Comment by brudgers

Sometimes I watch studio porn on Youtube (multiply by a few years).

Studios keep limiters in their racks for exactly the reason I describe.

Just as they keep compressors around to add color.

Your DAW probably doesn't emulate limiters that clip because it is not common practice (not Common Practice, either). But your DAW probably has compressor plugins that do distort because that's what people have heard about.

In theory, an ideal limiter does not distort. Neither does a compressor. Or a mixer. In musical practice, an ideal device is often a bad idea. Musically we might want squelchy TB filters and CR1604 crosstalk.

When you want to hard limit amplitude, clipping is the simplest thing that might work. And clipping is usually better than tinnitus.