Optimod-Surround 8685 V1.0 Operating Manual - Orban

OPTIMOD SURROUND PROCESSOR OPERATION 3-17
Basic Modify
BASIC MODIFY allows you to control two important elements of 8685 processing:
the equalizer and the dynamics section (multiband compression, limiting, and clipping).
At this level, there is only one control for the dynamics section: LESS-MORE,
which changes several different subjective setup control settings simultaneously according
to a table that we have created in the 8685’s permanent ROM (Read-Only
Memory). In this table are sets of subjective setup control settings that provide, in
our opinion, the most favorable trade-off between loudness, density, and audible
distortion for a given amount of processing. We believe that most 8685 users will
never need to go beyond the LESS-MORE level of control because the combinations
of subjective setup control settings produced by this control have been optimized by
Orban’s audio processing experts on the basis of years of experience designing audio
processing and upon hundred of hours of listening tests.
Unlike other the LESS-More controls in most other Optimods, the 8685’s LESS-MORE
control is designed to always maintain the target loudness that the active Dialnorm
value specifies. In general, the LESS-MORE control sets the average amount of dynamic
range control provided by the processing, although the spectral balance also
changes in some of the “radio-style” presets. As you go from less to more, the loudness
of loud sounds will stay about the same but the loudness of quieter sounds will
increase. Because of the 8685’s sophisticated gating circuits, very quiet material like
background sounds, quiet underscoring, hiss, and hum will not be pumped up.
You need not (in fact, cannot) create a sound entirely from scratch. All User Presets
are created by modifying Factory Presets or by further modifying Factory Presets
that have been previously modified with a LESS-MORE adjustment. It is wise to set
the LESS-MORE control to achieve a sound as close as possible to your desired sound
before you make further modifications at the Advanced Modify level. If you do so,
any changes you make at this level are likely to be smaller and to require resetting
fewer controls.
In the 8685, LESS-MORE affects only the dynamics processing (compression, limiting,
and clipping). Unlike some of Orban’s older digital processors, the 8685’s equalization
and stereo enhancement are decoupled from LESS-MORE. You can therefore
change EQ or stereo enhancement and not lose the ability to use LESS-MORE. When
you create a user preset, the 8685 will automatically save your EQ and stereo enhancement
settings along with your LESS-MORE setting. When you recall the user
preset, you will still be able to edit your LESS-MORE setting if you wish.
Please note that when a given Factory or user processing preset’s DIALNORM setting is
GLOBAL, the 8685’s global DIALNORM setting automatically scales its loudness at the
8685’s output. If you want a given preset to produce a predictable loudness level in
a non-Dolby transmission environment (particularly when the preset is exported to
other 8685 units), you should set the processing preset’s DIALNORM value to something
other than GLOBAL. This will always override the active Setup’s global DIALNORM
setting. (See Low-IM Look-Ahead Limiter on page3-13 for a discussion of the series
connection of the DIALNORM and LIMITER DRIVE controls.)