Comparison

FAC Maxima vs Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

FAC Maxima

This audio effect provides automatic gain control to keep audio levels consistent and prevent clipping. It offers both transparent signal boosting and significant level maximization with creative colorization. The app is versatile for mastering, individual tracks, and broadcasting applications.

Highlights
  • Automatic gain control
  • Level maximization
  • Transparent signal boost
  • Creative colorization
  • Mastering tool
  • Individual track processing
  • Real-time multi-waveform graph
Read full description

FAC Maxima is an audio effect designed to provide automatic gain control of your audio materials to ensure that the levels stay consistent and never exceed 0dB. It's a clever combination of dynamic processors that can be set to provide a gentle transparent signal boost respecting the initial dynamic or significant colorised level maximisation. Thanks to a unique signal path, algorithms and a small set of parameters, FAC Maxima makes a complicated task easy. In addition to the classic final stage application, FAC Maxima excels on individual tracks too. With a few changes it's easy to go from the common gain deviation compensation, e.g. for vocals, to drastical audio changes that will bring your audio material to new territories: boost reverb tails, flattenize drums… The applications are various and the possibilities are limitless. • Get the final touch! FAC Maxima definitely makes audio louder and that makes it an effective tool in many mastering engineers’ arsenals. • Be creative! Emphasis subtitle details, sometimes floor contains treasure, you will have a completely new listen to your old tracks! The audio background may indeed contain noise, but sometimes also "pearls" that may be revealed. • Go further! Tired by the advertisement boost, or important speech level variation in broadcasting? Use FAC Maxima to maintain the level constant. DJ's may also benefit from the effects to normalise in real time the level of the mixed tracks. As with all FAC products the interface has a unique sober look and provides a great user experience. FAC Maxima also brings a real-time multi-waveform graph having a 6s buffer of the audio material before and after operations, this will help on setting the right parameters and have a visual feedback.

About

Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin

This audio plugin is a dynamics and transient processor for fine-tuning drum sounds within DAWs. It allows users to shape and boost drum kits for better punch and clarity without clipping, offering features like saturation, EQ, and filtering.

Highlights
  • Dynamics and transient processing
  • Saturation control
  • 8-band graphic EQ
  • LP/HP filtering
  • Attack & Hold controls
  • Intensity control up to 200%
  • Limiter/clipper
Read full description

DrumSurgeon is an AUv3 plugin designed for use in your favourite DAW such as AUM, Logic, Loopy Pro, Cubasis or GarageBand etc. Drum surgeon is a dynamics / transient processor specifically designed for fine tuning your drums. So your drum sounds are lacking punch and lost in the mix? This is where Drum Doctor can really help by allowing you to literally shape and boost your kit to break through the mix safetly and without clipping. The attack or onset of a sound is known as its transient. By controlling the level, shape and duration of these sounds, you change the dynamics of a drum track to achieve that perfect tightness, while boosting them to give your kick the right punch and snare the right amount of bite. Use the saturation to overdrive your mix prior to shaping. This can drastically change the character of some drum sounds at the filtering stage. The single LP/HP filtering knob lets you quickly find the tone that suits combined with the 8 band EQ to define your sound. Finally the intensity knob allows you to control the level of dynamics applied to your mix. Automate this in real time when you want to relax or accentuate your drum track during your song. Features: ○ Supports factory and user presets. ○ Add bite using the Attack & Hold controls. ○ Use the Release to get extra dynamic range. ○ Both Attack and Release can be inverted to transform the dynamics. ○ LP/HP filtering. ○ Saturation control. ○ 8 Band Graphic EQ. ○ Real-time gain display. ○ Intensity control to amplify the effect up to 200%. ○ Limiter/clipper for driving your sound to the max. ○ Auto ranging option for graphing.

Screenshots

FAC Maxima4 screens
Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: FAC Maxima at every 2 months against Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin's every 29 months. FAC Maxima also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.6) and ratings volume (67 vs 10). Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin's advantage is price ($5.99 vs $9.99) and review sentiment (100% vs 84%). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

FAC Maxima costs $9.99 and Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

FAC Maxima holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: FAC Maxima has 67 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 84% of FAC Maxima's written reviews are positive against 100% of Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

FAC Maxima ships an update every 2 months, Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin every 29 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
FAC Maxima versus Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFAC MaximaDrum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin
Price$9.99$5.99 — better
Rating4.9 (67 ratings) — better4.6 (10 ratings)
Positive reviews84.4% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings67 — better10
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 29 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS10.0 — better13
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFrederic Corvest4Pockets.com

Customer experience

FAC Maxima

All ratings67 ratings
Positive95.5%
Neutral3.0%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive84.4%
Neutral9.4%
Negative6.3%

Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin

All ratings10 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

FAC Maxima

No in-app purchases

None

Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is FAC Maxima free?
FAC Maxima costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin free?
Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, FAC Maxima or Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin?
FAC Maxima is rated higher. FAC Maxima averages 4.9 out of 5 from 67 ratings, while Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin averages 4.6 from 10 ratings.
Do FAC Maxima or Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin have ads?
Neither FAC Maxima nor Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FAC Maxima or Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin?
FAC Maxima ships an update every 2 months, and Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin every 29 months. Most recently, FAC Maxima was updated on October 14, 2026 and Drum Surgeon AUv3 Plugin on October 16, 2026.

Other comparisons