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1. 2 of the world s most prestigious Compressors Limiters figure 1 1 1 What is T RackS CS wh I SSS h RB CSR Plate Vintage Tube P CSR Inverse Re EW High precision is Multiband Ster pisssess P cr CSR Room Rever Quad Comp eh eWH Te 2 of the worl s most prestigious Compressors Linvters T Racks T Racks CS CSR Hall Rever YY NAMI Classic T Rack Quad Lim 1 Vintage Tube Pr 2 British Channe 3 High precision White 2A Levell 2 Black 76 Limit WUad comp CSR Hall Reverb 2 CSR Plate 3 CSR Room Reverb See All gt Boo aaa 2 CO ry C a 1 British Channel 2 Multiband Stere 3 Classic T RackS T RackS CS The construction of your custom setup starts by simply installing the T RackS CS Shell which comes with Classic EQ and Metering mod ules included as a startup base package the modules also work as single plug ins within DAW environments and is available as a free download from the IK Multimedia web site upon registration Just like T RackS 3 it works for both the plug in and the standalone version The first thing you have to do is log into the Custom Shop using your IK Multimedia User Account by clicking the Custom Shop button 20 S00 ik 2k Sk d k z k INFO PREF COPY TO Bs ee ee ee ee ee ai aa a Oe BEA ath eee a aaO TE AUDI
2. 1 What is T RackS CS 20 T RackS CS T RackS CS can be used as a standalone application or as a plug in LOW PASS TEO aiin 4 Freg KHz FLT S C Dien Mie ee ii HI PASS PERE HAS SPECTRUM Le UUUUNYNOQOUOTUUUQQQUEOETUUOOOOEEEROUUOGOUEEEUUOAOOAEEEUU LANNE 3 I I I ead eel Fe CLA WAON PERA Le TT a ASN i 60 48 32 24 16 8 4 2 1 I I I I I I Mea ae UR A Det I IE le Fe AQUNUOVUUUNUUUUAUOTUUEUUUAVUEEELOOUOUUEUUOOUUUUTOGOVOOVAOOOUOOTAGUUEOTAAANNE T PERCEIVEO LOUDNESS i E 2 ENA A A 14 8 foes 50 ae l l Ic a mil 50 J 40 Bs i Zi E 7 Sea l 20 50 100 200 500 Sk 10k 20k LAAT 15 3 CORRELATIOW RMS a SETTINGS E INFO PREF f Oo AUDIO FILES IN FADE IN OUT FADE OUT SNAPSHOT Track snapshot 00 00 00 O0 00 00 01 38 36 01 38 36 SNAP coPY 00 00 00 Track 1 mp3 3 2 Track E TE L 3 Track 3 wav 4 Track 4 mp3 LOAD REMOVE P 00 08 66 figure 2 1 In standalone mode you can launch T RackS CS from your applications folder and use it without the need of another host application In standalone mode T RackS CS performs as a dedicated mastering processing station You can load multiple files and apply a different 2 Getting started 21 T RackS CS double chain of T RackS processors on each one also applying FADE IN OUT to finalize your productions You can also change any set tings of the processing chain during a song with the included SNAPSHOTS function Controls like LO
3. 4 13 Quad Comp FREQUENCY GAIN REDUCTION OUT GAIN 1 7dE GAIN 0 2068 GAIN 1 3dB GAIN 0 20dB GR 1 7d08 GR 3 808 GR 2 008 GAR 0 408 THRESHOLD RATIO ATTACK RELEASE figure 4 14 The Quad Comp figure 4 14 is one of the four modules in the Multiband serie of IK Multimedia plug ins for T RackS Multiband process ing at the core of this plug in splits the incoming signal into up to four frequency bands and treats each one separately with a dedicated set of controls The width of each band can be finely adjusted so that the processing can be very selective in case of a narrow band or spread across a wider range Each band is loaded with an optical compressor of particular effectiveness but with a very smooth sound and a full set of adjustable parameters Controls e FREQUENCY Display this big display shows the whole frequency spectrum and how it s divided in the four bands by the vertical frequency bars To modify the width of a band click and drag on the top square marker and adjust to the desired frequency which will appear during movement Clicking on a band s area will automatically select it and this will be reflected by the set of underly ing controls which will change values accordingly Click and drag on the central dot to adjust the band s gain it will be reflected by the band s underlying gain control METERING Display this display shows the gain reduction in dBs for each band and the master output level Whe
4. Opto Compressor 7 7 3 Linear Phase Equalizer 7 7 4 Brickwall Limiter 7 7 5 Vintage Program Equalizer EQ 1A 7 8 Managing Latency 7 9 Master your room Chapter 8 Troubleshooting Chapter 9 Support 9 1 User Area Contents T RackS CS 89 gi J1 Ji 92 93 93 93 93 94 94 94 95 95 96 97 97 98 99 99 101 103 103 T RackS CS Preset management with GLOBAL chain and Processor module Modular mastering mixing chain with up to 12 SINGLE processor presets parallel series processors one click single global bypass volume adjustable compare function T RackS CS Preset PRESET MODULE SAVE SAVEAS DELETE Sri OGHz BYPASS Mis 18 6 kHz ge0ees Low cur CUT HI MID mE HI CUT sa j WA ia o FREQ Q E i j a Te ie z i E i Y aa ALEE vd g J ae ig z A rs i P Stal t Ra 1 j iS E it 5 Paie i a so y D te il a PERE HAS SPECTRUM STTTwTTT_oi a iran oe I IE 60 48 32 24 l l P C PERCEIWED LOUDNESS 4 Pe l 17 5 I 2 e 8 kr 60 ql l 50 40 30 2 0 2 20 So 100 z200 S00 Sk 10k 2Ok TT 14 3 CORRELATION RMS ae SETTINGS INFO PREF COPY TO SEs r e AUDIO FILES DURATION IN FADE IN FADE OUT SNAPSHOT Track snapshot 00 00 00 ri 00 00 60 o SA 01 38 36 ON SHAP COPY 00 00 00 1 Track 1 mp3 01 3 2 2 g1 3 01 4 Track ama 01 38 36 i LOAD REMOVE OO Ue EE ee FARG o ET ET cca PROCESS E Complete built in metering
5. s gain it will be reflected by the band s underlying gain control METERING Display this display shows the gain reduction in dBs for each band and the master output level When the Quad Lim is used in STEREO mode the gain reduction will be shown for each single band independently When the plug in is used in M S Mid Side mode the gain reduction meter of each band will switch to a different visualization where two separate bar of LEDs will show Mid gain reduction red LEDs and Side gain reduction grey LEDs MASTER OUTPUT Fader use this master fader to adjust the final output of the plug in This fader works pre Brickwall Limiter so it can be used to boost the overall level and amount of limiting after the settings on the four bands have been adjusted without the risk of clipping or overload ON BYPASS Switch this control enables the plug in processing when in the ON status THRESHOLD this control sets the threshold level for the selected band at which the plug in will start limiting the incoming signal Turning the knob counterclockwise will progressively lower the threshold resulting in more limiting e ATTACK this control sets the time it takes the limiter to react and apply gain reduction once the incoming signal has passed above the set threshold The extreme counterclockwise values will set a very fast attack 0 05 ms which will result in a very fast response from the plug in catching the most instantaneous transient pea
6. Choose your Gear Credit Pack and click on BUY CREDITS to check out ssl 1 Vintage Tube Pr COLLECTIONS 2 British Channel 3 High precision 20 Gear Credits 1 9 99 as low as 1 per credit BUY CREDITS Dynamics See All gt 40 39 99 as iow as 1 per credit BUY CREDITS See 3 Quad Comp Reverb _ S 80 cearcredts 79 99 as iow as 1 per credit BUYCREDITS CSR Hall Reverb 2 CSR Plate sedi al 3 CSR Room Reverb 160 ear credits 119 99 as iow as 0 75 per credit BUY CREDITS 1 B ampli To Amplifier 200 cearcredits 139 99 as iow as 0 7 per credit CTB 3 Classic T RackS 300 Gear credits 199 99 as iow as 0 67 per credit BUY CREDITS 500 Gear Credits 299 99 as iow as 0 6 per credit BUY CREDITS 1 000 Gear Credits 499 99 as iow as 0 5 per credit BUY CREDITS figure 1 4 Edit Billing and Shipping information then click PROCEED TO CHECKOUT You can then choose the preferred payment method The first one is a standard credit card procedure where you enter your personal data You can also choose to use PayPal to buy Credit Packs In this case you will be redirected to the PayPal main page to login with your PayPal account info If you don t have a PayPal account you will have the opportunity to create one by following the on screen instruc tions Once the checkout procedure is complete your total credits will be displayed in the browser s main window Now you can go back to the
7. T CLIPPER figure 7 It includes the Classic T RackS EQ Classic T RackS Compressor Classic T RackS Limiter and at the end of the chain Classic T RackS Clipper For Rock Pop etc start with 2 dB of compression on the Compressor another 1 2 on the Limiter and maybe gain a few dBs on the clipper as well For a more straight and close to the original sound you can remove the Multiband Limiter from this chain and just use the EQ Compressor and Clipper 7 6 Advanced mastering chain The high end processors included in T RackS CS like Vintage Compressor Model 670 Linear Phase Equalizer Brickwall Limiter Opto Compressor and the EQ 1A Tube Vintage Program EQ allow the highest versatility during mastering Think to these modules as tools in your gear arsenal to be chosen from depending on the music you re working on on your taste etc Feel free to experiment with all combinations of processors on all kind of audio material and you ll find very good results This figure 7 2 is a very good starting chain for stereo Mastering with T RackS CS processors if you want an extremely transparent and pure processing path Faure 12 It includes the Linear Phase Equalizer Opto Compressor and Brickwall peak limiter It s a very transparent chain that will add very little coloration and will respect the original nuances and timbral characteristic of the music as much as possible even while giving you all the tools to master the music
8. inputs of the matrix are full The controls of the MACRO matrix are the same as well 4 17 9 2 Sources modulation sources MACRO 1 4 slider controls that can control multiple functions from the front panel making it possible to create morphing effects using a single control 4 T RackS CS module processors i T RackS CS 4 17 9 3 Destinations Destinations figure 4 33 are the parameters in the reverb engine that can be controlled You can choose almost every parameter as a destination source figure 4 33 MIN assigns the minimum value the MACRO can apply to the destination This value will change depending on the selected parameter If the min value is set higher than the maximum value the macro control will move the parameter in the opposite direction figure 4 34 MAX assigns the maximum value the MACRO can apply to the destination This value will change depending on the selected parameter figure 4 35 CURVE changes the response curve between the source and the destination figure 4 36 figure 4 34 figure 4 35 figure 4 36 There are three available curves e LIN Linear provides a linear response between the source and the destination figure 4 37 e LOG Logarithmic applies a logarithmic scale to the response between the source and destination figure 4 38 e EXP Exponential provides an exponential scale of response between the source and the destination figure 4 39 100 EEE Home EN E GA E
9. is useful every time you need to cut out all the peaks that keep the average level of a signal too low Peak clipping is very often used in mastering because it s in most cases more transparent than peak limiting Controls GAIN the Gain control adjusts the pre level of this clipping stage This is the level of the signal injected into the clipper and will determine the quantity of saturation applied to the audio TIP leave the OUTPUT now at 0 dB because doing this the clipper limiter will never go beyond 0 05 dBfs regardless of the Gain level you dial in GAIN REDUCTION METER shows instant by instant the amount of signal that is attenuated by the clipping saturation effect SLOPE the clipping shape of this stage is adjustable It s continuously variable from a straight digital hard clip fully clockwise to ultra soft non clipping mode fully counterclockwise Depending on music styles the clipping can be less noticeable either with softer or harder shapes that s why this control is continuously adjustable Only your ears can detect the optimal clipping shape for the piece of music you re mastering If you are unsure start with a middle value say 3 dB as a starting point SAT when the signal is in the non linear zone saturation the SAT LED lights up OUTPUT this is internally calibrated to ensure that the output of the clipper will never overload This means that regardless the input level of the clipper and the position of the
10. muddying up the singer It is also often used on drums and percussion Its smooth attack and bright characteristic make it a great choice for adding depth to a snare drum without burying it in the reverberation There are two operating modes for this module Easy for a basic control of the most commonly used parameters and Advanced to tweak every detail and have deep control of the reverb shape and tone The diagram below figure 4 19 shows the controls breakdown of Classik Studio Reverb s Classik Plate A Lu U Z lt gt OQ lt REFEEG figure 4 19 REVERB o IN LEVEL w Te le D O z Pa m N m O 0 o o fe eH zZ m 4 m DIFFUSION OUT LEVEL 4 T RackS CS module processors 0 o o O lt m A O 0 fe fe o ie HIGH DAMP HIGH FREQ OUT IMAGE fe PREDELY an 5 TI v3 m FEED RIGHT 68 T RackS CS 4 17 1 Easy MIX controls the ratio of reverb and original sound 0 is all unprocessed sound 100 is all reverb Use this control to increase or decrease the amount of reverb in the sound If you are using your reverb as a send effect this control will probably be set to 100 DIFFUSION determines the rate that the echo density increases over time A small diffusion setting simulates an acoustic space with smooth walls like a bathroom A larger diff
11. 4 17 8 3 Destinations 4 17 9 MACROS 4 17 9 1 MATRIX 4 17 9 2 Sources modulation sources 4 17 9 3 Destinations 4 17 10 MACRO NAME 4 18 CSR Hall Reverb 4 18 1 Easy 4 18 2 1 0 Levels 4 18 3 Time 4 18 4 Reverb 4 18 5 Color 4 18 6 Reflections 4 18 7 Modulation Matrix MARCOS and MACRO NAME 4 19 CSR Room Reverb 4 19 1 Easy 4 19 2 1 0 Levels 4 19 3 Time 4 19 4 Reverb 4 19 5 Color 4 19 6 Reflections 4 19 7 Modulation Matrix MARCOS and MACRO NAME 4 20 CSR Inverse Reverb 4 20 1 Easy 4 20 2 1 0 Levels Advanced Mode 4 20 3 Time 4 20 4 Reverb 4 20 5 Color 4 20 6 Reflections 4 20 7 Modulation Matrix MARCOS and MACRO NAME Chapter 5 Metering 5 1 Peak Meter 5 2 Perceived Loudness 5 3 RMS 5 4 Phase 5 5 Correlation Contents T RackS CS 53 55 57 58 61 63 65 67 68 69 69 69 70 70 70 70 71 71 72 73 74 74 74 15 76 71 18 78 78 719 19 19 19 80 81 81 81 82 82 82 82 83 84 84 84 85 85 85 85 86 86 87 88 88 89 5 6 Spectrum Analyzer Chapter 6 Automation 6 1 Automating parameters 6 2 Left Pane 6 3 Right Pane Chapter 7 Mastering tips 7 1 Introduction 7 2 T RackS CS chain setup tips 7 3 Comparing original mixes with the T RackS processed master 7 4 Loudness 7 5 Simple mastering chain 7 6 Advanced mastering chain 7 7 T RackS CS models tips 7 7 1 Vintage Compressor Model 670 7 1 2
12. 66 The diagram below figure 4 48 shows the controls breakdown of Classik Studio Reverb s Classik Inverse m Lu VU lt gt O lt REVERB REFLEC o oO 0 o IN LEVEL zZ g angg U m z lt m o m il m DIFFUSION OUT LEVEL DIFFUSION o o o REV TIME lt gt lt S lt m 5 BUILDUP MID SLOPE LOW SLOPE QUT IMAGE O HIGH DAMP LEVEL RIGHT e BUILDUP e PREDELY figure 4 48 4 T RackS CS module processors T RackS CS 4 20 1 Easy MIX controls the ratio of reverb and original sound 0 is all unprocessed sound 100 is all reverb Use this control to increase or decrease the amount of reverb in the sound If you are using your reverb as a send effect this control will probably be set to 100 DIFFUSION determines the rate that the echo density increases over time A small diffusion setting simulates an acoustic space with smooth walls like a bathroom A larger diffusion setting creates a more open and dense sounding reverb REV TIME Reverb Time adjusts the length of the reverb This is a commonly used control that shortens and lengthens the time that the reverb tail lasts MID SLOPE controls the middle and high frequency envelopes The actual frequencies affected are determined by the Crossover Positive values will cause the middle to high f
13. Click on M to set the compression for the Center Mid of your stereo image or on S to set compression for the Sides 4 T RackS CS module processors i T RackS CS 4 4 Intelligent multi algorithm Brickwall Limiter figure 4 4 This Brickwall Limiter figure 4 4 can really make your masters loud without squashing them to a lifeless sound Accurate and transpar ent digital brickwall limiting doesn t get any better than this Selectable algorithms allow you to match the best limiting style for each program type IMPORTANT this is the processor that should be always used at the end of your T RackS mastering chain because it has special features to keep the final output level of your master under control The D A Distortion Protection option that can be enabled from the Preferences panel does NOT have the proper effect when this module is not used at the end of the processing chain Controls e GAIN REDUCTION shows the amount of limiting that is happening in the gain reduction element of the limiter Limiting obtained by saturation or clipping is NOT shown by this meter INPUT sets the input level for the limiter and therefore the volume increase the limiter will give ATTACK TIME sets the limiter attack time Depending on how much limiting you re applying it may be necessary to increase this value to preserve percussive material s sense of impact RELEASE TIME sets the limiter release time The longer the releas
14. Custom Shop main page and start choosing your gear 1 What is T RackS CS 15 T RackS CS If you have purchased a Credit Pack outside of the Custom Shop from the IK Online Store from a dealer through a promotion etc you must enter the Serial Number on the ADD CREDITS page of the Custom Shop Click ADD CREDITS then enter your serial number at the bottom of the page in the field below Redeem Credit Pack Serial Number Now click the REDEEM CREDITS button to add the Credit Pack to your account Redeem Credit Pack Serial Number If you have purchased a Credit Pack outside of the Custom Shop from the IK Multimedia online store a dealer through a promotion etc enter the Serial Number here and then click the Redeem Credits button Serial Number REDEEM CREDITS figure 1 5 As you can see each of the available pieces of gear listed in the various categories EQ Dynamics Reverbs and so on have their own price shown in creditstogether with a description of the item You can now Select and buy the modules you want limited only by the total amount of credits in your profile Buying gear is simple just click the BUY button next to the item you want and then confirm your purchase in the following window Welcome User you have 160 credits left T RACKS E D Pustom A lt gt Search ADD CREDITS GEAR ACCOUNT HELP hop Home gt Dyngmios 12 gear models avallable W ee Ow BUY Top Seller meee TENN S Eq Se
15. Run the Authorization Manager and follow the steps until you reach the login page Here you just have to click on the Forgot password button and submit your email address Your login details will be sent to your email account In case you have checked the Remember me checkbox before and are not able to access the login page just click on the LOGOUT button e Go to www ikmultimedia com click on I forgot my username and or password and submit your email address Your login details will be sent to your email account I just bought an IK Multimedia software What should I do to register and authorize my new product Just run the Authorization Manager and follow the instructions In case you don t have the Authorization Manager you can download it for free from the Products page of our website at www ikmultimedia com authorizationmanager 8 Troubleshooting 102 T RackS CS Chapter 9 Support For any question you may have please refer to the FAQ webpage at www ikmultimedia com faq Here you will find answers to the most common questions To submit a Technical Support Form go to www ikmultimedia com support For other requests such as Product Sales or Web info please go to www ikmultimedia com contact us 9 1 User Area The User Area is a special section of our website specifically designed for our users needs figure 9 1 Home gt User Area Welcome to the IK User Area The User Area is a special sect
16. T RackS CS 4 18 4 Reverb SIZE controls the approximate size of the acoustic space from small to large This control is measured in meters and is approxi mately equal to the longest dimension of the space DIFFUSION determines the rate that the echo density increases over time A small diffusion setting simulates an acoustic space with smooth walls like a bathroom A larger diffusion setting creates a more open and dense sounding reverb BUILDUP changes the speed of the reverb s buildup When this control is turned down it causes a fast attack in the reverb To create a slower buildup in the reverberation turn up the buildup control Increasing the Buildup will create the sense of a large room hall but the spatial information can be lost this can be restored with the reflection parameters delay and level DISPERSE disperse works in conjunction with the Buildup control to determine the initial envelope of the reverberation You can use Disperse to vary the apparent size and character of the early reflection MODULATN Modulation creates movement in the reverberation tail Modulation continually changes the timbre of the reverbera tion If used in smaller amounts 10 50 it can result in a more natural sounding reverb If used higher than that it can cause acoustic instruments timbre to become unstable MODMOVE Modulation Movement changes the time that early reflection will move in the reverberation This can be used to cr
