OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS FOR GAMBIT DE-ESSER/COMPRESSOR DS1-MK3
OPERATION
Weiss Engineering Ltd., Florastr. 42, CH-8610 Uster
Page 12
+41 44 940 20 06
+41 44 940 22 14
http://www.weiss.ch
Graphic 13: Threshold, Ratio, Softknee
The expander can only amplify gain differ-
ences. This means that it cannot create a
dynamic signal if there was no initial gain
difference (as is the case in computer gen-
erated music or with extremely hard-
limited mixes).
Soft-knee:
Determines how much the knee is
rounded. The maximum setting (1.0) chooses a
curve that reaches from 0dBFS down to twice
the threshold value. This implies that if soft-
knee is engaged the signal is already affected
even if its envelope lies below the threshold.
Gain makeup
:
Moves the whole transfer
curve up or down. In de-essing mode the gain
makeup is usually set between the minimum (-
10dB gain) and "off" (0dB gain) to actually at-
tenuate the processed signal, while in compres-
sor (full band) mode the transfer curve usually
gets to lie anywhere between "off" and "max",
according to the amount of loudness correction
one wants to apply.
Once "max." is on, the transfer curve is attached
to 0dBFS for maximum possible gain. "max" is
engaged as soon as the curve reaches 0dBFS by
manipulating any combination of the above pa-
rameters, or by selecting "max" from the gain
makeup menu. This mode can be exited by
manually reducing the gain makeup or by select-
ing "off" from the gain makeup menu.
Graphic 14: Gain Makeup display
The applied gain reduction from the com-
pressor section is displayed in
.
Signal Meters:
The meters in
show the level
of the input (horizontally on top of the transfer
curve graph) and output of the compressor
stage (vertically to the right of the transfer
curve). Refer to Graphic 16 and 17 to see the
metering points.
Band Selective Mode vs. Full Range Mode
The DS1-MK3 can be used in conjunction with a
frequency crossover (band selective mode) or
straight (full range mode).
How to change modes:
Touch the centre fre-
quency or bandwidth controller (
). The soft-
keys become selection keys for the filter type:
highpass (Key A), bandpass (Key B), lowpass
(Key C) or bypass (Key D). In bypass the full
range mode (compressor) is selected. Any other
filter type engages the appropriate filter ahead
of the compressor stage.
Band Selective Mode
(Graphic 16)
:
In this
mode, a frequency crossover is put into the sig-
nal path, splitting it up into two or three bands,
depending on the filter type setting. One of the
bands is compressed, the other is delayed by
the same amount used as „delay“ in the com-
pressor stage. This mode is completely trans-
parent if no gain reduction is applied.
Graphic 15: Band Filter menu
