Production gear and software maker Novation has added a new plugin to its FAST range: FAST Limiter.
The FAST plugins are a set of DAW plugins designed to make it easier for beginners or producers in a hurry to get good results, fast, and this may just be the most important of the lot.
Novation says: “FAST Limiter is designed to help musicians finish music and get their tracks to a release-ready standard thanks to a powerful AI and deep controls to craft their sound. This is a mastering tool like no other, avoiding presets, and using AI to apply the perfect settings to the track’s overall sound.
A couple of things we like the look of in this plugin:
- It has a “FAST view” where the AI does the heavy lifting, and a detailed view where you get much more control over what it’s doing
- You can give it a “guide track” (a track you are trying to emulate the sound of) and it can recreate the sonic characteristics of that track
There is an intro offer until the end of August 2022 on a special bundle containing all the FAST plugins, which are available for one-off purchase at $/£/€125, or monthly for a subscription. Existing owners of the FAST bundle can add this plugin to it for $/£/€25. More info on the Novation website.
So is this limiting, or mastering?
While you may think of a limiter as simply a plugin to stop you distorting your output, in fact producers often use limiters to add overall “loudness” to their tracks, as one of the final touches before releasing them to the world.
This is part of the process that is sometimes called “mastering”. Mastering was traditionally done by an actual mastering engineer (usually still is for big artists). But more recently, access to tools like this has been opened up to more producers by AI-led web apps (for example, LANDR), where you upload your track and the app does its magic for you.
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Now, with FAST Limiter, Novation has given producers a plugin for Ableton, FL Studio, Logic etc. that can do something similar “on the fly”, with the advantage of giving you the chance to hear an approximation of the end result at every stage of the production process – and you’re not paying a sub or per-track fee for each “master”, either.
Phil Morse
