Weiss DS1-MKII User Manual

digital audio

weiss engineering ltd.
Florastrasse 42, 8610 Uster, Switzerland

) [phone] [phone]
8 http://www.weiss.ch / http://www.weiss-highend.com

GAMBIT

DS1-MK2

OPERATING MANUAL

Software Version: 0S: 2.0

DSP: 2.0

OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS FOR GAMBIT DE-ESSER/COMPRESSOR DS1-MK2 FRONT PANEL

°±²

FRONT PANEL

Graphic 1: Front Panel Elements

¬ - ® ¯

Graphic 2: Display Elements

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OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS FOR GAMBIT DE-ESSER/COMPRESSOR DS1-MK2 FRONT PANEL

Front Panel Groups

The front panel of the DS1-MK2 offers several control and display features.

Control

Refer to Graphic 1: Front Panel Elements

Ê - Menu- and softkeys p. 6
Ë - Snapshot keys p. 13
Ì - Preset keys p. 13
Í - Gain / Data controller p. 7
Î - Crossover controllers p. 11
Ï - Envelope follower controllers p. 9

Ð+Ñ - Non-linear transfer curve controllers p. 10

Display

Refer to Graphic 2: Display Elements

¬ - Gain value p. 7

- - Crossover setting (frequency selective mode only) p. 11
® - Non-linear transfer curve and signal metering p. 10
¯ - Status display p. 6
° - Peak limiter gain reduction meter p. 10
± - Envelope follower settings p. 9
² - Compressor gain reduction meter p. 10

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OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS FOR GAMBIT DE-ESSER/COMPRESSOR DS1-MK2 INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Congratulations on purchasing the Weiss Gambit Series DS1-MK2 De-esser / Compressor !

This two channel digital De-esser / Compressor
features linear-phase crossover filters covering
the whole audio band. Thus the DS1-MK2 is not
just a De-esser but can also be used as band se­lective or full band Compressor / Limiter. The
controls for the two channels are always ganged
and the sidechains are always linked.

Internal processing is either 88.2kHz (with 44.1
and 88.2kHz input) or 96kHz (with 48 or 96kHz
input) in DeEsser and in Compressor mode.
Double-precision up- and down-sampling units
within the DS1-MK2 result in negligible distortion
and high transparency for absolutely clean sound.

The non-linear segment can be adjusted from
1000:1 to 1:5, allowing every kind of dynamic
processing, from limiting to upward expansion
(for over-compressed signals). Put back a little
dynamics into that ultra-finalized mix!

An additional safety-limiter takes care of any overs
that are generated in DeEsser as well as in Com­pressor mode.

Display

Standardised peak meters for compressor-

stage in- and output with peak hold

Gain reduction meter with peak hold for

compressor and for safety-limiter each.

Logarithmic graph of the transfer function

of the de-esser/compressor calculated in
real time

Status display showing sampling frequency,

channel status data handling, current work­space and snapshot number and a resetable
peak-hold and over-hold per channel

Parameter display (activated by touch)

showing all timing, level and gain parame­ters

Signal status LEDs, showing OVERs, range

of envelope signal and the status of the re­lease time comparator

The large CFL LC display and the one-controller­per-parameter operation combine speed and ease
of use with complete control over audio process­ing.

This and the ability to remote control parameters
and snapshots makes the DS1-MK2 the perfect
tool for the recording and mastering engineer!

Processing

24bit digital input, internal 40bit floating-

point arithmetic, dithered output for 16bit,
20bit or 24bit wordlengths.

Transparent phase-linear crossover for

frequency selective compression

All parameters are immediately accessible

with instant feedback through LEDs and
the LC display.

Snapshots

3 x 128 non-volatile snapshots where all

parameters are stored

A-B workspaces for quick comparison

between two settings

Remote Control

Supports MIDI, RS-232 and RS-422 proto-

cols

Standard MIDI Continuous Controllers for

parameter remote control (including overall
gain)

Snapshot automatization with MIDI Pro-

gram Change Commands

MIDI Dump of Snapshots

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OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS FOR GAMBIT DE-ESSER/COMPRESSOR DS1-MK2 UPDATE HISTORY

UPDATE HISTORY

Update from DS1 to DS1-MK2
v1.0 or v1.1

The main difference between these two versions
is the ability of the DS1-MK2 to accept 88.2 /
96kHz input signals. Contrary to the DS1, where
double sampling processing was only used in
compressor mode, the DS1-MK2 now uses inter­nal up- and downsampling stages and all process­ing is at 88.2 / 96 kHz.

There is a completely new feature available in the
DS1-MK2, the upward expander. This is the logi­cal extension of the compressor. Just turn the
ratio controller counterclock wise to experience
this new sound. New scale range on p. 19.

The DeEsser section has been enhanced with a
new crossover, which covers the whole audio
bandwidth (the DS1used 271 Hz as lowest cutoff
frequency, the DS1-MK2 can now be tuned down
to 41 Hz). New scale range on p. 18.

