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Channel Strip Dynamics – Gate
On/Off button
Turns the Gate on or off.
Threshold knob
Sets the Threshold level. If there is any signal above the Threshold, the
Gate is Open, while a signal that is lower than the Threshold is attenuated.
Beware of setting the Threshold too high as it can cut off the tail end of
signals as they fade out (the sustain of a guitar note, a held piano chord, a
reverb tail, etc.). The Threshold is adjustable between –60 and 18 dB.
Attack knob
The Attack parameter sets the speed at which the Gate opens once the
Threshold has been crossed. It is recommended that very fast attack times be
used to catch the fronts of transient signals. The Attack parameter is adjust-
able between 0.1 to 200 mSec.
Release knob
The Release sets the rate at which the gate “closes” or attenuates once the
end of the Hold time is reached. Release can be adjusted between 350 and 5
dB/Sec.
Ratio knob
This control determines how much the signal will be attenuated once it
drops below the Threshold. This ratio works opposite from that of the com-
pressor or limiter. If a Ratio of 1:4 is selected, a signal that is 1dB below the
threshold will be reduced in gain so that it becomes 4dB below the thresh-
old. The Ratio is adjustable between 1:1 and 1:100.
Channel Strip Dynamics – Compressor
On/Off button
Turns the Compressor on or off.
Ratio knob
The Ratio is the rate at which the signal is reduced once the threshold is
crossed. A 2:1 ratio means that if the incoming signal is 2dB over the thresh-
old, the unit will compress the signal, and output a signal that only goes 1dB
over the threshold. Setting the Ratio at Inf:1 makes the compressor act as a
limiter. The range of the Ratio parameter is from 1:1 to 100:1.
Over Easy knob
OverEasy is a characteristic of dbx
®
Compressors and is essentially a “soft-
knee” function that occurs at about the compression threshold. On analog
dbx Compressors, OverEasy could only be turned on or off, but in the digi-
tal domain this parameter can have a range. This parameter can be adjusted
between 0 and 10 where 0 corresponds to no OverEasy, and 10 corresponds
to a very wide soft-knee region. To match the response of the classic dbx
160, an OverEasy of 6 is recommended.
Threshold knob
The Threshold is the signal level at which the unit begins to compress the
signal. If the level is set to -10 dBFS, then any signal larger than -10 dBFS
is compressed, and any signal that has a level that is lower than -10dBFS is
