DigiDesign Focusrite d2, Manual

Page 1: ...Focusrite d2 and d3 Version 8 0 ...

Page 2: ... Mbox MediaComposer MIDI I O MIX MultiShell Nitris OMF OMF Interchange PRE ProControl Pro Tools M Powered Pro Tools Pro Tools HD Pro Tools LE QuickPunch Recti Fi Reel Tape Reso Reverb One ReVibe RTAS Sibelius Smack SoundReplacer Sound Designer II Strike Structure SYNC HD SYNC I O Synchronic TL Aggro TL AutoPan TL Drum Rehab TL Everyphase TL Fauxlder TL In Tune TL MasterMeter TL Metro TL Space TL U...

Page 3: ...g Authorizing and Removing Plug ins 1 Installing Plug ins for Pro Tools 1 Authorizing Plug ins for Pro Tools 2 Uninstalling Plug ins for Pro Tools 3 Chapter 3 Focusrite D2 5 Focusrite D2 Configurations 5 Adjusting Plug in Parameters 6 D2 Parameters 7 Using D2 in Stereo 10 Chapter 4 Focusrite D3 13 Focusrite D3 Configurations 13 Adjusting Plug in Parameters 15 D3 Parameters 16 D3 Compressor Control...

Page 4: ...Focusrite D2 and D3 Plug ins Guide iv Appendix A DSP Requirements 23 Focusrite DSP Requirements 24 Appendix B DSP Delays Incurred by TDM Plug ins 27 Focusrite D2 and D3 DSP Delay 28 Index 29 ...

Page 5: ...44 1 kHz 48 kHz 88 2 kHz 96 kHz 176 4 kHz and 192 kHz sessions Contents of the Boxed Version of Your Plug in Your Focusrite D2 or D3 plug in package con tains the following components Installation disc Digidesign Registration Information Card One of the following authorization cards for authorizing plug ins with an iLok USB Smart Key not supplied Activation Card with an Activation Code or License ...

Page 6: ... drives and third party devices refer to the latest information on the Digidesign web site www digidesign com compatibility 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 included Digidesign Registration Informa tion Card for information abou...

Page 7: ...t 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 or learn about our Development Partners and their plug ins applications and hardware News and Events Get the latest news from Digidesign or sign up for a Pro Tools demo Pro Tools Accelerated Videos Watch the series of free tutorial video...

Page 8: ...Focusrite D2 and D3 Plug ins Guide 4 ...

Page 9: ...s of the package system or bundle Installation To install a plug in 1 Do one of the following Download the installer for your computer platform from the Digidesign website www digidesign com After downloading make sure the installer is uncompressed ZIP on Windows or SIT on Mac or Insert the Installer disc into your computer 2 Double click the plug in installer application 3 Follow the on screen in...

Page 10: ...om account if you do not have an existing iLok com account 2 Transfer the license for your plug in to your iLok com account by doing the following Visit http secure digidesign com activation Input your Activation Code listed on your Activation Card and your iLok com User ID Your iLok com User ID is the name you create for your iLok com account 3 Transfer the licenses from your iLok com ac count to...

Page 11: ...Uninstall 5 Follow the on screen instructions to remove the plug in Windows XP To remove a plug in 1 Choose Start Control Panel 2 Double click Add or Remove Programs 3 Select the plug in from the list of installed ap plications 4 Click the Remove button 5 Follow the on screen instructions to remove the plug in Mac OS X To remove a plug in 1 Locate and open the Plug ins folder on your Startup drive...

Page 12: ...Focusrite D2 and D3 Plug ins Guide 4 ...

Page 13: ...ned to use a different amount of your system s DSP 1 2 Band EQ This module uses the least DSP You can use up to two filters simultaneously depending on which you enable The high pass low shelf and low pass filters each utilize the entire module and cannot be used in combination with an other filter The low mid peak high mid peak or high shelf filters can be used in combination with each other up t...

