SideMinder Max Introduction and Demonstration Video 

Thank you for trying it out and for your kind words! 1) That is the purpose of the Master Width Gain control. It is an overall scale factor. Create the curve SHAPE you want with the 4 Contour Sliders and then use the Master Width Gain slider to adjust the resultant curve all at once for the desired amount of overall width gain. The total combined width gain is shown as a blue curve in the display per the blue "Signal Width Gain" scale at the bottom of the display. You may have to fiddle with the controls a bit but you can create nearly any practical shape. 2) To exclude any part of the spectrum from being processed adjust the width contour sliders so the width gain curve (blue curve is the display) is at 100% at that point in the spectrum. "100%" is unity gain and is not affecting the m/s ratio (width). If you set all 4 contour sliders to 100% and set the Master to 100% you should hear no difference in anything (with the width limiters turned OFF). If the width limiters are ON you might hear some difference if the incoming signal is already too wide whereby the limiters are preventing overs.

The "Width Contour" sliders (labeled 20, 200, 2k and 20k) are not crossover points - they are CONTROL points on a continuous spline curve. By moving these control points in/out in various combinations we can create any practical shape for width maximization purposes. Typically we want to narrow the bass and widen the mids and highs - which is the default curve - but it can be shaped in many different ways. The plugin comes with some basic presets to show how this curve can be set for various applications.