Limiter and Ultramaximizer Question?

Can someone please tell me what the difference between a limiter and an ultramaxiumizer l. I just recently purchased an L2 ultramaxiumizer and was wondering if it’s basically the same as a limiter?

Also, I’m using a strategy to use this ultramaxiumizer to get the most out of my kicks and to keep them from clipping- is this ok to leave on the kick channel prior to mastering? I know that it’s preferred not to leave any limiters on any channels prior to giving it to a mastering engineer. I’m just not sure if the plugin I’m using is an actual limiter or just what it says a maxiumizer.
 
The L2 is mostly used as a limiter - it also includes dithering options and "loudness maximization" (hence the name) that I guess is a combination of limiting and some other processes to push it even further...but I'm not entirely sure what "that else" is, besides some kind of a noise shaping algo. But basically you can just treat it as a limiter with some mastering-specific options.
 
Ultramaximizer and terms like it are just marketing terms for limiters.. which is what they usually are.
For your purpose, you might want to try a (soft)clipper... same basic concept but it cuts things off instead of lowering the volume real quick.. for sounds that can take some edge it's great and allows you to go much louder with things.. even before you add limiters.
 
Ultramaximizer and terms like it are just marketing terms for limiters.. which is what they usually are.

True, an "ultramaximizer" isn't a general-purpose term like a limiter is. But the L2 does some other stuff besides being a limiter (even if it's first and foremost just that).
 
They are the same. I think "ultramaximizer" was a marketing term waves developed for the L2, but they might not have been the first. Regardless, if you know what you are doing, it's okay to slap a limiter or soft clipper on the kick drum channel. I do that on most of my mixes (not an L2 though). That said, do NOT use it as a crutch and I would actually recommend not doing it until you are able to mix stuff that sounds radio-ready without it before you start going down that rabbit hole because it can easily create bad habits that will hamper your mix in other ways.
 
They are glorified limiters in that they also control dithering and requantising.

Basically this: [FONT=&quot]The first is to increase the subjective loudness of incoming digital audio, without introducing clipping or other obvious distortion. The second is to dither the final output from your digital audio workstation to 16-bit for CD mastering (see box).[/FONT]
 
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