If you have ever wished Live had that one-knob plugin, this is it. Afterburner is a Max for Live audio effect with one big Amount knob, four modes and an Output trim. Under the hood it is a three-band compressor with per-band make-up gain feeding a clipper (modes A and B) or a clean lookahead limiter (modes C and D), the structure of the original it is inspired by. I did not guess the settings: I rendered more than 150 test signals through the original (sweeps, level steps, bursts, pink noise, drums, vocals, at every mode and Amount) and fitted Afterburner to those measurements until the two nulled against each other. How close is it? (in plain language) A null test plays the original and Afterburner against each other with one of them flipped in polarity. Whatever is left over is the difference. On a drum loop the leftover is about 5 to 10 % of the signal (-20 to -26 dB), on a vocal 3 to 11 % (-19 to -32 dB depending on the mode), and the loudness matches within 0.4 LU (a quarter of a decibel on most settings). That remaining few percent is timing detail in how fast each compressor grabs a transient. Tone, loudness, squash and grit match closely. The four modes A - scooped and punchy: heavy low and high band compression, master compression, clipped at the end. Drums and aggressive mixes. B - mid-forward and gritty: hard band limiters, a saturated low band, gentler master, clipped. Leads, guitars, lo-fi. C - loud and flat with that characteristic grit on sustained sounds: fast band compression into a clean limiter. The vocal mode. D - transparent: one gentle full-band compressor into a clean limiter. "Just louder" for mixes and buses. What you get Afterburner.amxd (self-contained Max for Live device, Mac and Windows) PDF manual, README, changelog Free updates for version 1.x A license key (enter it once, works offline afterwards) Requirements Ableton Live 12 Suite, or Live 12 Standard with the Max for Live add-on. macOS or Windows. One internet connection to activate. Install Unzip, drag Afterburner.amxd into Live's User Library (Presets / Audio Effects / Max Audio Effect), drag it onto a track. Paste your license key into the field on the display, press ACTIVATE. Done. FAQ Mac or Windows? Both. It uses only built-in Max objects, no externals. Which Live versions? Live 12 Suite, or Live 12 Standard + Max for Live. Live 11 is not supported (the device is built with the Max 9 engine that ships with Live 12). Does it add latency? 3.7 ms at 48 kHz (177 samples), reported to Live and compensated automatically, so everything stays in time. CPU? Light on CPU. How close is it to the original? It is built to match it as closely as measurements allow (numbers above). It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the makers of the original. Can I automate the mode? Yes. Mode changes are click-free (20 ms glide), so you can switch modes mid-song. Presets? Dry/wet? No, on purpose. One knob and four modes is the whole idea. Amount at 0 % is a true bypass and blends in the effect just like the original, so Amount already is the dry/wet. Updates? Free for all 1.x versions. You get an email from Gumroad when a new version is up; download it from your library. Refunds? All sales are final. If something doesn't work, reply to your receipt and I'll help fix it. How many computers? Activate it on the computers you personally use (studio and laptop are fine). Please do not share the key. Offline? After the one-time activation, yes.