FireMaximizer

Name: FireMaximizer
Price: 109 USD
Author: United Plugins

by United Plugins · Limiter · Mastering maximizer and limiter

Not rated yet

FireMaximizer from FireSonic (sold by United Plugins) is a loudness maximizer that combines clipper, saturator, limiter and multiband limiter algorithms.

It can go clean and transparent or punchy and aggressive, with 16x oversampling, for $134.

Best for: Mastering, Mix Bus. Genres: all genres.

Keywords: mastering, clean, multi-band, oversampling, drums, electric guitar, gritty, punchy, transparent, full mix, high latency, look-ahead, pads, aggressive, analog-sounding, bus processing, digital-sounding, finishing touch, mix bus, resizable UI, skeuomorphic, thin, true-peak, vocals.

What it does

FireMaximizer is a FireSonic loudness processor, sold by United Plugins, built mainly for mastering. You blend four processing stages to get "the exact ratio of digital and analogue grit and transparency."

Four stages: a clipper for digital edge, a saturator for harmonic colour, a limiter for clean loudness and a multiband limiter for frequency-specific control.
XY blend pad: mix the stages from one pad rather than setting each up separately (as described by Happy Mag).
Main controls: Drive (-6 to +24 dB), Clean, Look-ahead and Ceiling, with true peak limiting, according to Happy Mag's review.
Oversampling: 2x to 16x, trading CPU for cleaner peaks.
Uses: aimed at the master, but the developer also suggests it on drums, guitars and vocals.
Workflow: 64-bit processing at any sample rate up to 192 kHz, smart bypass with latency compensation, sleep on silence and a resizable photorealistic interface.

A free 15-day trial has no saving limits or noise, and updates are free for life.

Source: United Plugins product page

When to use it

FireMaximizer suits producers who want loudness with some colour from one quick interface. Compared with Pro-L 2, it adds clipping, saturation and multiband limiting in a single blend, but the product page lists none of Pro-L 2's loudness metering or limiting styles. Like Elevate, it combines multiband limiting with clipping, though with far fewer controls to set. It is more flexible than L2 Ultramaximizer, which offers one clean limiter and little tone shaping.

Best for: the last stage of a master when you want extra loudness with some grit, or quick loudness on drum and guitar buses.
Genres: any; most useful in loud genres such as EDM, hip-hop and rock.
Look elsewhere if: you need detailed true-peak and LUFS metering for streaming targets; Pro-L 2 or Ozone 12 Maximizer are more complete.

What producers say

Coverage is thin; the one hands-on piece we found is positive but reads close to launch promotion.

Happy Mag liked the four blendable limiting types and the XY pad, and found it keeps detail and punch while pushing level.
Trade-offs noted: look-ahead adds latency and the higher oversampling settings cost CPU.

Happy Mag review

Where to buy

Tutorials and reviews

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