About Raèld Vertex
Raèld Vertex is a look-ahead brickwall limiter for finishing a master and for controlling single tracks and buses. It makes the sound louder while holding every peak, including the peaks between samples, under the ceiling you set. Eight styles cover everything from invisible to loud, and the loudness meter shows where you stand against streaming and broadcast targets. ASSIST listens to your track, tries every style on it, and suggests the cleanest way to reach your target.
The body stays the same dark, polished metal; the lights take each style's colour.
Installing
- Close your DAW.
- Unzip
Raeld-Vertex-1.0.0-Windows.zipfrom the download page or your purchase email, runRaeld-Vertex-1.0.0-Setup.exeand follow the steps. The plugin goes intoC:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3, and a standalone app is installed too. - Open your DAW and rescan plugins. DAW plugin lists show it without the accent, as "Raeld Vertex", so type "raeld" in the plugin browser.
Requirements: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) and any VST3 host, or the standalone app.
Quick start
- Put Vertex last on your master (or on the track or bus you want to control).
- In ASSIST, pick where the audio is going: STREAM, LOUD, PODCAST, TV (broadcast) or TRACK.
- Play the loudest part of the song and press LISTEN. After 10 to 30 seconds press STOP. ASSIST thinks for a second or two, then shows its suggestion.
- Press APPLY, then listen. Use UNITY to compare at equal loudness and DELTA to hear what's being taken away.
Or set it by hand: choose a style, turn GAIN up until it's loud enough, and keep an eye on the gain reduction and the integrated loudness.
The display and meters
The large display scrolls through the last few seconds. The dim shape is the level going in (after GAIN). The lit shape is the level coming out. The red shape hanging from the top is the gain reduction, drawn on its own expanded scale. The dashed line is the ceiling. Beside it, the peak meters show IN, GR and OUT; the numbers hold the highest peaks for 4 seconds (click them to clear).
The loudness panel measures the output as streaming services and broadcasters do (ITU-R BS.1770 / EBU R128): integrated loudness since the last RESET, short-term (3 s), momentary (400 ms), loudness range, and the highest true peak. The bottom line shows how far the integrated loudness is from ASSIST's target.
Styles
| Style | What it does | For |
|---|---|---|
| CLEAN | The gain eases into each peak along an S-curve; a slow body stage takes over sustained limiting, so nothing pumps. | Masters of any genre |
| PUNCH | A soft clipper rounds off the top 1.5 dB of the transients, so the limiter rides the mix less and the drums keep their hit. | Hip-hop, pop, drum-led music |
| OPEN | Lets go of each peak quickly and only holds back after long, sustained limiting: the dynamics stay alive. | Acoustic, jazz, live mixes |
| GLUE | Slow, program-dependent release that settles in like a bus compressor. | Mix buses, gentle mastering |
| DENSE | A little clipping and a quick release: loud and even. | Modern pop, rock, EDM |
| LOUD | The clipper shapes the top 3 dB and the release is fast: the most level, with some bite. | Club tracks, loud masters |
| SMOOTH | The release never moves faster than a bass wave, so deep bass stays clean even under heavy limiting. | Orchestral, film, bass-heavy mixes |
| VINTAGE | A soft, wide saturation rounds the peaks before the limiter: a warm, analog-style finish. | Warm masters |
Each style scales your ATTACK and RELEASE its own way, so the knobs stay where you left them when you switch.
Controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| GAIN | Drives the sound into the limiter (−12 to +30 dB). More gain: more loudness and more limiting. The ceiling stays put. |
| CEILING | The highest the output can go (−12 to 0 dB): true peak (dBTP) with TRUE PEAK on, sample peak (dBFS) with it off. |
| LOOKAHEAD | How far ahead it sees each peak coming (0 to 5 ms), so it can ease into it. Longer is smoother and cleaner; shorter keeps transients sharper. At 0 it reacts on the peak itself, which distorts. |
| ATTACK | How quickly the slow (body) stage settles in when the limiting is sustained (1 to 300 ms). |
| RELEASE | How quickly it lets go (1 ms to 2 s). Release is program-dependent: short after a lone transient, longer after sustained limiting. |
| LINK | Stereo link. 100%: one gain for both sides, so the image stays still. Lower: each side is limited on its own (a little louder, but the image can move). |
| TRUE PEAK | Holds the peaks between the samples too, as streaming and broadcast meters measure them. Adds 1.5 ms of latency. |
| UNITY | Turns the output down by GAIN, so you hear what the limiting does at the same loudness. Not saved in presets. |
| DELTA | Plays only what the limiter takes away. If you can hear the music itself in it, it's working too hard. Not saved in presets. |
| OVERSAMPLING | Off, 2x, 4x (default), 8x, 16x. The limiter works at the higher rate, so it holds the peaks between samples and its gain changes and clipper don't alias. Higher is cleaner and uses more CPU. |
| DITHER | For the final file only: 24 bit, 16 bit, or 16 bit noise-shaped (the noise moved above about 10 kHz, where it's hardest to hear). |
| DC FILTER | Removes DC offset (below about 8 Hz) before limiting. |
Whatever isn't being limited passes through untouched, bit for bit, at any oversampling setting: only the limiter's own changes go through the oversampling filters.
