User manual DIGITECH VCS1

[. . . ] WARNING FOR YOUR PROTECTION, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING: Water and Moisture: Appliance should not be used near water (e. g. near a bathtub, washbowl, kitchen sink, laundry tub, in a wet basement, or near a swimming pool, etc). Care should be taken so that objects do not fall and liquids are not spilled into the enclosure through openings. POWER SOURCES: The appliance should be connected to a power supply only of the type described in the operating instructions or as marked on the appliance. [. . . ] When the De-ess control is turned clockwise, a program peak above the 4. 5 kHz knee frequency will cause the de-esser to quickly "duck" the audio down and back up again. Because the gain reduction is broadband (all frequencies) this is optimized for vocal de-essing only and it is not suitable for full program material. The LED shows when sibilants are being attenuated. ··· 6 ··· PEAK LIMITER THRESHOLD The Peak Limiter puts an instantaneous "ceiling" on the transient peak levels of your audio material without affecting dynamics below the threshold. This feature is essential for digital recording and speaker protection for live sound. COMPRESSOR THRESHOLD The compressor threshold control is used to set the minimum level at which you want gain reduction to occur. Turning this control counter-clockwise from the rightmost +20 dBu position brings the threshold lower so that more of the program material is compressed. The Green (-) LED shows that the audio signal is below the threshold and is not being compressed. The Red (+) LED shows that audio has exceeded the threshold and is being compressed. Note: The legend around this control are calibrated for the Hard Knee setting. When you switch to Soft Knee, you should turn this control 10 dB in the clockwise direction to achieve equivalent gain reduction due to the increased gain of the soft knee detector circuit. COMPRESSOR RATIO This control varies the amount of "squeeze" you need for the audio material that exceeds your threshold setting. Turning the control clockwise from the 1:1 (off) position increases the ratio from gentle compression (2:1 to 8:1) to hard limiting (>8:1). Compression is expressed as a ratio to show that, for a specified increase in input level, there will be 1dB increase in output. For example, a ratio of 10:1 means that for a 10 dB increase in input level, the output will only increase by 1 dB. ATTACK TIME The Attack Time control allows you to tailor how fast the compressor acts on audio exceeding the threshold. Slowing the attack time allows a little of the input transient from a drum or guitar to slip through before compression sets in. RELEASE TIME Release Time is the time it takes for the compressed signal to return to its original level once the input signal is no longer above threshold. The VCS-1 uses a true logarithmic timing circuit called "TLC" (True Logarithmic Compression) that more closely matches the response curve of human hearing and results in very natural-sounding dynamic control. This timing curve evokes the "classic" sound of vintage compressors so popular today. The TLC timing is most transparent at longer release times but will produce a pleasing effect at short settings as well. ··· 7 ··· METER FUNCTION This switch allows you to toggle the VU meter display between monitoring input level, output level or gain reduction. (gain reduction) setting, the meter needle will center on the 0VU portion of the legend and swing to the left indicating how much attenuation is occurring due to the compressor or peak limiter. When this switch is in the Output position and the channel is active (Process switch is in the Active position), the VU meter will show output level. [. . . ] · To vary the gate's sensitivity-bias to certain frequencies. Sidechain can also be used to adjust the response of the gate in the VCS-1. A common usage is to feed a bass drum track into the sidechain return while a send from a bass guitar track is connected to the VCS-1's line input. The line output of the VCS-1 is fed to another mixer channel at a slightly higher level so that when the gate opens in time with the bass drum, there is a little dynamic boost in the bass track. ··· 10 ··· Creative effects are possible with sidechain gating as well. [. . . ]