The Vu Meter And Clip Led; The Eq Section - DigiTech VTP1 Owner's Manual

The VU Meter and CLIP LED

These two components give you a combined and highly accurate reading of the amount of level at
the analog and digital outputs. The VU meter is calibrated in Volume Units which give an average
signal level reading. The key word here is "average" because VU meters show the average differ-
ence between the peaks and valleys in the level of the program material. While VU meters gener-
ally show an accurate level for a synthesizer pad sound where the dynamic differences are slight,
they will let brief peaks through that don't register on the needle such as those from an energetic
Bass guitar track.
The CLIP LED is a fast-acting indicator to warn you of peaks that are causing audible distortion
at the output stage. It will light when you are 6 dB before the onset of clipping in the analog out-
put and 3 dB before clipping in the digital output. Because there are several stages in the VTP-1,
each with their own input and output, the CLIP LED has sensing at each stage to help you gauge
your levels more accurately.

The EQ section

The EQ section is a high quality solid state equalization circuit that offers you creative and prob-
lem-solving control of your input signal. There are two shelving bands and two semi-parametric
bands.
The 80 Hz and 12 kHz have a maximum boost or cut of 15 dB at their respective knee frequen-
cies. The following graphs show the equalization curves at of the 80 Hz and 12 kHz bands at vari-
ous cut and boost settings.
80 Hz Shelving EQ plot 12 kHz Shelving EQ plot
The LO MID and HI MID are variable bandpass filters which allow control of specific frequency
bands. The "Q" or width of the frequency band is fixed. These filters also have a maximum boost
or cut of 15 dB at their specified center frequency. The following graphs illustrate the Lo Mid and
Hi Mid equalization curves at various cut, boost and center frequency settings.
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