Free true peak limiter VST Maxwell Smart (v2.0)

[LivelyAudio]

Hello all!

Nice to see people are still talking about Maxwell Smart / Maxwell. It's actually a fun coincident that the discussion has activated just recently, because I'm happy to tell you that the project will continue soon, after being silent for way too long!

Regarding the still-in-beta Maxwell, I have been developing the next version 0.99 very slowly (a straight jump from 0.92 since it's now much closer to being released), but now it's technically finished. Just a couple of things need to get done before we can proceed. During the next couple of weeks I'll contact the old beta testers and possibly start recruiting new ones too.

To those who are familiar with the older beta versions, the new one will have pretty much the same functions, but the GUI is completely new and works a bit different (a lot clearer IMO). This is how it looks at the moment:



And because this thread is more about the free Maxwell Smart, I'll let you know it will be updated too. It will at least include the ability to switch the built-in 4x ISP detection on/off and a GUI that matches the bigger version.

- Nikko / Lively Audio

[LivelyAudio]

I was just browsing and came across this page again.

I was curious to see if this Plug-in would block Inter-Sample-Peaks for me without damaging the source.

I set Waves L2 how I wanted it with the out ceiling at -0.2.
Inter Sample Peaks were showing on 'Solid State Logic X-ISM'.

I simply inserted 'Maxwell Smart (v2.0)' after 'L2' and it blocked the ISPs with no problems that I could hear.

Threshold: 0.0 dB [Note: lowering the threshold also worked well]
Loud, Normal and Smooth. ISPs were blocked in each case.
Ceiling -0.2 dB

Just a quick test and I'm very happy with the results so far.

Thank you.

Thank you for testing, and glad to hear you're happy with how it went!

I recently came across with this ISP test arranged by Saintpid Mastering, which includes Maxwell Smart. I think it did pretty well considering it only has 4x ISP detection, when the bigger version Maxwell will have 8x.

- Nikko / Lively Audio

[LivelyAudio]

Maxwell (still in Beta) is even more awesome, but I hope that Nikko will release it at some point because it really deserves it, it's that good!

Hey Lesha! Always great to read a comment like this. See my post above, I'll be in touch!

It's been in beta for the last 3.5 years, I still love and use it and I hope it will be released to the public.
The only downside is that it's created with Flowstone, so there won't be a 64 bit version of it.

I'm not sure if this will be considered full 64-bit support, but I've been talking to someone who migh be able to create a built-in bridge to 64-bit for Maxwell. We'll see where this goes.

Another idea I've had is to find someone who can code it from scratch in c++ with my instructions, but I have no idea how hard of a task this would be tbh. But I'm going to be searching for ways to make Maxwell 64-bit, that's guaranteed.

[LivelyAudio]

Ineed to say, this thing is really powerfull!

But I'm really amazed how clean and clear this maxwell smart can sound.

Thank you! Stay tuned for the upcoming update (see my post above).

- Nikko / Lively Audio

[LivelyAudio]

The only downside is that it's created with Flowstone, so there won't be a 64 bit version of it.

That's a real shame. I remember using Maxwell Smart in its original incarnation and it was indeed a very capable limiter. Only producing Windows 32bit VSTs these days seems a bit short-sighted as that's quite a small market for plugins. Yes you can use bridging plugins as a container but it's a faff and a hassle. Reaper can bridge automatically but I've found a bridged plugin is never quite as stable as a native plugin. And using Flowstone just smacks of a developer who can't actually code... because if they could, they would use a framework like JUCE or iPlug and do the job properly! Certainly with iPlug there's enough examples included to allow you to generate a basic plugin within minutes so there's no excuse!!!

Yes, you're right about pretty much everything you said. I have never even tried to learn to develop with JUCE or IPlug or such, but creating Maxwell has been such a task even with FlowStone that I doubt it would be too easy in those frameworks either. At least not for me, since I only have experience in developing with SynthMaker / FlowStone.

Nevertheless it's true that 32-bit plugins have a very small market nowadays, and I'm looking forward to finding a solution to bring Maxwell with 64-bit and OSX support in the future!

Hah, yeah probably. Never-the-less, c'mon it's 2016 and there are people are still (theoretically) releasing commercial (ie paid for) plugins using an antiquated framework that can only spit out 32bit Windows VSTs! Doesn't that sound slightly odd to you?

