Gate/Compressor Area - EAW UMX.96 Owner's Manual

The Selected Channel
EAW UMX.96 Owner's Manual
9.3

Gate/Compressor Area

This group of controls affects the Gate/Expander and the Compressor. Only mono input channels have
gates/expanders. All channels except internal effects returns have compressors.
The quick explanation of a gate is: signals below the threshold level are muted, while signals above the
threshold get to pass through. The range control changes the rule slightly. Signals below the threshold are
attenuated by the amount of the range setting, while signals above the threshold get to pass through.
The operation of the gate is further modified by the Attack, Hold, and Release controls. In order to open the
gate, the trigger signal must exceed the threshold for at least the duration of the Attack time. This is useful
for helping the gate discriminate between something that is short duration and long duration, such as hi-hat
leakage into one of the tom-tom mikes.
Once the gate has opened, the Hold time begins. The hold timer resets any time the input signal crosses the
threshold again, as long as it remains above the threshold for longer than the Attack setting. After the Hold
time passes, the gain falls at a rate determined by the Release setting. The Range control allows the gate to
remain partly open, even if the input is below the threshold.
Change the gate to an expander by enabling the EXP button in the Selected Channel or via the touch-
screen's Dynamics tab.
The quick explanation of an expander is: signals below the threshold are made quieter, while signals above
the threshold are allowed to pass through. Compare this with what the gate does. The Range control is
replaced by a Ratio control and the Hold control is disabled.
An expander is like a gate, but instead of closing completely applying a fixed amount of gain reduction
determined by a range control, gain reduction is based on a ratio. At a high ratio setting, the two devices are
nearly identical.
The quick explanation of a compressor is: if it's too hot, turn it down, otherwise leave it alone. A compressor
is used to reduce or limit transient peaks in a signal. As the input level to the compressor increases, the out-
put level increases linearly until the threshold point is reached. After that point, the output level no longer
increases linearly. Instead, it increases at a reduced rate determined by the ratio setting.
The Attack and Release controls affect the rate of the gain change; Attack affects the rate of the onset of
gain reduction and Release affects the recovery rate once the transient has passed. All input and output
channels have compressors. The system processor outputs have limiters, which are nothing more than a
compressor with the ratio turned up to 100.
Both Dynamics processors have Key Filtering, a tunable bandpass filter inserted into the signal path of the
control signal. Use the key filter to emphasize a signal that you want to control the dynamics processor. For
a gate on a tom-tom, setting the key filter to the drum's fundamental frequency makes that gate more selec-
tive and helps it reject leakage from other sources. You can listen to the Key Filter signal using the Key Listen
via the solo system.
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