HoRNet Audio releases Magnus Lite, a freeware clipper plugin for Windows and macOS.
So far, 2023 has seen quite a few free clippers and dynamics processors hit plugin folders for the low cost of nothing.
HoRNet’s latest, Magnus Lite, is another entry and combines the two in a handy little interface.
Magnus Lite has a fairly simple interface with a light or dark mode. The left section of the interface houses the clipper, and the right houses the limiter.
The clipper is quick to understand, as there is only a basic gain knob to manipulate. A fixed threshold of -0.2dB makes sure you won’t have any nasty overages and the like. The clipper itself doesn’t sound like a soft clipper. I couldn’t notice any overt saturation on the resulting signal itself.
The limiter has a gain knob and a release knob. There is also a fixed threshold of -0.2dB on the limiter, which is fine. The limiter sounds like a super clean limiter, whereas the release knob functions as you’d expect and can smooth out a signal or add a little snap, depending on the settings.
Magnus Lite is a fine combination of a clipper and limiter. There are some curious omissions like oversampling or intersample peak protection, but that isn’t wholly necessary.
If you’re just looking to get the sound big and loud, it’ll do the job just fine in this capacity. I did find a good bit of utility just using it on the drum bus with a gain utility following after to bring it to a more manageable level.
Magnus Lite isn’t quite as flexible as a paid clipper or limiter, but it doesn’t need to be. This is a quick and easy set-and-forget sort of plugin.
If you’re after loud mixdowns, it’ll do the job just fine. You could probably use it for self-mastering in a pinch, but you might want to look at a free limiter like LoudMax to provide a little intersample peak protection.
Magnus Lite is free for all users, whether you have paid for HoRNet plugins or not. It is available for Windows and Mac computers. Supported plugin formats are VST, VST3, AU, and AAX. It is a universal plugin, so Silicon and Intel users are in luck.
Download: Magnus Lite
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4 Comments
Parag
onI think nothing can overtake Kazrog’s free clipper. Its just sounds so good being a freebie. And its oversampling algorithm is so good and produce tape like odd harmonics.
Bani
onAnyone knows how much latency it adds?
I’m looking for a limiter to catch peaks while playing live, but most add several latency samples.
alex
onThere’s a range of Airwindows clippers and they’re all zero latency. Just google Airwindows ClipOnly2, ClipSoftly, ADClip 7, OneCorner Clip and NC-17. BTW, there’s no such a thing as a zero latency brick wall limiter. If there’s no lookahead time it will distort, so clippers may be a better solution.
Brenny C
onThanks, HorNet!