Mackie DL806 and DL1608 Reference Guide
68
Vintage Gate Settings
Each channel’s threshold and hold levels may be changed by dragging up [increases level] and down
[decreases level] over their respective knobs until the desired level has been achieved. To the right
are two horizontal rows of buttons for the attack and release. Simply tap the button you desire for
the attack and release time. The current selection will illuminate green. The threshold and hold settings
(but not the attack and release settings) may also be manually entered via the current parameter display.
The range is fixed. The gate may be adjusted whether it is on or off. The iPad channel only has a compressor,
not a gate.
Threshold
— Threshold determines the level at which the gate acts on the incoming signal.
The range of the threshold setting varies from –80 dBFS to 0 dBFS.
Hold
— Hold sets a fixed time that the gate remains open once the signal drops below the threshold
setting. During the hold time, the gain is held constant, whereas during the release time, the gain
is falling at the release rate. The range of the hold time varies from 0 seconds to 5 seconds.
Attack
— Attack determines how quickly the gate opens once the signal is above threshold.
Short attack times allow triggering on short transients, while longer attack times cause these
transients to be ignored. Choose between a fast, medium or slow attack time.
Release
— Release determines how long it takes for the gain to fall to the setting of the range
control once the signal falls below threshold and the hold time elapses. Choose between a fast,
medium or slow release time.
Vintage Compressor Settings
Each channel’s threshold and gain levels may be changed by dragging up [increases level] and down
[decreases level] over their respective knobs until the desired level has been achieved. To the right
are three horizontal rows of buttons for the attack, release and ratio. Simply tap the button you desire
for the attack, release and ratio. The current selection will illuminate green. The threshold and gain
settings (but not the attack, release and ratio settings) may also be manually entered via the current
parameter display. The compressor may be adjusted whether it is on or off. The iPad channel only has
a compressor, not a gate.
Threshold
— Threshold
sets the threshold of the compressor in dB below 0 dBFS.
The range of the threshold setting varies from –80 dBFS to 0 dBFS.
Gain
—
Gain adds make-up gain to the output of the compressor. This is useful to make the
apparent volume of the signal the same with the compressor in and out of the signal chain.
The range of the make-up gain varies from 0 dB to 20 dB.
Attack
—
Attack determines how quickly the compressor reacts once the signal is above threshold.
Short attack times allow compressing on short transients, while longer attack times cause these
transients to be ignored. Choose between a fast, medium or slow attack time.
Release
—
Release determines how long it takes for the compressor to end gain reduction once
the signal drops back below the threshold. Choose between a fast, medium or slow release time.
Ratio
—
Ratio sets the amount of gain reduction applied as the signal exceeds the threshold level.
Choose between 2:1, 4:1, 8:1, 12:1 and 20:1.
