Built in compressor/limiter

[rdobra]

Hi Everybody ,

I am interested in one detail about the built in comp/lim on Venue and it's about the method by which it detects the input signal level.since we only got gain reduction metering I was wondering if it operates on the average signal level or rms signal level.Or peak level?And going even further and asking the same thing about the gates.I think it would be interesting to know especially when working with both compressors and gates.

All the best

[RAlvarez]

I think it depends on the attack time you select...

[Scott Fahy]

Interesting question, I always set my gain on the channel and brought threshold down on the comp to get the result I was looking for. This information could be helpful.

Scott

[rdobra]

I am just thinking it would be interesting to know if the system allows for certain cycles of higher level audio to get through before the compression clamps down the level.It's sort of frustrating we can't see it working.I have a very good feel about the built in dynamics and eq's and I think we should know a bit more about them.
For instance , I would be very interested to know if there is peak level detection used to absolutely prevent any output from exceeding a set value.And if so,will it duck the output level in a presence of a momentary peak?

Radu

[emluper]

Originally Posted by rdobra

I was wondering if it operates on the average signal level or rms signal level.Or peak level?

What little I do know is that the onboard Dynamics were based on the Dynamics III plugs. The manual for those says average signal level, but to be sure we should wait for Sheldon to post.

[Daelp]

Hello,

Usually Sheldon does a much better job at posting here, but being one of the engineers that worked on the design/implementation of the built-in VENUE dynamics processor, I'll give it a shot ... :)

In the built-in compressor/limiter (C/L), the input is fed to a simple filter structure that rectifies the signal and low-pass filters it (a typical envelope detector), it is in here where the time constants dialed in the unit get translated into time constants in the filter itself, giving you the attack/release characteristics.

The expander/gate operates very similarly, but the filtering is done in the log domain, which may explain some difference in the timing characteristics versus the C/L, if you ever have noticed it. Suffice it to say that we went through considerable experimentation and listening tests to ensure good "expected" performance on both signal paths.

To address your question, actually the filter will track the input as fast as possible based on your attack setting, and will start gain reduction as soon as possible. For the fastest attack time, having been many months since I last looked at this, I forget what the lowest dial setting is but it must be in the order of a few microseconds (tens of samples).

There is no dedicated peak-level detection other than the effect that the envelope detector and the side chain (SC) filters could provide for this. These SC filters are standard 4th order filters at the front-end of the signal chain.

I hope this helps,

--David