DigiDesign Drawmer Dynamics, Owner'S Manual

Page 1: ...Drawmer Dynamics Version 7 0 ...

Page 2: ...sent of Digidesign Digidesign Avid and Pro Tools are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Avid Technology Inc in the US and other countries All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners Product features specifications system requirements and availability are subject to change without notice PN 9329 17758 00 REV A 10 05 ...

Page 3: ... Drawmer Dynamics 5 Authorizing Drawmer Dynamics 5 Removing Expired Plug Ins 7 Chapter 3 Drawmer Dynamics Parameters 9 Adjusting Parameters 9 Expander Module 10 The Gate Module 13 The Compressor Module 18 The Limiter 21 Meters and Indicators 22 Chapter 4 Using Drawmer Dynamics 23 Using Plug Ins as Inserts 23 Inserting Drawmer Dynamics on a Track 23 Using the Side Chain Input in DrawmerGCL 24 Appen...

Page 4: ...Drawmer Dynamics Plug Ins Guide iv Appendix B DSP Delays Incurred by TDM Plug Ins 29 Drawmer Dynamics DSP Delay 30 Appendix C Drawmer Dynamics Demo Sessions 31 Using the Demo Sessions 31 Index 33 ...

Page 5: ...e TDM plug in that retains the look and sound of Drawmer s renowned hardware units specifi cally the highly acclaimed Drawmer DS201 and DL241 There are two configuration of the Drawmer Dy namics plug in DrawmerECL providing an Expander Compressor and Limiter DrawmerGCL providing a Gate Compres sor and Limiter Contents of the Boxed Version of Your Plug In Your Drawmer Dynamics plug in package con t...

Page 6: ...digidesign com compato Register Your Plug Ins If you purchase a plug in online from the Digi Store www digidesign com using Internet Acti vation you are automatically registered If you purchase a plug in boxed version check the enclosed information card for information about how to register online Registered users will receive periodic software update and upgrade notices Please refer to the Digide...

Page 7: ...or or Expert study on your own using courses available online or find out how you can learn in a classroom setting at a certified Pro Tools Training Center Products and Developers Learn about Digidesign products download demo software learn about our Development Partners and their plug ins applications and hardware News and Events Get the latest news from Digi design sign up for a Pro Tools demo T...

Page 8: ...Drawmer Dynamics Plug Ins Guide 4 ...

Page 9: ... 3 When installation is complete click Finish Windows or Quit Macintosh When you open Pro Tools you will be prompted to authorize your new plug in Authorizing Drawmer Dynamics The Drawmer Dynamics plug in is authorized using the iLok USB Smart Key iLok manufac tured by PACE Anti Piracy Inc The iLok is similar to a dongle but unlike a don gle it is designed to securely authorize multiple software a...

Page 10: ...ools You will be prompted to au thorize any installed unauthorized plug ins or software options 3 Follow the on screen instructions until you are prompted to insert the License Card into the iLok 4 Separate the GSM cutout from the larger pro tective card by pulling it up and out with your thumb Do not force the cutout down with your finger 5 Insert the GSM cutout into the iLok Visually verify that...

Page 11: ... plug in 1 Click Start 2 Click Control Panel 3 Double click Add or Remove Programs 4 Select the expired plug in from the list of in stalled applications 5 Click the Change Remove button 6 Click OK to remove the plug in 7 When removal is complete close the Add or Remove Programs window Mac OS X To remove an expired plug in 1 Open the Plug Ins folder on your Startup drive Library Application Support...

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Page 13: ...djustment Editing Parameters with a Mouse Click and Drag You can adjust rotary controls with a mouse by dragging horizontally or vertically Parameter values increase as you drag upward or to the right and decrease as you drag downward or to the left Increment Decrement For incremental parameter adjustment click the up or down increment buttons at the right of each parameter text box DrawmerECL plu...

Page 14: ...the Drawmer DL241 and DS201 hardware processors Features Auto adaptive attack and release for a more musical response Upward expansion capability with a wide Threshold Adjustable Ratio with soft knee options Gain reduction LED metering A common problem with compression is that maximum gain compensation occurs during ex tremely quiet passages or during pauses This re sults in an increase of backgro...

