Orban OPTIMOD-FM 8600Si, Operating Manual

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OPERATION ORBAN MODEL 8600Si
equalizer, one octave is a good starting point.
Excessive high frequency boost can exaggerate tape hiss and distortion in
program material that is less than perfectly clean. We suggest no more
than 4 dB boost as a practical maximum, unless source material is primar-
ily from compact discs of recently recorded material. In several of our
presets, we use this equalizer to boost the upper presence band (4.4 kHz)
slightly, leaving broadband HF boost to the
B
RILLIANCE
and/or HF E
NHANCE
controls.
BRILLNCE (“Brilliance”) controls the drive to Band 5. The high frequency limiter and
Band 5 clipper dynamically control these boosts, protecting the final clipper from ex-
cessive HF drive. We recommend a maximum of 4 dB of
B
RILLNCE boost, and most
people will prefer substantially less.
DJ BASS (“DJ Bass Boost“) control determines the amount of bass boost produced
on some male voices. In its default
O
FF position, it causes the gain reduction of the
lowest frequency band to move quickly to the same gain reduction as its nearest
neighbor when gated. This fights any tendency of the lowest frequency band to de-
velop significantly more gain than its neighbor when processing voice because voice
will activate the gate frequently. Each time it does so, it will reset the gain of the
lowest frequency band so that the gains of the two bottom bands are equal and the
response in this frequency range is flat. The result is natural-sounding bass on male
voice.
If you like a larger-than-life, “chesty” sound on male voice, set this control away
from
O
FF . When so set, gating causes the gain reduction of the lowest frequency
band to move to the same gain reduction (minus a gain offset equal to the numeri-
cal setting of the control) as its nearest neighbor when gated. You can therefore set
the maximum gain difference between the two low frequency bands, producing
considerable dynamic bass boost on voice.
The difference will never exceed the difference that would have otherwise occurred
if the lowest frequency band was independently gated. If you are familiar with older
Orban processors like the 8200, this is the maximum amount of boost that would
have occurred if you had set their
DJ B
ASS
B
OOST
controls to
O
N
.
The amount of bass boost will be highly dependent on the fundamental frequency
of a given voice. If the fundamental frequency is far above 100Hz, there will be little
voice energy in the bottom band and little or no audio bass boost can occur even if
the gain of the bottom band is higher than the gain of its neighbor. As the funda-
mental frequency moves lower, more of this energy leaks into the bottom band, and
you hear more bass boost. If the fundamental frequency is very low (a rarity), there
will be enough energy in the bottom band to force significant gain reduction, and
you will hear less bass boost than if the fundamental frequency were a bit higher.
This control is only available in the Five-Band structure.
If the G
ATE
T
HRESH
(Gate Threshold) control is turned O
FF
, the DJ B
ASS
boost setting is disabled.
HF ENH (“High Frequency Enhancer”) is a program-adaptive 6 dB/octave shelving
equalizer with a 4 kHz turnover frequency. It constantly monitors the ratio between
high frequency and broadband energy and adjusts the amount of equalization in an