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Operating Manual 

OPTIMOD-PC 

1100 

Digital Audio Processor on a PCI Sound Card 

Software Version 2.0 

 

Summary of Contents for OPTIMOD-PC 1100

Page 1: ...Operating Manual OPTIMOD PC 1100 Digital Audio Processor on a PCI Sound Card Software Version 2 0...

Page 2: ...CK DO NOT EXPOSE THIS APPLIANCE TO RAIN OR MOISTURE This symbol wherever it appears alerts you to the presence of uninsulated dangerous voltage inside the enclosure voltage that may be sufficient to c...

Page 3: ...ring the unit 2 Seal the carton with tape If you are returning the unit permanently for credit be sure to enclose The Manual s The Registration Warranty Card Your dealer may charge you for any missing...

Page 4: ......

Page 5: ...Operating Manual OPTIMOD PC 1100 Digital Audio Processor on a PCI Sound Card Software Version 2 0...

Page 6: ...umerique n emet pas de bruits radioelectriques depassant les limites applicables aux appareils numeriques de las class A prescrites dans le Reglement sur le brouillage radioelectrique edicte par le mi...

Page 7: ...I O 1 13 Digital AES3 Left Right Input Output 1 14 Analog Left Right Input Output 1 15 The Orban I O Mixer 1 15 Figure 1 5 Typical I O mixer 1 16 OVERVIEW OF AN OPTIMOD PC INSTALLATION 1 17 Simple Op...

Page 8: ...6 Figure 2 4 The Orban Control Application 2 6 5 Connect hardware inputs and outputs optional 2 6 6 Set up passwords and card names for cards in your computer optional 2 7 Figure 2 5 Card Security Adm...

Page 9: ...Devices 2 35 Enabling the Windows 2003 Server Audio Service 2 36 PROBLEMS AND POSSIBLE CAUSES 2 37 When I first turn on my computer the sound seems wrong 2 37 When I Launch the OPTIMOD PC control appl...

Page 10: ...APPLICATION 3 1 INTRODUCTION TO PROCESSING 3 4 Some Audio Processing Concepts 3 4 Distortion in Processing 3 4 Loudness and Distortion 3 4 Speech Music Detector 3 5 Processing for Low Bitrate Codecs...

Page 11: ...Band Structure s Full and Advanced Setup Controls 3 46 Table 3 9 Five band Controls 3 46 Table 3 10 MB Attack Release Controls 3 47 Table 3 11 MB Band Mix Controls 3 50 IF THE HOST COMPUTER RESTARTS O...

Page 12: ...excessive 3 5 buzzes 2 39 C cable shielding 2 16 cable 2 16 Classical music 3 21 clicks in WAVE output 2 39 clicks 2 39 clipper control list 3 38 clipper bass 3 11 clipping 2 33 clipping 3 4 codec aa...

Page 13: ...radio 3 20 tv 3 26 factory presets 1 11 features 1 7 file setup 2 43 file menu 3 3 Final Limit control 3 39 Firewall NAT 2 54 Firewall 2 51 five band band coupling controls 3 49 delta release control...

Page 14: ...2 41 Lo Pass control 3 31 Location streaming 1 21 location 1 26 logo customizing 2 45 look ahead limiter XE presets AGC 3 XE presets protection 3 using 1100 as 3 19 look ahead limiting 3 4 lossy data...

Page 15: ...20 phase rotator 3 10 Phase Rotator 3 31 phase linear two band purist processing 3 12 Plink 2 46 port default 2 53 power ground 2 19 PPM 1 4 PreCode 3 5 PreCode technology 1 1 preemphasis 2 24 prepari...

Page 16: ...r 3 31 S sample rate 1 29 sample rate 2 23 sample rate 3 10 Security 1 19 Server editing properties 2 11 service 2 43 44 setup file 2 20 shelving equalizer bass slope of 3 11 shipping container 2 1 da...

Page 17: ...ng control 3 44 master attack control 3 44 master compression threshold 3 44 release control 3 41 two band processing structure 3 26 two band structure 3 40 U unbalanced inputs 2 16 uninstall 2 44 Uni...

