Orban OPTIMOD 6300 Operating Manual page 204

3-62
OPERATION
B1-B5 Attack (Time); Speech B1-B5 Attack controls set the speed with which the
gain reduction in each band responds to level changes at the input to a given band's
compressor for music and speech respectively, following the 6300's automatic
speech/music detector. These controls 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) versus distortion and/or pumping pro-
duced in the look-ahead limiter (because slower attack times increase overshoots
that the look-ahead limit must eliminate). The results are strongly program-
dependent and must be verified with listening tests to a wide variety of program
material.
Because there are separate controls for music and speech (page 3-6), you can set at-
tack times faster for speech (to minimize look-ahead limiter artifacts) and slower for
music (to maximize punch and transient definition).
The A
time controls are calibrated in arbitrary units that very approximately
TTACK
correspond to milliseconds. Higher numbers correspond to slower attacks.
Limiter Attack controls allow you to set the limiter attack anywhere from 0 to
100% of normal in the 5-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 5-band compressor/limiter by setting an offset between the
M R
setting and the actual release time you achieve in a given band.
ULTIBAND ELEASE
For example, if you set the M
3 D GR control to –2, then the band 3 release time will be the same as if you had
ELTA
set the M R
ULTIBAND ELEASE
0. Thus, your settings automatically track any changes you make in the M
R
ELEASE control. In our example, the release time in band 3 will always be two "click
stops" slower than the setting of the M
If your setting of a given D
slower than "slow" or faster than "fast" (the two end-stops of the M
R
ELEASE control), the band in question will instead set its release time at the appro-
priate end-stop.
Bx Compression Ratio: See page 3-54.
Note that the multiband gate only works appropriately when the K
controls of all bands are set identically, which is typically the case in broadcast appli-
cations. We recommend turning off the multiband gate if the individual K
R
settings are unequal.
ATIO
Bx Knee: See page 3-54.
R control to medium-fast and the B
ULTIBAND ELEASE
control to medium and set the B
R
ULTIBAND
R
control would otherwise create a release
ELTA ELEASE
ORBAN MODEL 6300
3 D GR control to
AND ELTA
control.
ELEASE
NEE
AND
ULTIBAND
ULTIBAND
and R
ATIO
and
NEE