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RIDGE

A look-ahead limiter with seven styles.

Turn GAIN up and the peaks meet the ceiling. A limiter that looks ahead and searches for the peaks between the samples, in seven styles that are each a set of numbers, with a soft clip in front if you want one, a loudness readout against a target, and a display of the last four seconds: what went in, what came out, and what was taken off.

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Formats
Audio Unit, VST3
Channels
Mono or stereo, same in and out
Latency
The look-ahead, plus 72 samples with oversampling on. At 48 kHz with the default 3 ms: 144 samples with oversampling off, 216 with 2X, 4X or 8X. The longest, 10 ms of SAFE with oversampling, is 840 samples
RIDGE at work
RIDGE

What it does

RIDGE in four parts.

  1. 01

    The last four seconds

    One display shows what the limiter was given, after GAIN, in pencil, what left it in blue, and the gain the limiter took off hanging from the ceiling in orange, with the short-term loudness and the target drawn across it. Drag the orange line to set the CEILING and the blue line to set the TARGET.

  2. 02

    Seven styles, each a set of numbers

    CLEAN, SLOW, FAST, LIFT, LOUD, BUS and SAFE. A style sets where the release stage sits under the ceiling and how fast it moves, how far ahead the peak search looks, and how the gain lets go. The manual gives what each measured: crest factor, distortion, the reduction it made and its delay.

  3. 03

    The peaks between the samples

    TRUE PEAK searches the signal interpolated to 2, 4 or 8 times the rate, so a peak that falls between two samples is found. The sample peak holds the ceiling; the true peak ends close to it: at most 0.15 dB over on band-limited programme at 4X and 8X and up to 0.75 dB on full-band noise. The manual gives how far for each style and each oversampling.

  4. 04

    Soft clip, loudness and delivery

    A soft clip in front of the limiter, a BS.1770 loudness readout (momentary, short-term and integrated) against a TARGET, DELTA to hear what is being taken away, UNITY to take the GAIN off again, an external key, a DC filter, and dither to 16, 18, 20, 22 or 24 bits.

RIDGE · The point of it

The sample peak holds the ceiling, and the readout says how far the true peak strays.

The sample peak is the ceiling, with dither and the external key off, to the last digit of the gain arithmetic: in 108 settings spread over every style, look-aheads from 0.1 to 10 ms, oversampling from off to 8X and the soft clip off, half and full, band-limited programme driven 14 dB into a -1 dB ceiling ended at -1.0000 dB. The ceiling held the same on drum bursts and pink noise (-1.0000 dB), and a full-scale square wave stayed no more than 0.01 dB over a -0.3 dB ceiling.

The true peak is not the ceiling, and RIDGE says by how much. Read with an interpolator that is not the one inside it, a band-limited programme at 4X ended up to 0.141 dB over a -1 dB ceiling (LOUD, the worst style; the others 0.020 to 0.039). Full-band noise driven 14 dB in is the worst case, 0.749 dB over at 2X and 4X.

  • -1.0000 dBThe largest sample peak over 108 settings of style, look-ahead, oversampling and soft clip, on band-limited programme driven 14 dB into a -1 dB ceiling. The ceiling held the same on drum bursts and pink noise, and a full-scale square wave stayed no more than 0.01 dB over a -0.3 dB ceiling.
  • 0.141 dBHow far the true peak ended over a -1 dB ceiling at 4X, worst style (LOUD), on band-limited programme, read with an interpolator that is not the one inside RIDGE (limit 0.15 dB). Full-band noise is worse: 0.749 dB over at 2X and 4X.
About RIDGEOwner’s manual
RIDGE: The last four seconds: the input in pencil, the output in blue, the gain taken off in orange, the ceiling named on its line.
The last four seconds: the input in pencil, the output in blue, the gain taken off in orange, the ceiling named on its line.

In use

The real window, as it looks at work.

These are captures of the built plug-in, drawn by the plug-in itself at twice the size.

RIDGE: Streaming, Pop Level on a voice, a pad and drums: GAIN 8 dB into a -1 dB ceiling
Streaming, Pop Level on a voice, a pad and drums: GAIN 8 dB into a -1 dB ceiling
RIDGE: Dance Master, High Level: LOUD, soft clip 50 percent, 8X, GAIN 12 dB
Dance Master, High Level: LOUD, soft clip 50 percent, 8X, GAIN 12 dB
RIDGE: DELTA on: the output is what is being taken away
DELTA on: the output is what is being taken away
RIDGE: Waiting for sound
Waiting for sound