Page 18: ......

Page 19: ...window gated AGC V2 s AGC matches the sound of the AGC in Orban s 2300 5300 8300 8400 8500 and 9400 so it is a perfect studio AGC for these products V2 features Orban s new PreCode technology This man...

Page 20: ...f these and for any other digi tal transmission media and channels OPTIMOD PC s three on board Motorola DSP56362 DSP chips provide a loud consistent sound to the consumer by performing automatic gain...

Page 21: ...adcasters generally believe that loudness relative to other stations attracts an audience that perceives the station as being more powerful than its competition We expect that the same subliminal psy...

Page 22: ...eatures found in Opti mod PC Peak clipping sounds bad even in uncompressed digital channels because these channels do not rely on pre emphasis de emphasis to reduce audible distortion In stead of peak...

Page 23: ...responds to 4 dBu Instantaneous peaks will reach 17 dBu or more on voice In facilities that use PPMs that indicate level directly in dBu maximum program and line up level is often 6 dBu Instantaneous...

Page 24: ...hich may be connected to a PCI expansion chassis with as many OPTIMOD PC cards as you have free PCI slots each card handling one stereo pro gram Each card has two AES3 or SPDIF digital inputs and one...

Page 25: ...co dec performance on some codecs by reducing audio processing induced codec artifacts even with program material that has been preprocessed by other proc essing than Optimod While primarily oriented...

Page 26: ...hardware inputs Wave output to any PC audio application that can record or encode AES3 digital output at 32 44 1 48 88 2 or 96 kHz sample rate Supplied WAVE drivers allow OPTIMOD PC s processed outpu...

Page 27: ...espond to different programming formats These presets have already been tested and field proven in major market radio netcasting digital radio and direct satellite broadcasting applications both radio...

Page 28: ...PC rides gain over an adjustable range of up to 25dB compressing dynamic range and compensating for operator gain riding errors and for gain inconsistencies in automated systems OPTIMOD PC s processi...

Page 29: ...ing between the contents of the two nearest less more files The suffix of the master Factory preset files is ORBF11 Within the preset folder on your hard drive there is a corresponding less more folde...

Page 30: ...modate User Presets are shown on the Open Preset list by the name that you gave them when you saved them You can name them as you wish limited only by the file naming limits in your oper ating system...

Page 31: ...to the sample rate present at the sync input PCI Bus OPTIMOD PC Processing SRC SRC SRC SRC SRC Analog Output Digital Output ADC PROCESSOR MIXER Analog IN Digital IN 1 Digital IN 2 Wave OUT DIRECT MIXE...

Page 32: ...ou are using Generally if the equipment to which you are connecting has pin jacks set OPTIMOD PC to use the SPDIF standard If the equipment has XLR type connectors or BNC connectors set OPTIMOD PC to...

Page 33: ...OPTIMOD PC s AES3 or WAVE outputs to drive your transmission chain For a more detailed diagram of the Processor block see Figure 3 2 Simplified OPTIMOD PC Digital Signal Processing Diagram on page 3...

Page 34: ...ws all processing including peak limiting Not all outputs have to receive the same source any source can feed any output Source 3 can provide low delay monitoring into live talent headphones because i...

Page 35: ...y control OPTIMOD PC cards that are installed in the same PC that is running the Orban application Network operation allows you to control one or more OPTIMOD PC cards over a network regardless of whe...

Page 36: ...perform some housekeeping chores It must run Orban s server software and more signifi cantly it must do sample rate conversion if OPTIMOD PC is used as a WAVE device and the source or destination sam...

Page 37: ...king is activated cards located in a given machine are visi ble only to the Orban Control application running locally on that ma chine They are invisible to other machines on the network Not running i...

Page 38: ...ntrol of a card by changing its name or password Only an administrator can do that Meanwhile the administrator can change User passwords and rename cards from a central location It is wise to do this...

Page 39: ...and the remember password status can only be canceled by an administrator Remember password can compromise se curity so you should use this feature with discretion Only one client can be logged into a...

