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quires additional processing to restrict energy in the pre-
emphasized portion of the spectrum. This is provided inde-
pendently by the adaptive pre-emphasis stage that follows the
broadband limiter, only for FM broadcasting.
Broadband limiting and adaptive pre-emphasis will be dis-
cussed separately.
BROADBAND LIMITING
PIPP* Limiting
PIPP* is an acronym for
Polarity-Independent Peak Processing
, a
patented technique used in the more recent analog and digital
processing products from Inovonics. This is a function that
can be turned on or off by the user, and when disabled the
DAVID IV peak controller behaves much like any contemporary
“lookahead” limiter.
In the PIPP* mode, the program audio waveform is split into
positive-going and negative-going components. Each of these
signals is then independently limited to a peak value that cor-
responds to 100% carrier modulation (in their respective direc-
tions), and the components then recombined. The purpose of
this somewhat roundabout exercise is to optimize carrier mod-
ulation regardless of waveform asymmetry.
The initial response to this elementary explanation is generally
one of astonishment that such a degree of “distortion” would
deliberately be introduced, much less tolerated. Please allow us
to debunk this knee-jerk reaction.
The only truly undistorted waveform is a pure tone… a sine
wave. It is a symmetrical waveform and the positive and nega-
tive halves are mirror-images of one another. The PIPP* limiter
would divide, limit and recombine these halves to create a spit-
ting image of the original: an amplitude-limited symmetrical si-
ne wave with no added distortion components.
An asymmetrical program waveform, notably speech, vocals or
a solo musical instrument, will demonstrate a ‘peaky’ nature in
either the positive or negative direction. This is due to the ad-
dition of overtones (harmonics) that assign the source its dis-
tinctive ‘sound’ or timbre. The PIPP* limiter will hold the peaky
side to the 100%-modulation point, and will ‘expand,’ or in-
crease the amplitude of the other polarity until it also reaches
the 100%-modulation limit.
This implies that the waveform, which by definition is already
“distorted” with natural harmonic content, will be further dis-
torted by the PIPP* limiter. This is technically accurate: a solo
saxophone will sound more saxophone-like, and speech or solo
vocals will exhibit a slight ‘edge.’ But pop music and other pro-
gram material that contains a plurality of instruments and oth-
er sound sources will have less asymmetry and will be less af-
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