Maximus in FL Studio is the stock multiband maximizer — a combined compressor, limiter and loudness tool that splits your sound into low, mid and high bands plus a master band, so you can shape each frequency range independently. To use it, add it to a mixer track, pick a band at the bottom of the plugin, and drag the curve in the central graph to set how hard that band is squashed. It looks busy, but the core idea is simple once you know what the graph is telling you.
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This tutorial walks through Maximus the way you’d actually reach for it: loading it, reading the interface, starting from a preset, then dialling in your own settings for glue, de-essing or a loud master. If compression is new to you, skim our EQ and compression fundamentals first — it’ll make the curves make sense.
What Maximus actually does
Maximus is a multiband dynamics processor. “Multiband” means it divides the incoming audio into separate frequency ranges — low, mid and high — and processes each one on its own before summing them back together. A fourth band, the master (MST) band, then acts on the full summed signal, which is where the loudness maximizing happens.
Instead of the usual threshold and ratio knobs, each band uses an envelope curve on a graph. The horizontal axis is input level; the vertical axis is output level. A straight diagonal line means “output equals input” — no processing. Bend the top of the line downwards and you’re compressing loud signals; flatten the very top into a ceiling and you’re limiting; lift the bottom of the line and you’re pushing quiet signals up, which is what makes a track feel louder. That single graph is doing the job of a whole compressor’s worth of controls.
How to add Maximus in FL Studio
Getting it onto a track is the same as any effect:
- Open the Mixer (press F9).
- Select the track you want to process — an individual instrument insert, a group bus, or the Master track at the far left for whole-mix processing.
- In the effects slots on the right, click the small arrow on an empty slot and choose Maximus from the plugin list. If it isn’t in the short list, use the plugin picker/search to find it.
Where you put it matters. On the master, Maximus is a mastering-style maximizer and limiter. On a single instrument or bus, it’s a surgical multiband compressor — great for taming a boomy bass or a harsh vocal without flattening everything else. As a rule, put it near the end of a chain, after your EQ and other dynamics.
Reading the Maximus interface
Along the bottom of the plugin you’ll see band tabs. The three frequency bands — LOW, MID and HIGH — each have their own curve and controls. There’s also a multiband overview and the master (MST) band. Click a tab to bring that band’s curve into the big central graph.
Each band has its own knobs, and the ones you’ll touch most are attack (ATT) and release (REL). Attack sets how fast the band clamps down once the signal crosses the curve; release sets how fast it lets go afterwards. Fast attack catches transients hard; slower attack lets clicks and drum hits punch through. If your compression sounds like it’s “breathing” or pumping in time with the music, the release is usually too fast — slow it down.
The band overview also shows the crossover frequencies: the split points where low becomes mid and mid becomes high. You can drag these to decide, for example, that “low” only covers the sub and kick, or that “high” starts low enough to grab sibilance. Set the crossovers to match your material rather than leaving them at default.
The fastest start: load a preset
You don’t have to build a curve from scratch. Maximus ships with a deep preset library covering common jobs — loudness maximizing, master limiting, de-essing, vocal levelling, bus glue and more. Click the preset menu (the dropdown at the top of the plugin, or the preset arrows on the FL Studio plugin wrapper) and browse.
Presets are the best teaching tool in the whole plugin. Load one that’s close to what you want, then click through the LOW, MID and HIGH tabs and study how the curves and attack/release settings differ. A “loudness maximizer” preset will show you an aggressive master-band curve; a “de-esser” preset shows a high band that only clamps down when sibilance crosses a threshold. Start from the closest preset and tweak — it’s faster and more educational than staring at a blank graph.
How to use Maximus in FL Studio as a master limiter
The classic job for Maximus in FL Studio is finishing a track: making it loud and controlled on the master bus. Here’s a sensible workflow:
- Add Maximus to the Master mixer track, after any mastering EQ.
- Load a mastering or loudness preset as a starting point so you’re not flying blind.
- Click the MST (master) band. This is the band that limits the full summed signal.