Page 40: ...ce see step 4 B on page 2 23 This reference can be the sample frequency of one of the active audio inputs On the other hand if you have an AES3 stream available exclusively as a sample fre quency refe...

Page 41: ...roc essed audio for application to OPTIMOD PC s input or they can pass OPTIMOD PC s peak controlled output The two applications have fundamentally different per formance requirements A link that passe...

Page 42: ...OD PC s monitor output This is not recommended because OPTIMOD PC s monitor output will overshoot in the analog domain because of the physics of the system The use of external digital to analog conver...

Page 43: ...utput to the transmitter Lack of transparency in the analog path will cause even more over shoot Unless carefully designed microwave STLs can introduce non constant group delay in the audio spectrum d...

Page 44: ...arities and non constant group delay characteristics will alter the peak to average ratio and will thus reduce the effectiveness of any peak limiting performed prior to their inputs Location of OPTIMO...

Page 45: ...fections in the link Where maximum quality is desired it is wise to request that all equipment in the signal path after the studio be carefully measured aligned and qualified to meet the appropriate s...

Page 46: ...y change the frequency balance of the program This can cause noise that would otherwise have been masked to become unmasked because the psychoacoustic masking conditions under which the masking thresh...

Page 47: ...tted sample to become asynchronous to the peak controlled samples emerging from OPTIMOD PC and may therefore introduce over shoot Fortunately as the audio bandwidth becomes lower this becomes less of...

Page 48: ...erformance of real world receivers and will reduce the peak modulation of the transmissions if it turns out that most receivers are clipping due to perceptual encoding over shoots Our experience to da...

Page 49: ...audio system such as a digi tal playout system One of the outputs of OPTIMOD PC s routing switcher sends audio back into the computer s internal WAVE audio system You will ordinarily connect this str...

Page 50: ...ainment quality stereo streams at 32 kbps At 48 kbps many listeners prefer the sound to that of FM OPTICODEC PC PE is designed to work exclusively with OPTIMOD PC to form an overall audio processing c...

Page 51: ...popcorn and the like are acceptable cushioning materials crumpled newspaper is not Wrap cushioning materials tightly around the card and tape them in place to prevent the card from shifting out of its...

Page 52: ...r Orban Products This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may have other rights that vary from state to state Some states do not allow the exclusion of limitations of inciden tal or conse...

Page 53: ...rchase to Gareth Paredes at 510 351 0500 I ACCEPT THE EXTENDED FIVE YEAR WARRANTY __________________________________________________________________________ DATE_______________________________________...

Page 54: ......

Page 55: ...its packing materi als because both the carton and packing material have been carefully de signed to protect the unit In particular static discharge can damage OPTIMOD PC and it should always be store...

Page 56: ...boot process is finished the New Hardware Detected window will appear B In the New Hardware Detected wizard s welcoming screen click Next Windows will identify the card s hardware ID as Optimod1100 C...

Page 57: ...ar warning you that the software has not passed Windows logo testing E Select continue anyway A dialog box appears that says Completing the New Hardware Found Wizard F Select Finish G Optional If you...

Page 58: ...ystem Card Serial Card Name Card Serial Card Name Card Serial Card Name Security Security Security REMOTE IP Address Profile Name Server System Server Software Card Serial Card Name Card Serial Card N...

Page 59: ...ows 2000 you will have to update the OPTIMOD PC driver manually from Windows The V2 updater only updates the OPTIMOD PC driver automatically in Windows XP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 25 24 23 22 21...

Page 60: ...XLR connectors for balanced operation one terminated with RCA connectors for unbalanced operation and one with bare wires Figure 2 2 on page 2 5 shows how these cable assemblies are wired and can be u...

Page 61: ...rds in your computer optional A Start the Optimod PC control application Optimod exe by clicking its icon agent in your computer s system tray or from Start Programs Orban Optimod PC See Figure 2 4 on...

Page 62: ...10 F Assign an Administrator Password to the card by filling in the ADMINISTRATOR PASSWORD and CONFIRM PASSWORD fields identically Do not make the User and Administrator passwords identical Be sure to...