17. The Quad Limiter figure 4 15 is one of the four plug ins in the Multiband series for T RackS Multiband processing at the core of this plug in splits the incoming signal into up to four frequency bands and treats each one separately with a dedicated set of controls The width of each band can be finely adjusted so that the processing can be very precise in case of a narrow band or spread across a wider range Each band is loaded with a peak limiter which controls dynamics with extreme precision and accuracy across the whole spectrum with the added flexibility of selectable frequency zones In addition to the four limiters the Quad Lim is loaded with a master brickwall limiter located post processing so that no overs can escape and clipping is avoided This will let you produce very loud masters with a controlled frequency balance Of course be careful with limiting amount as too much will produce flat tracks without dynamics unless you want that Controls e FREQUENCY Display this big display shows the whole frequency spectrum and how it s divided in the four bands by the verti cal frequency bars To modify the width of a band click and drag on the top square marker and adjust to the desired frequency which will appear during movement Clicking on a band s area will automatically select it and this will be reflected by the set of underlying controls which will change values accordingly Click and drag on the central gain dot to adjust the band
18. as a limiter ALL this is the typical ALL BUTTONS IN setting that makes the Black 76 behave like no standard compressor due to the fact that some parameters like attack and release times are not fixed but change constantly This results in more distortion and very pronounced pumping effect that can be effectively used for some creative effects on room or ambient drum tracks or to add distortion and sonic character in parallel compression to bass guitars and vocal tracks METER these buttons will allow to monitor either the applied gain reduction or the plug in s output level When the 4 button is selected a reading of OdB on the metering will correspond to a 12dBFS level When the 8 button is selected the OdB on the meter will correspond to a 8dBFS level 4 T RackS CS module processors T RackS CS e OFF this button power off the processor Note that the signal flow will be interrupted RESET clicking once on this switch brings all controls back to their original default state where a moderate amount of compression is already applied depending on the level of the input signal Clicking again reverts the controls back to the values last set by the user for an easy and convenient comparison or to avoid unintentional mistakes BYPASS completely bypasses the processing in the plug in to compare with the unprocessed signal L R links the two channels for stereo operation all parameters affect the two channels in the sa
19. correction package e New selection of available modules from the online Custom Shop e New Gear Collections T RackS CS comes as a free download from the IK multimedia web site upon registration of a valid account in your User Area T RackS CS Singles All T RackS CS processors can be purchased as single plug ins as modules in the Custom Shop The T RackS CS Singles plug ins are available in VST RTAS and Audio Units formats They will also seamlessly integrate into all T RackS CS versions increasing the total number of processors you can use inside the suite The T RackS CS Singles are only available as plug ins and do not have individual standalone versions They can however be integrated into the T RackS CS suites The Modules will be available for a full featured trial time of 48 hours then they will revert to locked state see chapter 1 3 4 for more infos What s New 10 T RackS CS IK Multimedia pioneered analog modeled mastering with the first all in one software solution the original standalone version of T RackS that became a cult hit in studios around the world The T RackS CS raises the bar again in DAW mastering and mixing with a Dynamics amp EQ suite of analog modeled and digital processor plug ins with many new features and unrivaled audio quality SHOW CHAIN T RackS CS Preset ae PRE moov SAVE SAVE AS ELETE j se GMF Cour COMPARE tate OGHz2 BYPASS GAIN CUTOFF SPECTRUM E wwOczaz0_ 77 a
20. decrease the amount of reverb in the sound If you are using your reverb as a send effect this control will probably be set to 100 DIFFUSION determines the rate that the echo density increases over time A small diffusion setting simulates an acoustic space with smooth walls like a bathroom A larger diffusion setting creates a more open and dense sounding reverb RVB TIME Reverb Time adjusts the length of the reverb This is a commonly used control that shortens and lengthens the time that the reverb tail lasts LOW TIME controls the length of the reverb for low frequencies determined by the Crossover parameter of the RVB Time HIGH FREQ High Frequency changes the frequency of high frequency dampening HIGH DAMP High Dampening shortens the high frequency decay time of the reverb This allows you to emulate the way different materials in a real room such as carpet and furnishings absorb sound 4 18 2 1 0 Levels e IN LEVEL adjusts the input level of the reverb e OUT LEVEL adjusts the output level from the reverb e MIX controls the ratio of reverb and original sound 0 is all unprocessed sound 100 is all reverb Use this control to increase or decrease the amount of reverb in the sound If you are using your reverb as a send effect this control will probably be set to 100 e IN IMAGE controls the stereo image of the input signal before it is processed through the effect This control allows you to change the signal
21. figure 3 5 You can display the entire chain at any time by clicking on the SHOW CHAIN button figure 3 6 This will display the chain in full in the T RackS main interface with icons of every inserted processor Clicking on any of these icons will display the interface of that processor figure 3 6 3 General controls 30 T RackS CS 3 2 Compare function The Compare function allows the comparison between the original file and the one processed with the selected T RackS chain or pro cessors Additionally a volume knob is available to set the volume of the processed and unprocessed audio so you can evaluate the two versions by setting the same volume level to prevent you from misjudging your results because of volume differences To activate the compare function click on the COMPARE button figure 3 7 When the COMPARE button is highlighted with the under neath button OFF you will be hearing the non processed original audio and the volume knob will adjust its volume level figure 3 8 figure 3 7 figure 3 8 When the COMPARE button is highlighted with the underneath button ON you will hear the processed audio and the volume knob will adjust its volume level figure 3 9 figure 3 9 By switching the ON OFF button once you will compare between the original and the processed audio and you will be able to set the volume of the two at comparable levels to make effective decision on the mastering settings you have applied 3
22. from normal stereo to mono and manipulate the phase of the signal For example a value of 45 swaps the left and right channels 0 is mono and 45 is normal stereo With a setting of 90 all mono information will be excluded from the reverb sound e OUT IMAGE controls the stereo image of the effected signal With a value of 360 to 360 this control extends the stereo field of the processed sound This control can be used to create mono stereo or surround type effects It can also be changed in real time or automated using the modulation or macro matrix 4 18 3 Time e RVB TIME Reverb Time adjusts the length of the reverb In other words this shortens and lengthens the time that the reverb tail lasts e LOW TIME controls the length of the reverb for low frequencies determined by the Crossover parameter of the RVB Time e CROSSOVER changes the crossover frequency for the Low time control e HIGH FREQ High Frequency changes the frequency for the low pass filter used for High Frequency damping e HIGH DAMP High Dampening damps attenuates the high frequency being recirculated into the reverberation Using High frequency damping often gives a more natural sounding reverb e PREDELY Predelay determines the amount of time between the initial input signal and the reverberation Increasing the prede lay can create a sense of distance and to some degree change the size of the acoustic space 4 T RackS CS module processors a
23. ms to 5 seconds COMPRESSION sets the amount of compression that is applied to the signal Fully counterclockwise means no compression fully clockwise means full compression IN OUT GR METERS when set to IN the VU meters will indicate the audio level at the inputs of the compressor When set to OUT they will indicate the audio level at the outputs of the compressor The most important indication is GR default where the amount of compression in dB is shown Always use the GR position when dialing in the desired compression amount in with the COMPRESSION knob OUTPUT sets the compressor output level within a range of 24 dB BYPASS completely bypasses the opto compressor module RESET brings the compressor back to its default state where a compression of around 2 dB is happening on moderate level mixes Clicking on this button again will bring your settings back in case you hit reset by mistake L R the same settings will be applied to Land R compressors The Land R compression will be exactly the same if the LINK button is ON to avoid stereo image shifts L R click on L or R icons if you want to dial in specific compression setting for L and R channels independently M S this option uses a Mid Side matrix to insert the stereo compressor on your processing chain This means that you will be able to compress independently the Center or the Sides of your stereo program The L and R icons will be replaced by M and S when in this mode
24. of all its tonal characteristics This new emulation technology produces results that are indistinguishable from the originals even for the professionally trained ear e Many pieces of vintage gear tend to have original and interesting circuit topology due to the creative solutions that engineers were sometimes forced to put into place in order to overcome the limitations of components technology e Vintage component technology many components can t be found anymore because their technology became obsolete and uneco nomical as well as their aging some of the best sounding devices are 40 50 years old played fundamental roles in giving these devices a unique musicality that is what the purist would define to be unmatched by even the most advanced processors today e And finally many of the unique sonic characteristics of these magnificent vintage units sometimes depended on erratic and unpredictable behavior of their electronics that would be considered unorthodox and unusable by today s science and standards SCC technology has the ability through a new analysis method developed by IK to integrate all of the above and turn it into math ematical algorithm that for the first time is able to take into consideration all of these complex variables and get an exact clone of the original software emulation evolved to a sound quality never heard before The results are so close to the original units that you will not be able to te
25. of the VU meter for incredible accuracy Controls e INPUT determines the amount of signal going into the Black 76 e OUTPUT determines the final level going out of the Black 76 Once the desired amount of limiting or compression is achieved with the use of the Input control the Output control can be used to make up any gain loss due to the gain reduction process ATTACK sets the amount of time it takes the Black 76 to respond to an incoming signal and begin gain reduction The Black 76 attack time is adjustable from 20 microseconds to 800 microseconds both extremely fast The attack time is fastest when the Attack knob is in its fully clockwise position and it is slowest when in its fully counterclockwise position OFF when this switch is pressed the compression is disabled and the processor works as a signal amplifier RELEASE sets the amount of time it takes the Black 76 to return to its initial pre gain reduction level The release time is adjust able from 50 milliseconds to 1100 milliseconds The release time is fastest when the Release knob is in its fully clockwise position and it is slowest when in its fully counterclockwise position RATIO these controls set the behavior of the compressor related to the signal hitting the threshold A setting of 4 1 means that signal exceeding the set threshold will be reduced by four times 4 dBs over the threshold will reduced to 1dB Likewise 8 1 Higher ratios will make the Black 76 work
26. or R icons if you want to dial in specific compression setting for L and R channels independently M S this option uses a Mid Side matrix to insert the stereo compressor on your processing chain This means that you will be able to independently compress the Center or the Sides of your stereo program The L and R icons will be replaced by M and S when in this mode Click M to set the compression for the Center Mid of your stereo image or S to set compression for the Sides 4 T RackS CS module processors a T RackS CS 4 12 British Channel LOW MiD wal Hl MilD T LOW PASa T E E p sH g 0 L i t Q sak ui Wl Q GAIE EAP 0 4 w Release 5 IN OUT figure 4 13 The British Channel module figure 4 13 is based on one of the most popular and universally acclaimed British mixing consoles which hit the market with great impact in the 80 s and forever changed the way records were made The British Channel carefully reproduces all of its op amp driven EQ and VCA Compressor Expander Gate behavior and as for the real thing it can be used on all kinds of sources across a DAW to shape and finely craft the mix s sound Its wealth of controls will make getting into each mix s detail easy and all instru ments will gain their own sound and dimension thanks to a super precise EQ section with selectable circuit mode and a dynamics section capable of going from subtle level control to extreme squashing and effective gating Co
27. parameters settings EQ S C this switch enables the sidechain circuit meaning that the EQ section is used as a detector for the dynamics section This is a very effective way of compressing a particular frequency which is selected with the EQ section When this switch is enabled the EQ section will not work the standard way and could not be used to EQ the incoming signal you will have to instantiate another British Channel EQ Dyn plug in or use another EQ Threshold this control sets the level in dB below which the incoming signal is attenuated by the gate expander circuit Range this parameter controls the amount of gain reduction in dB applied to the incoming signal when this falls below the threshold level The extreme counterclockwise position will have none to minimal gain reduction while more effective gating for more noisy or problematic tracks is obtained turning progressively this control towards the 40 dB value fully clockwise Release S this control determines the time in seconds it takes the expander gate to release the signal to its normal level once it has gone above the threshold Fst Attack this control switches the attack time it takes to the gate expander circuit to open to 1ms this can be useful to produce some very particular effects like snappy and percussive sounds with very marked attack transients EXP this control activates the expansion mode for the gate expander section 4 T RackS CS module proc
28. sources to a selection of parameters in the reverb engine You can achieve subtle or extreme variations in the reverb by applying the modulation sources to the different parameters destinations in Classik Studio Reverb Here is a diagram of the modulation system and its sources and destinations figure 4 20 OUTPUT be ir ps ALMOST ALL PARAMETERS T IMAGE LEVEL IN EFFECT ENGINE OUT IN LF01 LFO2 ENV 1 ENV 2 8 X 8 MODULATION MATRIX figure 4 20 4 17 8 1 Modulation The matrix window figure 4 21 displays your modulations sources destinations minimum and maximum values and curve controls figure 4 21 4 T RackS CS module processors i T RackS CS 4 17 8 2 Sources modulation sources LFO1 and LFO2 Low frequency oscillators generate Sine Triangle Sawtooth Square Wave and Noise all with adjustable rates These signals can be used to modulate any of the available destinations in the matrix figure 4 22 figure 4 22 e TYPE selects the waveform of the oscillator e RATE selects the speed of the waveform ENV1 and ENV2 Envelope generators featuring attack and release They can be triggered from Input L R or summed and Reverb L R or summed These envelopes can be used to modulate any of the available destinations in the matrix figure 4 23 INPUT GAIN figure 4 23 e INPUT selects the input trigger of the envelope generator e GAIN adjusts the amount of gain required to tri
29. such as animation sound and graphics and all related updates supplied by IK Multimedia Not for resale NFR Version means a version of IK Multimedia Product so identified is intended for review and evaluation purposes only 2 LICENSE The IK Multimedia Product is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties The IK Multimedia Product is licensed not sold This EULA grants you the rights as specified here below All other actions and means of usage are reserved to the written permission of the right holder IK Multimedia Production Srl Applications Software The IK Multimedia Product may be used only by you You may install and use the IK Multimedia Product or any prior version thereof for the same operating system on up to five 5 computers provided that a each computer is owned by or leased to and under the exclusive control of the licensee b the program s shall NOT be used simultaneously on more than one machine and c any computer s with IK Multimedia software installed shall not be sold rented leased loaned or otherwise be removed from the licensee s possession without first removing uninstalling the licensed software except as provided in Paragraph 4 below pertaining to Software Transfer Storage Network use You may also store or install a copy of the IK Multimedia Product on a storage device such
30. the reflections in the left channel e TIME RIGHT changes the delay between the input signal and the early reflections in the right channel e LEVEL RIGHT changes the level of the reflections in the right channel 4 19 7 Modulation Matrix MARCOS and MACRO NAME This section of controls is common to all the the CSR modules Refer to paragraphs from 4 17 8 to 4 17 10 for detailed description 4 T RackS CS module processors T RackS CS 4 20 CSR Inverse Reverb figure 4 47 Reverse reverbs figure 4 47 were popularized in the 1980 s This type of reverb can be heard on many rock snare drums from this time period A Reverse reverb applies an envelope slow attack fast decay to the early reflections The main parameter that affects the sound of this reverb is time Time can be adjusted for the buildup and cut off of the early reflections This affects the sound as if it were being reversed in the reverberation but in actuality it is simply an envelope effect This type of reverb has been heavily used on drums and percussion It is also useful with vocals or any sound that needs an unnatural but interesting ambience Try combining this reverb with another reverb effect to create a complex moving ambience around the sound There are two operating modes for this module Easy for a basic control of the most commonly used parameters and Advanced to tweak every detail and have deep control of the reverb shape and tone 9
31. tips 38 T RackS CS 7 8 Managing Latency As previously explained T RackS CS will declare three different latencies to the host program when starting or at play stop sequences depending on what is selected on the following preferences e Lowest Latency use this setting when you need T RackS CS to have the shortest possible latency This setting is to be used for example when you re using T RackS CS to process a real time recording monitor mix In this mode the total T RackS CS latency is 132 samples e Oversampling use this setting when you want to use oversampling This delivers higher quality to all T RackS CS processors but increases latency to 1284 samples e Oversampling Linear Phase use this setting when the maximum audio quality is needed and high latency is not a problem for example when mastering The LINEAR PHASE button on T RackS CS Linear Phase Equalizer will only be working with this setting ON In this mode the T RackS total latency is 19684 samples IMPORTANT NOTE not all Digital Audio Workstations can compensate a latency as high as 20 704 samples This is not a problem in mastering but you might want to reduce the T RackS CS total latency from the preferences panel if you need to process tracks that must remain aligned to other ones as using T RackS in mixing In this case there should be no problems since most of the DAWs can com pensate the first two Latency levels 128 and 2304 samples Lowest Latency Overs
32. 3 Presets You can save the entire T RackS configuration or single module processor settings into presets that you can store edit and recall at will To load a preset in T RackS click on the Preset Display figure 3 10 and choose from the drop down menu or click the Up Down arrows and scroll through the available presets figure 3 10 The PRESET button will open the Presets Folder letting you manually move group rename and back up your preset files via standard OS window figure 3 11 Folders Folders Folders Folders J AmpliTube 3 Presets Global J T Racks CS Classic ARC System 2 J Module T RackS CS Deluxe D T Racks 3 J T RackS CS Grand J T Racks CS Developer E Full Reset tr4p figure 3 11 3 General controls 31 T RackS CS The SAVE button saves the current T RackS settings as a preset Saving a presets with no previously loaded presets presents the Save window figure 3 12 where you are requested to select a save folder location on your hard disk by default this is the Presets folder and give a name to your preset An Overwrite without asking check box allows you to overwrite presets without being asked to confirm Save Save to folder Global Save with name Overwrite without asking ave Cancel figure 3 12 If you click SAVE preset once you already have a preset loaded a dialog window will prompt you to confirm you want to save the settings over the currently loaded pre
