Product Reviews by KVR Members

Finally I can use an free EQ with HPF/LPF with slopes higher than 12dB (MEqualizer doesn't count, its filters are garbage), without needing to spend a lot of CPU (yes, I'm looking at you TDR NOVA 2).

I can also boost the high-end without getting a "digital sounding" high-end, because of how it manages the bands close to 20kHz, still not as good as NOVA 2, SlickEQ or Pro-Q 3 in that regard but way better than most of free EQs.

Now my third favorite for everything.

One of the best free clippers all around, it sounds great on individual tracks, buses and full mixes with the HQ button ON.

Sadly the Ceiling isn't in terms of decibels but from 0 to 1.

After some testing this is my opinion on how TDR NOVA 2 is (I only tried the free version):

1) EQ.

2) Compressor.

3) Side-chain compressor.

4) Dynamic EQ (possible side-chain too).

5) Expander (fractionary ratios).

6) Limiter (Inf:1 ratio).

Regarding EQ and dynamics this plugin does EVERYTHING and it sounds freaking awesome (at least on Precise quality mode).

If you want Lookahead you can do it manually by copying the track, moving it to the left the ammount of samples you want the lookahead to be, and to use NOVA as side-chain compressor on the original track while it listens to the moved track.

I can't help but feel like I got an early christmas gift lol..

I've been trying free limiters for a while and after many tests I concluded this is one of the best (Vlad G Limiter No. 6, Sonic Anomaly Unlimited, Loudmax, Xhip Limiter, Dead Duck Limiter, ReaComp with or without precomp, W1 Limiter and many others).

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Pros:

1) Really transparent: And it doesn't add any color at all until it starts reducing gain. Excelent for mastering.

2) Simple: Very similar to the old Waves L1 so many people are familiar with.

3) Very low on CPU: Maybe not as light as Loudmax but close to it.

4) It has lookahead: "It looks into the future" so it doesn't distort too much.

5) A latency-free bypass button: The blue square at the top left.

6) It can be resized up to 500%: From the bottom right corner (there are some little bars there to show you where to drag).

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Cons:

1) It doesn't have oversampling/antialiasing: This is something that only Limiter No. 6 has from any free limiter, and in terms of quality (mostly for mastering) should be a must for preventing aliasing distortion. It has another antialiasing technique involved though.

2) The VU meter is unreliable: Not because it shows wrong values, but because depending on the release it can operate really fast to see how much it's reducing. Also, it's too small to see how much you're reducing unless is kinda drastic (or if you resize the plugin a lot).

3) Release Knob: Just like the Waves L1 it has a manual release knob and this sometimes can be annoying as the only thing the plugin needs to do it's to reduce peaks, and finding the correct release time can take some time.

4) The threshold only goes down to -20dB: Not too much of a problem given that this plugin has Input and Output gain.

5) Latency: 87 samples as reported in Reaper 5.961 64-bits.