Germany's Studio Magazin Reviews APEX Adaptive Limiter.

24th February 2026

Studio Magazin has reviewed the new APEX Adaptive Limiter plug-in from CEDAR Audio, calling it "the new gold standard for mastering and demanding post-production tasks".

Translation:

I have to admit that until now I had only heard of CEDAR Audio in passing, as these products were not very relevant for me and especially because of the price. The dual-channel dialogue noise suppressor DNS 2 (hardware) costs about €4,000 and the complete software bundle Cedar Studio 9 with eleven plug-ins used to cost €4,400. Since January 2025 the company has drastically changed its pricing policy. Now there are specialised individual plug-ins starting at €70, the most expensive ones costing €355, with many in between. The adaptive limiter Apex presented here costs €284 including VAT. That is still not cheap by today’s software standards, but it has moved into a more affordable range. The question is: Is the product really that good that the relatively high price is justified?

Conventional limiters eventually reach their physical limits. Apex, on the other hand, promises a completely new approach with spectral precision and adaptive intelligence. This means it works without rigid threshold values with static attack and release times. Instead, Apex uses a continuously varying EQ profile and a highly intelligent, dynamic equaliser. It calculates the amplitude limits in real time and limits only where necessary. The algorithm analyzes the input signal and adapts its time constants (attack/release) permanently to the material to avoid pumping effects. As a result, transients remain punchy and the tonal balance as well as the stereo image stay stable. Instead of pulling down the entire signal when, for example, a heavy bass drum hits the threshold, only the spectral components are reshaped (spectral limiting). The frequency spectrum of the mids and highs remains intact.

Control is handled via three main parameters: M, Spectral, and HF, which determine how strongly the limiter differentiates between frequencies. Higher values (maximum +10) lead to a more transparent sound, as only the frequency components with stronger amplitudes are limited. In the range of −10 to +10, Apex behaves almost like a conventional limiter without frequency-selective behaviour. With M, Temporal, LF, and HF, the speed of regulation for low and high frequencies can be adjusted separately. This makes it possible to control how fast (also depending on the sound) they react. Together with the release parameter, this has a significant effect on the behaviour of the limiter. Even with extreme settings (−10 = slow, +10 = fast), the sonic coloration remains low for most signals - one of Apex’s biggest advantages. This is also true compared to many other limiters, at least the ones I know, and that is saying a lot.

Typical artefacts such as pumping or the loss of transients do not occur. This is ideal for acoustic music, classical, or jazz, where such artefacts would immediately stand out. In sound design or for pop and rock music, Apex may be somewhat unconventional. But since there are already enough other limiters, in mastering - regardless of style - you often want more dynamic control without losing too much tonal character. Apex is absolutely recommended for that. Because of its immense processing requirements, it is mainly intended for a single instance, as several instances during mixing can quickly overload the CPU. In a comparison with the FabFilter Pro-L 2 in a session with 96 kHz, Apex required about five times the processing power of Pro-L 2. However, it sounds noticeably more transparent even without oversampling. With 2× to 4× oversampling it becomes a true-peak limiter suitable for mastering. In my 14,900k system I managed six to a maximum of eight stereo instances.

Latency per instance is 4,832 samples. (At 48kHz this is about 1/10th of a second.) CEDAR has therefore deliberately chosen the highest possible sound quality and performance requirements - and has definitely achieved that.

The answer to the question of whether the high price is justified is clear: absolutely. With the Apex adaptive limiter, CEDAR has developed a precision tool for maximum transparency. Anyone looking for a limiter that does not colour the sound, even with heavy compression, will hardly get past Apex. For mastering and demanding post-production tasks - especially with acoustic music - it is currently the gold standard.

Intersample Peaks

While conventional limiters in the DAW react only to the discrete sample peaks of the digital signal, peaks can arise between the samples during later D/A conversion of the data reduction (intersample peaks) that exceed the permissible levels. These overshoots are not visible in digital signals but can lead to distortion in analog reality. True-peak limiters take this into account by processing the signal with higher temporal resolution and reliably detecting peak values between samples. Apex fulfils this requirement by activating integrated oversampling. In this mode, the limiter works not only spectrally but also with extremely fine temporal resolution to safely capture intersample peaks.

Only then does Apex become a full true-peak limiter in the technical sense, as is now practically required for mastering and high-quality post-production. What is remarkable is that the extreme transparency of the algorithm remains intact even under these conditions. Even with active oversampling and high regulation, the intervention is acoustically largely invisible. Especially in combination with spectral processing, a tool emerges that combines dynamic control, loudness, and technical safety without altering the character of the sound.

Apex does not only limit what is too loud, but also what could actually become problematic - in the frequency spectrum as well as in the temporal course. This positions the limiter not as a sound-shaping effect tool, but as a precise safety instrument at the highest technical level, as is increasingly demanded in modern mastering.

For further information:

CEDAR Audio Limited, 20 Home End, Fulbourn, Cambridge, CB21 5BS, United Kingdom.
t: +44 1223 881771 • e: sales@cedaraudio.com