Orban Optimod-FM 8300 Operating Manual page 172

3-54
OPERATION ORBAN MODEL 8300
controls, which have never previously been available in an Orban processor, are risky
and difficult to adjust appropriately. They affect the sound of the processor in many
subtle ways. The main trade-off is "punch" (achieved with slower attack times) ver-
sus distortion and/or pumping produced in the clipping system (because slower at-
tack times increase overshoots that must be eliminated in the clipping system). The
results are strongly program-dependent, and must be verified with listening tests to
a wide variety of program material.
The A time controls are calibrated in arbitrary units. Higher numbers corre-
TTACK
spond to slower attacks.
The look-ahead delay time in bands 3, 4, and 5 automatically tracks the setting of
the A time controls to minimize overshoot for any attack time setting.
TTACK
MB Limit Speech Threshold. See page 3-44.
Maximum Distortion Control limits the maximum amount of final clipper drive
reduction (in dB) that the 8300's clipping distortion controller can apply, preventing
over-control of transient material by the distortion controller. Instead, the final clip-
per is permitted to control some of the transient material (to increase "punch"),
even though, technically, such clipping introduces "distortion." A setting of 4 to 5
dB works best in most cases. Factory default is 5 dB for virtually all presets.
High Frequency Limiter sets the amount of additional gain reduction occurring in
band 5 when high frequency energy would otherwise cause excessive distortion in
the final clipper. It uses an analysis of the activity in the final clipper to make this de-
termination, and works in close cooperation with the band-5 multiband clipper.
Functionally, this control is a mix control that adds a HF limiter gain reduction signal
to the band 4 gain reduction signal to determine the total gain reduction in band 5.
Higher settings produce more HF limiting. A setting of "–18" provides a good trade-
off between brightness and distortion at high frequencies.
Limiter Attack controls allow you to set the limiter attack anywhere from 0 to
100% of normal in the Five-Band compressor / limiters. Because the limiter and com-
pressor characteristics interact, you will usually get best audible results when you set
these controls in the range of 70% to 100%. Below 70%, you will usually hear
pumping because the compressor function is trying to create some of the gain re-
duction that the faster limiting function would have otherwise achieved. If you hear
pumping in a band and you still wish to adjust the limiter attack to a low setting,
you can sometimes ameliorate or eliminate the pumping by slowing down the com-
pressor attack time in that band.
Delta Release controls are differential controls. They allow you to vary the release
time in any band of the Five-Band compressor / limiter by setting an offset between
the M R setting and the actual release time you achieve in a given
ULTIBAND ELEASE
band. For example, if you set the M control to medium-fast and the
R
ULTIBAND ELEASE
B 3 D GR control to –2, then the band 3 release time will be the same as if
AND ELTA
you had set the M control to medium and set the B
R 3 D GR
ULTIBAND ELEASE AND ELTA
control to 0. Thus, your settings automatically track any changes you make in the
control. In our example, the release time in band 3 will always be
M R
ULTIBAND ELEASE
two "click stops" slower than the setting of the M R control.
ULTIBAND ELEASE