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FAC Maxima and Barkfilter
Haven’t paid attention to the FAC apps until last night when I watched their promo videos. Now I want them all! However, Barkfilter is also on my radar. Would you say that Barkfilter and Maxima complement each other nicely or is there so much overlap between the two that I won’t be needing one of them if I got the other?
Comments
Maxima is a good limiter, and has more control over limiting.
Bark Filter has a basic 1-button limiter and auto-gain, but its magic is in its dynamic EQ and pseudo-multiband compression. There's a preset, with a little tweaking, that can serve as as a quick-n-dirty finalizer.
For just limiting and digital distribution of demos, Pro-L 2 is imo the endgame, with integrated LUFS metering, oversampling, dithering, and wizard-style presets.
@ocelot: what makes Barkfilter pseudo multiband compression ?
Well, I suppose it's technically a multiband compressor, and a dynamic EQ, but I'm old-school, so terms like 'dynamic EQ' are confusing to me.
Would you say it's a dynamic EQ, or a multiband compressor? Or both?
Since the Toneboosters EQ has received excellent dynamic processing on its individual EQ bands, I hardly use anything else. Works great on individual tracks but can also do Soothe-like magic on final mixes.
I never leave home without FAC Maxima ... cleans up anything... pulls jewels from mud ... lifts and separates a mix ... adds clarity and depth .... without doubt one of the Best Ever Things. Like chilli sauce - use it on everything. All FAC apps are clever but Maxima is quite spectacular and unique.
I'd say is a multiband compressor/filter with a peak limiter, because one of the differences between them is that the dynamic EQ can act as an expander, while the multiband compressor doesn't.
I use maxima on individual instruments especially when playing live. I use bark filter on whole mixes - I think “triple band” is the preset.
The difference maker on Barkfilter is it uses the Bark scale for its dynamic compression.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bark_scale
I have to admit I know so little about limiters. I own DualVCF by TB and it has it’s own limiter and I always place it last in the fx slot on the master bus in aum, and it seems to be doing it’s required job limiting the volume from going above a chosen db. What attracted me to Bark Filter is it’s filtering capabilities. It seems more fun and, intuitive for some unusual filtering, and fits right in between my other two filter apps Dual VCF and Apefilter.
Now about Maxima. After watching a couple of videos, it seems to me like a tool that improves the sound without distorting it. And the modulation capabilities are multiple. Can an a limiter also do that? Or would that be the task of a maximizer or an enhancer? From what I’ve read, a limiter mainly works like a compressor set to very high ratios.
Trying to understand if Maxima can help me before the sale ends. I already have Beef and the TB EQ. Will I gain something new with Maxima?
I don’t use it as much as I used to, but it can still give some nice punch to drums. I tend to use FAC Transient or Caelum Audio’s Beef or Toneboosters apps instead for the same thing.
Thanks!
True! but I still like to slap a barkfilter after it (tripleband preset) and after doing this the mix goes to another level.
Definitely.
The processing scheme is simple: scaling loudness between threshold and peak with variations over time in a way the original sound character is kept and with very low THD figures. Much lower than a traditional compressor/limiter would achieve.
Used on microphone recordings it results in something you‘d simply call a better take.
The algorithmic part isn‘t simple, though.
FabFilter Pro-L had serious THD flaws, and it took a couple of years until L2 got rid of them.
As mentioned numerous times: Maxima isn‘t only for maximizing final loudness.
Imho it‘s even more useful to adjust healthy track levels, which eases mixing a lot.
ps: it needs peaks in the track/mix to operate, on a sausage waveform it can‘t do anything
Thank you for > @Telefunky said:
Thank you for your time and answer. So, if I understand you correctly, Maxima will do the job more naturally and with less THD than let's say the app Beef? At first, I was not sure of the difference between maximizing the loudness of the sound VS a compressed sound with a regular compressor.
I would like to weigh in with another view of the mastering bus set up.
Traditional Studios used hardware compressors for the mastering process to add musical distortion
(Typically called Tube Saturation in this context).
Magic Death Eye and Magic Death Eye Stereo (two of the mono version in one app) add this magical coloring that generally rolls off the highs and adds those wonderful even order harmonics.
The much cheaper RRS EQ that just dropped has similar characteristics. It’s free to use for 5 minutes and pretty cheap to IAP to unlimited use.
Many of use have a master bus in AUM like this:
Now you may want to avoid distortion at all costs but I’ll wager A/B’ing the results of this bass against yours will show that clients prefer the musically saturated results. But I’m into old school studio mastering that was all pre-digital and didn’t get those digital aliasing components that many hear with CD, DVD and some computer DAW results.
Since @VirSyn / Harry has brought an increasing number of his terrific plug-ins to M1 macOS desktop systems, perhaps this would be a good time to request Bark Filter for desktop. It's great on iOS and it is something that would really be helpful on desktop as well.
@Montreal_Music here‘s a video (ages old when screens were 1024x768), so it‘s visually annoying, but it‘s illustrating the process.
The task shown is to get a final mix to maximum loudness for CD publishing, but you could choose any level below 0dB/fs if a certain track level is desired.
(btw it shows the origin of Maxima‘s threshold line, which I once suggested to Fred)
It‘s not either transparent or saturated processing - in the end it‘s about the mix.
If the mix contains a lot of high quality clean sources, then a classical compressor adding harmonics may be just the way to go.
But many plugins in an average DAW will already add distortion (some unintended) on the track level. This frequently ends in mud if an aggressive mastering process is added.
I know you’re very serious about the technology of studios and the best equipment so I will defer to your experience in these matters.
But when I A/B Magic Death Eye it pleases me to leave it on. I haven’t done much A/B with the new RRS EQ app yet.
@McD If Magic Death Eye fits your idea of sound, then of course it‘s very right.
I don‘t do it any different, my mixes are about my idea of sound, which I can afford because I don‘t provide mixes as a professional service.
I‘m a humble player (guitar, bass, synth, drum pads) and sub-par on intonation, but obviously have some good hearing abilities on (spectral) sound detail.
Admittedly, there was a phase of accepting „only the best“, but that‘s passed since a decade or so.
I‘ve started with VST when NI Reaktor was released, then switched to Sharc DSPs, IOS and became a (very) late adaptor of Pro Tools TDM.
None of these systems is entirely uniform in it’s sound processing, but each has a certain „character“ (at least imh ears).
While I have a some vintage units from Telefunken and TAB, I neither have high end converters nor a properly treated room.
In fact I enjoy a lot of stuff that could be called crap from today‘s technical pov.
(DX-7, SPX90, Casio CZ1k, SK-1, Lexicon Vortex, Intellifex, Boss ME-5, Digidesign 888/24, 882/20 etc)
The 2 sentences you quoted apply to any DAW that outputs at least a half-way decent sound on headphones. No expensive gear required, all happens within the software.
The crucial point is to listen carefully.
One catch, though: the result may depend on experience, which could turn into a curse if you have a lot of (different) „sound memories“
For the small price, I will buy it anyways an see if it's good for me or not. Thank you all.