FireMaximizer Manual
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Before you dive into reading, check the short video, please:

The controls

Drive - controls the input amplification, hence the output loudness. But there's a limit to that - once you increase it too much, you will only be producing more distortion. Use it wisely and use a loudness meter after it, so you can produce the correct loudness for the media you are mastering the audio for.

Ceiling - controls the output level. The maximizer brings everything to 0dBFS, and using this parameter; you can lower the output slightly to provide room for true peaks, audio compression artefacts etc. It is also recommended to use oversampling if you want to fight the "true peaks".

Clean - lets you lower the amount of distortion produced by the limiters at the cost of actually reducing loudness. It has no effect on the clipper and saturator.

Look-ahead - potentially lowers the distortion of the limiters at the expense of introducing a small latency. There may be audible glitches when changing it, depending on your DAW, which needs to update the latency compensation system.

Mode - controls the character of the maximizer. By dragging the XY pad node, you control the mix ratio between clipping, saturation, limiting and multiband limiting. 

Clipping is highly useful for aggressive genres such as metal, drum'n'bass, hip-hop etc. 

Saturation is similar to Clipping, but it also produces some analogue warmth. So for aggressive genres, it is common to set the node somewhere in between, depending on your taste.

Limiting provides a classic brickwall limiter and is useful for less aggressive genres, where you do NOT want the spectrum to be altered, so it is as transparent as possible, however not as loud as the other modes.

Multiband limiter is a multiband version of the brickwall limiter, which performs the limiting in separate parts of the spectrum, potentially squeezing more loudness out of it and mainly flattening it naturally, so it is useful for various genres such as rock, pop, and even more aggressive genres.

Oversampling - Change the internal resolution of the plugin to achieve better quality results.

FireMaximizer Top Toolbar

FireMaximizer features several standard controls, which can improve your workflow.

A, B and Copy buttons - The plugin remembers two sets of settings, A and B. Clicking any of these two buttons switches between these two settings. The selected one is highlighted in red. This is a great way for A/B checking and selecting the best settings. The "Copy" button copies the current settings to the other slot (if A is currently selected, the button will copy the current settings to slot B). 

Presets and right and left arrows - The plugin comes with a set of presets, which should do the trick for most cases. Access them using the right and left arrows or by clicking the preset field directly. There you can save and manage your own presets as well. On your computer, presets are stored in the following paths:

Windows:

C:\Users\username\Documents\FireSonic\FireMaximizer

Mac OS X:

HOME/Documents/FireSonic/FireMaximizer

Undo and Redo buttons - All of us make a mistake from time to time, which is when these two buttons come in handy. Undo button reverts your last change, Redo puts it back.

Bypass button - It is always a good idea to check if the plugin actually improves your sound, which is what the bypass button is for. In many DAWs it will be in sync with the DAW's bypass button (if it has one).

Right-Click

Right-click anywhere in the plugin background with the right mouse button, and you will get access to the following features.

Scale GUI precisely by per-cent.

Get the version info.

Access product web page, reach support and access online documentation.  

Contact support

Open presets folder (to add, arrange or delete presets manually)

Activate/Deactivate the plugin

Access Licence manager (to activate or deactivate the plugin or several plugins at the same time)

Disable/Enable GPU Acceleration.

Disable/Enable Intelligent sleep on silence function that disables the plugin when no sound is on input or output to save the CPU power. 

Right-click any control (knob, button) to access help for the particular parameter. 

Double-click Menu 

Some parameters let you access more accurate numeric settings by double-clicking the knobs. 

Installation and maintenance

Installation is a quick and simple process involving downloading and using a standard installer on both platforms, Windows and Mac OS X. The installer places the plugins and presets in proper locations so that your DAW can easily find it. The plugin is available for all relevant interfaces: VST, VST3, AAX, and AU. Note that on OS X, since High Sierra, you may need to restart your computer to make your DAW find new plugins.

If you find yourself in trouble, please contact us via support@unitedplugins.com .

Updating

Updating the plugin to the newest version is as simple as using the newest installer.

Uninstallation on Windows

You can either use the link to the uninstaller in the start menu by typing FireMaximizer for example or it can be accessed via Control panels / Applications / 

Uninstallation on Mac OS X

First, delete the plugin files manually from:

AU: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components 

VST: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST

VST: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3

AAX: /Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins 

Then if you really want to get rid of all data created by the plugin, remove the following folders as well: 

HOME/Documents/FireSonic/FireMaximizer

HOME/Library/Application support/FireSonic/FireMaximizer

Note: Since OS X 10.7 (Lion), many folders are marked as hidden by default. To make them visible again in Finder, please follow this tutorial.

Trial and activation

Initially, FireMaximizer is in demo mode. That lets you evaluate the plugin, try it in your mixing/mastering sessions and make sure it really does the trick. When ready, purchase a license from our shop (by clicking on the FireMaximizer logo in the middle) or any of our resellers. You will receive a so-called license file, which you download to your computer. The plugin displays an ACTIVATE button when in trial mode, so click on it and select the license file. The plugin will check the license and activate the license on your computer. After you restart your DAW, the plugin will be activated and will work indefinitely without restrictions. You can use the plugin on all your computers.

Support

Now that you’ve taken the time to learn all about FireMaximizer enjoy and make your sound awesome! If our plug-ins helped you take your production to the next level, let us know, we’d love to hear from you and what you were able to create with our software. 

If you encounter any problems, we offer free technical support for all registered users. Start with the frequently asked questions.

If you need further assistance, you reach our Customer Support.

You can also reach our support staff by e-mail at: 

support@unitedplugins.com