The stacked limiter
A limiter designed to be stacked.
Strata is a true-peak limiter built for distributed limiting: several instances at different points of a chain, discovered and controlled as one from a single window. Each stage contributes a few decibels of reduction; the total reaches modern loudness with less audible intervention per stage.
Why layers
Three stages of 3 dB, not one stage of 9.
A single limiter doing 9 dB of reduction becomes audible. The same 9 dB spread across three stages — with your tape, EQ and saturation between them — keeps each stage in its comfortable range. The plugins in between receive a consistently limited signal, and their overshoots are caught by the next stage.
Strata's instances discover each other automatically — including when the DAW isolates plugins in separate processes — infer their order in the chain, and expose the total gain of the chain on one slider.
Under the hood
What each stage brings.
True-peak, adaptive
Lookahead limiting with 4× oversampled detection, program-dependent release, stereo link 0–100 % and six styles from Transparent to Safe. Sample-accurate automation.
One window, every stage
Up to 8 stages × 16 groups. Order is inferred from the host — or pinned by hand. Edit any stage from any window; automation lands on the right track. Survives per-process sandboxing.
BS.1770-4 metering
Momentary, short-term and gated integrated LUFS with targets for streaming (−14), CD (−9), EBU R128 and ATSC — plus a graph where silence enters like silence and loudness drains like the standard says.
Dither where it belongs
TPDF dither to 24 or 16 bit with E-weighted noise shaping. The factory chain presets put it on the last stage only — where it belongs.
A/B, undo, MIDI, presets
Chain-wide A/B with copy, full undo/redo, MIDI learn on any control, stage and chain presets saved as plain text files you can share.
Lightweight by design
Written in C with a GPU-drawn, resizable interface. Binaries around 1 MB per format. No frameworks, no telemetry, no account required.
On screen
The interface.
Formats
Formats and platforms.
| Platform | Formats | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 10/11 · 64-bit | VST3 · CLAP | Installer or manual copy |
| macOS 10.15+ · universal | AU · VST3 · CLAP | Intel and Apple Silicon, one build |
| Linux x86-64 | VST3 · CLAP | X11 editor |
| Latency | = lookahead, 0.1–10 ms | Reported to the host |
Pricing
One license. All your machines.
- Every format and platform included
- All your machines, one license file
- Offline activation — no iLok, no account, no calls home
- Free 1.x updates
Direct purchase: write to [email protected] and pay by PayPal, SEPA transfer or Wise — whatever suits you. Your personal license.key arrives by email the same day.
Try it first — everything on, 30 days
The demo is the full plugin. After 30 days it keeps working but fades briefly to silence now and then — never noise, never a hard cut — until a license lands.
After the trial the demo stays functional but fades briefly to silence at regular intervals. Read the manual for details.
Questions
Frequently asked questions.
Do I need more than one instance?
No — one Strata is a complete, mastering-grade true-peak limiter. Stacking is where it becomes something you can't do with a single plugin: distributed limiting with your own processing between the layers.
How does the multi-instance chain actually connect?
Each instance publishes its timing and meters to shared memory; they infer the processing order from the host's own calls. No routing, no sidechains to wire, and it works even when the DAW puts every plugin in its own sandboxed process.
What does the demo limit?
Nothing for 30 days — it's the full plugin. Afterwards it stays functional but fades briefly to silence at regular intervals. It never adds noise and never cuts hard, so you can still finish a session.
How does activation work?
You get a license.key
text file by email. Paste it into the plugin with Ctrl+V or drop it in a
folder — done. Offline, no account, valid on all your machines.
What is the refund policy?
The 30-day demo is there so you can evaluate Strata fully before paying. If something does not work as described, contact us within 14 days of purchase and the refund is handled through the payment provider.