A good limiter is arguably one of the most essential tools for mixing and mastering music. A couple of the most popular limiters are iZotope's Ozone 8 and Fabfilters Pro L 2. And while both of those options are very good, I stumbled upon an amazing hidden gem a couple of years ago that I have been using ever since. And recently they updated their plugin to version 4.
As much as we all hate to admit, having an attractive UI is critical when it comes to plugins. And I am glad to say that Barricade looks fantastic. It has several different color schemes and is completely resizeable. It also has several different screens for viewing the parameters.
On the left side of the plugin, there are two bars that represent compression and several saturation, distortion, and clipping algorithms. The center of the plugin features a visual representation of what the different processors are doing to the audio, so you can see how much compression, clipping, and limiting are going on to your audio signal. And all the way on the right, there are two more bars that show how much limiting is going on. It's a very simple interface, but it looks fantastic!
The best part of this limiter is that it is one of the best I have ever used. There are several different limiting algorithms you can choose from (my personal favorite being “Auto Beefy”). I have tried each algorithm on my music to see how much of a difference it actually makes. And unlike some of its contenders, every algorithm is usable. They all have a slightly different sound, but they are all musical. You have the option to be very specific with the release settings, but I tend to prefer the "auto" options because of its convenience (and its a very welcomed feature that many hundred dollar plugins don't have).
I can absolutely say with 100% confidence that Barricade 4 by Toneboosters is my absolute favorite limiter. It does not have nearly the prestige that a few other popular ones have, but at the end of the day, this limiter will sound just as good if not better than even its priciest competitors.
Score: 9/10