I have the first iteration of the hardware version of the BBE Sonic Maximizer connected into my prosumer level home stereo system and would not be without it for any home audio system I am likely to own. It's like taking the blankets off of your speakers. So, if the software version is anything close to the hardware version then it can do wonders for your total sound. However, I question the use of it in mixing audio with less than pro level audio monitors. It can make YOUR speakers sound pro level but when incorporated as an integral part of the source material it can make someone else's speakers sound shrill and artificial.

BTW, farss, Wave Hammer is essentially a compressor and has no relation to a sonic maximizer (sometimes aka spectral enhancer or aural exciter). The two perform completely different functions and are in no way mutually exclusive.

Blues

It's a totally different kind of tool. Works on harmonics, excitement, and suppression. Really good for us older guys. :-)

Ah, right!
Yes at our age we need all the harmonious excitement we can get.

Bob.

great plug in and great price, i use it a lot -- another good one is IZotope Ozone 3

and though doesn't work as a plug-in in Vegas , T-Racks is one of my favorite ...


edit - t-racks does have a DX plug-in I see , maybe it does work in vegas.

I use the Maximizer on all my music-vocal recordings (of my own voice, and others'). I typically double the vocal track, and apply Maximizer to one copy and leave the other track dry, or else use Maximizer on it too, but with very subtle settings. Well worth it, for music production.

This kind of software is also known as an "aural exciter", although my wife blushes whenever I use that term...

Ernie

Note there is a small difference in the "aural exciter" and others like the BBE. I have BOTH in my studio. Have not used in a while but the maximizer offers phase shifting to correct the timing delay difference between the lower and upper frequencies which shift as the signal is processed and passed through the various pieces of equipment. For us OLD guys it corrects the phasing and that is what removes the muddy sound. The exciter adds or enhances or what ever you need the upper range of harmonics based on the lower end. That adds to the clarity if you use odd harmonics. There are exiciters that add both odd and even and can be controlled. Each is used for a different reason. But the BBE Maximizer in the hardware form allows for timing shift from between the upper and lower to put them back in phase. Remember the old speakers with the physically different plains for the tweetes and woofer that was suppose to correct for that? My question is the digital realm does not shift so if using that control, you are then PRE-Planning the shift before it goes out to the real world?

Gary

GWA is correct. There is a difference between the "aural exciter" process and the BBE "Sonic Maximizer" process. They're actually two completely different things.

Aphex developed the "Aural Exciter" in the 70's and, as GWA said, it generates new harmonics based upon the audio content in the midrange. It can actually generate new high-frequency content for "dull" or "muddy" program material. Technically, it adds harmonic distortion, but it is a very pleasing effect when used in moderation. The BBE process does not generate harmonics and can't create anything that isn'tt in the original material.

On the other hand, the BBE "Sonic Maximizer" was designed to be a "correction" device. Loudspeakers have difficulty dealing with the electronic signals supplied by an amplifier. These difficulties cause such major phase and amplitude distortion that the sound reproduced by a speaker differs significantly from the sound produced by the original source.
Research has shown that the information which the listener translates into the recognizable characteristics of a live performance are intimately tied into the complex time and amplitude relationships between the fundamental and harmonic components of a given musical note or sound. These relationships define a sound's "sound" -- When these complex relationships pass through a speaker, the proper order is lost. The higher frequencies are delayed. A lower order frequency may reach the listener’s ear first or perhaps simultaneously with that of a higher frequency. In some cases, the fundamental components may be so time-shifted that they can reach the listener’s ear ahead of some or all the harmonic components. This change in the phase and amplitude relationship of the harmonic and fundamental frequencies is technically called "envelope distortion.” The listener perceives this loss of sound integrity in the reproduced sound as “muddy” and "smeared" -- in the extreme, it can become difficult to tell the difference among musical instruments. While there are differences among various speaker designs in the magnitude of their needs for correction, the overall pattern of correction needed is remarkably consistent.