And for those who like it hot, there is a new peak
limiter section added in series to the compressor
/ de-esser, which cuts down spikes above

0.0dBFS. Read about its operation on p.7.

bass instruments without causing breathing or
pumping. You name it, it works very well.

Variations: Use it like the Dolby Spectral Enhan­cer, by split band [parallel] compression, so that
(for example) high frequency inner details at low
levels are enhanced. ”

The other change in architecture is the addition of
a second gain before the safety limiter, referred
to as pre-limiter gain. The old overall gain is also
still available. Read on p. 7.

Also, the scales of the gain, gain makeup and ratio
parameters has been modified to suit customer
feedback. New values on p. 19.

Update from DS1-MK2 v1.3 to
DS1-MK2 v2.0

In the v2.0 version POW-R dithering capabilities
have been added. The dithering menu now has a
"setup" entry which gives you access to the three
POW-R algorithms.

Update from DS1-MK2 v1.0 or
v1.1 to DS1-MK2 v1.3

The main new enhancement is the parallel com­pressor option. To read about operating and op­tions of the parallel compressor, turn to p. 12.
This way of using a compressor was motivated by
Bob Katz, here is what he says about it on the
Mastering Webboard:

“You want a patch that compresses without
stomping on the attacks at all, preserves tran­sients but gives you great inner detail? ...

You have one control, one control only, and that
is the output level of the compressor [gain
makeup], the ‘sidechain’. You can bring out inner
details without losing breathing, and hardly af­fecting the upper dynamics at all. Works great.
Not just great, absolutely fantastically. Fattens

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OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS FOR GAMBIT DE-ESSER/COMPRESSOR DS1-MK2 OPERATION

OPERATION

The following explanations assume that the de-esser/compressor is in power-up mode, i.e. no
menu is active. If a menu is active, press the “menu” key repeatedly until the status display ap­pears.

Status Display

Key A
Key B

Key C

Key C
Key D

Graph 3: Status Display

The status display (Graph 3) consists of four
groups displaying audio signal properties and in­formation about the current state of the DS1­MK2.

Channel Status Group

Situated adjacent to key A, displays the following
information:

sampling frequency in kHz: “44.1”, “48”,

“88.2” or “96”.

Peak-Hold
The numeric peak value is measured relative to

0dBFS (digital full scale).
Use this value to set the optimum gain for a spe-

cific session. Reset it for every session by pressing
key B twice.

Over-Hold
Whenever an over is encountered, the boxes to

the side of the peak-hold values are marked.
The functions of the over-LED’s and the over-

hold both depend on the NUMBER OF

CONSECUTIVE OVER-SAMPLES setting. To adjust this

setting, press key B once. Use the gain/ data
controller (Í) to change the value, then press
“menu” to return to the status display.

This setting defines the number of consecutive
over-samples needed for an over-indication. To
indicate every over-sample, enter 1. If another
value is entered, you are still able to detect a sin­gle over-sample with the peak-hold function.

pre-emphasis: “E” appears if pre-emphasis

is set (empty if not used)

input output channel status data format:

“C” for consumer and “P” for professional

Over-samples are defined as exceeding the
integer range. A full scale signal (0dBFS) will
not be treated as over.

To change the output channel status data format,
press key A and select format type or loop
through.

Remote Group

Situated adjacent to key C, displays remote con­trol protocol (“MIDI”, “RS 232” or “RS 422”),

Peak Group

Situated adjacent to key B, this group contains a
peak-hold and an over-hold for each channel. To

channel (“1” - “16”) and status (on/ off, displayed
with check box).

For setup see chapter Remote Control (p. 15).

reset these values press key B twice.

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OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS FOR GAMBIT DE-ESSER/COMPRESSOR DS1-MK2 OPERATION

Out-

Output

Snapshot Display

Bottom line in the status display. Refer to this for
information on current workspace and snapshot.
There are two workspaces (“A” and “B”) for
quick comparison of two de-esser/compressor
settings. A workspace can be stored to a snapshot
for later use.

The number of the last recalled snapshot will be
displayed. If you change any value after the recall,
the “ ” will change to “ ” to symbolise that the
workspace is not equal to the displayed snapshot
anymore.

For snapshot handling see chapter Snapshots (p.

13).

Dither Icon

The dither icon is situated right next to key D
(see Graph 3). If dither is off, the icon contains
the number “24“, the word length of the output
signal in bits. Turning dither on will produce ar­rows above and below the new word length

Overall Gain

There are two gains, one pre-limiter and one
post-limiter, as depicted in Graphic 4.

Gain

from previous
processing

Graphic 4: Output section

X X

When touching the gain controller (Í), the re­quired gain can be selected from a menu. To
change the output gain, press softkey D. If an
arrow appears inside the output gain window, the
output gain can be adjusted. Press the D key again
to control the pre-limiter gain.

Both gains are bypassed when Bypass is active,
and stored in workspace snapshots.

Safety
Limiter

Gain

put

number (“16“ or “20“). Additionally, if auto­blacking is enabled, the bottom right corner of the
icon is inverted.

For details on dither refer to chapter Dither (p.

13).