Page 14: ...lick Windows or Option click Mac the con trol Editing Parameters Using a Computer Keyboard Some controls have text boxes that display the current value of the parameter You can edit the numeric value of a parameter with your com puter keyboard If multiple Plug in windows are open Tab and keyboard entry remain focused on the plug in that is the target window To change control values with a computer...

Page 15: ...vel knob To adjust input levels for both channels simultaneously select the Link button then drag either knob Output Level Output Level allows you to adjust the overall output gain The range of this control is from 18 dB to 12 dB When you use the D2 plug in in stereo each channel has its own separate output level knob To adjust output levels for both channels simul taneously select the Link button...

Page 16: ... enabled In this state the filter is active audible and using available DSP re sources Black disabled In this state the filter is not using any DSP resources and has no ef fect on audio Gray bypassed In this state the filter is not active but is still using available DSP resources The effect of the filter is not au dible High Pass Filter The 18 dB octave High Pass Filter provides a ro tary control...

Page 17: ... right rotary control adjusts filter Q which is variable from 0 7 to 4 0 High Mid Peak Filter The High Mid Peak Filter provides three rotary controls The upper rotary control adjusts the center frequency variable from 120 Hz to 18 kHz The lower left rotary control adjusts the filter s amplitude gain or attenuation Ampli tude range is 15 dB from unity utilizing a re ciprocal curve for both gain and...

Page 18: ...t is used in stereo you must select which channel left or right you want to edit Use the Left Channel Right Channel and Link buttons to do this These controls only appear when D2 is used in stereo Left Channel and Right Channel Buttons The Left Channel and Right Channel buttons are used to select which channel is active for pa rameter editing Selecting the Left Channel button activates the left ch...

Page 19: ...arameters settings on the two channels Maintaining an offset 1 Deselect the Link button 2 Select the desired channel button left or right and adjust the parameters for that channel 3 Select Link mode and adjust the same param eters for the opposite channel D2 will maintain the relative offset between the parameter set tings for the two channels Alt click Windows or Option click Mac while linking c...

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Page 21: ...This configuration al lows you to use both the compressor and the limiter at the same time The Compressor Lim iter plug in requires twice as much DSP as the Compressor Limiter Compressor Limiter This configuration al lows you to use either the compressor or the lim iter but not both at the same time The Compressor Limiter plug in uses half as much DSP as the Compressor Limiter It is provided so th...

Page 22: ...ls in a sonically pleasing way Like the Compressor the Limiter is activated when the signal exceeds the user selected threshold The Limiter then compresses any sig nal above the selected threshold down to the threshold limit that you have set Side Chain Processing Compressors and limiters generally use the de tected amplitude of the input signal as a control source Other signals can also be used a...

Page 23: ... Windows or Option click Mac the con trol Editing Parameters Using a Computer Keyboard Some controls have text boxes that display the current value of the parameter You can edit the numeric value of a parameter with your com puter keyboard If multiple Plug in windows are open Tab and keyboard entry remain focused on the plug in that is the target window To change control values with a computer key...

Page 24: ... Alt Shift click ing Windows or Option Shift clicking Mac ei ther Input Level knob resets both channels to 0 dB Output Level Output Level adjusts the overall output gain Be cause large amounts of compression can restrict dynamic range the Output Level knob is useful for compensating for heavily compressed sig nals and making up the resulting difference in level When you use the stereo version of t...

Page 25: ... indicates nominal levels Yellow indicates pre clipping at 6 below full scale Red indicates a full scale signal clipping D3 Compressor Controls The Compressor icon which represents a com pression curve acts as a three state switch for enabling disabling or bypassing the compres sor Its current state is indicated by the icon s color White indicates enabled In this state the compressor is active and...

Page 26: ...ets the compression ratio If the ratio is set to 2 1 for example it will compress changes in signals above the threshold by one half The range of this control is from 1 5 1 very little compression to 10 1 heavy compression bor dering on limiting Threshold Threshold sets the threshold level Signals that exceed this level will be compressed Signals that are below it will be unaffected The range of t...

