Limiter
Level Head
Catch the peak. Keep the character.
Level Head catches peaks without flattening the performance beneath them. Choose the fast attack for immediate control or let the slow setting preserve more of the leading edge, then place the threshold where the part starts to settle. Behind those two decisions, the complete feedback loop handles the ratio, release and gain-cell character as one connected response.
Based on
Suncoast Analog LM1 Dynamic Limiter
Level Head reconstructs the limiter section of an uncommon mid-eighties bass preamp as a working circuit loop. The sidechain listens to the limited output, a peak store follows the rectified waveform and the control circuit drives a model of the original CA3080 gain cell. Its threshold response, 3.7:1 ratio, transient behaviour, release shape and harmonic fingerprint were then refined against direct captures of a modern hardware recreation. The result reacts like a piece of circuitry rather than a collection of compressor rules.
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Inside the processor
Controls with a purpose.
Circuit-loop modelling
The detector, peak store, control law and nonlinear gain cell interact inside the same feedback topology as the original design.
Fast and slow attack
Switch between the immediate 500-microsecond response and the rounder 5-millisecond personality for a different relationship with the first transient.
Hardware-fitted control
A measured 3.7:1 ratio and calibrated threshold taper keep the face controls aligned with the captured unit.
Natural release
Deep limiting recovers decisively while the final movement near the knee eases away smoothly, without a fixed release control.
CA3080 character
Nonlinear feedback through the modelled gain cell adds the subtle odd-harmonic signature that develops as gain reduction increases.
£19 one-time
Level Head is on its way. Drop us a line and we'll let you know the moment it ships.
VST3 and CLAP versions for macOS, Windows and Linux are coming soon. Also coming to the Darkglass Anagram Marketplace.