve everything, INCLUDING MY BASS!!!!!!!!! I thought the intelligent limiter in T-Racks 3 was good, but the FabFilter Pro L is EXCELLENT!!!!!! It's completely transparent, with ZERO artifacts!!!. The T-Rack 3 intelligent limiter does leave some artifacts at times. I've always had problems with what limiters do to the low-end and the T-Racks preseved it better the others I've tried, but the FabFilter Pro L is waaayyy better. After reading the hype for you guys about the Pro L, I just had to try it. I'm definitely glad I did.

A while back, I downloaded a demo of the Slate FG/X only to find out I can't run it without an iLok!!!! So I was unable to try that out unfortunately.

I still would like to test the bx xl and play around with it (especially because of the XL feature and the m/s capabilities). However, it the bx xl doesn't work out for me, I'll definitely be using the Pro L!!!!

I'll try the bx xl in AA 3.0 and let you know how it goes or whether it works.


==================================================================
UPDATE:

I just tried Brainworx bx xl in Adobe Audition 3.0 and unfortunately, it won't even run at all. I can bring up the gui but as soon as I hit play to play the audio track, I get the following error message in AA 3.0:

"An error was encountered processing the VST effect bx_XL."

I guess either my laptop is just not cut out for this plug or my hosts are just incompatible. Or, maybe the plug itself is just not CPU efficient, which is what I really think may be the case. I can run pretty much all other plugs on this same laptop but this one hogs so much of the system's resources (mind you, this is the only plug running and only a 2 track stereo mix.) that it's impossible for it to be useful on this machine.

I guess I'll just have to try it again later on a newer computer with much more RAM and a faster CPU whenever I can get a hold of one. Chances are it'll work better on a multi-core or dual-core machine.

Yeah, I would concur that the computer in question is pretty dated. I haven't tried the bx_xl yet myself, but I wouldn't expect it to run well (or at all) on the machine you described.

Sorry to report that news. :-(

Yeah. That does suck. I guess it's just time for an upgrade.

BX XL is so good. I've used them all and i think this thing kicks the pants of slate / ozone / whatever.

Ive been running the XL as the last thing in my master bus for live sets since a few weeks... in my experience its the best limiter ive tried on Trance, the main reason being: you can get very differently mixed tracks to blast on any sound system live by adjusting the low band threshold, gain and cross over frequency til the venue shakes on a per track basis. The widening function using the S band is also great, and overall I find I can get things real loud without artefacts or thinning the sound out.

If you play live sets with electronic music I would recommend to try this thing out!

Just for openess I would like to state I work as a free lance product specialist for SPL, (for which bx designs plug ins). Still this is the best limiter ive used to date! And when it comes to music I wouldn't compromise my opinion based on outside factors!

Check the minimum requirements,kvmoore. I run it on an Intel Core Duo Laptop with 2 Gb of RAM with no issues.

Hmm, I just downloaded the trial. Running on a Quadcore 2.6 with 4Gigs of RAM. I ran the plugin in protools 9 all by itself with no audio and boom. 100% utilization of all 4 of my cores. Me thinks something is wrong here...

worst in the current crop of modern limiters. by far. Eaten alive by pro-l and elephant 3.

Hi,

Its is a requirement when running RTAS plugins and especially heavy CPU one's to have your processors set to an odd amount 1/3/5/7 etc, usually just selecting one less that the maximum will resolve all CPU hit and overload issues.

Under playback engine settings! you'll find it

Also very small buffer settings won't help with RTAS performance!

Brainworx XL running great here!!



Chris

Some people here may not agree with you depending how you use them and what's going trough them...tutt
But yes pro-l and elephant 3 are impressive piece of coding...

Guys. brainworx_XL beats the monkey's arse with the vengeance!dfegad Watch the bx video. I've learned how to use it without distorting the signal and it does wonders that neither F-GX, Pro-L, nor Elephant can do, and I luv me Elephant, it's a kickarse limiter but XL is King. It has its weakness, that is distortion which can be circumvented by the correct use of Gain/Threshold relationship. In fact I would go as far to say as its magic is unmistakable. I believe when it reaches V2 and the stars are right that time around the distortion will be gone and all ye squash headz be happy.

Amen to that.

XL changes the sound way too much for me. Too much digital high end distortion. I went with the Slate FG-X for about a month and liked it for a while. I have since gone back to Sonnox. Still the best to me.

Life is beautiful and complex...everbody seems to have his own preferences and certitudes...
I would be pretty excited to hear big names comments on those softwares limiters...I mean someone who has been practising mastering for many years...

To be honest, I don't care about all that big names opinions.

Even the big names don't agree with each other. And it's not because a big name will say I prefer the sound of A that I will start liking it if I was preferring the sound of B.

That's a matter of taste.

