Apogee’s Soft Limit tape emulation plugin is available to download for free
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12.07.2022

Apogee’s Soft Limit tape emulation plugin is available to download for free

soft limit
Words by Mixdown Staff

Soft Limit has been integral Apogee converters for more than 30 years!

Apogee has announced their Soft Limit tape emulation plugin is currently available to download for free.

What you need to know:

  • Apogee has announced their Soft Limit tape emulation plugin is currently available to download for free.
  • It has been integral to Apogee converters since their first standalone unit – the AD-500 – was released in 1991.
  • Soft Limit is available in the AAX Native, AU, VST, and VST3 formats.

Read all the latest product news here.

Soft Limit has been integral to Apogee converters such as the AD-8000, the Symphony I/O, and Duet 3 since their first standalone unit – the AD-500 – was released in 1991.

“During development of the AD-500, we recognised that, while the new digital audio technology offered superior performance and lower distortion, the technical deficiencies of analog tape created a pleasing sound that engineers didn’t want to give up,” Apogee said.

“And so Soft Limit was created, an analog circuit placed before the A-D conversion stage to gracefully round transients and add harmonic warmth.”

The original version featured a fixed threshold, whereas the plugin version is adjustable, while an auto makeup feature can increase the output level as the threshold decreases.

Manual adjustment offers an 18dB variance, while the same level of trim can be applied before the Soft Limit section with the drive control.

The plugin offers oversampling rates up to 16x, so you never encounter the strident effects of aliasing. Even at the highest oversampling rate, it is highly efficient with CPU power and super low latency.

Meanwhile, Soft Limit’s precise input, soft limit, and output meters show you exactly how the plugin is shaping your sound, from subtle to super-charged.

The plugin is available in the AAX Native, AU, VST, and VST3 formats, and is compatible with macOS 10.12.6 and above (and has been validated on 10.14.6 and above), and any Windows 10 version (validated on 10 20H2 and above).

Head to Apogee for more information. For local enquiries, reach out to Link Audio.