Page 15: ...e 0 dB permits upwards expansion where over compressed material can be re expanded Ratio Control The Ratio control sets the amount of attenua tion applied to the signal as it decreases below the Threshold level Ratio range is from 1 1 1 to 50 1 At 1 1 1 the Ex pander closes only slightly an input signal that is 10dB below the Threshold setting will be out put at 11 dB At 50 1 the Expander function...

Page 16: ...clicking the Com pressor Bypass toggle 2 Select the desired amount of reduction using the Range control 3 Set the Attack and Release controls based on the character of the audio material you want to expand For material with long legato release set a long Release For material with a lots of low frequency content set a slow Attack For sharp percussive sounds set a short Attack 4 Set the Ratio contro...

Page 17: ...12 dBs per octave The HF or high frequency filter ranges from 250 Hz to 16 kHz and attenuates signals above the cut off frequency When both filters are used only the frequency band between the two settings remains These controls do not overlap each other since this would produce very little audio output Side Chain Internal Control Setting this control to Side Chain enables side chain processing Si...

Page 18: ...llen below the Threshold level Release range is from 1 ms to 9 seconds Longer releases help retain the original enve lopes of the gated audio Range Control The Range control sets the level to which the Gate closes after the input signal has fallen be low the Threshold setting The range is from 0 dB no gating to infinity fully gated or no signal When Ducking is enabled the Range control sets the le...

Page 19: ...cessing Additional Tips for Effective Gating Initially set the LF Key Filter fully counter clockwise and the HF Key Filter fully clockwise This lets you hear the full audio spectrum of the key input Set the Range control fully counter clockwise and Key Listen to Normal With the Release control set at its midway posi tion and with suitable program material fed into the Gate module increase the Thre...

Page 20: ...y input to Side Chain The Range control is used to set the level to which the music will drop when the Ducker is triggered from the key input The envelope con trols determine the rate at which the level will drop and then recover It is usual to select a me dium to fast Attack time so that the music level drops rapidly as soon as the announcer begins to speak with a slow Release time of a second or...

Page 21: ...e to Key Listen mode will enable you to use the fil ters to exclude much of the amplifier hum at the low end and hiss at the top end while having lit tle effect on the sound of the guitar The same is true for acoustic guitar The filters can be used to reduce fret noise or a player s breathing Other applications of the filters include remov ing unpleasant overtones from direct injected instruments ...

Page 22: ...ited to creative applications where large amounts of gain reduction are required Compressor Parameters Threshold Control The Threshold control determines the input level above which gain reduction will be ap plied Threshold range is from 64 dB to 0 dB Soft knee compression takes place for signals ex ceeding the threshold level by up to 10 dB Above this level conventional ratio compres sion is appl...

Page 23: ...etting the Peak limiter threshold Driving the gain too hard will often produce excessive limiting Auto Gain Make Up Switch With Auto Gain Make Up on Gain Make Up is adjusted automatically when the Compressor s Threshold Attack and Ratio or Limiter Thresh old are adjusted so that the output level is as close as possible to the Limit Threshold Compressor Gain Reduction Meter This nine element LED st...

Page 24: ...This lets you adjust the Compressor in isolation Ratio Amount The Ratio setting depends on how much the sig nal dynamics need controlling As a rule higher ratios provide a higher degree of control but also tend to be more audible in operation when high levels of gain reduction are required The soft knee feature of the Compressor makes this far less pronounced Overall a higher ratio can be used tha...

Page 25: ...ning the Level control fully clockwise will prevent virtually all limiting To use the Limiter while effectively bypassing the Com pressor turn the Compressor Threshold fully counter clockwise to its maximum of 0 dB Then set the Ratio to its lowest setting of 1 1 1 if Gain Make Up is set to manual Set the Gain to 0 dB if Auto Gain is enabled Compensating for Apparent Dullness in Compressed Material...

Page 26: ...s below 4 dB Yellow LEDs indicate levels from 3 dB to 1 dB An amber LED indicates 0 5 dB and turns red for peaks held at 0 dBfs Stereo Input Balance This control which appears only when Draw mer Dynamics is used in stereo lets you correct an imbalance between stereo input images with out introducing any gain Stereo dynamic con trol is best achieved with a mix that is equally centered The LEDs show...

