MaxLimit is a loudness maximizing plug-in from Sonalksis that comes in their Mastering Suite. It comes in pretty much all plug-in formats and for Mac and PC operating systems. I don't own this plug-in but have used it at a professional studio with a Pro Tools HD system. Since I don't own a copy, I wasn't involved with installing it, but I can't imagine that too many users are having problems with this aspect. Learning to use the plug-in isn't difficult either. It's got parameters for input trim, threshold, release, tone, and ceiling, while it also has a smooth button. If you understand what maximizers are about, this should be pretty easy to understand without the help of a manual.


SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I don't have the Sonalksis MaxLimit and Mastering Suite running on my system at home, but I've used them at a local studio that has a Pro Tools HD system. They ran fine on the system but it's hard to tell their true performance from this alone since I don't use their computer on a regular basis. Still, I think that this will work fine on most systems, especially if you're using it just on the master buss.

OVERALL OPINION

As part of the Sonalksis Mastering Suite, MaxLimit is a nice little plug-in. The bundle as a whole is a nice one to have in your suite as it's versatile for mastering and isn't very expensive. The Mastering Suite also comes with MultiLimit, Stereo Tools, and Ultimate D. The first is a multiband maximizing limiter, and Ultimate D is a dithering tool. They are all pretty cool plug-ins and as a bundle they won't cost you much. MaxLimit in particular is effective, but not as effective as the Waves L2 or L3 in my opinion. They're still pretty comparable and the bundle is definitely worth it if you get it all together, but I don't know if it's worth getting just one of them. Either way, MaxLimit and the Sonalksis Mastering Suite is definitely worthy of investigation if you're after some inside the box home mastering tools.