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AM-10HD / Aug 2008
A M - 1 0 H D G U I
Attack Time Screen
Clicking on the Attack tab opens up the attack adjustment screen.
The attack time of a limiter is a measure of how fast it responds to an audio peak
once it is above threshold. Shorter attack times respond to audio peaks quicker and
allow more accurate peak control, but excessively short attack times can literally
suck the life out of musical material.
On the other hand, excessively long attack times will allow audio peaks to escape
the limiters largely unmanaged, leaving them to be controlled solely by the final
lookahead output limiter (if enabled) or the final clipper.
The attack times for each band are adjustable from 0.1 milliseconds
(100 microseconds) to 1000 milliseconds (1 second). Faster attack times exert more
control over waveform excursions, while slower attack times allow peaks to escape
the limiter section with less control.
Attack times are generally adjusted to taste, keeping in mind that the slower the
attack time the more work the final clipper or limiter must do. Conversely, the faster
the attack time the fewer short term dynamics the program material will have.
Generally, lower frequencies require slower attack times and higher frequencies
require faster attack times for a given amount of control.
The attack times of each band may be individually or collectively modified using
the GUI operating instructions provided earlier.
10-Band Limiter Attack Time Screen