33. AES I l aeaea l TT TT i q2 ps oy ae i e T ik 4 5 PERCEIVED LOUDNESS E i 40 C dd s SES boa So f f illi 30 20 4 2 0 S 50 ail i 50 40 20 L D i 70 So W00 200 Soo tk 5k ae LT RMS ae SETTINGS NFO PREF copy to AUDIO FILES DURATION IN FADE IN FADE OUI SNAPSHOT Track snapshot Track 1 mp3 00 00 00 00 00 00 36 5 DH SNAF COPY 00 00 00 2 Track 2 way 3 Track 3 waw Track 4 mp3 LOAD REMOVE COTA EE ee C E OSEE EE E E T a f PRocEss figure 1 0 T RackS CS processors include high end analog and digital EQs compressors and limiters that offer amazing sonic performance with a similar working environment to that of professional mastering stations right on your desktop both as a plug in for all the most popular DAWS or as a standalone application Even though T RackS CS has been designed for mastering its quality plug in units sound amazing on individual tracks too We suggest using them on critical tracks like lead vocals drums bass acoustic guitars and so on every time you need that pristine warm and open sound for which T RackS CS is renowned 1 What is T RackS CS 11 1 2 T RackS CS T RackS CS Features Modular mastering mixing suite of dynamics and EQ processors including Custom Shop functionality for a la carte selection of modules from the complete list of available models in the online virtual shop including emulations of vintage and classic analog processor
34. ANY OTHER CAUSE EXCEPT THE ACTUAL COST OF THE PRODUCT IN NO EVENT SHALL IK MULTIMEDIA LIABILITY EXCEED THE PURCHASE PRICE OF THIS PRODUCT 10 CHOICE OF LAW You agree that any and all claims suits or other disputes arising from your use of the software shall be determined in accordance with the laws of Italy in the event IK Multimedia is made a party thereto You agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the court in Modena Italy for all actions whether in contract or in tort arising from your use or purchase of the software 11 GENERAL This Agreement contains the complete agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous agreements or understandings whether oral or written All questions concerning this Agreement shall be directed to IK Multimedia Production Srl Via dell Industria 46 41122 Modena Italy 2008 2012 IK Multimedia All rights reserved License Agreement 3 T RackS CS What s New in T RackS CS The new T RackS CS adds several exciting features to the already impressive power of the previous version e Custom Shop functionality gives you the possibility to select single pieces of gear from an online shop in order to create a custom ized collection that will fit any personal mixing or mastering application e ARC System 2 support lets mastering applications benefit from the 4X increased resolution of IK Multimedia s own world renowned room
35. Cut Gain changes the gain of the high cut filter This is adjustable from 24dB to OdB 4 17 6 Reflections e TIME LEFT changes the delay between the input signal and the early reflections in the left channel e LEVEL LEFT changes the level of the reflections in the left channel e TIME RIGHT changes the delay between the input signal and the early reflections in the right channel e LEVEL RIGHT changes the level of the reflections in the right channel 4 17 7 Echo e TIME LEFT increases and decreases the length of the echo in the left channel This echo is routed to the reverb engine and the feedback path as well e FEED LEFT controls the amount of delay that is being sent to the feedback paths To hear significant changes in this control you 4 T RackS CS module processors a T RackS CS may have to change this level dramatically e TIME RIGHT increases and decreases the length of the echo in the right channel This echo is routed to the reverb engine and the feedback path as well e FEED RIGHT controls the amount of delay that is being sent to the feedback paths To hear significant changes in this control you may have to change this level dramatically 4 17 8 Modulation Matrix This section of controls is common to all the CSR modules The modulation matrix is a flexible system for adding continuous movement to the parameters and sound of Classik Studio Reverb mod ules It allows you to route 4 modulation
36. Dithering Project Properties ps d P Link T RackS processors to Audio File a Cancel dC Ok figure 2 5 figure 2 6 2 Getting started 23 To load audio files into the T RackS CS standalone application simply drag them LOAD button Full Reset PRESET MODULE a Track 1 wav 7 SSIS eC Ie ea te figure 2 7 FADE IN OUT 00 00 00 01 368 3 BUR ATION IM 01 38 34 01 38 34 L 01 38 34 AUDIO FILES See 00 00 00 2 Track 1 waw 3 Track 1 wav LOAD REMOVE Mii iiciin figure 2 8 The audio files will appear in the AUDIO FILES panelin the player editor window interface FADE IN OUT 00 00 00 01 38 34 FADE OUT 01 38 34 DURATION IN 01 38 34 00 00 00 01 38 34 1 01 38 34 AUDIO FILES 1 Track 1 wav 2 Track 1 wav 3 Track 1 wav LOAD REMOVE UU icii figure 2 9 T RackS CS over the interface or open them using the with their duration listed beside them SNAPSHOT OM SNAP copy Track snapshot 00 00 00 PROCESS By clicking on the file in the AUDIO FILES panel its waveform will be displayed on the right By clicking the PLAY button the file will start playing and by enabling the LOOP button the file will be played in a loop figure 2 10 2 Getting started 24 T RackS CS When the file is playing a PLAY CURSOR will be displayed over the waveform with the COUNTER display indicating its position in the file in minutes seconds frames format The
37. F RACKS CS World Class Mixing and Mastering Plug Ins User Manual IK Multimedia Musicians First T RackS CS T RackS is a registered trademark property of IK Multimedia Production All other product names and images trademarks and artists names are the property of their respective owners which are in no way associated or affiliated with IK Multimedia Product names are used solely for the purpose of identifying the specific products that were studied during IK Multimedia s sound model development and for describing certain types of tones produced with IK Multimedia s digital modeling technology Use of these names does not imply any cooperation or endorsement Fairchild is a registered trademark property of Avid Technology Inc Pultec is a registered trademark property of Pulse Techniques LLC LA 2A and 1176 LN are registered trademarks of Universal Audio Inc IK Multimedia s products specifically the T RackS Black 76 Limiting Amplifier and T RackS White 2A Leveling Amplifier are manufactured and developed by IK Multimedia based on its own modeling techniques Universal Audio has neither endorsed nor sponsored IK Multimedia s products in any manner nor licensed any intellectual property for use in this product Mac and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Computer Inc registered in the U S and other countries Windows and the Windows logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United St
38. GAIN knob you ll never get samples over OdB out from this module because the internal clipping has a 0 05 dBfs ceiling This is only valid if the OUTPUT knob is set at 0 dB OUTPUT METER shows the peak output level on the same bar for L and R channels L is on the top and R on the bottom OVER these two LEDs separate for left and right channels light up ONLY when a digital overload at the clipper outputs has occurred In theory they should never turn on Adjust the OUTPUT control to ensure they stay off with as high a level as possible BYPASS this completely bypasses the Clipper module RESET brings the Clipper back to its default state Clicking on this button again will bring your settings back in case you hit reset by mistake 4 T RackS CS module processors as 4 9 T RackS CS Classic T RackS Equalizer figure 4 10 The T RackS Classic Equalizer figure 4 10 consists of a high quality six band parametric EQ specially designed to achieve high end performance in a mastering environment It consists of 1 4th order High pass filter from 16 Hz to 5 3 kHz 2 Low shelving type filter from 30 Hz to 200 Hz 3 Low mid peaking type filter from 33 Hz to 5 4 kHz variable Q 4 High mid peaking type filter from 200 Hz to 17 5 kHz variable Q 5 High shelving type filter from 750 Hz to 8 5 kHz 6 4th order Low pass filter from 200 Hz to 18 kHz Controls LOW CUT band ON OFF use this button to turn On and O
39. Hz sets the frequency of the High Pass filter rolloff point The filter has a 12 dB Octave cut 18 when in Black mode In the OUT position the filter is inactive this effectively allows to use the two filters independently Freq KHz sets the frequency of the Low Pass filter rolloff point The filter has a 12 dB Octave cut Just like the other in the OUT position the filter is inactive FLT S C this switch makes the filter section act as the detector for the sidechain circuit of the dynamics section When engaged the HP and LP filters are not usable for their primary purpose IN this switch turns the whole EQ section minus filters on or off B this switch allows to choose which EQ mode the British Channel will turn in when disengaged the mode is Brown meaning that the EQ behavior will be the one of the Brown EQ circuit while when engaged the EQ mode will be the one of the Black EQ circuit with its distinctive frequency shifts and boost cut Q differences This two different circuit designs offer sonically distinct results and having them both available at the press of a switch is a very handy resource for the ultimate tone tweaking DYNAMICS Section IN this switch enables the dynamics section GATE EXP EQ PRE this switch modifies the sequence of EQ and dynamics sections When engaged the compressor section is shifted before the EQ setion effectively changing how the whole module reacts to the incoming signal in relation to the
40. Keep in mind that passages that stay between 0 and 1 will be perceived significantly lower when played in mono 5 6 Spectrum Analyzer This is a 1 6 octave FFT spectrum analyzer that can be configured to give various kind of information figure 5 13 SPECTRUM S00 2k Sk 10k 2Ok figure 5 13 When set to react fast or relatively fast peak or RMS it is very useful to identify portions of the spectrum that need retouching with the equal izers and when set to react slowly Average mode it is very useful to keep the overall balance of the audio you re working on under control Settings click on Settings figure 5 14 Analyzer to have access to the Spectrum analyzer settings 90 0 dB 60 5 dB Curve Bars Tilt OdB Tilt 3dB Tilt 4 5dB Tilt 606 Tilt 9dB Peak RMS Average L R L FECTRIJM R 2k 4k 5k lok Show Peaks Peak Meter Phase Loudness Suggestion elease 250ms Release 500ms Release 1000ms figure 5 14 5 Metering 89 T RackS CS 90 0 dB vertical scale of the Spectrum Analyzer goes from 90 to 0 dB wider scale 60 0 dB vertical scale of the Spectrum Analyzer goes from 60 to 0 dB narrower scale Curve Bars sets how the curve is drawn vertical yellow bars figure 5 13 or 1 6 octave segmented curve Tilt value from 0 to 9 dB use this value to set the tilt you prefer when working on the material you re familiar with Higher values will m
41. LINEAR PHASE button on T RackS CS Linear Phase Equalizer will only works with this setting ON In this mode the T RackS total latency is 19684 sample D A Distortion Protection when mastering audio material at really hot levels there is a chance that playback devices like CD or MP3 players will distort the audio because of overload in their D A conversion and analog stages even if the original digital master is distorted at all These overloads are appearing between samples because of excessive overshoots or just because the D A and analog stages cannot keep up with the required headroom Enable this to allow the T RackS Brickwall Limiter to keep this phenomenon under control and avoid most of these potentially bad distortions NOTE this setting has no effect if the Brickwall Limiter module is not used at the end of the audio processing chain 3 General controls 33 T RackS CS e Clip Output to 0 dB use this option to have T RackS CS to limit at 0 dB the signal at the output of the processing chain by hard clipping If this is unchecked the signal is allowed to go beyond the 0 dB digital level 3 6 Info By clicking on the INFO button figure 3 18 the T RackS info panel will be displayed figure 3 19 You will find the product name its version number and the related copyright notes F RacnS CS 21998 2012 IK Multimedia Production Srl ersion 4 0 0 2K12 Created by the IK Multimedia team T RackS is a registered tradem
42. O FILES DURATION IN FADE IN FADE OUT SNAPSHOT Active snapshot 2 1 TAFRRIIASN ri an aa il 00 00 00 01 38 34 DH SNAP COPY 00 17 36 DELETE figure 1 2 On the Login page enter your User Name and Password the same one you used to register and login to your IK Multimedia user account P ere ia i Se WOR Welcome to the Custom Shop an entirely new shopping experience for software plug ins thats like visiting a real music store Please enter the user name and password that you used when you registered your product with IK Multimedia After login you can both try and buy the various gear models In the Custom Shop User name _ J Password LOGIN Forgot User name Password figure 1 3 NOTE you MUST be connected to the internet to do this as all of the following operations done in the Custom Shop are web based 1 What is T RackS CS 14 T RackS CS The Custom Shop is based on a credits currency system You will need to buy a pack of credits in order to be able to purchase gear This is done by simply clicking the ADD CREDITS button in the main browser window You will find Credit Packs of several sizes Welcome User you have 160 credits left T RACKS C Pustom A lt gt Search Q ADD CREDITS GEAR ACCOUNT HELP hop d EQ gt ae Buy Gear Credits Top Seller REVERB gt Eq See All gt c Buy Gear Credits whenever you need them Use your Gear Credits to unlock the Gear METERING gt OTHER gt
43. OP POINTS allows you to work on selected part of your song for fine tuning down to the greatest level of detail All of this is available directly on the audio file WAVEFORM that is conveniently displayed in T RackS with ZOOM IN OUT Once you are done the PROCESS button allows you to export your entire album with one click with the highest quality for CD or any other media type Audio Hardware Settings window To use T RackS CS in standalone mode you need to properly adjust its hardware settings figure 2 2 that control which audio interface is used by the software for its stereo audio output _ T RackS CS File E m ii Hardware Settings figure 2 2 This window can be launched under the Audio menu in the Menu bar of the standalone application Here you will select the audio inter face and buffer size that will be used in T RackS CS Audio Driver T RackS CS is compatible with any ASIO or DirectX audio interface in Windows and any Core Audio compatible audio interface in Mac OS X Windows T RackS CS is compatible with ASIO or DirectX compatible audio interfaces on Windows Use the drop down Technology and Output Device menus to select your audio interface figure 2 3 Audio hardware settings Technology Asio Output device 4510 Digidesign Driver Left channel Digit Analog 1 Right channel igi Analog 2 Buffer size 5742 yt figure 2 3 Left Right Channel pop up menus are used to route the T RackS CS stereo outp
44. STOP button will stop playback Both in PLAY or STOP mode you can skip to a different PLAY point simply by clicking on the desired position on the waveform AUDIO FILES DURATION IH FADE IN OLT FADE OUT SNAPSHOT Track snapshot 00 00 00 Ta 00 00 00 03 23 70 Si 03 23 70 DN SNAP COPY 00 00 00 q 3 23 70 Loo Song 3 wav PERSE Song 1 wav 1 2 Song 2 wav 3 el OPEREER _U0 98 71 EPE figure 2 11 To start mastering your files you will need to insert T RackS processors in the audio chain for the selected file To do this simply click on one of the drop down menu buttons corresponding to the available T RackS chain slots This will display the processors menu where you can choose one of the available processors for that slot by selecting it from the menu lt Empty gt Classic Multiband Limiter Classic Clipper Classic Equalizer Brickwall Limiter Linear Phase EQ Opto Compressor Vintage Compressor Model 670 Vintage Program EQ 14 Quad Comp Quad Lim Quad Image DeEsser Black 76 White 24 CSR Hall CSR Inverse CSR Plate CSR Room British Channel SPECTRUM figure 2 12 The abbreviation of the inserted processor will appear in the selected slot and the drop down menu will display the type of processor inserted in the slot figure 2 13 2 Getting started 25 T RackS CS Now the audio will be played through the T RackS processor inserted in the chain To insert more processors you can simply r
45. a CaAdS MNnCONDSO nra CaAdSs RNR CONDO erw CaAdCS ane PTA pvt tt et tt yt AECL ECEE BE RREER ERR RRR ee PE EE at CEA Ee ee Ee t Destination Destination i Destination LINEAR MODULATION RESPONSE LOGARITHMIC MODULATION RESPONSE EXPONENTIAL MODULATION RESPONSE figure 4 28 figure 4 29 figure 4 30 4 T RackS CS module processors a T RackS CS 4 17 9 MACROS This section of controls is common to all the CSR modules The MACRO controls are the 4 sliders on the far right hand side of the interface These sliders can be assigned to multiple parameters So you can add additional single controls to the front panel giving you more easy control to a preset You can also create complex morph ing controls making it possible to move from one type of reverb sound to a totally different reverb sound in a single slider movement 4 17 9 1 MATRIX The MACROS figure 4 31 are configured in much the same way as the modulation matrix figure 4 31 There is an 8x8 matrix that allows you to route the 4 MACRO controls to multiple destinations Here is a diagram of the MACRO controls matrix figure 4 32 OUTPUT h an sig ALMOST ALL PARAMETERS TIO IMAGE LEVEL IN EFFECT ENGINE OUT IN gt 8 MACRO1 MACRO 2 MACRO 3 MACRO 4 7 i n F figure 4 32 The MACRO matrix functions like the modulation matrix in that it can route any of the modulation sources multiple times up until all 8
46. a While adjusting this knob check the value you re setting in dB Value range is from 5 to 5 dB where 0 dB has no effect GAIN REDUCTION VU this analog VU shows the amount of Gain reduction in dB When compression does not occur the VU shows 0 dB When compression is affecting the signal the VU indicates the level of compression in dB 4 T RackS CS module processors T RackS CS e OUTPUT this knob controls the compressor output level e BYPASS this switch allows you to bypass the Compressor module When the LED is lit the Compressor is ON To turn OFF the Compressor module click the switch so that the LED is OFF e RESET brings the compressor back to its default state Clicking on this button again will bring your settings back in case you hit reset by mistake 4 T RackS CS module processors T RackS CS 4 7 Classic T RackS Multi band Limiter _ T a EMP aeri j ETET pli zi a Ji f Poe i ST Tomes oe figure 4 8 This three band peak limiter figure 4 8 can make the mix even louder by reducing unwanted peaks The peak limiting action is made separately on the three bands low mid high You will have a very loud master without clipping though as with any of these processors use care not to over do it Leaving the output knob set to 0 dB means that the limiter output signal can t go beyond 0 05 dBfs Controls e SINGLE BAND LEVEL these 3 knobs set the level volume of the three b
47. ake the curve rise with frequency the 0 dB value will make the analyzer flat showing white noise as an horizontal line Peak makes the analyzer have instantaneous rise time and adjustable fall time To adjust peak mode fall time select one of the three Release values 250 500 or 1000 ms This is the preferred mode when the analyzer is used to get fast feedback to identify frequency areas that are having issues or that you need to follow quickly while music goes RMS similar to peak makes the analyzer to react with an RMS law making it slower and less sensitive to very short peaks Average this is the slower indication this analyzer has and it is very useful to weight the overall balance of audio material The analyzer takes 30 seconds to get to the average and after this time the visualization will stabilize to a very easy to read display The average will reset when the audio will be stopped or when clicking on the spectrum analyzer display L R L R sets what channels are displayed on the spectrum analyzer L displays only the left channel audio and R only the right channel L R will display channels average FFT points 2k 4k 8k 16k sets the resolution of the analyzer Use high values 8k or 16k if you need high accuracy on the low frequencies e Show Peaks enable this to turn on Peak hold indications on the spectrum analyzer display 5 Metering 90 T RackS CS T RackS CS has lots of parameters more than what typically au
