I can't believe there is actually a video comparing these two limiters. I use Pro-L2, and I literally just googled "Smart:Limit vs Pro-L2." I want something easier, yet still able to do the job. Now I'm going to watch the video.
For me there’s definitely not enough of a reason sonically to warrant the purchase. Although I love the extra features and would buy if I didn’t already own FF L2 + metering plugins ... Anyway, no doubt fabfilter are looking on and taking notes ! Have the Sonible eq2/3 and it’s a very cool tool to have in the arsenal.
@Russel Smyth; That's very true. Not much difference to warrant buying Smart Limit since you already own Fabfilter L2. The only people that would benefit are ones that does not own FF L2 yet as Smart Limit is of same quality and also cheaper price wise. Thanks for watching👍🏾💯
is it just me or does the L2 have way more punch and sounds fatter in the low mids? smart limit sounds smoother but doesn't feel as good? almost plastic like.
Smart limit sounds really good, cleaner sound, but for me, L2 much better in character an deeper, depends oh the music, the style, and what you want to achieve.
In this comparison with fabfilter Smart limiter sounds like Bx limiter and fabfilter L2 sounds like smart limiter. I say this because I saw the video of the comparison between the Bx limiter and the smart limiter. My opinion is that Fabfilter is better. Better than fabfilter only the LA Xlimiter from Tbproaudio.👏💯
not very good comparison imo. Smart limit has knobs on it to change style and even has an ai spectral balance control on it. You would really have to match the styles and everything else to get it to sound right.
Definitely Smart Limit wins! (Im a Pro L2 user by the way) I love how nice and present the low end is in the smart limit, also I noticed a clearer sound and less digital? in comparison to L2. I would like to try it in other genres as well. :) Thanks for the review!
@Gary Cummings Jr; I didn't adjust the look ahead because Smart Limit does not have that feature. I also stayed on "Modern" mode on Pro L2 because that's the popular one most people use for loudness. Smart Limit also have different styles but trying all those will prolong the video. Thanks for watching 👍🏾💯
@@ZanyPro if you wanted a more transparent sound in the L2 there’s a mode for that. Smart EQ starts off on universal mode and L2 starts off on modern. I believe a similar sound could’ve been reached
@@garycummingsjr.6896 That's very true. After extensive tests between the two while switching to different modes, they are both superb that any of the two will get the job done professionally 👍🏾💯
How to compare limiters yourself: first make shure you have a calibrated listening environment.. be it Speakers or Headphones. If your speakers do not have enough lows... you will NOT hear any distortion on the lows. Than You should know the compared limiters well.. otherwise... you will miss the punch, breathe sweetspot. I Tested extensively the Pro L2, Ozone Max, Brainworks and a few more.... resulting wirh the pro L2 as the winner. I tested different genres. As for now i have a problem with this "smart" approach. The mayority of things you can do for clarity, punch and loudness is not done in mastering and evenless with limiting. Using these smarttools at the end of your mix will deemphasize, soften, alter, change and clearly audible kill or smudge transients. You should make a few rwnderings with and without and choose blindfolded. We can hear in the Mainstream Charts the tendency that everything is smudged out and sounds same. BE YOUR SELF. learn how sound works and do not give the control of your imperfections to a machine... imperfections are what makes Art be alive😊
@Joel Garcia. Both are great limiters and you can't go wrong with any of them. Although the Pro-L2 has got that recognisable sound because it's been around longer.
@Studio Apollo; You may have to try manually setting up the release control and see if that solves that problem of smart breathing unnaturally as I have not noticed that yet. Also play around with the different modes although on this video test I left it on "Universal". Thanks for watching. Please like and subscribe to the channel 👍🏾 💯
@SxLxnely; That's very true although Fabfilter Pro L2 has a "Transparent" mode which was not used on this video. Thanks for watching. Please like and subscribe to the channel 👍🏾 💯
Great Video. One thing to note is the fab filter "attack" is misleading which is skewing the review a bit. The attack on fab filter is how fast the release attacks, and the release knob is the global average of the release. The only thing that changes ratio and or attack is the fab filter settings. The attack knob does not control it traditionally. So when comparing to smart limit to set the parameters the same is kind of an unfair advantage to L-2. Because it is not as optimized for the song as smart limit is.
That’s how attack settings work on all limiters? As in completely different from the attack of a compressor. Anyway it’s definitely the same setup in Sonible. You can even see visually similar starting gradients to the nature of the release before flattering out for the more shallow envelope.
@@ZanyPro because of the latency of each plugin and first you hear the smart limit then it gets quieter and then the L2 :-/ with two separate tracks you get a better comparison :-) just a tip but you know that haha :)
To my ears Smart Limit is the worst limiter I have used in recent time. Yes the functions and meters are very useful but the limiter sound very unmusical and kills the dynamic on just about every genre. The soft (so called transparent setting) really kills the transients and the hard settings just smash everything into pumping bullshit. I´m selling my licens, Izotope Ozone limiter sounds WAY better! Don´t listen from RU-vid or other RU-vidrs, download the trial and hear if you like it or not.