Specifications

Formats
Audio Unit, VST3
Listed in your host as
Ridge Limiter
Channels
Mono or stereo, same in and out
Sidechain
Optional: the detectors can read it instead of the signal
Latency
The look-ahead, plus 72 samples with oversampling on. At 48 kHz with the default 3 ms: 144 samples with oversampling off, 216 with 2X, 4X or 8X. The longest, 10 ms of SAFE with oversampling, is 840 samples
Gain, ceiling
0 to 36 dB; -30 to 0 dB
Look-ahead
0.1 to 10 ms, times the style's factor
Attack, release
0.05 to 100 ms; 5 to 3000 ms, or AUTO
Oversampling
Off, 2X, 4X, 8X
Dither
Off, flat or shaped, 16 to 24 bits
Loudness target
-30 to -6 LUFS
Parameters
20
Presets
46 in 9 categories
CPU
The engine at the default settings (4X) used 1.7 percent of one core, 1.2 with oversampling off and 1.9 at 8X; LOUD with a 50 percent soft clip used 3.3 and the heaviest settings 4.4 (stereo, 48 kHz, 512-sample blocks, thread CPU time, the least of several runs; Intel Core i9, a shared machine, so the readings move)

Measured

  1. -1.0000 dBThe largest sample peak over 108 settings of style, look-ahead, oversampling and soft clip, on band-limited programme driven 14 dB into a -1 dB ceiling. The ceiling held the same on drum bursts and pink noise, and a full-scale square wave stayed no more than 0.01 dB over a -0.3 dB ceiling.
  2. 0.141 dBHow far the true peak ended over a -1 dB ceiling at 4X, worst style (LOUD), on band-limited programme, read with an interpolator that is not the one inside RIDGE (limit 0.15 dB). Full-band noise is worse: 0.749 dB over at 2X and 4X.
  3. Bit for bitAt GAIN 0 on quiet material, CLEAN, SLOW, FAST, BUS and SAFE give the input delayed by the reported latency, and so does bypass, after its 5 ms crossfade, in all seven styles. LIFT and LOUD are not rest settings.
  4. -23.000 LUFSWhat a -23 dBFS 997 Hz stereo sine reads in all three loudness windows (BS.1770-4).
  5. 1.000 timesThe largest step between samples of a quiet sine while GAIN is swept from 0 to +24 dB in a quarter of a second, as a multiple of the step the sine makes at its final, louder level. With no smoothing it would be 7.78.

On synthetic test signals, by this plug-in’s own tests. Not a listening test.

Presets

46 presets, named for the job.

Starting points chosen from measurements, not tuned by ear. Each one sets every control, so the result does not depend on what was dialled in before it.

Start

  • Flat Start

Vocal

  • Lead Vocal, Peaks
  • Vocal, Long Look-ahead
  • Rap Vocal, Level Up
  • Backing Vocals, Bus Style
  • Spoken Word, Level
  • Podcast Master

Drums

  • Drum Bus, Limit
  • Kick, Peak Guard
  • Snare, Peak Guard
  • Overheads, Peak Catch
  • Room Mics, Hard Limit
  • Loop, Lifted Attacks

Bass

  • Bass Guitar, Level
  • Sub Bass, Peak Guard

Guitar

  • Acoustic Guitar, Peaks
  • Electric Guitar, Peaks

Keys

  • Piano, Peaks
  • Synth Lead, Hold
  • Strings, Swell Guard

Bus

  • Mix Bus, Light Limit
  • Mix Bus, Safety Net
  • Mix Bus, Slight Gain
  • Wide Bus, Unlinked
  • Stem Master

Master

  • Streaming Master
  • Streaming, Pop Level
  • Light Touch
  • Club Master
  • Rock Master
  • Acoustic Master
  • Classical Peak Guard
  • Jazz Master
  • Hip-Hop Master
  • Dance Master, High Level
  • Metal Master
  • Master, Lifted Attacks
  • Vinyl Pre-Master
  • Broadcast Ceiling
  • Streaming Peak Check

Utility

  • Hard Pump
  • Soft Clip, Full
  • Heavy Limit, 2X
  • Slow Release
  • Shortest Look-ahead
  • Parallel Source, Drums

The first minutes

From empty to useful.

  1. 1

    Set the ceiling

    Drag the orange line on the display, or turn CEILING. The line is named with its value.

  2. 2

    Push GAIN

    Raise GAIN until the orange hangs from the ceiling on the loud parts, and choose a STYLE: start with CLEAN. LIFT raises the attacks first and LOUD adds a soft clip, so neither is a plain limiter.

  3. 3

    Read it

    The readout gives momentary, short-term and integrated loudness, the distance to the TARGET, the TRUE PEAK MAX and the most gain taken off. DELTA plays what is being taken away.

Read the manualAll specifications

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