Page 63: ...ss the OPTIMOD PC TCP IP terminal server to allow external control of the OPTIMOD PC cards from either a Telnet SSH client or a custom third party application See Optimod PC System Mixer Control API o...

Page 64: ...cified computers to access local cards via the OPTIMOD PC TCP IP Terminal Server check the Terminal Control USE NETWORK ACCEPT LIST The Network Accept List adds another layer of security beyond passwo...

Page 65: ...nter an Administrator Password in step 6 E you will not see the Enter Administrator Password dialog box and the Card and Se curity Administration window will appear immediately C The Card and Security...

Page 66: ...p pears b Enter the Profile Name IP Address and Port of the remote computer The Profile Name can be any name you wish to use for example Boston The profile name is known only to your local computer Th...

Page 67: ...isplay the state of the card to which you just connected and you can recall presets adjust in put output levels edit and save presets etc 12 Change passwords and card names over a network optional If...

Page 68: ...optional If a computer running the OPTIMOD PC control application contains no OPTIMOD PC cards you may wish to defeat the OPTIMOD PC service on that computer although this is not required This scenar...

Page 69: ...t after a system crash The server application has no user controls and you do not have to interact with it or otherwise worry about it other than to be aware that it is normal for it be running in the...

Page 70: ...ndards In the RCA type connectors the center pin called T for tip in the diagram is HIGH while the outer sleeve called S in the diagram is LOW and SHIELD See Figure 2 2 Wiring Diagram for the OPTIMOD...

Page 71: ...tandards to circuit ground and take the HIGH output from the remaining pin No special precautions are required even though one side of the output is grounded Use two conductor foil shielded cable Beld...

Page 72: ...s and have the backup inputs activate automatically if the primary program feed is lost Note that OPTIMOD PC does not fully implement the AES11 standard be cause it also does not pass AES3 user bits a...

Page 73: ...ains these sound editing controls in detail This section of the manual tells you how to set up the input and output controls of a OPTIMOD PC card with emphasis on connections that use OPTIMOD PC s ext...

Page 74: ...m orbs The current active setup file is a transient file That is the Orban Control application updates it whenever you change the setup manually The Orban Control application also automatically update...

Page 75: ...MOD PC s bandwidth is always the lowest of these settings The frequency in Setup is a technical parameter that determines the highest bandwidth avail able The installing engineer should set it to be a...

Page 76: ...using an Orban 4000 Transmission Limiter set the AGC to ENABLED so that the AGC function in OPTIMOD PC continues to work The Orban 4000 is a transmission system overload protection device it is normal...

Page 77: ...ynchronized to a source The INTERNAL sync setting synchronizes the output words at the AES3 out put to OPTIMOD PC s internal clock The EXTERNAL setting synchronizes the output rate to the input rate Y...

Page 78: ...operates Flat 50 s 75 s Normally OPTIMOD PC will feed transmission channels that do not use preemphasis and you should set this control FLAT Rarely the transmission channel uses preemphasis An exampl...

Page 79: ...eter with problem atic material Continue to lower the B5 THRESHOLD control until you no longer hear gain pumping Instead you will probably hear some high frequency loss This loss is less subjectively...

Page 80: ...s gain is cali brated correctly The reason it cannot predictably do this is that there is another WAVE gain control in series with the master volume control This control is located in the Windows Mix...

Page 81: ...n the ANALOG L R INPUT control hits full scale when you apply normal program material to the analog input reset the ANALOG INPUT REFERENCE LEVEL to 4DBU ANALOG L R INPUT controls are found on the PROC...

Page 82: ...u or 10 dBV depending on the setting of Optimod PC s ANALOG OUTPUT REFERENCE LEVEL When the ANALOG INPUT control is set to 0dB maximum and the ANALOG OUTPUT control is set to 0dB maximum the system is...

Page 83: ...lication choose FILE OPEN PRESET The Open Preset dialog box appears b Click ROCK MEDIUM in the preset list The ROCK MEDIUM preset becomes active The dialog box remains open until you explicitly close...

