Korneff Audio released an open beta of El Jual Limiter, an upcoming limiter plugin for Windows and macOS.
Korneff Audio is an interesting developer. I reviewed Pawnshop Comp ages ago and was impressed with its performance and character when handling overheads.
They have scads of other plugins, all well-regarded by their user base. However, the one sticking point I see time and time again online is iLok.
Now, Korneff does use iLok for many of its older plugins. That is set to change with the release of El Juan.
El Juan is a mastering limiter with a few extra twists and turns, but there is an important catch to note.
You can download the 7-day demo right now for free with your Korneff Audio account. You won’t need to add a license to your iLok to try it.
Instead, Korneff Audio is conducting a Community Network Test for its new licensing scheme. If you sign up now for the open beta, that free demo will turn into a completely free license after the demo period elapses.
From the developer’s website: “All public beta licenses will expire on January 9th, regardless of the date of plugin installation. We will be issuing perpetual licenses for no charge to everyone who downloaded an EJL public beta plugin.”
I had it land in my inbox on the 26th, so some time has been put into using it. For the most part, I see it as a very useful bus limiter, and I love the input character and tone characteristics you can impart on a signal.
I don’t think I would reach for it over the likes of Limitless for actual final peak limiting.
That said, it has that Korneff sound. It can be in your face and brash or more sedate and gentle in how it imparts the limiting. One of the bigger selling points for me is the bit-rate reduction.
You can slam El Juan with the bit-depth slid down and get some crunch out of it like digital distortion. It sounds killer on Amen breaks and other 90s and 00s tropes regarding electronic music.
There is time to redeem the offer; however, you will need an account to go through with it. The public beta is available for Windows and Mac computers. Your plugin options are VST3, AAX, and AU. It is Silicon-native and runs splendidly in Logic Pro X so far.
IMPORTANT: Sign up for the open beta, and the free demo will turn into a completely free license after the demo period elapses. The offer expires on January 9th.
Download: El Juan Limiter (FREE Beta version, claim before January 9th to get a perpetual license for free)
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18 Comments
El°HYM
onYou will like this, trust me!
JonB
onI don’t really see the point in cloning an already existing super cheap plugin. I doubt that they will sell El Juan for cheaper than L1 usually goes for (which is $30). I guess there might be some people who would be happy to pay a few bucks extra just to not have to deal with Waves, but I can’t see anyone paying more than maybe $50 for an old digital limiter algorithm.
It would make sense if they made it free forever though. Like a f*** you to Waves. Bertom Audio did that with the Vocal Compressor, which is an almost 1/1 clone of Waves RVox (but better in every way). However, Korneff Audio is definitely not that kind of developer. I’d be surprised if they set the price for El Juan below $150!
Brenny C
onSo what’s your beef here exactly? Sign up and download the beta of the plugin, test it out, and when the beta period expires it becomes a full license for $0. Sure, it’s a limited time offer but still, anyone who wants to get it for free is able to do so. 🤷♂️
Lucas
onAny company moving away from iLOK fills me with hope that one day PACE will be a thing of the past.
My iLOK opinion aside, I have to say, this thing sounds nice. I’m actually impressed with them taking the idea of a character Limiter to another level. I have a couple TP/Mastering Limiters (Elephant being my main one,) and a few character Limiters (notably Kiive Audio’s ADC1 and Fuse Audio Labs VCL-515 which are both amazing,) but this is something different. I’m not sure if it will get more use than either of my two go-to channel/buss Limiters even if I am trying to really add color to a mix, but it’s a damn fine thing to have floating around for toneshaping.
Smart move making it free too, even if it is for what I assume is a promotional tactic; people will glance past the flashiest ads… not so much when they see the word “free” though. XD
alex
onThis is actually a really nice plugin. The options to control the side-chain are great. I also like that it has adjustable release time and the option to unlink channels that a lot of limiters miss (and most times I don’t want channels linked). Works great on vocals, bass and drum bus. On 2 bus I would put Loudmax after it for true peak limiting but TBH, TDR Limiter 6 GE has been living on my 2 bus for years and that’s very unlikely to change any time soon if ever :)
Tommy.G
onThere’s so many great limiters out there, even the free ones. Why I should try this one… look’s like they want to replicate waves.
El°HYM
onThey did! It even shows up in the Video above.
El°HYM
onEl Juan Public Beta Update
Because of the great response to our public beta test. we are extending the test until January 9th. All public beta licenses will expire on January 9th, regardless of the date of plugin installation. We will be issuing perpetual licenses for no charge to everyone who downloaded an EJL public beta plugin. If your EJL beta license has expired already, please reset it by going to the licensing section of the plugin, deactivating it, and then reactivating it. This will reset your license.
Nick Hope
onI sent them some feedback after installing 0.1.0 and then 0.2.0:
The plugin is very slow to open, and I’m surprised I have to activate it each time I use it. Also puzzled why the activation window always says “NO INTERNET CONNECTION” at the bottom, when I do have a functional internet connection.
More importantly, I just get complete silence when I put an instance of it on my bus. So as it stands it just functions as a very complicated mute button. This feels like it must be user error on my part, but I can’t see what I’m doing wrong. If I put a Waves L1 on the same bus instead, it works.
alex
onIt’s a beta and it’s buggy. There will be no need to activate it each time when an official version gets released. Offline activation will be possible, too.
obo
onsolid limiter. solid price. I actually “own” the L1 from Waves (do we really ever own anything with Waves though?). Curious to compare. Don’t really care how similar they are, would prefer some differences actually since I have both now but anyway, I’m impressed – thanks!
Ekidio
onLoudmax can do the same for free.
alex
onWell, it cannot. While I love Loudmax and it is very good for transparent light to moderate limiting (if it had the option to unlink channels, it would be perfect, but it’s easy enough on CPU to use two instances for left and right channels) it doesn’t have any other features that El Juan Limiter offers like controllable release time, unlink and additional tone shaping options (not that it needs them – it’s meant to be as transparent as possible). What it does have and El Juan Limiter doesn’t is a very good ISP detection algo and that actually makes them a great combo :)
Loschmicus
onThe beta testing phase seems to be over, but the 1.0.0 version of the plugin is free to “buy” currently. There is no info on how long it will be free, though.
El°HYM
onShould be the last Day to grab it for free.
El°HYM
onEl Juan Limiter is out now! Hit our website, get your Perpetual License for free.
https://korneffaudio.com/product/el-juan-limiter
Michal Ochedowski
onThanks for letting us know. By the way, this very comprehensive 20-page manual is also highly appreciated.
El°HYM
onI know people will regret, not getting this after the free offer.