- Shape the top of the master curve into a flat ceiling — that flat section is your limiter, catching peaks so nothing clips. Then gently lift the middle and lower part of the curve to bring the overall level up.
- Use the three frequency bands for problem-solving: pull the LOW band’s curve down a touch if the low end is swamping everything when it gets loud, or ease the HIGH band if cymbals get harsh under pressure.
- Set attack and release to taste — slower on the low band to keep it musical, faster on the highs to catch quick transients.
Push for loudness, but let your ears and a meter be the judge, not just the waveform. Streaming platforms normalise loudness, so slamming a track past the point of distortion loses you dynamics for no real gain. Check your levels against a target with our free audio tools, and read how loud your master should be in LUFS before you commit. For the bigger picture on where limiting fits, see what mastering actually involves.
Using Maximus on individual tracks and buses
Maximus isn’t only a master tool. On a single channel it shines as a multiband corrective compressor:
- De-essing vocals: work only the HIGH band. Set the crossover so the high band captures the sibilant “ess” region, then bend that band’s curve down so it clamps when sibilance spikes and stays open the rest of the time. Our guide to mixing vocals covers where de-essing fits in the chain.
- Controlling boomy bass: work the LOW band with a slower attack and release so it tightens the low end without killing the punch of the note.
- Bus glue: apply gentle, even compression across all bands on a drum or instrument bus to make the parts feel like one performance.
The advantage over a single-band compressor is surgical: you can squash the exact frequency range that’s misbehaving and leave everything else untouched.
Sidechaining with Maximus
Maximus can respond to an external signal, so you can duck a pad or bass out of the way of a kick. Route the trigger track to Maximus’s sidechain input in the mixer (the same sidechain routing FL Studio uses for Fruity Limiter and other plugins), then set the band you want the sidechain to control. It’s a cleaner, more frequency-aware alternative to ducking a whole track. For rhythmic pumping effects and classic kick-and-bass sidechaining, Fruity Limiter’s dedicated sidechain mode is often simpler, so pick the tool that matches the job.
Common problems and quick fixes
A few things trip people up:
- It sounds distorted or crunchy. You’re limiting too hard, or your attack is so fast it’s chewing transients. Ease the curve off the ceiling and slow the attack slightly.
- The mix pumps or breathes. Release is too fast — lengthen it until the movement settles into the groove instead of fighting it.
- The low end feels weak when loud. Your LOW band is over-compressed relative to the others. Back its curve off and rebalance.
- Nothing seems to change. Check you’re editing the right band tab, and that your signal is actually reaching the part of the curve you bent — quiet material never touches a ceiling set high up.
Maximus is a genuinely capable stock plugin and covers the vast majority of multiband and mastering tasks on its own. If you later want a dedicated mastering limiter with loudness metering built in, a specialist third-party limiter from Plugin Boutique can be a worthwhile upgrade — but you can get professional results with the stock tool for a long time first. If you’re still weighing DAWs, our FL Studio review and best free DAWs for beginners put it in context, and what is a VST explains where plugins like this fit.
Frequently asked questions
Is Maximus a compressor or a limiter?
Both, and more. Depending on how you shape the curve, a single band can act as a compressor (bending the top down), a limiter (flattening the top into a hard ceiling) or an upward maximizer (lifting the bottom of the curve to raise quiet passages). Because it does this across three frequency bands plus a master band, it’s best described as a multiband maximizer.
Where should I put Maximus in my mixer chain?
Generally near the end, after EQ and any single-band dynamics. On a master bus it goes last, or second-to-last before a final metering plugin. On an instrument track, place it after corrective EQ so it’s reacting to the sound you’ve already balanced, not the raw signal.
Do I need Maximus, or is Fruity Limiter enough?
For simple single-band compression, limiting or basic sidechaining, Fruity Limiter is quicker and does the job well. Reach for Maximus when you specifically need multiband control — de-essing, taming one frequency range, or a more nuanced loud master. They’re complementary; most FL Studio producers use both. For the fundamentals behind either, see our mixing and mastering hub.