Page 84: ...C on page 2 22 d Click the PROCESSOR MIXER tab e Set the ANALOG L R INPUT fader to make the AGC GAIN REDUCTION meter on the main meter screen in the Orban Control application indicate an average of 10...

Page 85: ...D PC will automatically switch to a backup feed if a primary feed fails The ANALOG L R and DIGITAL 2 in puts can be programmed to mute automatically if the DIGITAL 1 input is locked to an AES3 input s...

Page 86: ...nd compressor ahead of the look ahead limiter can be more comfortable to a DJ or presenter who is monitoring his or her voice live through headphones Each of the three outputs has an attenuator and a...

Page 87: ...mple from 16dBfs to 18dBfs you can do so by adjusting the fader corresponding to the source in our example by setting it to 2dB Note that you are limited by input headroom if you set the DIGITAL 1 fad...

Page 88: ...eds the OPTIMOD PC s WAVE OUT FROM PC faders in both the PROCESSOR MIXER and DIRECT MIXER pages Because the volume controls on most WAVE applications are attenuators only providing no gain at any sett...

Page 89: ...d installed these will be known to Win dows as Orban Optimod 1100 Orban Optimod 1100 2 Orban Optimod 1100 3 etc in the order that they are installed in the PCI slots in your computer You may have to e...

Page 90: ...Cable from Ntonyx can be used Enabling the Windows 2003 Server Audio Service By default some versions of Windows 2003 server have the Audio Service Disabled To use audio Wave I O with OPTIMOD PC you m...

Page 91: ...C service is being started automatically If the OPTIMOD PC service is not being started automatically these parameters will be re stored when the OPTIMOD PC Control application is launched All others...

Page 92: ...e are the steps to change the setting on Windows XP A Open the SYSTEM control panel B Select the HARDWARE tab C Select DEVICE MANAGER D Expand the node labeled IDE ATA ATAPI CONTROLLERS E Right click...

Page 93: ...ill usually operate adjacent to high powered transmitters without difficulty In the most unusual circumstances it may be neces sary to reposition the host computer to reduce RF interference and or to...

Page 94: ...noise performance of the system is usually limited by the overload to noise ratio of the analog to digital con verter used by OPTIMOD PC to digitize the input This ratio is better than 100dB It is im...

Page 95: ...heir average level close to that of program material promoting a more consistent and well balanced sound quality To pass line up tones transparently recall OPTIMOD PC s PROTECT preset If neces sary ad...

Page 96: ...erms of your Limited One Year Standard Warranty which ex tends to the first end user After expiration of the warranty a reasonable charge will be made for parts labor and packing if you choose to use...

Page 97: ...en the computer shut down If the service does not start up for some reason then this power down processing preset will not be restored and the general purpose preset loaded by the driver run instead T...

Page 98: ...m its hardware ana log or digital inputs to its hardware outputs Therefore if Windows fails the Optimod PC hardware I O continues to pass and process audio as normal If Op timod PC is located in an ex...

Page 99: ...e driver and service are required to initialize the card Adding a Logo Displayed to the Control Applica tion A user defined bitmap can be displayed at the right of the meter dialog in the PC Control a...

Page 100: ...the application is disconnected from a Local card The default port can be changed here too Command Function enum Retrieves serial numbers for each card installed in the computer list Retrieves contro...

Page 101: ...ate this functionality you may type the commands directly into a Telnet SSH cli ent terminal and see OPTIMOD PC confirmation and status messages Command Values Function DOSR 32kHz 44 1kHz 48kHz 88 2kH...

Page 102: ...Output Delay AIUMX Stereo MonoL MonoR MonoS Analog Input Unprocessed Mixer Mode D1IUMX Stereo MonoL MonoR MonoS Digital 1 Input Unprocessed Mixer Mode D2IUMX Stereo MonoL MonoR MonoS Digital 2 Input...

Page 103: ...number 11101 is the default see step 7 D on page 2 9 Each control session requires two ASCII files a bat file that calls Plink to establish a Telnet connection to OPTIMOD PC a reference txt file that...

