Learn · All Quick-Starts · 4 min
CLIP
quick-start.
Take the peaks off a master with the clipper, so the limiter has less to fight.
6 steps · every control name is the real one · Dynamics
Start from a preset
Use the arrows in the header to walk the factory list, or click the name to open it. MASTER — CLEAN LINEAR is a good place to start on a full mix; DRUM BUS — KNEE is the one for a kit. A and B hold two complete setups while you compare.
Set CEILING before anything else
CEILING is the level nothing gets past — it defaults to −0.3 dB. Set it where the master has to land (−1.0 dB is a safe streaming ceiling), then leave it alone. With TRUE PEAK on, that ceiling holds between samples too, not just on the samples themselves.
Push DRIVE until the peaks go
DRIVE (0–36 dB) pushes the signal into that ceiling; everything above it is shaved. Bring it up while you watch CLIP in the readout strip — that number is how much is being taken off. On a mix, 1–3 dB is usually plenty; on a drum bus you can go further before you hear it.
Choose the shape, then round the corner
STYLE sets what the corner does: HARD is a flat clip, SOFT, CUBIC and SINE bend into it in different ways. KNEE (0–100 %) then rounds whichever shape you picked — at 0 it is the hard corner, and as you raise it the transient bends instead of stopping. Bring it up until the snare keeps its attack.
Pick the oversampling
OVERSAMPLE runs 1× to 16×, and the MIN / LINEAR pair chooses the filter: minimum phase is the cheaper, familiar one; LINEAR keeps the phase relationships intact and caps at 8× (the menu says so when you pick 16×). Higher costs CPU — check yours on a loaded session before you commit.
Read what it actually did
The strip under the display is measured, not decorative: short-term LUFS in and out, the difference in LU, the output in dBTP, how much was clipped and how much the true-peak stage had to limit. If LIMIT is doing most of the work, back DRIVE off — the clipper should be the one shaping the peaks.
Pro moves
Once it's working.
- AUTO GAIN matches the output loudness back to the input, so an A/B is about shape rather than level.
- DELTA plays only what the clipper removed — if you can recognise the song in it, you have gone too far.
- CURVE draws the transfer function you are actually hearing; WAVE shows the last six seconds of input, output and clipping.
- Double-click a value to type it; option-click a knob to put it back to default.
