SILVER Audio Processor 4Bmini User’s manual
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Audemat-Aztec SA – Audemat-Aztec INC
web: www.audemat-aztec.com - e-mail: [email protected]
The attack and decay times of the AGC have a range of 1-10 and this corresponds to time constants of 100mS to
30S. We suggest an attack somewhere in the region of 3-4 and a decay setting of 1 or 2 positions higher than that.
Like most competent audio processors the AGC stages in the SILVER Audio Processor 4Bmini are gated.
This slows down the release time of the multi-band AGC when the program material drops below a certain level.
This prevents noise suck up and gain hunting from occurring during quiet periods or lulls in the audio. The SILVER
Audio Processor 4Bmini allows adjusting the gate level over a range of -20dB to -40dB.
This is the level at which the program material must fall below for the gate to become active. The gate level control
has two more options, OFF and ON. OFF is self explanatory and prevents the gate from having any effect. ON is
often referred to in this manual as ‘forced gating’ as it has the effect of switching the gate on at all times with any level
of program material. This option is used to bypass the AGC.
Under gated conditions, the gain reduction will slowly move to average gain the AGC had in the recent past. This
preserves the frequency balance of program material when multi-band AGC is gated.
Multi-band limiters
The multi-band limiter drive can be adjusted over a +/- 12dB range. Increasing the drive will increase the level of
limiting and with it on air loudness. Above a certain level of drive no more loudness will be obtained and all that will
happen is you will generate higher levels of IM distortion and the sound will take on a busy packed texture. You may
also observe higher levels of high frequency noise when the band 3 and 4 drives are increased. We don't usually find
much use for drives above +6dB but more may be required if other settings are adjusted to compensate. In any case,
observe the peak limiter meters for a good indication of how much drive to use. We don't recommend more than 9dB
of gain reduction especially on bands 2, 3 and 4. Gain reductions of 2-6dB are a good compromise between loudness
and quality.
The effects of gating
AGC attacking and decaying with gating
disabled
AGC attacking and decaying but with
gating
