LoudMax is a Look-Ahead Brickwall Loudness Maximizer Plugin with a clean transparent sound. It is designed to retain the original character of the music as much as possible even at high compression levels.
Downloads:
VST Plugin v1.33 for Windows PC 32/64bit
AU/VST Plugins v1.33 for Mac OS X 32/64bit (OS 10.5 - 10.14)
MAC plugins may not work with OS 10.15 or higher.
Further information and workarounds below.
LADSPA Plugin v1.33 for Linux x86 32/64bit
Winamp Plugin v1.33
Additional Releases:
GUI-less VST Plugin v1.33 for Windows PC 32/64bit
Winamp Plugin v1.33 32/64bit (zipped dll)
Please note the disclaimer on the right!
Release notes v1.33:
- More accurate peak hold algorithm.
- Readjusted release time bases.
- Fixed minor computation inconsistencies.
Main range of application:
- Audio Mastering
- Output Limiter/Maximizer for web radio stations
Controls:
- One slider for threshold, one for the output level
- Meters for input, output and gain reduction in relation to the desired threshold
- Link: Output slider will be coupled to the threshold slider
- ISP: Inter-sample peak detection for true peak limiting
Features:
- True Peak Limiting (Further information for ISP below)
- Supported Samplerates: 2kHz - 384kHz
- Latency: 1.25ms (+ 6 samples with ISP)
- Look-Ahead and Attack Time: 1.25ms
- Release Time: Automatic - depending on the input signal
- No audible distortion
- Possible overdrive: 740dB
- Very low CPU usage
LoudMax is available as VST 2.4 Plugin for Windows and Mac OS X, Audio Unit Plugin for Mac OS X, LADSPA Plugin for Linux x86 and as Winamp Plugin.
A SSE2-capable CPU is necessary (Pentium 4 / AMD Athlon 64 or newer).
MAC OS 10.15 Information and workarounds:
With Catalina you will get the error message:"“LoudMax.component” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified."
Option1: Go to "System Preferences > Security and Privacy > General" immediately after you get that error. You might see a button there to allow LoudMax to run. Also you may need to restart the computer.
Option2: Open a terminal and
type in "sudo spctl --master-disable” to disable gatekeeper. Select the
"Anywhere" option in "System Preferences >
Security and Privacy > General > Allow apps downloaded
from:". Once LoudMax is running enable gatekeeper again "sudo spctl
--master-enable”. Also you may need to restart the computer before.
This should work for now, but can be changed by Apple at any timeWhy does LoudMax not work directly with OS 10.15 or higher?
I do not own a MAC. I ported LoudMax to MAC for a friend and since then I use his old MAC Book for compilation. In order to meet Apple's requirements for developers with their new operating system I would have to buy a new MAC and regularly transfer money to Apple for licensing. This is free software that I program as a hobby and make available online for everyone. I cannot and do not want to support Apple's company policy, which more and more often means a large additional expenditure of time and money for independent external software developers.
The Mac OS X Plugins are "Universal Binaries" with support for Intel Mac.
The Audio Unit version was built with Symbiosis from NuEdge Development.
The Linux Plugin has no meters since LADSPA doesn´t support a custom GUI. But it supports 5.1 surround modes. See README file in the LADSPA zip package for further informations.
The Winamp Plugin also supports 5.1 surround. Built-in stereo overdrive protection avoids distortions in a subsequent stereo downmix.
The Winamp Plugin has a simplified user interface. Only one slider for adjusting the maximum amplification. The maximum output level is 0dB.
The GUI was designed by LimeFlavour based on the idea and colorscheme of Sinkmusic.
Thanks to Hannes Druener for using his MacBook and testing.
Inter-Sample Peak Detection:
The higher the frequency, the greater the probability that the true peak will be between two digital audio samples. These true peak overshoots can be up to 3 dB for proper band-limited audio and even much more for pathological signals. This can become a problem not only with poor D/A converters, but also with subsequent sample rate conversions, e.g. from 44.1 to 48 kHz or vice versa, and the use of audio compression such as MP3 or AAC.
For more information see the "Tutorials" section.
When ISP is turned on, four additional samples are calculated between every two samples present. This reduces true peak overshoots for proper band-limited audio to 0.2 dB and for pathological signals to 0.5 dB.
ITU-R BS.1770: There are coefficients given in this recommendation for the calculation of inter-sample peaks. Unfortunately these coefficients do not seem to be optimal for limiters. They have a negative effect on transients and lead to high overshoots in true peak meters that use higher quality upsampling. Therefore LoudMax uses optimized coefficients that do not affect transients and reduce the overshoots to similar values with all true peak meters tested. The downside is that BS.1770 calibrated true peak meters will also detect overshoots of up to 0.2 dB with LoudMax ISP detection. So if you need to guarantee a true peak level of -1.0 dB for example, set the output level to -1.2 dB or even -1.5 dB.
Using ISP will double the CPU utilization and increase latency by 6 samples.
LoudMax changes the latency dynamically when ISP is switched. Note that most hosts do not adjust latency compensation while playing, but at the next stop/start.