48. alues the gain reduction will respond quicker and transients will be more affected Value range is from 15 ms to 80 ms While adjusting check the release time value above the knob to see the attack time value you re setting RATIO use this control to define the strength of the compression Lower values give a gentler and less noticeable compression effect more suitable for 2 tracks mixes and acoustic sounds Higher values give a more effective compression effect with at times all the side effects you might expect from a over compression process These effects are sometimes desirable that s why T RackS compressor ratio control sweeps up to a value of 5 If you are not sure which ratio control value is suitable for your needs start setting this control at 2 3 RELEASE TIME adjust this control to change the speed of compression in the release phase Using higher values the recovery time will be Longer and the compression will be less noticeable Using lower values the recovery time will be shorter and the average loudness will be higher Value range is from 70 ms to 1 5 s INPUT DRIVE this knob controls the amount of signal that drives the compressor s input This is no threshold point leveller so the amount of compression is determined by the strength of input signal Range is from 18 dB to 18 dB STEREO ENHANCEMENT this control will affect the stereo imaging of your mix Turning it up you will increase the stereo width and vice vers
49. ampling The highest latency level gt 20k samples is only really needed when you must use the Linear Phase equalizer and this is typically only used in Mastering where you don t need latency to be compensated 7 9 Master your room When mastering with T RackS you re making very important decisions about audio processing of the overall balance of the music you re working on and most importantly you re making the very last audio intervention before public distribution If you make a bad decision at this stage there will not be the possibility to fix it after There is another key factor in a correct mastering and mixing process that is often underestimated your room acoustics Unfortunately the sonic signature of the room can make even the best monitors to sound unreliable because of the aberrations and irregularities the room is creating Even the most experienced engineer with the highest quality equipment can ruin a mix or even more easily a master because of the unreliability of the listening environments There are factors that cannot be compensated for by training or learning the room For example poor room acoustics can create very narrow peaks and dips in low frequency that are very difficult to detect with the naked ear In fact bass notes for example will never sound consistent even if they are recorded evenly so on certain notes you ll think you have too much bass on other notes you ll find the bass disappearin
50. ands This is very useful to get the correct level of each band after the limiting Use this as a very broad tone control tool on the mix This is a global three band equalizer too SINGLE BAND THRESHOLD these 3 knobs set the limiting amount over the individual band Lowering the value the threshold will be lower and the limiting more frequent Raising the threshold will make the limiter compress that band less You can check this by looking at the analog VU on the right this shows the average compression of the three bands CROSS OVER POINTS these two knobs set the two frequency split points the low mid split and the mid high split The default positions are fine in general but you can experiment with different settings For example lower the low mid point to say 70 Hz to only limit and tighten up the low end RELEASE TIME adjust this control to change the speed of limiting in the release phase This is the amount of time the limiter will take to return to normal gain after a peak limiting has occurred While adjusting check the current Limiter numeric display to see the release time you re setting Value range is from 60 ms to 1 6 seconds INPUT DRIVE this knob controls the amount of signal that drives the multiband limiter input Unlike the compressor module this one has an exact threshold point where it starts to limit the signal If you drive more signal through the limiter input more peaks will be limited and the sound will be louder I
51. apping among the bands At its maximum value 48 dB Oct the filter is more selective and separation among bands becomes sharper LINK BANDS this button links the controls for all bands so that the values set for a selected band will be mirrored on all of the other bands This can be handy when all controls must be set identical for all bands The only exception is the gain control which can be still independently modified for each band by using the gain dot on the frequency display BRICKWALL this control activates the brickwall limiter placed at the back end of the four bands Consider this additional limiter as an extreme protection to avoid any possible clipping or overloading of the program its fixed parameters are carefully adjusted to result in maximum transparency and effective overload protection Working in conjunction with the master output fader it can also be used to globally increase the level of the track after the limiters on all four bands have been set STEREO this control links the two channels for stereo operation all parameters affect the two channels in the same way to main tain a consistent stereo image MID SIDE this option uses a Mid Side matrix to independently limit the Center or the Sides of your stereo program Click MID to set the limiting for the Center Mid of your stereo image or SIDE to set limiting for the Sides RESET Switch clicking on this control will reset all of the controls to their initial defau
52. ark of IK Multimedia All other product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners which are in no way associated or affiliated with IK Multimedia Product names are used solely for the purpose of identifying the specific products that were studied during IK Multimedia s sound model development and for describing if tones produced with IK Multimedia s digital modeling technology Lise of these names does not imply any coop ration or endorsement VST Plugin Technology by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH libsndfile Copyright 1999 2006 Erik de Castro Lopo http Awww_mega nerd com IK Multimedia E figure 3 18 figure 3 19 3 7 Lock If you are running the software in demo mode and you click on the Lock button figure 3 20 the Authorization Manager will appear However if you already registered and authorized your product clicking on the Lock button will show you the product Serial Number figure 3 21 Authorization Manager Thanks for using IK Multimedia products This product is already authorized and is working with permanent unrestricted functionality This is the Serial Number of your product ABC12 1234ABCD 12345 Please click on the button below to close the Authorization Manager CLOSE IK Multimedia Musicians First figure 3 20 figure 3 21 3 General controls 34 T RackS CS 3 8 General controls standalone When launched in standalone mode T RackS CS interface wi
53. as a network server used only to install or run the IK Multimedia Product on your other computers over an internal network however you must acquire and dedicate a distinct license for each user of the IK Multimedia Product from the storage device Any given license for the IK Multimedia Product may not be shared or used concurrently or otherwise on different computers or by different developers in a given organization 3 AUTHORIZATION The IK Multimedia Product only functions when you have authorized it The IK Multimedia Product will be authorized upon complet ing the authorization procedure Once your product is authorized you may use it You agree to follow the authorization procedure and will provide true accurate and complete information about yourself If you provide any information that is untrue inaccurate not correct or incomplete or IK Multimedia has reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue inaccurate not correct or incomplete IK Multimedia has the right to suspend or to revoke the license The termination of the license shall be without prejudice to any rights whatsoever of IK Multimedia License Agreement 1 T RackS CS 4 DESCRIPTION OF OTHER RIGHTS AND LIMITATIONS Limitations on Reverse Engineering Decompilation and Disassembly You may not reverse engineer decompile or disassemble the IK Multimedia Product except and only to the extent that such activity
54. ate the phase of the signal For example a value of 45 swaps the left and right channels 0 is mono and 45 is normal stereo With a setting of 90 all mono information will be excluded from the reverb sound e OUT IMAGE controls the stereo image of the effected signal With a value of 360 to 360 this control extends the stereo field of the processed sound This control can be used to create mono stereo or surround type effects It can also be changed in real time or automated using the modulation or macro matrix 4 20 3 Time e MID SLOPE controls the middle and high frequency envelopes The actual frequencies affected are determined by the Crossover Positive values will cause the middle to high frequencies to swell from soft to loud over time The higher the value the more pro nounced the swell Negative values make the mid to high frequencies become quieter over time More extreme settings will make this attenuation more prominent e LOW SLOPE controls the shape of the low frequency envelope for the reverb A value above 0 creates a smooth rise from soft to loud over time A negative value causes the low frequencies in the reverb to become quieter over time before dropping off 4 T RackS CS module processors i T RackS CS e CROSSOVER changes the crossover frequency between the LOW and MID DAMP controls HIGH FREQ changes the frequency for the low pass filter used for High Frequency damping e HIGH DAMP damps attenuates th
55. ates and or other countries QuickTime and the QuickTime logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc used under license therefrom The Audio Units logo is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH www t racks com IK Multimedia Production Srl Via dell Industria 46 41122 Modena Italy Phone 39 059 285496 Fax 39 059 2861671 IK Multimedia US LLC 11 53 Sawgrass Corporate Pkwy Sunrise FL 323 Phone 954 846 9101 Fax 954 846 9077 www ikmultimedia com All specifications are subject to change without further notice Q QuickTime Rtas vsr 0 Slane REAL TIME AUDIOSUITE Audio Units APPLICATION Contents Contents Interface License Agreement What s New in T RackS CS Chapter 1 What is T RackS CS 1 1 Introduction 1 2 T RackS CS Features 1 3 The Custom Shop 1 3 1 Entering the Custom Shop 1 3 2 Gear Credits the currency of the Custom Shop 1 3 3 Buying Gear 1 3 4 Trying Gear 1 3 5 Restore Purchased Gear 1 4 12 processing slot mastering chain 1 5 Accurate complete and truly useful metering 1 6 Plug in and standalone version for all platforms in the same package 1 7 High transparency extremely high quality audio processing 1 8 SCC technology 1 9 Block diagram 1 10 Architecture 1 11 Interface Chapter 2 Getting started 2 1 Using T RackS CS as a Standalone Ap
56. ation just turn them OFF by clicking on the grey ON button figure 3 31 Your previously saved snapshots automation will be restored when you ll enable it again 3 General controls 37 T RackS CS Chapter 4 T RackS CS module processors T RackS CS comes as a free download from the IK Multimedia web site and as a startup base package that includes the Classic EQ and Metering modules All other modules can be purchased by entering the Custom Shop or as singles on IK Multimedia web store or in case you already have several modules purchased and registered to your account they can be retrieved with the Restore my Gear procedure see chapter 1 3 5 for reference Following is a description of all available modules 4 T RackS CS module processors 4 1 T RackS CS Vintage Tube Compressor Limiter model 670 figure 4 1 This processor is based on the Holy Grail of compressors limiters the Fairchild 670 With a faithful reproduction of every control figure 4 1 this is an incredibly accurate model that captures every nuance of one of the best Fairchild units available Controls AGC sets the compressor channels mode Set it to Left Right for unlinked stereo independent channels operation Set it to Link for linked stereo operation both channels will have identical settings except for Input Gain and the same amount of gain reduc tion will always be applied to both channels to ensure stereo image stability S
57. cessor simply click the drop down buttons under neath the available slots SHOW CHAIN Click to load a preset PRESET MODULE SAWE SAVE AS DELETE COMPARE Classic Compressor Classic Multiband Limiter Classic Clipper Classic Equalizer Brickwall Limiter Linear Phase EQ Opto Compressor Vintage Compressor Model 670 Vintage Program EQ 14 Quad Comp Quad Lim Quad Image DeEsser Black 76 White 24 CSR Hall CSR Inverse CSR Plate CSR Room British Channel SPECTRUM figure 3 2 3 General controls 29 T RackS CS The corresponding slot will become the currently selected one When a processor is loaded its abbreviated name will appear in the slot display and the number of the slot will appear in bright yellow with black text when selected figure 3 3 You can select another slot either by clicking directly on its corresponding drop down menu or by clicking on its number to the left of the slots 1 to 4 A B and 5 to 8 figure 3 3 The dark yellow button with white text on the slot number indicates which slot the display corresponds with The small red triangle appearing on the slot number 1 to 4 A B indicates that the slot has been loaded with a processor figure 3 4 figure 3 4 Clicking on the slot display will bypass the slot The abbreviated name of the bypassed processor will be dimmed figure 3 5 This is the same operation as bypassing the processor in its own interface with the bypass switch
58. channel curve will be displayed in green right channel in white M S this option uses a Mid Side matrix to insert the equalizers on your processing chain This means that you will be able to equalize independently the Center or the Sides of your stereo program The L and R icons will be replaced by M and S when in this mode Click on M to equalize the Center Mid of your stereo image or on S to equalize the Sides 4 T RackS CS module processors A T RackS CS 4 10 Black 76 Limiting Amplifier BYPASS OUTPUT 24 30 CS w l idle 1 yi Aa 5 RELEASE z9 3 5 D a acre Ty i i ST val figure 4 11 Black 76 figure 4 11 is based on the most famous FET limiting amplifiers The strong sonic character of Black 76 makes it one of the most ver satile compressor limiters Based on all discrete transistor circuitry with true peak limiting and fast attack time it is the go to workhorse com pressor for all instruments Black 76 can be used on everything drums vocals bass guitars piano choirs brass strings literally everything Vocals for example will gain presence consistency clarity and punch when run through Black 76 Black 76 gives drums power density with total control on the level of snap you want and it gives guitars a magic midrange zone that makes them really sing This dynamics process ing legend has been carefully modeled with IK s maniacal attention to detail right down to the design
59. correlation e Spectrum Analyzer with Peak RMS and Averaging indications e RMS meter e Loudness and RMS metering optimal zones indication selectable by genre and style 5 1 Peak Meter This is a precision sample accurate peak meter that shows the instantaneous audio peak level with peak hold and over indication figure 5 2 Numerical values for peak hold values are shown at the right of the bargraph I 4 1 D Te eae ele le eles i hah ed figure 5 2 The peak meter can work on three scales selectable by clicking on the Settings button figure 5 3 and selecting the Peak Meter section figure 5 4 90 0 dB 50 5 dB Phase 60 0 dE Analyzer Loudness Suggestion SETTINGS FRFELATIOH figure 5 3 figure 5 4 90 0 dB this scale is very wide and is good for general purpose peak level representation 50 5 dB this scale has reduced range on low levels and can be useful to monitor higher than 0dB signals as it goes up to 5 dB 60 0 dB this scale has a zoom at the high portion of the scale so that the upper 8 dB spans over the last half of the scale This is very useful to keep the top of the available headroom under control OVER indicators these two RED light will turn on only when more than 3 consecutive 0 dB full scale samples are present on the audio If pos sible always avoid having these indicators to turn on during the whole duration of the audio file you re processi
60. ding the sound with room ambience This might seem like a simple thing but in reality most close miked instruments lack very much ambience in the recorded sound Adding a little bit of room reverb can make the sound sit nicer in the mix and give the illusion that the sound came from a nice sounding room even if it was recorded in a small boxy closet This is useful on any sound needing a small to medium size acoustic space Often used on drums acoustic guitar and even vocals this is a very effective reverb sound on many different instruments There are two operating modes for this module Easy for a basic control of the most commonly used parameters and Advanced to tweak every detail and have deep control of the reverb shape and tone 9 66 The diagram below figure 4 46 shows the controls breakdown of Classik Studio Reverb s Classik Room A LLI YU lt L gt A lt REVERB REFLEC figure 4 46 O 0 m a o o fe DECAY TIME o o O Oo z QO lt m a n J lt m a m 7 DIFFUSION OUT LEVEL DECAY LEVEL DIFFUSION D lt m oar 4 T RackS CS module processors HIGH FREQ z I BE n 0 o DECAY LEVEL o o o HIGH DAMP fe HIGH FREQ HIGH DAMP OUT IMAGE PREDELY 80 T RackS CS 4 19 1 Easy MIX controls the ratio of reverb and origina
61. dio sequencers DAWs can support For this reason T RackS CS has its own internal Automation Parameter assignment window that is launched by clicking on the AUTO button Automation Plug in Parameters DAW Automation Slot 1B Param 2 Slot 24 Param 3 Slot 2B Add Param 4 Slot 34 Param 5 Slot 3B RLU Param 6 Slot 44 Remove All Param T Slot 46 Param amp Slot 5 Param 9 Slot amp Move Up Param 10 Slot 7 pcp rrr Param 11 Slot amp Param 12 Param 13 Param 14 Param 15 b b b b b b b b b b b Param 16 Cancel figure 6 1 The Automation window includes two panes The Left Pane is called Plug in and the Right Pane is called DAW Automation The Left Pane displays T RackS slot and processor module parameters In the Left Pane you will be able to select which T RackS param eter you are going to assign to Automation Because of T RackS audio chain each slot is listed separately 1 to 4 A B and 5 to 8 You can assign any of the T RackS modules in the automation slot as well as every parameter of each module Automation Plug in Parameters DAW Automation Classic Compressor Param 2 Classic Multiband Limiter Param 3 Classic Clipper Add Param 4 amp Classic Equalizer Param 5 e Brickwall Limiter BBAT Param 6 Linear Phase EQ Remove All Param 7 Dpto Compressor Param amp Vintage Compressor Model 670 Param 9 Bias L Move Up Param 10 Bias R Param 11 Mov
62. e All gt BUY amp J Quad Comp ty Multiband Compressor 1 Vintage Tube Pr DYNAMICS 2 British Channel MOREINFO 3 High precision T 4 Quad Lim va Dynamics See All gt Multiband Limiter MOREINFO on ed 1 White 2A Levell 2 Black 76 Limiti 3 Quad Comp British Channel O TRY BUY MOREINFO y R figure 1 6 The item s price in credits will be subtracted from your total shown in the main browser s window and the module you just purchased will be immediately available within T RackS It will also be marked as purchased in the MY GEAR section of the Custom Shop with the date of purchase 1 What is T RackS CS 16 T RackS CS You can also choose to try out a piece of gear clicking the TRY button to audition it in your existing rig before actually buying it Every item in the Custom Shop has a 48 hour full featured trial period When an item is selected for trial the time left for its evaluation is shown in the corresponding item menu Once the trial time has expired the item will be locked it will be grayed out with a closed lock appearing beside its name in the gear menu It will be available for another trial in 2 weeks unless you decide to buy it first T RackS CS lt Empty gt Classic Equalizer GAIN CUTOFF figure 1 7 NOTE multiple instances of the same item will not affect the total time of the trial period The counter starts with the fi
63. e Down LeftLatTimeConstant Param 12 LefiChannellnputGain Param 13 LeftLatThreshold Param 14 RightVertTimeConstant Param 15 RightChannellnputGain Param 16 RightVertThreshold Cancel figure 6 2 6 Automation 91 T RackS CS 6 3 Right Pane The Right Pane lists the 16 automation parameters that are declared to the DAW figure 6 2 These parameters names Param 1 to Param 16 are fixed because most DAWs do not support automation parameter name changes while the plug in is open In the Right Pane you will be able to select which DAW Automation parameter to assign to the T RackS parameter previously selected on the Left pane For example if you selected a the T RackS Classic Compressor Attack Time in the Left pane and then click ADD the Right Pane will display Param 1 Classic Compressor Attack Time figure 6 3 Automation Plug in Parameters DAW Automation Slot 1A Classic Compressor Param 2 Side ChainHPF Param 3 AttackTime Add Param 4 ReleaseTime Param 5 StereoEnhancement E Param 6 Ratio Remove All Param 7 Param 8 Output Param 9 Classic Multiband Limiter Move Up Param 10 e Classic Clipper ETETETT Param 11 Classic Equalizer Param 12 Brickwall Limiter Param 13 Linear Phase EQ Param 14 Opto Compressor Param 15 Vintage Compressor Model 670 Param 16 Bias L figure 6 3 You can use the same procedure to assign the remaining automation parameters You can remo