Page 27: ...vel is not affected by a track s volume fader except when used on a Master Fader For this reason clipping can occur if you boost its gain to extremes This is particularly true on tracks recorded at high amplitude Watch on screen metering to identify and rectify clipping if it occurs Inserting Drawmer Dynamics on a Track To use Drawmer Dynamics in a Pro Tools ses sion add it to a track as an insert...

Page 28: ...ythm guitar track to gate another instrument track such as a keyboard pad Side Chain Filters The DrawmerGCL plug in also features high pass and low pass side chain filters which lets you can make dynamics processing more or less sensitive to certain frequencies A common production technique is to use these controls to filter a drum track so that only spe cific high frequencies a hi hat for example...

Page 29: ...e Chain Processing To use the filtered input signal to trigger dynamics processing 1 Ensure the Key Input selector is set to No Key Input 2 Set the Key section to the Internal setting 3 To hear the audio source you have selected to control side chain input click Key Listen 4 To filter the side chain input so that only cer tain frequencies trigger the plug in set the LF Key Filter and HF Key Filter...

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Page 31: ...of compatible chips per card Using Multi Mono Plug Ins on Greater Than Stereo Tracks Plug ins used in multi mono format on greater than stereo tracks require one mono instance per channel of the multi channel audio format For example a multi mono plug in used on a 5 1 format track requires six mono instances since there are six audio channels in the 5 1 for mat Monitoring DSP Usage The System Usag...

Page 32: ...e rates mono and stereo Sample Rate 44 1 48 kHz 88 2 96 kHz Compatible DSP chips per HD Accel card Plug In Mono Stereo Mono Stereo DrawmerECL 8 4 4 2 9 DrawmerGCL 8 4 4 2 9 Table 3 Maximum instances of plug ins per DSP chip for an HD Core or HD Process card at different sample rates mono and stereo Sample Rate 44 1 48 kHz 88 2 96 kHz Compatible DSP chips per HD Core or HD Process card Plug In Mono...

Page 33: ...ix win dow displays the total delay in samples in curred on the track from the use of any TDM plug in on that channel To see the amount of time delay on a track that uses plug in inserts In the Mix window Control click Windows or Command click Macintosh the track s Vol ume Indicator to toggle between Volume vol Peak pk and Channel Delay dly indications Compensating For Delays Automatic Delay Compe...

Page 34: ...mer Dynamics Plug Ins Guide 30 Drawmer Dynamics DSP Delay Table 3 Samples of delay incurred by each TDM plug in on Pro Tools HD cards Plug In Samples of Delay on Pro Tools HD Cards DrawmerECL 7 DrawmerGCL 7 ...

Page 35: ... each demo session and the features they illustrate Gated Tones Demo This session illustrates keying of two different tone bursts from an existing short drum loop us ing the Gate The three channel session uses two Gates The key input is from the original drum track Snare Demo This session illustrates a gated reverb effect us ing the Gate and a modified variation of Gate Comp Staccato setting with ...

Page 36: ... Gates This will result in distinct panning of the outputs during the duration of the vocal track Extra Clean Key Drum Demo This session illustrates keying of a short drum loop from a composite track of mixed sine wave tones The tone mix is first cleaned using the Ex pander assigned to the first mixer insert button This audio is then used as a key input The result is a cleaner key signal for the G...

Page 37: ...ra Clean Key Drum 32 Gated Tones 31 Noise Removal 31 Snare 31 VoxOver 32 Wrong Right 32 DrawmerECL 1 DrawmerGCL 1 DSP delays inherent in plug ins 29 DSP requirements 27 ducking 16 E editing parameters moving to the next field 10 Expander 10 auto adaptive expansion 11 features 10 parameters 11 suggestions for using 12 external side chain processing 24 F filtering noise 15 G Gain parameter 19 gain r...

Page 38: ...ameter 19 Limiter 21 N noise background 20 filtering 15 P package contents 1 Peak Input LED 22 Peak Limiter 21 plug ins as inserts 23 pre fader operation 23 registration 2 removing 24 pre fader insert operation 23 pumping 21 R Range parameter 12 14 Ratio parameter 11 18 registration 2 Release parameter 11 14 19 removing Drawmer Dynamics 24 removing expired plug ins Windows 7 rotary controls adjust...

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