Orban OPTIMOD 8685, Operating Manual

Page: 204 / 357

3-60
OPERATION ORBAN MODEL 8685
with this sort of material (traffic reports from helicopters and the like) to avoid ob-
jectionable side effects. You must let your ears guide you.
MB Band Mix controls determine the relative balance of the bands in the multi-
band compressor. Because these controls mix after the band compressors, they do
not affect the compressors’ gain reductions and can be used as a graphic equalizer
to fine-tune the spectral balance of the program material over a
±
6 dB range.
The range of the band mix controls has been purposely limited because
the only gain control element after these controls is the look-ahead lim-
iter, which can produce considerable audible distortion if overdriven.
You should make large changes in EQ with the bass and parametric
equalizers and the HF enhancer, because these are located
before the
compressors. The compressors will therefore protect the system from
look-ahead limiter overloads caused the chosen equalization. Use the
multiband mix controls only for fine-tuning.
You can also get a similar effect by adjusting the compression threshold
of the individual bands. This is comparably risky with reference to look-
ahead limiter overload, but unlike the
MB B
AND
M
IX
controls, does not af-
fect the frequency response when a given band is below threshold and is
thus producing no gain reduction.
On/Mute switches allow you to listen to any band (or any combination of bands) in-
dependently. This is a feature designed for intermediate or advanced users and de-
velopers when they are creating new 8685 presets. The mute control works by mut-
ing the input of compressor in that band. This prevents the muted compressor’s
sidechain from producing a gain reduction signal that could couple into unmuted
bands through the various band-coupling controls.
Please note that a single band will interact with the look-ahead limiter quite differ-
ently than will that band when combined with all of the other bands. Therefore, do
not assume that you can tune each band independently and have it sound the same
when the clipping system is processing all bands simultaneously.
B3>B4 Couple (“Band 3>4 Coupling”) control determines the extent to which the
gains of bands 4 (centered at 3.7 kHz) and 5 (above 6.2 kHz) are determined by and
follows the gain of band 3 (centered at 1 kHz). Set towards 100% (fully coupled) this
control reduces the amount of dynamic upper midrange boost, preventing unnatu-
Band Mix
Full Name Advanced Name Range
B2>B1 CPL B2>B1 Coupling 0 ... 100 %
B2>B3 CPL B2>B3 Coupling 0 ... 100 %
B3>B2 CPL B3>B2 Coupling 0 … 100 %
B3>B4 CPL B3>B4 Coupling 0 ... 100 %
B4>B5 CPL B4>B5 Coupling 0 ... 100 %
B1 OUT B1 Output Mix –6.0 … +6.0 dB
B2 OUT B2 Output Mix –6.0 … +6.0 dB
B3 OUT B3 Output Mix –6.0 … +6.0 dB
B4 OUT B4 Output Mix –6.0 … +6.0 dB
B5 OUT B5 Output Mix –6.0 … +6.0 dB
Table 3-10: MB Band Mix Controls