The BBE process imparts a pre-determined phase correction to the high frequencies where most harmonic information exists. This is done by breaking the signal into three sub-bands or groups: the low frequency group, which is crossed over at 150Hz, the mid-range group which is crossed over at 1200Hz and the high frequency group that handles everything else up to 20kHz.
The low group is delayed about 2.5 ms (milliseconds) via group delay within a low pass filter. One of the controls allows for either a flat response or a boost of the lows at 50Hz. The mid-range group is delayed only about 0,5 ms and passes through a band-pass filter. The mid group is used as a point of reference to make dynamic amplitude corrections to the high frequency group which has been passed through the digital equivalent of a VCA (Voltage Controlled Amplifier).
Two RMS average loudness detectors continuously monitor both the mid-range and high frequencies to compare the relative harmonic content levels of the two bands and apply the appropriate amount of control voltage to the VCA, thereby determining the amount of high frequency harmonic content present at the final output of the BBE processor.

I noticed that Earthrisers (Ernie) processes a track with the BBE and then mixes it back with the original track. This is not at all how the BBE process was designed to work. Because of the delays imparted by the process, when mixed back with the original audio, it will cause phase cancellations which has a "comb effect" on the audio and is not desirable. Now, the Aphex Aural Exciter is all about mixing its effect back into the original audio, but the BBE process is definitely not.

John.

i record audio with vegas 10000 times more than video...this plug in is garbage in the realm of things...haha. I would spend my money on a good plugin - like Izytope Ozone (which is great!) ANYDAY before BBE! It's like a cheaters way to get results, and when you compare an OZONE worked on project vs. the BBE worked on, you can really really tell the difference!!!!

haha.

so yeah, I'd advice not getting it, unless you are desperate for instant bright and crappy mixes! haha.

Hey John, long time not talk. Been awhile. You really detailed my simple notes out and are correct. If you study the way we hear sounds it will all make sense. The BBE really does help. I have the Behringer version with a few extra bells and whistles but I actually like the older BBE better. Tunable crossover range to effect and is simple. My Aphex is the Type "C" which is only odd harmonics. Odd harmonics makes vocals more easily understood. Even ones are mellow. So the exciter is for making things easier to hear and add detail. Interesting if you study singers who will not use mixers with transitor output, only transformers for the harmonic control of their voice so it will be "warmer" in tone. I use it on old reel to reel and cassette recordings people brring me to transfer to CD etc and want it cleaned up. The BBE helps remove the "muddy" sound due to the phase difference. And you are right about the mix back for the BBE, it will cause cancellations. But good explanations on the way the two work.

OH John, a side note, did you get the message on Larry Kunks VM site? Drop me a line if not and will forward to you. Carry on!

Gary Ashorn

Ozone has a multi-band harmonic exciter which works in much the same way as the Aphex Aural Exciter. Once again, Ozone and the Aphex are completely different processes than the BBE. Ozone also has parametric EQ, multi-band compression, reverb, stereo soundstage expansion and a loudness-maximizing limiter.

All three of these processes are designed to do different things and "solve" different problems (although any of them can also cause more problems than they solve.) Comparing Ozone to either the Aphex or the BBE is really an unfair comparison. A really great recording doesn't really need any of these processors. (haha, to you, too!)

John

John, hehehe, you fell right into my trap! Nice job explaining the differences, I didn't want to type all that minutia you did. Yes, I know the processes are different between the BBE Sonic Maximizer (which I use in my home stereo chain), the Aphex Aural Exciter, and the dbx Spectral Enhancer (which I use in my recording studio) but they are all attempts to do the same basic job (clarify the instruments in a mix). They all work very well if used in the right place at the right time in the right amount. I guess I only take exception to the notion that they are "completely different things" since they are going after the same end result. Well, OK, one other thing... you can't accurately say "RMS" and "average" in the same sentence to refer to the same thing as the definition of AVERAGE is "0.637x Vpeak" and the definition of RMS is "0.707 x Vp" or "1.11 x Vavg". Just yanking your chain ;)

Excellent description!

Blues