I agree.
but i'm a curious beast...and I'm always interested when I'm learning something new that I can test myself afterwards....

i call BS.Let's have a shoot out, same source, i'll use pro_l which is the only major one i own, you can use BX, and someone else can use elephant.

Shoot out to prove what? bx_XL feature wise blasted ahead of the game. The algos need to be worked on in order to compete with the rest. If one could build into it the limiting algos from Pro-L the plug would become an undisputed champion. I have no doubt. To me it is still in beta stage. I'm sure them guys are working right now to level it with the rest. It is Brainworx afterall not Bollox.

it takes something like 23% of my intel i7 k2600 processor WTF! great mastering tool but you need to work on this...

Been testing this out at a friends. Personally hate the layout and the way it all works. I get much better results from the Oxford limiter.

Just a personal thing.

Hey all, I just saw this was moved here... any new questions?
Cheers, Dirk.

Just added bx_XL (now 64-bit!) to my ITB limiter collection (Abbey Road TG12413, FabFilter Pro-L, iZotope Ozone 5, Slate Digital FG-X, Sonnox Oxford Limiter).

The bx_XL is a great "thickening" agent for bass-heavy mixes, and adds noticeable punch to kick drums. The separate processing of the M and S signals creates a pleasing "3-D" stereo effect - adding both width and depth.

Not entirely transparent, but both warm and musical.

Definitely worth checking-out!

Just going to throw my 2 cents in

These are the limiters I've had experience with (in order of how much experience)

FF Pro-L (own it)
Barricade
Limiter6 (free)
BX_XL
FG-X
Sonnox Limiter & Inflator
Elephant
Waves L2

I can't demo them all again, but what I can say is for first impressions I was bewildered with the XL and blown away by FabFilter. Why? Because I cranked the gain to see what would happen. If you do that, FF is going to win hands down, it just knows how to handle those peaks, I can do 5 or 6dB of gain reduction and it still feels fairly normal. We are talking about electronic dance music.

Now, second time round to demo the XL with much more experience with gain staging and compression, I'd happily sell my Pro-L to help fund the BX.

Why? Because I don't need kind of GR on a limiter anymore since I have learned to get things loud with compression & other things first. In the end I only need a limiter to stop peaks and both Pro-L and BX_XL and just about any other limiter will do that if you set them up right.

The reason is whereas the Pro-L allows me to boost the signal and do up to 4 or 5dB while still keeping a pretty natural sound, I don't like the bit of colour that it does impart. So what advantage does XL have?

First of all, I feel I have a lot of control of the balance. It is true that I could just use MB compression (which I rarely like) and there are other M/S and saturation plug-ins out there, but having all these features in one place, the XL feels like a creative tool to finally shape your overall mix. To add that final stage of perfection, It always comes out sounding better for me, the XL control is much better than many other harmonic enhancement plug-ins I've tried.

Add to that the side-chain capabilities, this makes it even more powerful for dance music in particular. I just like having the amount of control I have to shape the final mix, without it imparting a sort of "hot" colour that I experience with Pro-L and Sonnox Inflator (and I think the limiter too) which is similar to what I remember from Waves L2.

Any good resources you can recommend for learning more about mixing loud without limiters please?

hmm... Well first off, this is in the context of trance music (mostly) and electronic sounds. There is a lot of good information here (but boy do you have to sift through it these days)

But I would liken it to learning how to ride a bike, you have instructions, but you can only learn by practice and experience, there are so many little things you have to feel. There are lots of little ways you can lose balance and you have to learn all the ways to counter that. In the same way you need to have a reasonable grasp on most or all of the tools you have, what they are designed for, what other things you can make them do & what they cannot do and how you can use them to get where you want.

I would say that if I had to choose just one tool it would be EQ. With Eq, volume and panning you can do a lot.

Pesnado's place is really fun to watch and you can learn a lot, good free youtube videos where he goes into a lot, I was just watching his techniques for stereo width, really creative. What is interesting is has no problem drastically altering some things to make them stand out. He can really create character out of something bland and he really only uses simple tools and techniques, it's the decisions he makes (and that he is not afraid to make them) that stand out. A lot of music I like has some pretty bold mixing going on, playing it safe can often sound boring.

I also found it is very easy to set up a mix so that it sounds great very quickly, and then completely destroy it by other thinking things and insisting on making things complicated. When I get better at it all I want to write some articles with audio examples, but who knows if I will ever have time.

By the way, I said I'd sell my Pro-L to fund a BX, but only because the BX allows for some creative processing, for pure limiting why not leave it to an ME for your important songs and use a free (Vlad Limiter6) or cheap (Barricade, excellent too) limiter for simple demos?

Thanks for the info. I'll check that out. I use Barricade and I'm no mastering engineer but I love that thing. I can't believe what a great limiter it is for such little money.

its on sale -anyone still diggin on it?