Page 104: ...gram audio to be streamed Secondary playout software running on the same computer as OPTIMOD PC plays commercials intended only for the stream This software is configured to use OPTIMOD PC as its soun...

Page 105: ...11111 APIM Mute disconnect Using Windows Firewall with Optimod PC Depending upon your network security requirements it may be necessary to config ure a software firewall application like Windows Firew...

Page 106: ...2 52 INSTALLATION ORBAN MODEL 1100 2 Choose the network device that will be used for Optimod PC access and will be protected with Windows Firewall A Click Settings B Click Add...

Page 107: ...gher than 1024 that is not otherwise as signed according to IANA http www iana org assignments port numbers Port 11100 is the default for the Optimod PC Control Application Port 11101 is the default f...

Page 108: ...Optimod PC computer by configuring the NAT firewall accordingly The Optimod PC computer is then ad dressed with the network IP address WAN instead of the actual IP address of the Optimod PC computer F...

Page 109: ...n 3 Operation Figure 3 1 The OPTIMOD PC Control Application The OPTIMOD PC Control Application AGC meter shows the gain reduction of the slow AGC processing that precedes the multiband compressor Full...

Page 110: ...clipping Output Meters show the output levels of the processed signal before it is ap plied to the output routing switcher in the I O Mixer Limiter meters show the amount of low IM look ahead peak li...

Page 111: ...of the OPTIMOD PC Mixer by using the SAVE SETUP and OPEN SETUP menu items Edit Menu brings up the Basic Control Advanced Control and the OPTIMOD PC Mixer screens which allow you to edit presets to ge...

Page 112: ...sound before it is limited This way the limiter can an ticipate peaks that are coming up Distortion in Processing In a competently designed processor distortion occurs only when the processor is cont...

Page 113: ...ht loss of loudness and punch but misdetection will never cause objectionable distortion on music Speech that is not located in the center of the stereo sound field will always be de tected as music b...

Page 114: ...ded networks with fewer audio interruptions OPTIMOD PC s ability to maintain source to source spectral consistency is also an important advantage Once you have set up the processing to minimize codec...

Page 115: ...pressed to best serve the audience The challenge which Optimod 6300 effectively meets is to compress dy namic range unobtrusively OPTIMOD PC can be adjusted so that the output sounds as close as possi...

Page 116: ...rts presets that be recalled by remote con trol it can be automatically synchronized to the presets on air at a transmitter side Optimod when presets are dayparted To achieve this match A Recall one o...

Page 117: ...AGC MaxDelta GR Off Stereo Enhancer Out Band 1 5 MaxDeltGR Off Signal Flow PROCESSED WITHOUT LIMITING OUT LOOK AHEAD MAIN OUT LIMITER LOW IM FREQUENCY EQUALIZER LF SHELVING EQ ENHANCER HIGH EQUALIZER...

Page 118: ...nnecessarily stress this encod ing process Input Conditioning Before the stereo enhancer a sample rate converter converts the sample rate at the digital input to OPTIMOD PC s internal 48 kHz rate This...

Page 119: ...ctave adjust the shelving frequency and set the amount of equalization OPTIMOD PC s bass midrange and high frequency parametric equalizers have curves that were modeled on the curves of Orban s classi...

Page 120: ...a clipper and produces modulation sidebands that are less likely to be audible Simple wideband look ahead limiting can still produce audible inter modulation distortion between heavy bass and midrang...

Page 121: ...e Read Only In this table are sets of subjective setup control settings that provide in our opinion the most favorable trade off between loud ness density and audible distortion for a given amount of...

Page 122: ...tion applica tions you will find Advanced Modify useful At this level you can customize or mod ify any subjective setup control setting to create a sound exactly to your taste You can then save the se...

Page 123: ...reduction in the Master and Bass bands The latter reading is useful for assessing the dynamic bass equalization that the AGC produces and it helps you set the AGC BASS COUPLING control Fundamental Req...

Page 124: ...es the music pre sets When a video oriented preset is on the air the LESS MORE control adjusts the average amount of gain reduction by adjusting the drive level to the Five Band structure s input This...