That would be like Sony saying "we are not going to manufacture LCD flat-panel televisions. Our factory can only make CRTs and we're not going to invest in upgrading it"... sure, they show a picture but would you want to buy one?

Perhaps if Sony were just one man...

- Nikko / Lively Audio

[Lesha]

Hey Nikko, glad to see you back with great news!

I am still using a 32 bit version of Ableton thanks to Maxwell and some other unique gems from Variety Of Sound
But I am certain a lot of people would welcome a 64 bit version.
Can't wait to test 0.99!

[LivelyAudio]

Regarding the posted pic...a limiter with an attack knob, I admit I don't get it.

I mean if you dial in some attack, isn't the purpose of a limiter, to limit the signal to a certain threshold, being partly defeated because with attack some of the inital higher level than threshold gets through or am I wrong ?

To be honest I didn't get it either when I first came across with a limiter with attack! But the thing is that some limiters include more than one processing stages, and only for the last stage it's important to have attack fixed to 0.

Maxwell has basically two stages. The first one is the pre-processing stage which reduces the dynamic range in order to make the material easier for the actual peak limiting. To put it simple, it's somewhat like a compressor specially customised for the limiter's needs, hence the attack and release adjustments. The second stage is the actual limiting stage which has full response over peaks, even before they occur, because of the look-ahead function.

- Nikko / Lively Audio

[Aloysius]

Hello Nikko

Lively Audio Maxwell Smart v2.0 Yes -0.90 Free – Windows only

[MogwaiBoy]

Adam Szabo recently updated Phazor, one of his 32-bit Synthmaker plugins, to 64-bit and Mac support - so it can be done. I'm guessing he hired some help to migrate the code to another platform.

Maxwell Smart is fantastic, and Maxwell looks even better.

[Halma]

Welcome back. :)

Maxwell is still my No.1 Tracking comp. Glad to see you here again. Have not heard frpm you since my last mail.

Cheers
Sebastian

[LivelyAudio]

Adam Szabo recently updated Phazor, one of his 32-bit Synthmaker plugins, to 64-bit and Mac support - so it can be done. I'm guessing he hired some help to migrate the code to another platform.

Maxwell Smart is fantastic, and Maxwell looks even better.

Thanks for the info, I'll definately look into this. And good to hear you like Maxwell Smart!

Welcome back.

Maxwell is still my No.1 Tracking comp. Glad to see you here again. Have not heard frpm you since my last mail.

Cheers
Sebastian

Hey Sebastian!

That's great! Good to be back - to be honest it's been a while since I had this much time and motivation for the project. I'm thinking of searching for people to team up with, to make things easier (and even easier to devote to). Sorry for the silence!

- Nikko

[subterfuge]

Welcome back.
Maxwell is still my No.1 Tracking comp. Glad to see you here again.

Ditto. Beta 0.91 already gave serious competition to some "big boys", nice to hear more is coming.

[LivelyAudio]

Regarding the still-in-beta Maxwell, I have been developing the next version 0.99 very slowly (a straight jump from 0.92 since it's now much closer to being released), but now it's technically finished. Just a couple of things need to get done before we can proceed. During the next couple of weeks I'll contact the old beta testers and possibly start recruiting new ones too.

2 months have already passed with no news about the project, so in case anyone is wondering, I've discovered a way to greatly reduce Maxwell's CPU-consumption while actually increasing its accuracy in many ways! Therefore I think it's not sensible to release the next beta until these major upgrades are complete (since it originally was supposed to be mainly just a GUI-update). I can't give a very specific time estimation at this point, but I'd say it's about 70-80% finished now.

- Nikko

[Lesha]

2 months have already passed with no news about the project, so in case anyone is wondering, I've discovered a way to greatly reduce Maxwell's CPU-consumption while actually increasing its accuracy in many ways! Therefore I think it's not sensible to release the next beta until these major upgrades are complete (since it originally was supposed to be mainly just a GUI-update). I can't give a very specific time estimation at this point, but I'd say it's about 70-80% finished now.

- Nikko

That's great!!

[3ee]

Friendly Bump... from an ol' time beta-tester!
was looking for a great yet basic Limiter for my mixing template update... and remembered Maxwell was very good.

any news about the project?
I'll be happy to beta-test a new version.