64. e de essing action on adjacent bands RESET Switch clicking on this control will reset all of the controls to their initial default state Clicking again after the reset will bring them back to the last setting they were left in in case you accidentally hit the reset button or changed your mind ON BYPASS Switch this control enables the plug in processing when in the ON status 4 T RackS CS module processors a T RackS CS 4 17 CSR Plate Reverb witli At he ia ili ali ali ilin ilir paii Mee antl a oe igg a Miggy a eg if ee A i P fy all lity gi 7 2 ET a 2 z z e F i i k w yt Fa DIFFUSION RVB TIME LOW TIME HIGH FREQ HIGH DAMP figure 4 18 Plate reverbs figure 4 18 have been a staple in pop music recording since the late fifties They consisted of a large metal sheet sus pended from a heavy steel frame with a small transducer like a small speaker transmitting the sound energy onto the plate A pickup or 2 if stereo was used to capture the sound This was all housed in a 4 x 8 foot box When originally designed this was considerably smaller than the forerunning echo chamber Since the creation of digital reverbs to further exemplify its popularity the plate reverb has been found on just about every rack mounted reverb box It is exceptional on vocals having a bright slightly metallic character but warm enough to sit well in most mixes without
65. e high frequency being recirculated into the reverberation Using High frequency damping often gives a more natural sounding reverb e PREDELY Predelay determines the amount of time between the initial input signal and the reverberation Increasing the prede lay can create a sense of distance and to some degree change the size of the acoustic space 4 20 4 Reverb e REV TIME Reverb Time adjusts the length of the reverb In other words this shortens and lengthens the time that the reverb tail lasts e DIFFUSION determines the rate that the echo density increases over time A small diffusion setting simulates an acoustic space with smooth walls like a bathroom A larger diffusion setting creates a more open and dense sounding reverb e BUILDUP changes the speed of the reverb s buildup When this control is turned down it causes a fast attack in the reverb To create a slower buildup in the reverberation turn up the buildup control Increasing the Buildup will create the sense of a large room hall but the spatial information can be lost this can be restored with the reflection parameters delay and level 4 20 5 Color e LO CUT F Low Cut Frequency changes the frequency of the low cut filter in the reverberation path This control ranges from 10Hz to 20 kHz e LO CUT G Low Cut Gain changes the gain of the low cut filter This is adjustable from 24dB to OdB e HI CUT F High Cut Frequency changes the frequency of
66. e time the softer the limiter will be Short and very short release times will make the limiter more suitable for rock R amp B pop etc while longer release times will make the limiter more suitable for music that is generally mastered quieter like jazz classic fusion etc STYLE sets the style the limiter will use Options are e Clean this is the cleanest and most transparent style useful for genres where the complete absence of distortion is a must e Advanced 1 2 3 4 these styles uses a mix between warm and smooth saturation and digital limiting All offer more punch and color than Clean e Sat 1 2 3 these styles use various forms of saturation as limiting The Gain Reduction meter will not show reduction because the gain reduction element is not working on these styles e Clipping straight digital 0 dBFS clipping no gain reduction shown 4 T RackS CS module processors T RackS CS e OUTPUT CEILING sets the top level the audio will never be allowed to exceed Typically set to 0 1 or 0 2 dB If D A Distortion Protection is selected in the Preferences this can be left to 0 dB e OUTPUT peak indication of the limiter output audio level e BYPASS completely bypasses the Brickwall limiter e RESET brings the limiter back to its default state Clicking on this button again will bring your settings back in case you hit reset by mistake e L R click on the L or R icons if you want to tweak the limit
67. eate more accurate spatialization of the reverb effect 4 18 5 Color LO CUT F Low Cut Frequency changes the frequency of the low cut filter in the reverberation path This control ranges from 10Hz to 20 kHz LO CUT G Low Cut Gain changes the gain of the low cut filter This is adjustable from 24dB to OdB HI CUT F High Cut Frequency changes the frequency of the high cut filter in the reverberation path This control ranges from 10Hz to 20 kHz HI CUT G High Cut Gain changes the gain of the high cut filter This is adjustable from 24dB to OdB 4 18 6 Reflections e TIME LEFT changes the delay between the input signal and the early reflections in the left channel e LEVEL LEFT changes the level of the reflections in the left channel e TIME RIGHT changes the delay between the input signal and the early reflections in the right channel e LEVEL RIGHT changes the level of the reflections in the right channel 4 18 7 Modulation Matrix MARCOS and MACRO NAME This section of controls is common to all the the CSR modules Refer to paragraphs from 4 17 8 to 4 17 10 for detailed description 4 T RackS CS module processors a T RackS CS 4 19 CSR Room Reverb E g m of E 121 30 az figure 4 45 Room reverb figure 4 45 is often used to create the ambience of a small to medium sized room This type of reverb is very effective on any instrument where you want to add the illusion of recor
68. ee ee a a im I STT A E EA tt TA Yt A off MAR CONDO erwa CaAdS MNnCONDSO nra CaAdSs RNR CONDO erw CaAdCS ane PTA pvt tt et tt yt AECL ECEE BE RREER ERR RRR ee PE EE at CEA Ee ee Ee t Destination Destination i Destination LINEAR MODULATION RESPONSE LOGARITHMIC MODULATION RESPONSE EXPONENTIAL MODULATION RESPONSE figure 4 37 figure 4 38 figure 4 39 4 T RackS CS module processors a T RackS CS 4 17 10 MACRO NAME In addition to assigning the MACRO controls in the matrix you can assign a name to the MACRO control that will appear whenever the reverb patch is opened This is done by clicking the MACROS button in the upper right of the MACRO matrix window figure 4 40 MACRO NAME figure 4 40 This will open up the naming window Now click on one of the boxes under LABEL NAME This will open up a new dialog box figure 4 41 figure 4 41 Type in a short name and click OK Now this name will appear on the front interface of CSR after you save the preset figure 4 42 Time Size Damp figure 4 42 4 T RackS CS module processors k T RackS CS 4 18 CSR Hall Reverb DIFFUSION RVB TIME LOW TIME HIGH FREQ HIGH DAMP figure 4 43 Hall reverb figure 4 43 is a simulation of a large acoustic hall This type of effect has been widely used to create large ambient spaces Digital reverbs made this sound popular simply because it was not until the introduction of digital
69. een the songs and it s an extremely delicate process see paragraph 7 9 If you have to process the audio file with other effects like reverbs stereo image corrections phase coherency adjustments spectral enhancers etc be sure to do this before mastering with T RackS T RackS should always be the last processing pass in the audio pro duction workflow 7 2 T RackS CS chain setup tips There are no fundamental rules for the order of the processors in the T RackS CS chain You can start analyzing the T RackS factory presets to discover how typical mastering chains are done and you can start experimenting with your own setups later on Something that should always be considered as a rule is placing a finalization processor like the T RackS CS Brickwall Limiter or the T RackS Classic Multiband Limiter at the very end of the chain This will allow you to keep the final level of your master under control Typically equalizers are placed before dynamics but this is not an absolute rule 7 3 Comparing original mixes with the T RackS processed master During your work with T RackS you can easily compare the sound of the processed version with the original one T RackS allows for a comparison that is not misled by the volume increase that is typical of mastering To do that simply press the COMPARE button and use the ON OFF button to compare the original mix with the processed version while adjusting lowering the level of the proc
70. epeat the operation for any of the slots Now you can edit every control of the processors to achieve the desired mastering results and check your results on the T RackS metering section By selecting a different audio file you can insert a totally different chain unless you have unchecked Link T RackS processor to audio file in the Project Properties window In this case the chain you have created will also be applied to the newly selected audio file and all others you work on Within the same audio file you can apply different T RackS settings by using the available scene SNAPSHOTS 2 1 4 Processing your master When you are satisfied with the results of your processing you can export your master as an audio file for CD or any other medium based on the settings specified in the Project Settings window To export the desired files simply click on the PROCESS button figure 2 14 PROCESS figure 2 14 An Audio Process wizard will appear to guide you through exporting your file figure 2 15 First you will be asked to specify if you want to process a single file or all open ones Audio Process Audio Process Format l WAVE H Process Current File All Open Files Destination Songl wav Browse Process status Processing file Song1l wav 1 of 1 e Append to filename _TrackS Sample bits 16 bit Sample rate 44 1 kHz Dithering Off Cancel figure 2 15 figure 2 16 If you selected to
71. er s L or R channels independently 4 T RackS CS module processors T RackS CS 4 5 High precision high definition Linear Phase Equalizer GAIN RES E E m E e mere J i bi di J izi ral rrei nt m E Fa Tor meg PME Be ete ep aA _ _ figure 4 5 This is accurate high definition high precision EQ figure 4 5 that can be trusted for delicate Mastering tasks with 6 completely identical bands that can be set to all available filter types and that can span the whole spectrum range any kind of overlap is possible Switchable between minimum and linear phase characteristics Stereo or MS operation Controls e GAIN RES 1 6 sets the gain from 15 to 15 dB when the band is set to Peaking or Shelving When the band is set to High or Low pass filters this knob will control the resonance e FREQ 1 6 sets the center or cutoff frequency for the band all bands can span from 10 Hz to 20 kHz e Q 1 6 sets the bandwidth of the Peaking filters Q ranges from 0 2 to 20 When bands are set to Shelving this knob will set the shape of the shelving filter from gentle to steep and resonant spanning from 0 2 to 3 BAND ON OFF each band can be turned On or Off independently All bands are Off at startup When the band is ON the button is green e BAND FILTER TYPE each band can be set to work as a Peaking filter default for bands from 2 to 5 Shelving filters defaults for bands 1 and 6 and high or low pass f
72. ereo widening applied to each band with 0 being mono or all M signal and 200 being wide open stereo or all S signal The four underlying radar displays will monitor the stereo width of each band METERING Display this set of led meters will display the M and S level with different colors for each band MASTER OUTPUT Fader this control will regulate the master output of the plug in which is shown on the adjacent led meter WIDTH this control regulates the amount of stereo spread for the selected band GAIN this control sets the amount of gain of the selected band SOLO this button puts the selected band in solo mode allowing to listen to its frequency range and stereo width applied BYPASS this control bypasses the stereo widening action for the selected band BANDS this control selects the number of active bands the frequency spectrum will be divided into SLOPE this control determines the steepness of the filters which split the frequency spectrum in bands At its minimum 6dB Oct the slope of the filter is quite gentle and allows for more overlapping among the bands At its maximum value 48 dB Oct the filter is more precise and separation among bands becomes sharper LINK BANDS this button links the controls for all bands so that the values set for a selcted band will be mirrored on all of the other bands This can be handy when all controls must be set identical for all bands The only exception is the gain control
73. ers in your SERIAL NUMBER figure 8 1 For clear characters identification please analyze the legend IMPORTANT the number zero can easily be identified in your Serial Number because it is crossed by a line Why is the Authorization Manager rejecting my Serial Number Probably because of a typo here are some common errors e Typing a 0 zero number instead of an O o letter e Typing 1 one number instead of an I i letter e Typing 2 two number instead of a Z z letter e Typing 5 five number instead of an S s Letter e Typing 8 eight number instead of a B b Letter e Typing a point instead of a minus 66 O99 Suggestions e If possible please copy and paste the information e Cut off all the leading and trailing spaces e Please type all codes in UPPERCASE during the installation and registration process e Check that the Serial Number that you are entering is in correlation with the product installed How can I authorize my product on another computer To authorize your product on another computer just follow these instructions 8 Troubleshooting 101 T RackS CS e Install the product and the Authorization Manager on that computer e Run the Authorization Manager I need to log in into the User Area but I forgot my User Name and Password What should I do You can retrieve your User Area login details in two different ways e
74. essed one with the small level knob on the right When the comparison is done just click the COMPARE button again to leave this feature and go back to normal work T RackS CS remembers the level settings on the compare function so that you ll find it as you saved it for the project Comparing with the original material plays a key role in your mastering process It will allow you do evaluate the sound change given by the mastering chain and setup without being misled by the volume increase This is very important to avoid making changes on the audio that are not really needed or even worse that are damaging music So remember during your work to often compare your mastered version with the original mix at the same volume to be really able to evaluate the effects of the processors you used 7 Mastering tips 93 T RackS CS 7 4 Loudness Nowadays everybody wants to make louder and louder masters T RackS CS allows for extremely loud clean and detailed masters But be aware that music needs to have its own dynamics respected as much as possible and that even if good loud masters are possible there is a limit that should never be exceeded T RackS gives a good hint on these limits with Perceived Loudness and RMS meters but it is fundamental to always remember that only your ears and experience will tell if the level is fine or not 7 5 Simple mastering chain This is great starting chain figure 7 1 to start with T RackS CS
75. essors me T RackS CS COMP e Threshold this control sets the level in dB which has to be passed by the input signal coming into the British Channel module for the compression to start working At the 0 position the module is not compressing Turning the knob clockwise will lower the threshold and depending on the input signal start compressing Turning the knob counterclockwise towards the 10 value will lift the thershold so that hotter signals can be easily managed This control and its behavior can be affected by the Master sec tion s I O level controls As an example try driving the compressor s input level harder with the Master s section IN knob and set the threshold low for some serious squashing and pumping compression effects The OUT knob will make calibrating the final output of the module easy in order to avoid clipping A note on Auto Makeup Gain this compressor circuit design is provided of an auto makeup gain control this will progressively compensate the output level in relation to the threshold control avoiding a drop in overall output level as a result of gain reduction The lower the threshold the more you will hear it raise the output level so pay attention about setting a correct gain staging among EQ Compressor and Master I O levels Ratio this control determines the gain reduction amount applied to the signal passing above the level set by the threshold con trol Lower values of this control 1 1 1 5 1 will resul
76. et it to Lat Vert to have the compressor two channels to work on Mid and Side portions of the Stereo signal With this mode you ll be able to process independently your Center Lat and Sides Vert image of the stereo program LEFT LAT DC Threshold exactly like on the original unit set it fully counterclockwise for maximum softness of the compression knee Set it fully clockwise for maximum hardness of the compression knee RIGHT VERT same as LEFT LAT DC Threshold for right channel LEFT LAT TIME CONSTANT sets the compressors release time Positions 1 from 4 are single time constant from quick to slow posi tions 5 and 6 are dual time constants and are especially useful for mixed stereo material RIGHT VERT TIME CONSTANT same as LEFT LAT TIME CONSTANT for right channel LEFT CHANNEL INPUT GAIN sets the compressor input gain on Left channel When no compression is happening set this knob to 10 for unity I O gain RIGHT CHANNEL INPUT GAIN same as LEFT CHANNEL INPUT GAIN for right channel LEFT LAT THRESHOLD sets the amount of compression Fully counterclockwise means no compression fully clockwise give the maximum possible amount of compression for that signal RIGHT VERT THRESHOLD same as LEFT LAT THRESHOLD for right channel IN OUT GR METERS when set to IN the VU meters will indicate the audio level at the inputs of the compressor When set to OUT they will indicate the audio level at the outputs of the compressor The most impor
77. eutral of all styles and than experiment with the various styles included 7 Mastering tips 97 T RackS CS If you want very high levels and a more hard character from the limiter when using the CLEAN style simply lower the RELEASE time toward the very minimum This will make the limiter work like a clipper so fully preserving transient energy and impact but with less drastic effect on the audio The CLEAN style with very short release times less than 1 ms is particularly suitable for Pop Rock Hip Hop etc Keep slightly higher RELEASE times around 10 ms for music that does not need extremely intense levels Longer RELEASE times say more than 50 ms are especially useful for some pumping effects that are sometimes desirable Then you can start experimenting with the other Styles ADVANCED styles uses a mix between warm and smooth saturation and digital limiting They all are punchier and more colorful than CLEAN and they can be effective on certain material because the actual limiting effect is less evident at the expense of some saturation Experiment with all advanced styles because the right kind of limiting could be a particular balance that only one of these styles provides HOW TO AVOID DIGITAL OVERS Always keep an eye on the RED OVER indicators on the T RackS CS peak meters They should NEVER go RED during the entire song To avoid this you can simply use the Brickwall Limiter at the end of the chain and dial in a Cei
78. f you want to preserve more peaks set this control to a lower value Values range is from 10 dB to 15 dB While adjusting Input Drive check the values in dB by looking at the value above the Drive knob OVERLOAD this control will affect the way Limiter reduces peaks Setting this knob to a lower value will result in more frequent pure gain reduction by the limiter Setting this knob to a higher value will result in less frequent gain reduction but in more fre quent clipping Obviously setting this control at higher values will give you more loudness but more clipping across the 0 dB level GAIN REDUCTION VU this analog VU shows the amount of Gain reduction in dB When limiting does not occur the VU shows 0 dB When limiting is affecting the signal the VU indicates the level of limiting in dB This VU shows the average value of limiting by all three spectral bands e OUTPUT this knob controls the limiter output level 4 T RackS CS module processors me T RackS CS e BYPASS this switch allows you to bypass the Limiter module When the LED is lit the Limiter is ON To turn OFF the Limiter module click the switch so that the LED is OFF e RESET brings the limiter back to its default state Clicking on this button again will bring your settings back in case you hit reset by mistake 4 T RackS CS module processors 4 8 T RackS CS Classic T RackS Clipper figure 4 9 This clipping stage module figure 4 9
79. ff the band filter When the filter is active the button is highlighted in yellow LOW CUT the knob adjusts this frequency of the high pass filter Sweep range is from 16 Hz to 5 3 kHz LOW band ON OFF use this button to turn the filter On and Off When the filter is active the button is highlighted in yellow LOW FREQ the knob adjusts the frequency range of low shelving filter All frequencies up to this value will be boosted or reduced You can set the cutoff frequency anywhere from 30 Hz to 200 Hz LOW GAIN use this control to boost or reduce the level of this band The range is from 15 dB to 15 dB LOW MID band ON OFF use this button to turn the filter On and Off When the filter is active the button is highlighted in yellow LOW MID FREQ this knob adjusts the center frequency of the Low Mid peaking filter Range is 33 Hz to 5 4 kHz LOW MID GAIN use this control to boost or reduce the effect of this filter Range is from 15 dB to 15 dB LOW MID Q sets the bandwidth of the peaking filter from 0 2 broad to 20 sharp HI MID band ON OFF use this button to turn the filter On and Off When the filter is active the button is highlighted in yellow HI MID FREQ this knob adjusts the center frequency of the Hi Mid peaking filter Range is from 750 Hz to 17 5 kHz 4 T RackS CS module processors ia T RackS CS HI MID GAIN use this control to boost or reduce the effect of this filter Look at the value below the knob to check the
