Liminal 1.1: Multi-Out, 8-Band Lane EQ and AAX

Liminal 1.1 is out now, and it’s a free update for every Liminal owner.

Liminal listens to how hard each hit lands and splits your audio into three lanes: strong hits, soft hits and everything else. Version 1.1 makes those lanes much easier to use outside the plugin.

Multi-out: every lane on its own track

The new Liminal Instrument (MultiOut) takes its audio from a sidechain input and sends it out on five outputs: the full mix, Lane 1, Lane 2, Lane 3 and an FX bus.

That means you can split a drum loop into its hardest hits, its ghost notes and everything between, then process each lane with your own plugins on separate tracks. Compress the strong hits, saturate the soft ones, or print stems without bouncing.

A few things worth knowing:

• The lane outputs carry each lane before FX. Anything a lane sends to Liminal’s own effects comes out on the FX bus.
• To rebuild the original mix, use the FX bus plus the lanes that don’t send to FX.
• The aux outputs are off by default in most DAWs, so enable them before you route.
• It’s available as AU and VST3. Presets sound the same in both plugins.

An 8-band EQ on every lane

Each lane now has its own 8-band EQ: a low cut or low shelf, six bell or notch bands and a high cut or high shelf, with up to ±24 dB of gain and slopes up to 96 dB per octave.

It sits before the FX sends, so you can shape what goes into the effects. Roll the low end off a distorted Lane 1, or brighten the soft hits in Lane 2 without touching the kick.

AAX for Pro Tools

Liminal’s effect plugin now runs as AAX on both macOS and Windows, alongside VST3 and AU.

Faster and smoother

1.1 also includes further optimisations across the plugin, building on the performance work in 1.0.1.

How to update

Download the 1.1 installer from the Downloads page and install it over your current version. Your licence carries over, and so do your presets. {{confirm: how owners update, and that the licence and presets carry over}}

New to Liminal?

Liminal is a dynamic threshold processor. It splits audio by transient strength into three lanes, and each lane can go through up to three of nine effects: Bitcrush, Delay, Flanger, Grain, Overdrive, Pitch, Reverb, Repeater and Waveshaper. With no effects engaged, the output equals the input, so you only process the hits you choose.

There’s a free 14-day trial on the Downloads page. Liminal 1.1 is $59 until 19 November (regular price $99).