Xenon for $69 or less?

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:03 am

I do have the 32bit version but never use it, preferring Ozone 5A. I might buy it anyway in case it is useful to me in the future. It's a good price and may come in handy the next time I mix for iTunes–or not. Maybe a project will come along that pays for it.

Dan Worley · Post by **Dan Worley** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 3:45 pm

I purchased Xenon and used it very quickly on a funk-jazz tune that has been quite challenging for limiters due to the bass popping and other powerful transients that must stay alive in the mix for it to work. I also don't use any compression in this mix which makes it even tougher on the limiter.

The pre-master peak levels in this mix don't give much room for the limiter to work, but when I mix it any other way, or pull down the levels before hitting the limiter, I don't like how it sounds or feels. I also can't deal with hunting down every out-of-control peak in the mix manually--especially in a song like this, so I have rely on good tools to do that for me.

I loaded Xenon and used the Loudness 1 preset. The only thing I changed on that was I turned down the ceiling to -0.3 and turned on Oversampling to catch the TRUE PEAKS (which were up over zero). Even with Oversampling on (which did bring the true peaks down to zero), I put Ozone behind Xenon to control the True Peaks thoroughly. In Ozone, I set the Margin (ceiling) to -0.3 and used a zero threshold (no gain increase). That brought the true peaks down to -0.4. Dither was also applied in Ozone.

I'm very impressed with Xenon. I don't know how to use it effectively yet but it worked very well on this mix, despite all the challenges. It's extremely transparent. I don't hear it choking anything and it sounds smooth (if smooth has a sound). It didn't add brittleness to the mix like some other limiters have done.

Most definitely worth $69. I paid $58 at AudioDeluxe.

The mixes are below if you want to compare. They are wav files so they take awhile to load or download.

Mix before limiting (24-bit): http://earthen.com/ev-filechute/Vallejo ... 20Mix4.wav

Levels before limiting with Xenon

Mix after limiting (16-bit): http://earthen.com/ev-filechute/Vallejo ... 16-bit.wav

Levels after limiting with Xenon (backed up by Ozone to catch True Peaks)

Michael Canavan · Post by **Michael Canavan** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 6:33 pm

Bought it, this is the last day. I already own a bunch of PSP plug ins so it was all of $52 for me, too cheap to pass up.

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:42 pm

It was too cheap for me to pass on. Now DP 7.24 crashes after examining the VUs. Permissions Repair showed nothing but I have yet to reboot--won't be able to do that till later tonight or tomorrow.

What's weird is that the crash report appears to be blaming AutoTune 7 but I've seen that before when it was something else.

I'll reboot and, if that doesn't do it, uninstall and reinstall DP 7 and Xenon and if that...

No problems in DP 8.07 at all.

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Fri Oct 03, 2014 3:22 pm

I'll reboot and, if that doesn't do it, uninstall and reinstall DP 7 and Xenon and if that...

Rebooting didn't do it. Running the uninstaller and reinstalling DP 7.24 from the CD did the trick. I didn't have to reinstall any of my plugs or VIs.

Dan Worley · Post by **Dan Worley** » Fri Oct 03, 2014 4:50 pm

Sale extended until October 5th.

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 11:46 am

Xenon 1.5.1 update released yesterday. Minor tweaks plus a bug fix for Windows. When you log into your account, it says 1.5.0 but when you click on the link, it takes you to a 1.5.1 download with an Oct 3 2014 release date.

After install, DP 7.24 and 8.07 loaded fine and it works with no issues. I still haven't found a need for it but, no doubt, I will.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 2:53 pm

I tried the demo on a current project for dance and was sold instantly. However, running the authorization tool resulted in this:

Support contacted. Still have 2 weeks to sort it out.

Dan Worley · Post by **Dan Worley** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 3:18 pm

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:I tried the demo on a current project for dance and was sold instantly. However, running the authorization tool resulted in this:

Support contacted. Still have 2 weeks to sort it out.

That's a OSX security thing. You can either change the settings altogether in the Security & Privacy preferences or just Control-click on the app and chose Open from the shortcut menu and that will override the security settings for that app.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 3:22 pm

You freakin' rock, Dan. Thanks. It worked.

Dan Worley · Post by **Dan Worley** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 3:30 pm

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:You freakin' rock, Dan. Thanks. It worked.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 3:32 pm

ps- A restart was necessary. Now I'm louder than before.

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 3:51 pm

Ordered from AudioDeluxe. $58.49

Waiting on the license email, download instructions, etc. which I understand may take 24 hours or so, especially on a weekend.

Buzzy

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 4:13 pm

buzzsmith wrote:Ordered from AudioDeluxe. $58.49

Waiting on the license email, download instructions, etc. which I understand may take 24 hours or so, especially on a weekend.

Buzzy

If you have a PSP acct. and it is registered there, you can download the license Applet and auth. For $10 off, I would have bought it at AudioDeluxe as well. Oh well, there goes the egg money.

Tritonemusic · Post by **Tritonemusic** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 6:17 pm

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:Oh well, there goes the egg money.

I noticed the Audiodeluxe price in this thread about an hour after I paid 69 bucks directly from PSP.

No eggs for me!

Edit: After using it for a night and part of today, I'm very glad I went for this. Great sounding plug.

MOTUnation.com

Xenon for $69 or less?

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