Page 125: ...g or dipping when band gains are un equal Allpass also helps make speech waveforms more symmetrical The delay line derived phase linear crossover has the same desirable smoothness in its fre quency re...

Page 126: ...it There is no way you can erase or otherwise damage the Factory Presets So feel free to experiment If a preset has 2B or 2BAND in its name it will activate the Two Band structure The Protection prese...

Page 127: ...o style protection limiter to 0 dB To produce look ahead limiter gain reduction turn up the LESS MORE control Each step of the LESS MORE control increases the drive level to the look ahead limiter by...

Page 128: ...resets have the stereo enhancer turned off to reduce potential codec ste reo encoding artifacts If you wish to reduce the bass set the Band 1 and or Band 2 compression thresholds lower to taste Then s...

Page 129: ...5 LOUD PUNCHY LOUD PUNCHY 9 0 LOUD SLAM LOUD SLAM 9 0 NEWS TALK NEWS TALK 7 0 ROCK DENSE ROCK DENSE 7 0 ROCK LIGHT ROCK LIGHT 7 0 ROCK MEDIUM ROCK MEDIUM 7 0 ROCK MEDIUM MID BASS ROCK MEDIUM MID BASS...

Page 130: ...preset uses the ROCK SMOOTH source preset It has a gentle bass lift and a mellow easy to listen to high end along with enough presence energy to help vocals to stand out The COUNTRY LIGHT preset uses...

Page 131: ...bass punch and transparency improve Therefore exploring various Less More settings is worthwhile with IMPACT because for many circum stances this preset will be over the top if it is not turned down w...

Page 132: ...intelligible sound from widely varying source material particularly source ma terial that is hot from the field with uncontrolled quality SPORTS Similar to NEWS TALK except the AGC Release AGC Releas...

Page 133: ...ired SMOOTH JAZZ This preset is designed for commercial broadcasters playing smooth jazz Kenny G etc It is a loud preset that is designed to prevent stridency with saxes and other horns This preset is...

Page 134: ...input as much as possible TV 2B GEN PURPOSE is usually not the best choice for live news sports or films with optical soundtracks The Five Band presets see below can automatically equalize such progra...

Page 135: ...ept for BRILLIANCE and DJ BASS these equalization controls are common to both the Two Band and Five Band structures The equalizer is located between the AGC and five band compressor sections of both s...

Page 136: ...the most mid bass boost yielding a warmer sound Be cause it affects the mid bass frequency range where the ear is more sensitive than it is to very low bass the 6 dB octave slope can create more appar...

Page 137: ...ra metric equalizer Therefore unlike less sophisticated digital equalizers that use the bilinear transformation to generate EQ curves the shapes of OPTIMOD PC s curves are not distorted at high freque...

Page 138: ...octaves The range is 0 8 4 0 octaves If you are unfamiliar with using a parametric equalizer one octave is a good starting point Excessive high frequency boost can exaggerate hiss and distortion in pr...

Page 139: ...mount of equalization in an attempt to make this ratio constant as the program material changes It can therefore create a bright present sound without over equalizing material that is already bright H...

Page 140: ...hat the program material is actually mono and thus suppresses enhancement to prevent the enhancement from exaggerating the undesired channel imbalance The ratio of L R L R of the enhanced signal tries...

Page 141: ...djusts several of the dynamics processing controls to optimize the trade offs between unwanted side ef fects If you wish you may adjust the Advanced Modify parameters to your own taste Al ways start w...

Page 142: ...D DRIVE compressor control AGC Release AGC Master Release control provides an adjustable range from 0 5 dB second slow to 20 dB second fast The increase in density caused by setting the AGC RELEASE co...

Page 143: ...gate also independently freezes the gain of the two highest fre quency bands forcing the gain of the highest frequency band to be identical to its lower neighbor and independently sets the gain of the...

Page 144: ...l and the resulting change in output level both measured in units of dB OPTIMOD PC compressor can be operated at a compression ratio as low as 2 1 This can add a sense of dynamic range and is mostly u...

