is made to the main routine in step 32 the test for the presence of the limit signal is then again made in step 25 it can be seen that when clipping distortion exceeds the predetermined threshold and the limit signal is generated by the interface circuit bass gain is first reduced to a reference level in preference to any reduction in the wideband gain volume thus the 34 breathing 34 effects of the prior art are avoided when clipping distortion falls below the predetermined threshold and the limit signal no longer persists the decision in step 25 leads to a test in step 33 where the current bass digital command is compared to the input setting which was last made by the user through the control panel if the bass digital command is less than the user input setting indicating that bass limiting is in effect then a release time delay is implemented in step 34 to minimize distortion of the audio signal the release time delay is longer than the attack time delay and may be equal to about 500 milliseconds following the release time delay the bass digital command is incremented by one step in gain in step 35 a return to the microcontroller main routine is made in step 36 in the event of a periodically called subroutine or a direct jump to step 25 is made in the event of an interrupt driven subroutine thus after clipping distortion subsides the bass digital command is more slowly restored to the original user setting once the bass digital command is.