80. g For these reasons the room acoustical quality should be considered as important as the quality of all other chain links in your audio production studio from bedroom studios to high end facilities In order to improve sonic accuracy of a room you can apply acoustical treatment to the walls floor and ceiling and this can be done up to very high quality results but for very high prices These solutions typically include treatments done with various mixed elements absorbers diffusers bass traps floating floors and so on Another convenient solution is to use IK s ARC System 2 the acoustic correction system in a plug in In developing the ARC System IK Multimedia has teamed up with the leading provider of sound equalization solutions Audyssey for the production of an innovative low cost and mobile solution to correct the distortion problems caused by room acoustics ARC System 2 delivers the most advanced solution to acoustical problems for any DAW based studio Combining a professionally cali 7 Mastering tips 99 T RackS CS brated microphone standalone software that captures sound information and calculates proper room correction and a multi platform plug in this technology will improve how your studio sounds forever ARC System 2 features the revolutionary Audyssey MultEQ XT 32 technology which measures acoustical information throughout the listening area in your studio It then combines this information to provide an acc
81. g the one you prefer among linear exponential logarithmic fade in and linear logarithmic fade out figure 3 29 IN FADE IN OUT FABE OUT 00 00 00 eo 00 00 00 01 33 52 cs 01 33 52 figure 3 29 In T RackS CS standalone you can also use snapshots to apply different settings of T RackS processors during play To insert a new settings SNAPSHOT simply change one or multiple parameters of your inserted processor chain and than click on the SNAP button A snapshot marker will appear figure 3 30 IH FADE IN OLUT FADE OUT SNAPSHOT Snapshot active 2 00 00 00 lt 00 00 51 00 04 27 o 00 03 41 EDA ESNAF COPY 00 02 04 DELETE PROCESS figure 3 30 By default a SNAPSHOT marker number 1 is always present at the start of the audio file when the file is loaded in the player editor so when you take a snapshot for the first time this will be numbered as 2 The snapshot memorizes and applies the modified settings you have applied to your inserted processor chain You can change the snapshot position by dragging it over the audio file The active selected snapshot has its number in white on its label its number and time line position are indicated in the SNAPSHOT panel 3 General controls 36 T RackS CS Now if you click on the ON button in the SNAPSHOT panel figure 3 31 and you play the file as soon as the play cursor reaches the inserted snapshot the processor chain will change its settings SNAPSHOT EM SNAP COPY fi
82. gger the envelope e ATTACK changes the length of time that the envelope ramps up to full open e RELEASE changes the amount of time that the envelope returns to off after it has been opened Any of the modulation sources can be routed multiple times up until all 8 inputs of the modulation matrix are full 4 T RackS CS module processors i T RackS CS 4 17 8 3 Destinations Destinations figure 4 24 are the parameters in the reverb engine that can be modulated Almost every parameter in the CSR reverb engine can be chosen figure 4 24 MIN assigns the minimum value of modulation that can be applied to the destination This value will change depending on the selected parameter figure 4 25 MAX assigns the maximum value of modulation that can be applied to the destination This value will change depending on the selected parameter figure 4 26 CURVE changes the response curve between the source and the destination figure 4 27 figure 4 25 figure 4 26 figure 4 27 There are three available curves e LIN Linear provides a linear response between the source and the destination figure 4 28 e LOG Logarithmic applies a logarithmic scale to the response between the source and destination figure 4 29 e EXP Exponential provides an exponential scale of response between the source and the destination figure 4 30 100 EEE Home EN E GA E ee ee a a im I STT A E EA tt TA Yt A off MAR CONDO erw
83. gure 3 31 You can take up to 9 different snapshot settings and apply them any time you want over the time line of the audio file A convenient COPY function is available so you can apply previous snapshots in other position of the audio file for example to re insert the same snapshot in the various chorus verse parts of your song Simply position the play cursor in the time line position where you want the new snapshot to be placed and click on the COPY pop up menu button which will display the currently taken snapshots Click on the number of the snapshot you want to insert to copy it in the new position figure 3 32 IM FADE IN OUT FADE OUT SNAPSHOT Track snapshot 00 00 00 00 00 49 00 04 27 00 03 41 ON SNAP MOP 00 02 56 2 PROCESS figure 3 32 To delete snapshots simply click on the DELETE button figure 3 33 in the SNAPSHOT panel after you have selected the snapshot that you want to delete Snapshot active 2 00 02 04 DELETE figure 3 33 Copied snapshots are always kept the same This is very convenient when you re using for example 3 snapshots 1 for all your verses and two 2 for all your choruses Should you decide to retouch the chorus EQ a single retouch on a single chorus will affect all other ones related to snapshot 2 For this example if you prefer having independent choruses just use individual snapshots without copying them If you want to temporarily suspend the snapshots autom
84. hard drive To continue working on this Project later on select Open Project figure 2 18 and locate the file you previously saved T RackS CS projects have a trs extension _T RadS 4 Gal 9 New Project AN Open Project MODULE Save Project 5 Save Project As dS Project Properties iP figure 2 18 The T RackS CS default Project has the following properties e Output File Format WAVE e Output Sampling Rate 44 1 kHz e Output Resolution 16 bit e Dithering OFF The T RackS audio processing chain settings will be linked to the selected Audio File IMPORTANT these are the settings that T RackS CS will use when exporting processed Audio Files You can create a new Project from scratch by selecting New Project from File menu figure 2 19 i Trasa Gl 800 New Project Click to load a p Open Project 0 Save Project 5 Save Project As 5 Project Properties X P figure 2 19 2 Getting started 21 T RackS CS A new Project window will appear allowing you to specify a Project name and set all Project properties figure 2 20 New project Format WAVE Resolution 24 bit Sample Rate 44 1 kHz Dithering Off Ral Link T RackS processors to Audio File Cancel figure 2 20 To save a copy of the Project with a different name and or to a different location select Save As from File menu figure 2 21 Trasa Bae New Project Open Pro
85. i mately equal to the longest dimension of the space e DIFFUSION determines the rate that the echo density increases over time A small diffusion setting simulates an acoustic space with smooth walls like a bathroom A larger diffusion setting creates a more open and dense sounding reverb e MODULATN Modulation creates movement in the reverberation tail Modulation continually changes the timbre of the reverbera tion If used in smaller amounts 10 50 it can result in a more natural sounding reverb If used higher than that it can cause acoustic instruments timbre to become unstable e MODMOVE Modulation Movement changes the time that early reflection will move in the reverberation This can be used to create more accurate spatialization of the reverb effect 4 19 5 Color e LO CUT F Low Cut Frequency changes the frequency of the low cut filter in the reverberation path This control ranges from 10Hz to 20 kHz e LO CUT G Low Cut Gain changes the gain of the low cut filter This is adjustable from 24dB to OdB e HI CUT F High Cut Frequency changes the frequency of the high cut filter in the reverberation path This control ranges from 10Hz to 20 kHz e HI CUT G High Cut Gain changes the gain of the high cut filter This is adjustable from 24dB to OdB 4 19 6 Reflections e TIME LEFT changes the delay between the input signal and the early reflections in the left channel e LEVEL LEFT changes the level of
86. ibed above in the compressor s threshold parameter section it can be used to drive the compressor s section harder by boosting the input signal thus producing some very particular compression effects which can be further emphasized by ratio attack and release time settings OUT this control lets you trim the master output level of the plug in It can be used to avoid clipping and overloading of the output stage in case some very radical EQ boosting is applied or to simply control the level of a track that needs to be adjusted RESET this control brings the setting of all of the parameters back to their default status once clicked Clicking again will bring the controls back to their last state in case you accidentally hit this button or changed your mind L R links the two channels for stereo operation all parameters affect the two channels in the same way to maintain a consistent stereo image L R click on the L or R icons if you want to dial in specific compression settings for L and R channels independently M S this option uses a Mid Side matrix to insert the stereo compressor on your processing chain This means that you will be able to independently compress the Center or the Sides of your stereo program The L and R icons will be replaced by M and S when in this mode Click M to set the compression for the Center Mid of your stereo image or S to set compression for the Sides 4 T RackS CS module processors i T RackS CS
87. id squeezing the highest passages 7 Mastering tips 36 T RackS CS 7 7 3 Linear Phase Equalizer 200Hz figure 7 6 This is a top class equalizer figure 7 6 that can be sonically compared only to the high end digital equalizers used every day in mastering studios It is so good that in most cases it surpasses even expensive analog high end equalizers in terms of purity and transparency of the equalization Use this equalizer when you need to apply EQ with the least possible negative side effects and when you absolutely don t want the any side effects from equalization We suggest using the Linear Phase Equalizer to set the EQ you want to apply on your audio and then to experiment with the Linear Phase button to evaluate on the material you re working on which phase response is the best Typically linear phase equalization is more transparent and material processed with this technique appears less equalized than conventional EQ so it gives headroom for more pronounced equalization before sounding overprocessed Remember that LINEAR PHASE can only be activated if the preference Oversampling Linear Phase is checked 7 7 4 Brickwall Limiter figure 7 7 This processor figure 7 7 should normally be used at the end of the T RackS processing chain Its main purpose is to increase the volume by a few dB typically from 1 to 3 with the maximum possible quality You can normally start with CLEAN as this is the more n
88. ignal has passed above the set threshold The extreme counterclockwise values will result in a very fast attack 0 1 ms which will emphasize tran sients on percussive sources 4 T RackS CS module processors j T RackS CS RELEASE this control determines the amount of time it takes the compressor to bring the signal back to its uncompressed state after it has fallen below the threshold Short release times will result in a more audible compression effect while longer ones towards the extreme clockwise position will result in a more natural compression and in increased sustain of several sources GAIN this control sets the output level of the selected band It can be used as a makeup gain to compensate for level loss after compression or to adjust the balance among the four bands Adjustments of this control will be reflected by the gain dot on selected band and the shape of the horizontal white gain line SOLO this button puts the selected band in solo mode to listen to its frequency range and gain reduction applied BYPASS this control bypasses the compression for the selected band BANDS this control lets you select the number of active bands the frequency spectrum will be divided into SLOPE This control determines the steepness of the filters which will be used to split the frequency spectrum in bands At its minimum 6dB Oct the slope of the filter is quite gentle and allows for more overlapping among the bands At its ma
89. ilers figure 4 6 figure 4 5 e OUTPUT sets the equalizer output level from 15 to 15 dB e OUTPUT METER peak meter for the equalizer output audio signal e LINEAR PHASE sets the phase characteristic of the equalizer When Off the equalizer performs with minimum phase characteris tics when On the equalizer is completely linear phase IMPORTANT LINEAR PHASE can be activated only if the Oversampling Linear Phase option in preferences is checked e CURVE DISPLAY this display shows the resulting equalization curve for both channels Individual bands EQ points can be dragged to set Gain and Frequency points without using the equalizer knobs 4 T RackS CS module processors T RackS CS BYPASS completely bypasses the whole equalizer RESET brings the equalizer back to its default flat state Clicking on this button again will bring your settings back in case you hit reset by mistake L R linked channels mode Set it this way when you want to control both left and right channels at the same time by applying the exact same equalization to them L R click on L or R icons when you want to tweak the equalization independently on the Left or Right channels Left channel curve will be displayed in green right channel in red M S this option uses a Mid Side matrix to insert the equalizers on your processing chain This means that you will be able to equalize independently the Center or the Sides of your stereo p
90. inds bass guitar piano organ synths and more Controls e GAIN the gain control should be set after the desired amount of compression is determined using the Peak Reduction control Once the Peak Reduction control is set adjust the Gain Control to set the desired output level METER SELECTOR sets the Metering display to show the actual output level with two different scales 10dB and 4dB When set to Gain Reduction you can monitor the amount of compression applied PEAK REDUCTION sets the amount of compression applied to the signal processed by the plug in There is no compression when the knob is turned fully counterclockwise and there is maximum compression when it is turned fully clockwise RESET clicking once on this switch put all the controls back to their original default state where a moderate amount of compres sion is applied depending on the level of the input signal Clicking again reverts the controls back to the values last set by the user for easy and convenient comparison or to avoid unintentional mistakes LIMIT COMPRESS changes the compression ratio between two fixed settings COMPRESS has a more gentle curve while LIMIT has a more pronounced effect BYPASS completely bypasses the processing in the plug in to compare with the unprocessed signal L R links the two channels for stereo operation all parameters affect the two channels in the same way to maintain a consistent stereo image L R click on the L
91. inety 90 days of purchase Include a copy of the dated purchase receipt your name your return address and a statement of the defect IK Multimedia or its authorized dealer will use reasonable commercial efforts to repair or replace the product and return it to you postage prepaid or issue to you a credit equal to the purchase price at its option 9 LIMITATIONS ON WARRANTY IK Multimedia warrants only that the program will perform as described in the user documentation No other advertising description or representation whether made by a IK Multimedia dealer distributor agent or employee shall be binding upon IK Multimedia or shall change the terms of this warranty License Agreement 8 T RackS CS EXCEPT AS STATED ABOVE IK MULTIMEDIA MAKES NO OTHER WARRANTY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED REGARDING THIS PRODUCT IK MULTIMEDIA DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY THAT THE SOFTWARE IS FIT FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY SHALL BE LIMITED TO A NINETY 90 DAY DURATION OF THIS LIMITED EXPRESS WARRANTY AND IS OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED IK MULTIMEDIA SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL INCIDENTAL CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES EVEN IF IK MULTIMEDIA IS ADVISED OF OR AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES THIS MEANS THAT IK MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION SRL SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR THE LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUES OR FOR DAMAGES OR COSTS AS A RESULT OF LOSS OF TIME DATA OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR FROM
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94. is unit should be used Linked or Lat Vert but sometimes 1 2 dB of unlinked stereo compression can give a nice instability touch to the stereo image that can be very pleasant This model has it s own sound when you just insert it even without applying any compression Threshold at zero So an interesting experiment we invite you to do is just to insert this on the audio processing chain and listen to the very interesting sonic change that is applied by the 670 internal circuits and components 7 1 2 Opto Compressor 0 00 ms F za a F F s m ilg 41 fy Me Nea ATTACK RELEASE BYPASS 6 1 rig ey OUTPUT COMPRESSION OUT VU ME TER figure 7 5 Think of this compressor figure 7 5 as the purest analog modeled compressor in the T RackS CS package When you want the sound of analog compression but want to keep the music original sonic texture with the little possible coloration this is the right choice You will notice that no more than a few dB of compression are allowed at low RATIO values For example with a 2 1 ration you ll not be able to compress more than 3 4 dB This is normal for this device and it s because of the optical device modeled in this compressor that cannot attenuate more than a certain amount If you need more compression just raise the RATIO value This behavior is also very useful when compressing vocals because the compressor will follow vocals dynamic but will at the same time avo
95. it on pretty 7 Mastering tips 95 T RackS CS much every type of material Vocals Guitars Bass Piano Strings etc with various time constants and 5 6 dB of compression If you want to enhance the articulation of a vocal track try compressing 5 dB with time constant 1 The resulting vocal won t sound heavily compressed just more consistent and solid Keep DC threshold controls near the minimum when you want the most transparent and invisible compression and move them toward maximum if you want the compressor to be more noticeable and more limiter like Mixing drums On drums this compressor can be used to process a Stereo submix with superb results especially in Lat Vert mode where you will be able by compressing the sides independently from the center to get the sound of the room exactly the way you want Since the attack time is very fast drums compressed with this processor will never sound snappy allowing for a compression that will sound more natural Typical Mastering Setting If this is the only compressor used in your mastering chain you can start with a setting like the default one or very similar This will deliver from 1 to 2 5 dB of compression with time constant set at 5 This setting will glue all mix elements together without having the sound to appear compressed If you want to compress more just rise the Threshold controls and compensate the average gain loss by incrementing the Output level In stereo mastering th
96. ith a value of 360 to 360 this control extends the stereo field of the processed sound This control can be used to create mono stereo or surround type effects It can also be changed in real time or automated using the modulation or macro matrix 4 17 3 Time e RVB TIME Reverb Time adjusts the length of the reverb In other words this shortens and lengthens the time that the reverb tail lasts e LOW TIME controls the length of the reverb for low frequencies determined by the Crossover parameter of the RVB Time e CROSSOVER changes the crossover frequency for the Low time control e HIGH FREQ High Frequency changes the frequency for the low pass filter used for High Frequency damping e HIGH DAMP High Dampening dampens attenuates the high frequency being re circulated into the reverberation Using High frequency dampening often gives a more natural sounding reverb e PREDELY Predelay determines the amount of time between the initial input signal and the reverberation Increasing the prede 4 T RackS CS module processors me T RackS CS lay can create a sense of distance and to some degree change the size of the acoustic space 4 17 4 Reverb SIZE controls the approximate size of the acoustic space from small to large This control is measured in meters and is approxi mately equal to the longest dimension of the space DIFFUSION determines the rate that the echo density increases over time A small diffu
