ADClip4
ADClip4Demo is a universal binary Audio Unit plugin, bringing together everything learned in the original ADClip and 3DClip plus new functionality for the best possible final-clipping plugin.
It works by tracking what samples have clipped, and pulling back the onset and release samples that would have clipped, to transition between the two states more gracefully. ADClip also tracks what information is lost to clipping, and brings it back in two ways- as high frequency energy and bass fill. This is only present when clipping occurs (or briefly after it). Finally, it works to cancel some of the distortion subharmonics and combines this effect with the rearranged energy from the clipped-off bass.
ADClip also switches in and out its antialiasing in such a way that it puts a maximum limit on high frequency content, as if it was an analog circuit with finite slew rate. This, combined with its special clipping behavior, means that extremely loud treble information is never harsh. You can push loud percussive content and never lose the nice airy texture, and it makes crazy-loud stuff hit in a more appealing way.
ADClip4 goes farther than I’ve ever gone to maintain the purity of the unclipped portions of the signal. Big chunks of it literally turn off when not in use- it does not even do needless math operations unless it has to. Since even its bass fill operations are very quickly completed, that means ADClip is constantly reverting to the most simple, untouched floating-point digital passthrough, giving it an unusually transparent digital-domain sound. Since version 4, even the antialiasing turns off when the plugin isn’t actively working. It’s overkill, but it’s correct and is what’s needed for mastering. This is not normal procedure for plugins, it’s the start of the line of development that led to PurestDrive.
ADClip4 is $50.