Clean
More transparent control
Relatively gentle attack / release for master and bus work where you want peak control without a heavy character change.
CLN / Effect
Cobalt
Limiter Neo
Brickwall limiting / Cobalt Dynamics.
A mono/stereo brickwall limiter for peak control on mix buses, master buses, and individual tracks. Keep peaks within a Ceiling while watching input, output, and gain reduction in REALTIME LIMITER VIEW. Switch Clean for transparent control or Aggressive for denser, punch-oriented response.
Character and timing
Clean for transparency. Aggressive for density.
Set the output ceiling with CEILING, set reduction amount with THRESHOLD, then switch MODE and detector oversampling as needed. THRESHOLD / CEILING faders share the same dB scale as the meters and central graph.
REALTIME LIMITER VIEW keeps the limiter honest. Watch cyan-style input and output traces, a lime-style GR trace, and a live GR readout while you work. The 0 dB line is highlighted so Ceiling and Threshold decisions stay readable under pressure.
Aggressive
Faster response and density
Faster timing with pre / post soft clipping for drums and buses that need stronger transient control or more punch.
Lookahead
Fixed 3 ms
Lookahead is fixed at 3 ms and reported to the host as plugin latency. Enable host latency compensation in your DAW.
OS
Detector oversampling
Off / 2x / 4x peak-detector oversampling. Default is 4x for master-bus work; drop to 2x or Off to reduce CPU load.
Approximate timing by Mode
| Attack | Clean about 0.14 ms / Aggressive about 0.05 ms |
|---|---|
| Release | Clean about 300 ms / Aggressive about 88 ms |
| Safety margin | Clean about -0.65 dB / Aggressive about -0.12 dB |
| Soft clip | Aggressive adds pre-limit and ceiling soft clip stages; Clean stays pass-through. |
Realtime feedback
Watch input, output, and GR together.
The GUI is based on a 980 x 560 canvas and scales from 75% to 200%, keeping meters, faders, and REALTIME LIMITER VIEW aligned on one readable layout.
Left
INPUT / THRESHOLD
Input meter and Threshold fader set how hard the limiter works against the incoming signal.
Center
REALTIME LIMITER VIEW
Level axis from 0 dB to -48 dB with cyan-style input / output traces, lime-style GR, and a live GR readout to one decimal place.
Right
OUTPUT / CEILING
Output meter, Ceiling, and Output gain finish the chain. Default Ceiling is -1.00 dB.
Lowering Threshold below Ceiling adds drive by that difference, so the limiter works more aggressively.
Confirm final levels with both the GR readout and DAW meters.
Quick start
Master bus and track workflows.
Master
End-of-chain peak control
Insert near the end of the master bus, enable latency compensation, set CEILING around -1.00 dB, leave OS at 4x, start in Clean, then lower THRESHOLD only as far as you need.
Tracks / buses
Hot peaks and density
Use on drum buses, vocals, and leads. Set CEILING to the track target, shape transients with THRESHOLD, and try Aggressive when you want faster response or more density.
Drift Neo FX
Safety during sound design
Inside Drift Neo it also serves as peak control and a safety tool during sound design - not advanced loudness processing dedicated to final mastering.
Version 0.9.0 does not include a dedicated preset bar. Settings are retained through DAW project
saves and the host's plugin state. For streaming workflows, about -1.00 dB Ceiling is a practical
headroom target.
Specifications
Version 0.9.0 details.
| Product | Cobalt Limiter Neo |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.9.0 |
| Supported OS | Windows 11 64-bit recommended / Windows 10 64-bit or later |
| Formats | VST3 / CLAP (experimental) |
| Modes | Clean / Aggressive |
| Lookahead | Fixed 3 ms (reported as host latency) |
| Detector OS | Off / 2x / 4x (default 4x) |
| GUI canvas | 980 x 560, scalable 75-200% |
| Developer | Synth Studio Neo / Built with JUCE 8 |
In Demo builds, output fades to silence after about 15 minutes (900 seconds) from load. Reload the
plugin to continue. Specifications, GUI, parameter layout, and save formats may change in future
updates. A macOS version is not available at this time.