97. ject Save Project Save Project As DAS Project Properties dP figure 2 21 2 2 Using T RackS as a Plug in In addition to the standalone application T RackS CS also works as a plug in effect T RackS plug in functions will be exactly the same as the standalone version apart from the file player editor that is available only in standalone mode Please refer to your DAW s user manual for how to instantiate and operate T RackS CS inside your session IMPORTANT T RackS CS and T RackS 3 can be installed on the same machine They will appear as two different plug ins in your DAW s plug in menu You can use both versions in the same session of your DAW New modules will only be accessible via the Custom Shop In order to use single modules as plug ins within DAWs the RESTORE MY GEAR operation is necessary 2 Getting started 28 T RackS CS T RackS CS Double Chain allows you to insert up to 12 parallel serial processors It is a fixed configuration audio chain that starts with 4 4 parallel A B processors slots followed by 4 serial processors slots The processor slots are numbered 1 to 4 A and B for the two initial parallel lines of the chain while the 4 final serial processors slots are numbered 5 to 8 Parente ye n ot E ea se quan quap 8 oR Pieter COMP EG F acai co COG COMP YF i LMTER F figure 3 1 You can insert any of the available T RackS processors into the 12 slots To load a pro
98. ks e RELEASE this control determines the amount of time in ms it takes the limiter to bring the signal back to its normal state after 4 T RackS CS module processors T RackS CS it has fallen below the threshold As a general guideline for a correct peak limiting action release time should be set as short as possible in order to clamp transient peaks without touching the overall RMS level Anyway too short release times will cause audible distortion and artifacts especially at low frequencies so take the time to adjust this parameter carefully GAIN this control sets the output level of the selected band Working in conjunction with the threshold parameter it can be used to raise the gain of the selected band effectively making it louder as transient peaks are limited and RMS value of the track increased Adjustments of this control will be reflected by the gain dot on the selected band and the shape of the horizontal white gain line SOLO this button puts the selected band in solo mode to listen to its frequency range and limiting applied BYPASS this control bypasses the limiting action for the selected band BANDS this control selects the number of active bands the frequency spectrum will be divided into SLOPE this control determines the steepness of the filters which will be used to split the frequency spectrum in bands At its mini mum 6dB Oct the slope of the filter is quite gentle and allows for more overl
99. l sound 0 is all unprocessed sound 100 is all reverb Use this control to increase or decrease the amount of reverb in the sound If you are using your reverb as a send effect this control will probably be set to 100 DIFFUSION determines the rate that the echo density increases over time A small diffusion setting simulates an acoustic space with smooth walls like a bathroom A larger diffusion setting creates a more open and dense sounding reverb DECAY TIME controls the length of the reverb tail DECAY LVL Decay Level controls the level of the reverb tail When turned off only the early reflections are in the signal HIGH FREQ High Frequency changes the frequency of high frequency damping HIGH DAMP High Dampening shortens the high frequency decay time of the reverb This allows you to emulate the way different materials in a real room such as carpet and furnishings absorb sound 4 19 2 1 0 Levels e IN LEVEL adjusts the input level of the reverb e OUT LEVEL adjusts the output level from the reverb e MIX controls the ratio of reverb and original sound 0 is all unprocessed sound 100 is all reverb Use this control to increase or decrease the amount of reverb in the sound If you are using your reverb as a send effect this control will probably be set to 100 e IN IMAGE controls the stereo image of the input signal before it is processed through the effect This control allows you to change the signal from no
100. lick and roll on the COUNTER display for the same result IN FADE IN OUT FADE OUT 00 00 00 Fa 00 00 00 01 33 52 01 33 52 1 figure 3 25 You can also zoom the audio file using the buttons of the waveform display to precisely select specific points of the audio file The underneath scroll bar will allow to easily scroll your audio file time line figure 3 26 figure 3 26 3 General controls 35 T RackS CS When the LOOP play button is enabled two LOOP POINTS yellow markers will appear on the waveform so you can drag them in your preferred listening positions setting the loop points figure 3 27 IM FADE IN OUT FADE OUT Track snapshot 00 00 00 O0 00 00 01 33 52 01 33 52 COPY 00 00 00 d PROCESS figure 3 27 You can apply FADE IN OUT to your file by positioning the green FADE IN OUT markers that appear on the waveform By clicking on the IN and OUT markers you will set the IN OUT points of your fade in fade out and by moving the FADE markers of both you will indicate the fade in and out timing figure 3 28 IM FADE IN OUT FADE OUT SNAPSHOT Track snapshot 00 00 00 00 00 51 00 04 27 00 03 42 OM SNAP COPY 00 00 00 1 PROCESS figure 3 28 The fade in out areas will be highlighted in green The precise fade in out time will be displayed over the waveform in the fade in out panel In the panel you can also select the type of fade in out curve by clicking on the curve icons and selectin
101. ling value of 0 1 dB OR enable the D A Distortion Protection option in the Preferences 7 7 5 Vintage Program Equalizer EQ 1A go figure 7 8 This is a classic figure 7 8 It provides colorful equalization that can give character and tonal shape with incredible musicality This equalizer is on the opposite side in terms of usage than the Linear Phase EQ It s intervention is not spot on and you should think of it more as a tone control than a surgical equalizer Remember that both Low Frequency and High Frequency BOOST and ATTEN controls are not overlapping so if you for example dial in a low BOOST and ATTEN both at 5 the resulting response will not be flat This is a typical characteristic of this device and it s one of the reasons why it is so loved to this day The design is based on a passive EQ network followed by a make up amplifier The passive EQ network gives a presence and a tonal shaping power that is hard to obtain with conventional pure equalizers For example a very nice touch of presence is given by setting the High filter like this e BANDWIDTH 5 e BOOST 4 5 e HIGH FREQ 4 5 kHz Like we said for the Vintage Compressor Model 670 also this model has it s own sound when you just insert it even without applying any equalization So another experiment we invite you to do is just inserting this on the audio processing chain and listen to the very interesting sonic change 7 Mastering
102. ll show the audio file player editor at the bottom of the interface figure 3 22 AUDIO FILES DURATION IN FADE IN OUT FADE OUT SNAPSHOT Track snapshot 00 00 00 P 00 00 00 03 23 70 03 23 70 ON SNAP COPY 00 00 00 1 Song 1 waw 03 23 70 2 Song waw 03 23 70 figure 3 22 This part of the interface is used to load multiple audio files and process them with T RackS processors with various listening options as well as some useful editing features To load audio files in the standalone application drag them over the interface or click on the LOAD button figure 3 23 The file will appear in the AUDIO FILES browser and its waveform will appear on the waveform display panel To select the audio file to be played simply click on it to select the selected file will be highlighted in yellow To remove an audio file from the browser select it and click on the REMOVE button figure 3 23 figure 3 23 The types of files that can be loaded played and processed from the standalone version of T RackS are Wav Aiff Caf Sd2 Mp3 Once a file is loaded you can use the transport buttons on the T RackS CS standalone bottom bar to play stop and activate deactivate the loop playback figure 3 24 figure 3 24 A time counter will show the current playing position time A yellow PLAY CURSOR figure 3 25 will be moving on the waveform during play You can click anywhere in the waveform to set a dif ferent playback position or you can c
103. ll the difference 1 9 Block diagram SOTIA Upsampler SLOT 1B Output figure 1 9 1 10 Architecture T RackS CS is set up as an audio processing chain that includes a total of 12 slots in a parallel and serial configuration When the signal enters the chain it is first converted to the correct project sample rate at the highest possible quality then it is oversampled After being processed by the 12 slots chain the signal goes into the final downsampling and dithering stages After the final downsampling the signal is then sent to the Metering section 1 What is T RackS CS 19 T RackS CS T RackS CS interface has 7 separate areas PERE A OCOUODUDOVUUATU TUOVA UOVOUOTOUCUNU NUDO OUOU DOOU DODO VU UTOTO UOVO U TA TATA l L L L I I I BO 46 32 24 i6 8 4 ie i l I l T Rack CS A DE mT fF co auan 7 ouap SER CLIP 1A IMAGE LIM OMF YF ca F COMF F COMP YF SPECTRUM I eed I ate ome Deck Ae d I I i I i t A0 40 30 20 I4 2 10 I 1 I I i 4 30 i 35 PERCEIVED LOUDNESS 5 40 MADAORDAVA DAVOUT OUN UOT NUOT OUOT TINUTU 17 3 z 50 pne i i ees 20 s50 10 00 S00 Sk 10k 20k 1 E 2 AUDIO FILES IN FADE IN OUT FADE OUT SNAPSHOT Track snapshot 00 00 00 ra 00 00 00 01 38 36 w 01 38 36 ON SNAP COPY 00 00 00 Track 1 mp3 2 Track 2 wav i 52 1 3 Track 3 waw 4 Track 4 mp3 ED _00 08 56 mm ARC BARC ninian PROCESS figure 1 10 1 Presets this area is
104. lt state Clicking again after the reset will bring them back to the last setting they were left in in case you accidentally hit the reset button or changed your mind 4 T RackS CS module processors a T RackS CS 4 15 Quad Image FREQUENCY bi e Sera es E WIDE WIDE WDE WIDE figure 4 16 The Quad Image figure 4 16 is one of the four modules in the Multiband series of IK Multimedia plug ins for T RackS Multiband process ing at the core of this plug in splits the incoming signal into up to four frequency bands and treat each one separately with a dedicated set of controls The width of each band can be finely adjusted so that the processing can be very selective in case of a narrow band or spread across a wider range Each band is loaded with an M S matrix processor which modifies its stereo width Controls FREQUENCY Display this big display shows the whole frequency spectrum and how it s divided in the four bands by the vertical frequency bars To modify the width of a band click and drag on the top square marker and adjust to the desired frequency which will appear during movement Clicking on a band s area will automatically select it and this will be reflected by the set of under lying controls which will change values accordingly Click and drag on the central gain dot to adjust the band s gain it will be reflected by the band s underlying gain control The horizontal white line will display the percentage of st
105. me by applying the exact same equalization to them e L R click on Lor R icons when you want to tweak the equalization independently on the Left or Right channels e M S this option uses a Mid Side matrix to insert the equalizers on your processing chain This means that you will be able to equalize independently the Center or the Sides of your stereo program The L and R icons will be replaced by M and S when in this mode Click on M to equalize the Center Mid of your stereo image or on S to equalize the Sides 4 T RackS CS module processors i 4 3 T RackS CS Opto Compressor 0 00 ms ailj iy ATTACK RELEASE 6 1 rig q na OUTPUT COMPRESSION l OUT VU METER figure 4 3 Optical compression has a special sonic character that true audiophiles appreciate This analog modeled module figure 4 3 faithfully recreates that particular and extremely musical movement that characterizes only the best opto compressors Controls INPUT sets the input level of the compressor from 24 to 24 dB RATIO sets the Ratio of the compressor Use low values for gentle and invisible mastering applications and higher values for more powerful and obvious compression Ratio range is from 1 1 no compression to 30 1 almost limiting ATTACK sets the compressor attack time from 0 to 50 ms Extremely fast attack values could deliver slight distortion on certain sounds RELEASE sets the compressor release time from 30
106. me way to maintain a consistent stereo image L R click on the L or R icons if you want to dial in specific compression settings for L and R channels independently M S this option uses a Mid Side matrix to insert the stereo compressor on your processing chain This means that you will be able to independently compress the Center or the Sides of your stereo program The L and R icons will be replaced by M and S when in this mode Click M to set the compression for the Center Mid of your stereo image or S to set compression for the Sides 4 T RackS CS module processors i T RackS CS 4 11 White 2A Levelling Amplifier GAIN REDUCTION OUTPUT 10 OUTPUT 4 COMPRESS figure 4 12 Based on the most famous vacuum tube optical limiter Leveling Amplifier the White 2A compressor figure 4 12 is an impressive repro duction of one of the most popular and great sounding dynamics processing units in music recording history Its tube driven electro optical gain reduction circuit is well known for a very smooth and natural compression yet it is very vibey and incredibly musical when driven hard This character has been faithfully captured in the White 2A plug in right down to the accurate movement of the meter in order to provide you with one of the most useful tools for your compression needs It is a must have for tracking and mixing vocals and anything that needs gentle warm consistent compression White 2A is also great for w
107. midrange zones where lots of instruments are playing overlapping with vocals 7 7 T RackS CS models tips 7 7 1 Vintage Compressor Model 670 figure 7 4 This compressor figure 7 4 is magic You will immediately notice that even with just 1 or 2 dB of compression or even less the music truly shines Full digital recording and mixes will get enormous benefits from the warmth and thickness this unit will deliver There are various ways you can work with this device and get a large range of results from it For example since the modeling of the amplifiers stage in this compressor is very detailed you can experiment with various levels of Input Gain compensating for more or less compression with the Threshold knobs and for higher or lower output level with Output knob Set the input level to 16 in order to get 2 3 dB of compression and rise the Output level to get the level you want This will result in a very transparent compression with a bit of nice coloration but not much Then you can try setting the Input gain at say 4 dB The compression can then be set to get the same 2 3 dB of compression and the Output level again to match the level you need This time because of the higher input drive on the unit the sound will be much more colored with a fabulous thick warm character Mixing single tracks This compressor character is incredibly musical on single mix tracks as well not just on mastering entire mixes just try
108. n the Quad Comp is used in STEREO mode the gain reduction will be shown for each single band independently When the plug in is used in M S Mid Side mode the gain reduction meter of each band will switch to a different visualization where two separate bar of LEDs will show Mid gain reduction red LEDs and Side gain reduction grey LEDs MASTER OUTPUT Fader use this master fader to adjust the final output of the plug in in order to optimize level and avoid clipping in case of too hot signals or to bring back the signal to a more consistent level after compression has been applied ON BYPASS Switch this control enables the plug in processing when in the ON status THRESHOLD this control sets the threshold level for the selected band at which the plug in will start compressing the incoming signal Turning the knob counterclockwise will progressively lower the threshold resulting in more compression RATIO this control sets the amount of gain reduction applied to the incoming signal once it has passed above the threshold level Lower values of this control when turned fully counterclockwise will result in none to light compression of the selected frequency band while progressively turning the knob clockwise will increase gain reduction The extreme clockwise position with a ratio of 30 1 will result in very high compression e ATTACK this control sets the time it takes the compressor to react and apply gain reduction once the incoming s
109. ng You can obtain this by using the Brickwall peak limiter and lowering the Ceiling value to 0 1 or 0 2 dB or by enabling the D A Distortion Protection from preferences 5 Metering 86 T RackS CS 5 2 Perceived Loudness This is a very valuable tool not commonly found in software applications figure 5 5 Its main purpose is to give reliable information on the effective sense of loudness a song or audio in general delivers to the listener It works by combining accurate averaging and frequency weighting on the program and can be trusted to deliver accurate information on how loud the song will appear PERCEIVED LOUDNESS P I m 5 0 40 30 z0 c 2 im E Oo figure 5 5 NOTE both Left and Right channels are combined into the same display Loudness Suggested area click on the Settings button figure 5 6 Loudness Suggestion and select the genre which best describes the music you re working on from the menu Pop Rock Pop Ballad Latin Pop Ballad Rock Rock Blues Jazz Country R amp B Soul Hip Hop Rap Brit Indie Metal Punk Funk Rock Fusion Acid Jazz Dance PECTREUM Electronic Trance Tech House Peak Meter Chillout Lounge Phase Dancehall Analyzer Reggaeton World Folk Classical figure 5 6 The colored line on the Perceived Loudness menu figure 5 7 will move figure 5 7 This is the area where most commercial production are peaking on their most loud passages The green area indica
110. ntrols EQ Section LOW Band e Gain determines the amount of boost or cut in Decibels for this frequency band e Freq Hz sets the frequency in Hertz at which the boost or cut happens e Peak when this switch is pressed the LOW band changes from low shelving type to paeking type with fixed Q LOW MID Band e Gain determines the amount of boost or cut in Decibels for this frequency band e Freq KHz sets the frequency in Kilohertz at which the boost or cut happens e Q sets the width of the frequency band where extreme left results in a narrow and sharper band while extreme right results in a wide and broader band HI MID Band e Gain determines the amount of boost or cut in Decibels for this frequency band e Freq KHz sets the frequency in Kilohertz at which the boost or cut happens e Q sets the width of the frequency band where extreme left results in a narrow and sharper band while extreme right results in a wide and broader band 4 T RackS CS module processors i T RackS CS HI Band e Gain determines the amount of boost or cut in Decibels for this frequency band e Freq KHz sets the frequency in Kilohertz at which the boost or cut happens e Peak when this switch is pressed the HI band changes from high shelving type to peaking type with fixed Q FILTERS Section LOW PASS HI PASS FLT IN this switch enables the filter section which can be used independently from the rest of the EQ section Freq
111. plication 2 1 1 Starting T RackS CS in standalone mode 2 1 2 Loading and playing files 2 1 3 Inserting processors 2 1 4 Processing your master 2 1 5 T RackS CS Project 2 2 Using T RackS as a Plug in Chapter 3 General controls 3 1 Double Chain 3 2 Compare function 3 3 Presets 3 3 1 Presets backward compatibility 3 4 A B C D settings 3 5 Preferences 3 6 Info 3 7 Lock 3 8 General controls standalone Chapter 4 T RackS CS module processors 4 1 Vintage Tube Compressor Limiter model 670 4 2 Tube Program Equalizer model EQP 1A 4 3 Opto Compressor 4 4 Intelligent multi algorithm Brickwall Limiter 4 5 High precision high definition Linear Phase Equalizer 4 6 Classic T RackS Compressor 4 7 Classic T RackS Multi band Limiter 4 8 Classic T RackS Clipper Contents T RackS CS 10 11 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 17 18 18 18 18 19 19 19 20 21 21 21 24 25 26 27 28 29 29 31 31 32 33 33 34 34 35 38 39 41 43 Ae 46 48 50 52 4 9 Classic T RackS Equalizer 4 10 Black 76 Limiting Amplifier 4 11 White 2A Levelling Amplifier 4 12 British Channel 4 13 Quad Comp 4 14 Quad Lim 4 15 Quad Image 4 16 De Esser 4 17 CSR Plate Reverb 4 17 1 Easy 4 17 2 1 0 Levels 4 17 3 Time 4 17 4 Reverb 4 17 5 Color 4 17 6 Reflections 4 17 7 Echo 4 17 8 Modulation Matrix 4 17 8 1 Modulation 4 17 8 2 Sources modulation sources
112. process the Current File only click on Browse to specify destination folder and file name If you selected to process All Open Files click on Browse to specify a destination folder Since you re processing multiple files you won t be able to specify a specific file name Instead the original file names will be used with the addition of the suffix you ll add in the Append to filename field figure 2 15 A summary of which audio file format is going to be saved is shown on the same window Clicking on NEXT will start the processing of your files figure 2 16 saving them on your hard disk Your mastered file will be saved in the desired location ready to be distributed 2 Getting started 26 T RackS CS 2 1 5 T RackS CS Project T RackS CS standalone version can save its current state a list of loaded audio files T RackS processing chain settings snapshots fades and other settings into a Project file When you launch T RackS CS standalone an untitled project is loaded by default You can start to load audio files and tweak the T RackS CS audio processing chain in this Project To save your Project so that it can be loaded later on select Save Project from File menu figure 2 17 T RadkS 4 Gal New Project Open Project Save Project Save Project As Pes Project Properties dP figure 2 17 As you have been working on a default Project you will be asked for a file name and location on your