ASSIST
ASSIST records up to 30 seconds of what's playing into Vertex (before GAIN). When you stop it, it runs the real limiter over that audio in every style. For a loudness target it finds the GAIN that lands each style on the target; for TRACK, the GAIN that brings the peaks down about 3 dB. Then it measures what each style costs: how much it rides the gain on average, how much that gain moves (pumping), and the distortion (everything in the output that isn't a slow change of level). The style with the lowest cost wins, then ASSIST tries its RELEASE at half and double and keeps the cleanest. APPLY sets the style, GAIN, CEILING, LOOKAHEAD, ATTACK, RELEASE, LINK, TRUE PEAK and oversampling (4x for a master, 2x for a track).
| Target | Aims for |
|---|---|
| STREAM | −14 LUFS integrated, −1 dBTP |
| LOUD | −9 LUFS, −1 dBTP: a loud, competitive master |
| PODCAST | −16 LUFS, −1 dBTP: spoken word |
| TV | −23 LUFS, −1 dBTP: broadcast to EBU R128 |
| TRACK | Peaks held about 3 dB, −1 dBTP: a single track or bus |
It also tells you what it heard (punchy, dense or open; bass-heavy or not; its loudness and peaks) and warns you when the target needs so much limiting that it will sound squashed or distorted. Changing the target makes it think again about what it heard.
Play the loudest section: ASSIST can only judge what it hears. Its suggestion is a starting point measured on that audio; always listen, and compare with UNITY.
Presets
| Use | Presets |
|---|---|
| Mastering | Streaming Master, Loud Pop Master, Hip-Hop Master Punch, EDM Club Master, Rock Master Dense, Acoustic & Jazz Master, Classical & Film Master, Vintage Warm Master, Transparent 16x Master, CD Master 16-bit, Broadcast R128, Podcast Voice |
| Tracks and buses | Mix Bus Glue, Drum Bus Peak Catcher, Kick & Snare Smash, Bass Even, Vocal Peak Control, Synth & Keys Shine, Guitar Bus Dense, Safety Ceiling |
GAIN in the presets suits a mix peaking around −6 dBFS. For your own track, let ASSIST set it.
Latency
The latency depends on OVERSAMPLING, LOOKAHEAD and TRUE PEAK, and is reported to your DAW, which makes up for it. At 48 kHz with the defaults (4x, 2 ms, true peak) it is 308 samples (6.4 ms). Changing those three settings changes the latency; the sound fades back in over 10 ms so it doesn't click.
What we measured
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Music below the ceiling, every style, 1x to 16x | bit-for-bit the input, delayed by the latency |
| A mix driven 18 dB into a −1 dBTP ceiling, every style, at 1x, 4x and 16x | sample peaks at or under −1.00 dBFS; true peak at most −0.99 dBTP (measured with a 16x reference, finer than the plugin's own meter) |
| Latency reported, every oversampling, look-ahead 0 / 1 / 5 ms, true peak on and off | exactly the real delay |
| Back within 1 dB after a 50 ms burst / after 2 s of 6 dB limiting | CLEAN 944 / 996 ms; PUNCH 144 / 203 ms; OPEN 47 / 554 ms; GLUE 3.3 / 3.3 s; DENSE 369 / 383 ms; LOUD 77 / 77 ms; SMOOTH 3.0 / 3.1 s; VINTAGE 876 / 938 ms (each at its own voicing) |
| A 50 Hz tone, 6 dB of limiting, 4x: THD | GLUE 0.002%, SMOOTH 0.007%, CLEAN 0.13%, OPEN 4.0%, DENSE 6.4%, VINTAGE 8.4%, PUNCH 9.3%, LOUD 14.3% (the clipping styles add harmonics by design) |
| LOUD, a 7 kHz tone 3 dB into the ceiling: harmonics folding back | −39 dB at 1x, −94 dB at 4x |
| Stereo link, a peak on the left only | LINK 0%: the right channel untouched (0.0001 dB); 100%: the right follows the left (−5.1 dB) |
| Loudness meter: EBU Tech 3341 / 3342 test cases | 1 kHz at −23 dBFS reads −23.0 LUFS (momentary, short-term, integrated); −36/−23/−36 dBFS gates to −23.1 LUFS; −20 then −30 dBFS reads a 10.0 LU range; the same at 44.1 and 96 kHz |
| Output plus DELTA | equals the driven input (within −232 dB) |
| 16-bit dither on silence | TPDF: −96.4 dBFS RMS of noise, every sample on the 16-bit grid. Shaped: the noise at 1 to 4 kHz 16 dB lower, moved above 14 kHz |
| ASSIST on a 12 s test mix at −28 LUFS, target STREAM | DENSE, +14.4 dB: −14.1 LUFS, −1.0 dBTP, in 1.4 s of thinking; in the plugin, APPLY then measured −14.0 LUFS |
| ASSIST, target TRACK | peaks brought down 3.1 dB (aim: 3), −1.0 dBTP |
| Every preset, a mix peaking 4 dB over full scale | every sample under its ceiling |
| CPU (stereo, 48 kHz, heavy limiting) | 1.1% of one core at 1x, 2.7% at 4x, 6.0% at 16x |
These are measured on test signals with known properties so the results can be checked exactly. ASSIST's choices depend on your music; trust your ears over any number.
Mono and stereo
Raèld Vertex runs on mono, mono-to-stereo and stereo tracks; your DAW picks automatically. On a mono-to-stereo track the mono source feeds both sides. The MONO switch in the preset strip folds the output to mono, to check how the sound holds up on a mono speaker: it's click-free, works while bypassed, and isn't saved in presets. The bottom bar shows how the plugin is running: MONO, STEREO or MONO > STEREO.
Activation and support
Paste your Raèld Vertex license key, or your Raèld All Access key, into the activation window. A key works on 3 computers. Without a key the plugin runs as a demo with a short dropout every 45 seconds. See support, or email info@raeldaudio.com.
Raèld Vertex is an original design and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any other manufacturer.