BBE D82 SONIC MAXIMIZER PLUGIN REVIEW.

D82 Sonic Maximizer Plugin

The BBE D82 Sonic Maximizer software plug-in reproduces original program material with the subtlety, nuance and presence of a live performance.  You can expect all of the same qualities of this plug-in that you’d find in the hardware version of the BBE Sonic Maximizer:

• Low frequencies become tighter, punchy and well defined.
• Highs are more articulate, detailed and present.
• Vocals and speech intelligibility are greatly improved.
• Plucked and percussive sounds, such as guitars, drums and pianos are cleaner.
• Sound effects such as explosions, gunshots and the roar of fighter aircraft take on a realism that envelopes the listener.

So that’s what BBE claims what it does. I recently purchased this plugin with huge anticipation to use. My first impression? Maybe it won’t be for everyone.

First of all, what does it do? and how does it work?
Sonic Maximizer is pretty much aligns sound waves so they won’t have phase issues such as unwanted cut and boost. So it results in cleaner, brighter sound in higher frequencies and tight and thumpy lower frequencies.

I’ve used rack version for many years running live sound, it always did a great trick to the sound and brought clarity and detail many different times in many different locations. Now the question is will this do same trick for me in my pro tools for mix downs???

So first thing first, it won’t clean up the messes completely. It’s not a magical software that will make your mix or recording sounds boom! professional grade.

This plugin looks and work exactly like 482i or 882i. Exact same looking front face and three control knobs, LO contour, Process, and output level. LO contour controls low frequencies (make your lower end thumpier, boomier, cleaner), Process controls higher frequencies (cleaning up signals), and output level dictates your output level (most of times either I don’t have to touch it or lower it).

Surprisingly I found it useful on bass tracks, drum tracks, and acoustic guitar tracks rather than using it for master bus plugin. Another funny thing is I’ve been using them as quick way of EQ than playing with EQ for tracks.  Why? it’s simple and it does the job in a lot shorter time. Also don’t use it on master bus too much. It rather makes whole mix sounds grainy and harsh. Easily distorted.

If you are in low budget, if you don’t have good tracking environment (such as not treated tracking room, not so good microphones, not so good mic pres, and etc), if you don’t know how to use EQ well, or if you are simply lazy like me, for $99 you can get a great tool to clean up sound and bring the clarity of your mix in few clicks.

Cons? Rather give you harsh sound than warm sound. In short amount, it’ll become cleaner to distorted very quick. Maybe it’s me who’s consistently give out user error.

Oh well, it’s a good grab but definitely not necessary. Use your own discretions.

My rating for this plugin is 3/5