The Sonic Maximizer is originally a hardware processor (audio processor that is, not a computer processor!) from BBE. A plug-in version made it’s way to the market a couple of years back, but now they have released a new version with the help of Nomad Factory.
The Sonic Maximizer only has a few controls but there’s still some debate over what it actually does. It has been called an ‘enhancer’ and ‘exciter’, something that BBE denies is the case. To me it’s sort of a ‘hi-fi box’, but you can create your own opinion by listening to the sound example below.
Test of Sonic Maximizer on voice.
As you can hear the Sonic Maximizer alters especially the lower and the higher frequencies. This is done by the two knobs ‘lo contour’ and ‘process’. In the above example I’m just turning one after the other.
As you can hear the D82 Sonic Maximizer can add a sense of ‘presence’ and ‘clarity’ to the voice. There’s little doubt that this can be valuable in a podcast. the debate will rather be about if it’s worth to use it over a regular EQ.
D82 Sonic Maximizer is available in AU, VST and RTAS plug-in formats for both Mac and Windows.
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