In the studio back in the 90s, I was working with a talented group that had a development deal. I remember the day the guitar player walked in with a mysterious new box by Barcus Berry Electronics. We all knew Barcus Berry as the maker of particularly effective pickups for acoustic instruments, but what was this? Is it the new magic box? Does it have an autopilot button that will allow us to set it and go (out to the pub, that is)?

BBE Sonic Maximizer user interface (click for larger image).

Indeed, the Sonic Maximizer had very few user controls. There were rumors and innuendo about what it actually did, but in a nutshell, it was supposed to make things sound "mo' bettah." Well gosh, if it makes everything sound mo bettah, why not put the stereo mix through it—or so was the thinking of the guitar player. My initial reaction was to shriek at such an idea, thinking what a large commitment we'd be making to a mix. What were the intentions of the designers, really? Would everyone in the world now start mixing through this device? Hardly. But the mysterious sonic quality that this device offered was something to be reckoned with, even if only used specifically, judiciously, and sparingly.

Well, Cakewalk has resurrected this still mysterious technology in the form of a DirectX plug-in. The BBE Sonic Maximizer plug-in is currently available, and can even be downloaded from the Cakewalk website, www.cakewalk.com. It's $129, but for you registered Cakewalk users, it can be had for an affordable $99. Explanations and theories aside, the effect is certainly a presence enhancer extraordinaire. It can be just the thing to give an acoustic guitar, a string section, background vocals, etc., a position in the soundfield that otherwise could not be attained. Bottom line, the BBE Sonic Maximizer is a really cool thing.

That Bottom Line
If the BBE Sonic Maximizer plug-in is that magic "box," or that mo' bettah button, then let us revel in it. If I seem mildly sarcastic about what exactly this thing is, it's because I am. There are technical and not-so-technical descriptions of its functions and benefits, such as "live presence is restored to your recordings, highs are clearer and more finely detailed," while "lows are tight, well-defined, and harmonically rich." It's explained that, when you listen to live music, all the high and low frequencies reach your ears at the same time. Recording and playing back induces "frequency dependent phase shifting." The BBE Sonic Maximizer compensates for that.

To me, one of the beauties of listening to live music is the complexity of not just the sound, but of the experience. Room acoustics with doors opening and closing, shifting bodies in the audience, moving performers, complex program material on and offstage make for some phase-shifting anomalies. That, and the constant shift in focus of our own perception, is the formula for a randomness that is the very excitement of live music. The BBE Sonic Maximizer simulates this randomness, making the instruments to which it is applied sound, in a sense, more real and more live.

The Experience
The plug-in installs easily and quickly from an executable file, compressed down to some 3MB and change. It's a DirectX plug-in and once it's installed, it will be accessible from any program that communicates with DirectX. I chose Sonar to experiment with.

There's more than one way to approach applying the BBE Sonic Maximizer in your production schema. You can apply the effect to a single track, or apply a different amount of the effect to a number of single tracks. You can apply the Sonic Maximizer to the entire stereo mix, though I would advise doing this sparingly. Applying an effect to another effect is not an uncommon practise, and the BBE Sonic Maximizer can give added presence to a reverb or delay that could stand a higher profile in the mix.

Taking a recorded track, I accessed the effects list and the BBE Sonic Maximizer showed up under audio effects. When I selected it, the BBE control panel popped up, seeming to say, "Tweak me. You know you want to." As you can see in the screenshot above, there's a low contour control, a "process" control, an output attenuator and bypass switch. As imagined, low contour effects the lower frequencies. The process control applies, if I haven't said it yet, the esoteric quality of the Sonic Maximizer.


The Call
Don't expect the BBE Sonic Maximizer to change your life. If you do, you might overuse it. I hesitate to call it a one-trick-pony, because its application and the amount that you can use it to affect the sound are rather variable. It is an "exciter" of sorts for any and all instruments, and in that way can be a lifesaver for a dull track or a lackluster sound. It can be a very handy trick to pull out or your DirectX hat.

If you've used a Sonic Maximizer in the past, but couldn't find a place for it in your digital studio, it's back. Cakewalk's got it. It's a cool thing to have. I like it.