Page 27: ...e time Instead the D3 uses a re lease time value that is program dependent and based on the audio being processed D3 Limiter Controls The Limiter icon which represents a limiter curve acts as a three state switch for enabling disabling or bypassing the limiter Its current state is indicated by the icon s color White indicates enabled In this state the limiter is active and using available DSP re s...

Page 28: ... trigger dynamics process ing and is generally drawn internally from the input signal However some plug ins such as the Focusrite D3 let you switch between inter nal and external side chain processing With external side chain processing a plug in s detector is triggered by an external signal such as a separate reference track or audio source known as the key input A typical use for this feature is...

Page 29: ...ource 2 Click External Key to activate external side chain processing 3 To listen to the key input that will be used to control side chain processing click Key Listen to enable it 4 Begin playback The plug in uses the input or bus that you chose as an external key input to trigger its effect 5 Adjust the plug in s Threshold control to fine tune external key input triggering 6 Adjust other controls...

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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: ...r an HD Accel card at different sample rates mono and stereo Sample Rate 44 1 48 kHz 88 2 96 kHz 174 6 192 kHz Compatible DSP Chips per HD Accel Card Plug in Mono Stereo Mono Stereo Mono Stereo Focusrite d2 v2 0 1 band or 2 band 55 20 28 14 12 6 9 Focusrite d2 4 band 28 14 14 7 6 3 9 Focusrite d2 6 band 10 5 7 3 3 1 9 Focusrite d3 comp limiter 23 21 11 10 5 4 9 Focusrite d3 comp limiter 43 36 20 1...

Page 33: ...e rates mono and stereo Sample Rate 44 1 48 kHz 88 2 96 kHz 174 6 192 kHz Compatible DSP Chips per HD Core or HD Process Card Plug in Mono Stereo Mono Stereo Mono Stereo Focusrite d2 1 band or 2 band 28 14 12 2 4 2 9 Focusrite d2 4 band 28 7 6 6 2 1 9 Focusrite d2 6 band 7 3 3 1 1 1 9 Focusrite d3 comp limiter 10 9 4 4 1 1 9 Focusrite d3 comp limiter 18 16 8 7 3 3 9 ...

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Page 35: ...to be signifi cant and should not be a concern This signal delay is significant only if you use a plug in on one channel of a stereo or multichan nel signal but not the others since this can cause the channels to be slightly out of phase Table 3 on page 28 shows the delays inherent in each plug in Pro Tools systems provide automatic Delay Compensation and other methods to com pensate for signal pr...

Page 36: ...and D3 DSP Delay Table 3 Samples of delay incurred by each TDM plug In on Pro Tools HD cards Plug in Samples of Delay on HD Cards Focusrite d2 1 band or 2 band 5 Focusrite d2 4 band 5 Focusrite d2 6 band 5 Focusrite d3 Comp Lim 4 Focusrite d3 Comp Lim 4 ...

Page 37: ...7 computer keyboard adjusting plug in parameters 6 15 D D2 configurations 5 filters 8 High Mid Peak Filter 9 High Pass Filter 8 High Shelf Filter 9 input controls 7 Low Mid Peak Filter 9 Low Shelf Filter 9 meters 7 D3 compression ratio 14 Compressor 14 Compressor Limiter 13 Compressor Limiter 13 Limiter 14 meters 17 parameters 16 delay DSP induced delays 27 DSP delays 27 DSP delays inherent in plu...

Page 38: ...of D3 20 Limiter D3 controls 19 D3 Limiter in out icon 19 Link button 11 Low Pass Filter 10 M mouse adjusting plug in parameters 6 15 O Output Level parameter 7 P package contents 1 plug ins adjusting parameters 6 15 installing 1 registration 2 R Ratio parameter 18 registration 2 removing plug ins 3 Right Channel button 10 RMS detector 14 S scroll wheel adjusting plug in parameters 7 16 side chain...

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