Page 145: ...the frequency response close to the crossover frequency It is use ful if you need a crossover with low delay and no phase distortion when flat Its downside is the possibility of audible coloration wh...

Page 146: ...d of the look ahead lim iter depending on the setting of the LESS MORE control in the parent preset upon which you are basing your Advanced Control adjustments This provides headroom for contributions...

Page 147: ...he peak to average ratio of the processed audio The FINAL LIMIT DRIVE control primarily determines the loudness distortion trade off Turning up the FINAL LIMIT DRIVE control drives the look ahead limi...

Page 148: ...structures by send ing the output of the desired compressor to the look ahead limiter s input Switch ing between the compressors occurs via a smooth cross fade OPTIMOD PC s Two Band Structure can be m...

Page 149: ...en and transparent solid and dense or somewhere in between The range is 0 to 25dB Regardless of the release time setting we feel that the optimal amount of gain re duction in the two band compressor f...

Page 150: ...is that the level of quiet passages in input material with wide dynamic range may eventually be increased unnaturally Accordingly when you operate the 2B REL control between 8 and 2 dB second it may...

Page 151: ...How ever recovery is slow enough to be imperceptible This avoids OPTIMOD PC s get ting stuck with a large amount of gain reduction on a long low level musical pas sage immediately following a loud pas...

Page 152: ...miting This control controls the tradeoff between loss of high frequencies due to high frequency limiting and excessive distortion due to clipping FINAL LIMT Final Limit Drive See page 3 39 2B Master...

Page 153: ...audience and desired market position There are several basic Factory Presets for the Five Band structure Each of these presets can be edited with the LESS MORE control This control affects the video...

Page 154: ...creasing density can make loud sounds seem louder but can also result in an unattractive busier flatter or denser sound It is very important to be aware of the many negative subjective side effects of...

Page 155: ...a wall of sound MB Attack Release Threshold Advanced Name Range Multiband Release Slow Slow2 Med Med2 MFast MFast2 Fast Speech Multiband Release Slow Slow2 Med Med2 MFast MFast2 Fast B1 Compression T...

Page 156: ...se controls to set independent frequency balances for music and speech page 3 5 MB Gate Multiband Gate Threshold control determines the lowest input level that will be recognized as program by OPTIMOD...

Page 157: ...eduction meters Eventually you will see the gain increase in sync with the program Go further until you begin to hear noise modulation a puffing or breath ing sound the input noise in sync with the in...

Page 158: ...f dynamic bass boost preventing unnatural bass boost Set towards 0 independ ent it permits frequencies below 100Hz the slam region to have maximum im pact in modern rock urban dance rap and other musi...

Page 159: ...must be verified with listening tests to a wide variety of program material Because there are separate controls for music and speech page 3 5 you can set at tack times faster for speech to minimize lo...

Page 160: ...prevents gain reduction in one channel from causing audible spectral modulation on the other channel However the additional stereo difference chan nel energy created by independent operation can adver...

Page 161: ...carefully tweak a preset to com plement the program material being mastered OPTIMOD PC V2 provides important tools to allow a mastering engineer to fine tune the processing to complement the program...

Page 162: ...Unless you will be using a large amount of compression for special applica tions set the MB GATE THRESHOLD to OFF G Adjust the 2B DRIVE control two band or MB DRIVE control five band to achieve the d...

Page 163: ...larly if weak bass is not sufficiently boosted turn the BAND 2 1 COUPLING closer to 0 M Set the amount of peak limiting with the FINAL LIMIT control In general the less peak limiting you use the bette...

Page 164: ...esets You can create custom factory presets that support LESS MORE functionality These presets will behave like Orban s factory presets Your 1100 s software has the ability to interpolate all 19 avail...

Page 165: ...ome Orban factory presets use as many as six anchor pre sets From the OPTIMOD PC Control Application save each preset as a user preset in plain text unencrypted form naming it My Preset LMxxx where xx...

Page 166: ...ed to remove LMxxx including the space before the L The example file name is MY PRESET orbf C Open MY PRESET orbf in a text editor D Edit the second line of the file as follows Preset Name MY PRESET s...

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