The value shown in ¬ is the setting of the pre­limiter gain.

The post-limiter output gain should be used to set
the maximum output level only (usually 0.0dB).

Safety Limiter

This feature is activated by pressing the “safe”
key. When the “safe” key is lit, the limiter is on.

Safety limiter activity can be monitored with the
second gain reduction meter below the “GAIN”
window (°).

If the “safe” key is lit, overs will be limited by this
fast peak limiter. The parameters of the limiter
are fixed and cannot be adjusted.

However, the pre-limiter gain can be used to
drive the safety limiter.

Too much pre-limiter gain will result in dis­tortion!

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OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS FOR GAMBIT DE-ESSER/COMPRESSOR DS1-MK2 OPERATION

Compressor Parameters

Following is a detailed description of all parameters that can be adjusted in the compressor stage. Guidelines
are given for settings (see also the presets), but optimal settings are usually programme dependent, so ex­perimenting and listening is inevitable for satisfying results.

Graphic 5 shows schematic and parameters of the DS1-MK2 compressor stage:

Graphic 5: Compressor schematic

Delay

A typical compressor/limiter circuit measures the
audio signal and then generates the gain reduction
control signal. At the time the control signal
changes the gain, the programme material is al­ready there, so the gain change occurs too late.
The result is overshoot and possible subsequent
distortion.

The DS1-MK2 uses a different method to gener­ate the gain control signal: The audio passing
through the mainchain is delayed by a fixed
amount of time, determined by the „overall de­lay“. By branching the signal out of the delay line,
the sidechain „sees“ the signal before it reaches
the output, thus allowing look-ahead compared to
the mainchain. The resulting corrected output
signal has no overshoots, no leading edge distor-

tion or other side effects due to timing lags in the
sidechain.

The preview (the time the signal reaches the
sidechain ahead of the multiplier) cannot, of
course, exceed the overall delay.

The overall delay is the sum of the maximum
overall delay („Delay“ box in Graphic 5) and the
delay required for other signal processing (linear­phase filtering for up- and downsamplers). Any
snapshot value of the preview delay which ex­ceeds this maximum, is clipped to the maximum,
because the overall delay is not stored in the
snapshots and therefore the preview delay in any
snapshot can exceed the currently selected over­all delay.

Setting overall delay: The overall delay is ad­justed by pressing the „menu“ key (Ê) then se-

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OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS FOR GAMBIT DE-ESSER/COMPRESSOR DS1-MK2 OPERATION

lecting the „system“ and the „overall delay“ op­tion. Use the gain / data controller (Í) to change
the delay value. Maximum consequential preview
time and delay in frames is also displayed. Please
note that during delay change, audio is muted to
avoid audio signal cuts.

Setting preview: Touch either the „attack“ or
„release delay“ controller (Ï) to activate the
timing 1 window, then use the gain / data con­troller (Í) to adjust preview time.

Envelope Follower

The envelope follower parameter controllers are
in area Ï. The purpose of the envelope follower
is to cause gradual gain changes, thus eliminating
distortion. The current values are shown in ±.

Thus, setting a preview of about 3 to 4 times the
length of the attack time parameter (as seen in the
parameter window of the display when touching
the attack controller) should catch leading edges.

Using a smaller preview value will pass short
transients (livelier sound). In this case engage the
safety limiter (see p. 7) to catch the resulting
overs. Experimenting will be necessary for best
results.

Release and Average: The input signal is moni­tored with two different methods: peak amplitude
and RMS value. The peak amplitude is the pro­gramme portion we don't perceive as very loud,
however which can easily cause overloads. The
RMS value of the programme material we per­ceive as loudness. Its variations contribute most to
the dynamic range of the audio.

The sidechain processor compares the two
measurements it obtained from the peaks and the
RMS. The ratio between the two determines
which time constant would be the appropriate
release, e.g. after short duration peak the faster
release will be applied during the release phase.

Graphic 6: Envelope Parameters

Attack and Preview: The longer the attack
time, the more will the leading edge of fast tran­sients pass by the gain reduction circuit unaltered
(as in Graphic 6 during attack phase). Very fast
attack time settings such as 20µs, i.e. one sample
period, do catch every transient, but may distort
low frequencies. To utilise longer attack times and
still catch fast transients, use preview.

Note:

attack phase 3 x attack time parameter

The time period over which the RMS value of the
programme material is averaged is set by the
"average" parameter. The effect of the average
parameter can best be studied on the gain reduc­tion meter (²). Fast "average" settings will cause
most of the gain reduction meter to move very
fast (depending on the "release fast" setting) ,
slower settings will just have the top part of the
gain reduction move fast, with the bottom part
depending on the "release slow" setting.

Release Delay: Normally the release phase be­gins immediately after the programme material
has fallen in level. The release delay determines
how long the DS1-MK2 holds the current level
before entering release (see Graphic 6).

The resulting dynamic characteristic is very
smooth and avoids otherwise typical 'pumping'
effects. The ideal setting is programme dependent
and experimentation may be necessary to achieve
the best combination of all dynamic parameters.

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