113. properly Experimenting with more vintage characterized sounds add thickness and warmth like with this chain figure 7 3 figure 7 3 7 Mastering tips 34 T RackS CS This includes the Linear Phase Equalizer Vintage Compressor model 670 Vintage Program EQ1A and the Brickwall Limiter at the end that could eventually be replaced by the Classic T RackS Clipper Two Compressors you can use two compressors in the chain if you want to give more consistency to levels without having to push too much one single compressor To do that we suggest you use a Vintage Compressor model 670 with a very slow Time Constant like 3 or 4 applying 2 dB of compression Max followed by an Opto Compressor set to respond very quickly with short attack and release times applying 1 or 2 dB of compression max Parallel Compression you may like the character and musical feel that a compressor can give when it s pushed heavily but it can be too much for mastering resulting in an overcompressed somehow lifeless track A good trick in this case is to insert in parallel with the compressor a non compressing device or another compressor set to attenuate way less if not at all Use for example slot 1A and 1B for two compressors one set to compress 5 or 6 dB the other set to compress 0 5 dB max We suggest to always use linear phase equalization where you have to boost the low end in a mix that is already very dense or when you need to tweak very sensitive
114. requencies to swell from soft to loud over time The higher the value the more pro nounced the swell Negative values make the mid to high frequencies become quieter over time More extreme settings will make this attenuation more prominent LOW SLOPE controls the shape of the low frequency envelope for the reverb A value above 0 creates a smooth rise from soft to loud over time A negative value causes the low frequencies in the reverb to become quieter over time before dropping off BUILDUP changes the speed of the reverb s buildup When this control is turned down it causes a fast attack in the reverb To create a slower buildup in the reverberation turn up the buildup control Increasing the Buildup will create the sense of a large room hall but the spatial information can be lost this can be restored with the reflection parameters delay and level 4 20 2 1 0 Levels Advanced Mode e IN LEVEL adjusts the input level of the reverb e OUT LEVEL adjusts the output level from the reverb e MIX controls the ratio of reverb and original sound 0 is all unprocessed sound 100 is all reverb Use this control to increase or decrease the amount of reverb in the sound If you are using your reverb as a send effect this control will probably be set to 100 e IN IMAGE controls the stereo image of the input signal before it is processed through the effect This control allows you to change the signal from normal stereo to mono and manipul
115. rmal stereo to mono and manipulate the phase of the signal For example a value of 45 swaps the left and right channels 0 is mono and 45 is normal stereo With a setting of 90 all mono information will be excluded from the reverb sound e OUT IMAGE controls the stereo image of the effected signal With a value of 360 to 360 this control extends the stereo field of the processed sound This control can be used to create mono stereo or surround type effects It can also be changed in real time or automated using the modulation or macro matrix 4 19 3 Time e DECAY TIME controls the length of the reverb tail e DECAY LVL Decay Level controls the level of the reverb tail When turned off only the early reflections are in the signal e HIGH FREQ High Frequency changes the frequency for the low pass filter used for High Frequency damping e HIGH DAMP High Dampening dampens attenuates the high frequency being recirculated into the reverberation Using High frequency damping often gives a more natural sounding reverb e PREDELY Predelay determines the amount of time between the initial input signal and the reverberation Increasing the prede lay can create a sense of distance and to some degree change the size of the acoustic space 4 T RackS CS module processors j T RackS CS 4 19 4 Reverb e SIZE controls the approximate size of the acoustic space from small to large This control is measured in meters and is approx
116. rogram The L and R icons will be replaced by M and S when in this mode Click on M to equalize the Center Mid of your stereo image or on S to equalize the Sides 4 T RackS CS module processors 4 6 T RackS CS Classic T RackS Compressor figure 4 7 The T RackS classic tube compressor figure 4 7 emulates that classic analog hi end vintage gear used in mastering applications This will give you that big warm sound typical of highly acclaimed hardware devices This compressor has some unique features that make it very flexible but always very musical and creative Controls SIDECHAIN HPF this control adds a high pass filter to the detector stage of the compressor The detector stage is where the com pressor analyzes the incoming signal to determine how gain reduction must be applied This variable high pass filter prevents when turned up that compression pumping effect mainly caused by the material s low end content The higher this knob the softer and more inaudible the compression character will be At the minimum or at very low settings the compression will be much more aggressive and noticeable Use lower settings when you want to hear the compression effect and use higher values for a gentle compression as you may want in acoustic mixes ATTACK TIME adjust this control to change the speed of compression in the attack phase With higher values transients will pass unaltered through the compressor With lower v
117. rol determines the amount of de essing applied The resulting reduction in HF content is displayed on the adjacent led meter Be careful to adjust this control as too much de essing action could result in unnatural sound especially when used on vocal tracks RELEASE this control sets the release time it takes the De Esser to bring the signal back to its normal state once the signal has fallen below the set de essing action DE ESS ACTION use this control to listen to the effective amount of de essing applied to the track NORMAL this control sets the listening mode so that you ll hear the track while the de essing action is applied DE ESS BAND this control allows you to put the De Ess band in solo mode SOFT this control sets the intensity of the de essing action when selected the operating mode is more gentle with a less pro nounced and slower HF reduction while when de selected it s faster and more marked action BANDS this drop down menu allows to select the number of bands the frequency spectrum will be divided into when set to 2 bands the de essing action will be performed on the higher band while when 3 bands is selected it will be possible to set the higher and lower margin so that the de essing action will be performed on a selected area SLOPE this control sets the steepness of the filters used to split the frequency spectrum into bands Higher values of this control will result in harder separation with less interaction of th
118. rst one Modules can be tried only within the T RackS CS suite not as singles in third party DAWs If you have upgraded your computer hardware or OS or if you are working with a dual setup desktop laptop you may need to have T RackS Custom Shop installed on more than a single machine Since the Custom Shop is web based it s easy to recover all your pur chased gear and get it back online ready for use in your session Just click the RESTORE MY GEAR button and all of your gear will be loaded back into the T RackS plug in again an internet connection is necessary for this as the Custom Shop is web based Welcome User you have 160 credits left T RACKS iD Justom G lt gt Search Q ADD CREDITS GEAR v ACCOUNT HELP A y EQ B Home gt Dynamics Wh odels available My Gear sd Dynamics 2 British Channel Not Purchased Top Seller MORE INFO METERING gt 2 omer gt 3 a Quad Comp 80 Credits ew ate es ee 1 Vintage Tube Pr COLLECTIONS 2 British Channe oar e Gis 120 BUY 4 REVERB o A a a Credits S Eq See All gt BUY figure 1 8 1 What is T RackS CS 17 T RackS CS 1 4 12 processing slot mastering chain Modular mastering mixing solution with 12 processing slots e Audio chain with 12 selectable processing slots arranged in two rows of 4 4 slots for parallel processing plus 4 serial final slots e Modules can be easily switched on off with a single click individually or
119. s ARC System 2 support for accurate monitoring Configurable mastering mixing chain runs up to 12 parallel serial processors Complete built in metering section with Peak Perceived Loudness Phase and RMS meters plus Spectrum Analyzer with Peak RMS and Averaging indicators High fidelity oversampling with high transparency for extremely high quality audio processing throughout the entire signal path Standalone and plug in versions available in the same package for use in all the most popular native DAWs SCC Sonic Character Cloning technology coupled with IK s unique DSM Dynamic Saturation Modeling technology to provide the most realistic software emulation of vintage gear to date Extremely easy to use interface with style based presets full chain visualization one click single module or chain bypass com pare function multiple audio file processing in standalone mode and much more Native compatibility with 64 bit applications and operating systems 1 What is T RackS CS 12 1 3 The Custom Shop T RackS CS T RackS CS now includes Custom Shop functionality already made popular with IK Multimedia s own AmpliTube which allows you to log into a virtual online shop full of powerful models which you can choose from figure 1 1 This modular system lets you build your personal collection of gear that you can tailor to your specific mixing mastering needs Welcome User you have 160 credits left Search
120. scopes gives you much more useful information figure 5 9 figure 5 10 Left and Right channels samples are shown on a X Y scope so that signals present on a channel only are displayed as 45 degrees tilted lines a mono signal is displayed as a vertical straight line and a completely out of phase signal as an horizontal line When the stereo master is pushed very high you ll notice a transformation of the picture in a square with sharp edges figure 5 10 Analyzing your preferred albums and reference against this characteristic will help you understanding how much this can be pushed Settings click on Settings figure 5 11 Phase to have access to the Phase Scope settings You can set the Phase Scope to display samples as Dots or Lines and select various levels for the display speed Dots Peak Meter Lines Persistant Analyzer Slow Loudness Suggestion RE Fast Lightning Normalize figure 5 11 By enabling the Normalize function you ll make the scope display with the same width signals of any level even very low ones default 5 Metering 88 T RackS CS 5 5 Correlation The phase correlator figure 5 12 is a very simple meter that shows phase correlation between the two Left and Right channels ona scale from 1 to 1 A mono signal will show 1 a completely out of phase signal will show 1 CORRELATION oO figure 5 12 In normal conditions music will continuously move between 1 and 0
121. section with Peak Standalone version with multiple audio file pro Perceived Loudness Phase RMS meters cessing waveform display FADE IN FADE OUT and Spectrum Analyzer with Peak RMS and controls LOOP auditioning multiple SNAP points Averaging indication for automating audio processing points single multiple file PROCESSING up to 32 bit 192 KHz WAV AIFF files Interface 6 T RackS CS License Agreement END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR IK MULTIMEDIA PRODUCT Please read this document carefully before breaking the seal on the media package This agreement licenses the enclosed software to you and contains warranty and liability disclaimers By breaking the seal on the media envelope you are confirming to have taken notice of terms and conditions of this agreement and you acknowledge your acceptance of the software as well as your acceptance of the terms of this agreement If you do not wish to do so do not break the seal Instead promptly return the entire package including the unopened media package to the dealer from whom you have obtained it for a full refund 1 DEFINITIONS EULA means this end user license agreement IK Multimedia Product means the software program included in the enclosed package and all related updates supplied by IK Multimedia IK Multimedia Product means the software program and hardware if any included in the enclosed package the related documenta tion models multimedia content
122. set figure 3 13 unless you have checked Overwrite without asking in the Save Window figure 3 13 The SAVE AS button works like the SAVE button presenting the Save window with the name of the current preset figure 3 14 displayed in the preset name field at the same time giving the option to save the preset to another one with a different name Save to Folder Save with name Classic Compressor Preset figure 3 14 DELETE preset will delete the currently loaded preset while the GLOBAL and MODULE buttons when activated will allow you to save entire T RacKS settings or settings related to the currently selected processor only 3 3 1 Presets backward compatibility If you are upgrading from version 3 of T RackS or you have it still installed on your computer T RackS CS will perform a scan of your presets folder and all of your version 3 presets will be copied in a new folder called T RackS 3 Legacy which you will be able to access from the Presets menu in T RackS CS This way all of your T RackS 3 presets will be backed up and left untouched in case you want to keep using them with T RackS 3 Presets in the T RackS 3 Legacy folder will not be usable with T RackS 3 as they are converted into a new format used by T RackS CS 3 General controls 32 T RackS CS 3 4 A B C D settings The A B C D settings figure 3 15 are 4 different configurations of any of the settings of the entire T RackS chain and processors
123. single click Standalone application includes extremely high quality sampling rate conversion to write 44 1 kHz CD files starting from any sampling rate Built in dithering with various options Automation made easy You can take snapshots in each song and automate processing parameter changes during the song for example when passing from verses to choruses etc all with a single click Non destructive basic audio editing 1 7 High transparency extremely high quality audio processing You may think digital processors are transparent in general and that all of them are high enough quality for mixing and mastering professional audio That s not always true Very simple processing like a filter or a dynamics effect change can literally ruin your sound beyond rescue if it is not performed at the highest possible quality by applying techniques that are not so commonly used T RackS CS products deliver incredible purity transparency and fidelity far superior to the vast majority of plug ins you can compare it to If you are familiar with the sound of top quality analog and digital hardware limiters that are used daily in top mastering houses you ll immediately recognize here with T RackS CS the quality and purity typical of those units If you re not familiar with the hardware you ll experience what high quality dynamics processing means Oversampling perfected Many digital processors use oversampling to achieve better sound Unfortunately man
124. sion setting simulates an acoustic space with smooth walls like a bathroom A larger diffusion setting creates a more open and dense sounding reverb BUILDUP changes the speed of the reverb s buildup When this control is turned down it causes a fast attack in the reverb To create a slower buildup in the reverberation turn up the buildup control Increasing the Buildup will create the sense of a large room hall but the spatial information can be lost this can be restored with the reflection parameters delay and level DISPERSE disperse works in conjunction with the Buildup control to determine the initial envelope of the reverberation You can use Disperse to vary the apparent size and character of the early reflection MODULATN Modulation creates movement in the reverberation tail Modulation continually changes the timbre of the reverbera tion If used in smaller amounts 10 50 it can result in a more natural sounding reverb If used higher than that it can cause acoustic instruments timbre to become unstable 4 17 5 Color LO CUT F Low Cut Frequency changes the frequency of the low cut filter in the reverberation path This control ranges from 10Hz to 20 kHz LO CUT G Low Cut Gain changes the gain of the low cut filter This is adjustable from 24dB to OdB HI CUT F High Cut Frequency changes the frequency of the high cut filter in the reverberation path This control ranges from 10Hz to 20 kHz HI CUT G High
125. t in none to very light compression while turning the knob clockwise will progressively make for a more pronounced compression effect as you approach higher values the extreme clockwise position will result in a limiting effect Fst Attack this switch shifts the attack time it takes the circuit to start compressing once the incomig signal has passed the set threshold to a faster 1 ms It can be quite handy to emphasize attack transients on percussive instruments like snare or kick drums and the likes Release S this control sets the time in seconds it takes the compressor to release the signal back to uncompressed state after it has gone below the threshold level Shorter release times will make the compressor snappy to downright pumping when lots of compression is applied Longer release times will result in a more natural sounding effect and increased sustain on particular instruments e Hard this switch changes the detecting mode of the compressor from RMS to peak MASTER Section Phase this control shifts the phase of the incoming signal by 180 useful to check phase compatibility of sources or to reverse phase in one of two coupled tracks like snare drum top and bottom IN this control lets you trim the input level of the signal going into the British Channel module It can be used to correct the level of the incoming signal when needed in case of a particularly weak or hot track since it has a range of 15 dB As descr
126. tant indication is GR default where the amount of compression in dB is shown Always use the GR position when dialing the desired compression amount with THRESHOLD knobs OUTPUT sets the output level within a 15 dB range 4 T RackS CS module processors a T RackS CS e BYPASS completely bypasses the whole unit e RESET brings the compressor back to its default state where a compression of around 2 dB is happening on moderate level mixes Clicking on this button again will bring your settings back in case you hit reset by mistake 4 T RackS CS module processors T RackS CS 4 2 Tube Program Equalizer model EQP 1A ENIIALIZER EOP figure 4 2 This processor is based on what is universally regarded as one of the best and most musical program EQs ever made the Pultec EQP 1A Extremely accurate modeling figure 4 2 of two real world units known to have the sound with sonic performance that is indistin guishable from the originals Stereo or MS operation Controls LOW FREQUENCY sets the frequency intervention point for the low shelving boost and atten filters 20 30 60 or 100 Hz Please note that because the Pultec s original circuit was based on a passive equalization network the boost and atten filters will not cover the same frequency span and will not cancel one each other if set identically LOW FREQUENCY BOOST applies a low frequencies boost with a shelving shape on the selected frequenc
127. technology that such complex artifi cial reverbs were possible unless you had the keys to your local cathedral or concert hall Many people would describe this as a vocal reverb This is useful on vocals if you are looking for a thick full reverb This is typically a very pronounced reverb effect It often adds a larger than life characteristic to the affected sound Hall reverbs are useful in creating a large space around any musical sound as well as very useful for strange or moody film sound effects There are two operating modes for this module Easy for a basic control of the most commonly used parameters and Advanced to tweak every detail and have deep control of the reverb shape and tone The diagram below figure 4 44 shows the controls breakdown of Classik Studio Reverb s Classik Hall A LL YU lt gt A lt REVERB REFLEC figure 4 44 IN LEVEL o o o o o o o lt m m 7 DIFFUSION OUT LEVEL O z m DIFFUSION 4 T RackS CS module processors Pe lt 5 x lt O lt m vs BUILDUP TIME RIGHT O DISPERSE LEVEL RIGHT HIGH FREQ HIGH DAMP OUT IMAGE PREDELY T1 T RackS CS 4 18 1 Easy MIX controls the ratio of reverb and original sound 0 is all unprocessed sound 100 is all reverb Use this control to increase or
128. tes where most loud passages should normally peak while red area indicates where most loud passages are peaking in extreme conditions or on very loud masters 5 Metering 87 T RackS CS 9 3 RMS This is a standard precision RMS meter figure 5 8 that gives valuable information about the power of the audio signal E 0 40 30 0 z 10 5 l l l re E ok Ua ee oT DT RMS figure 5 8 Typical loud masters are peaking on the RMS meter at 9 even 8 dB but this does not always mean high loudness because the RMS meter is flat in frequency response therefore can be driven very high by programs where there is a very strong low frequency content The usage of the Perceived Loudness Meter together with RMS will give you the best picture NOTE both Left and Right channels are combined into the same display A very good practice is before you start working on your project loading in T RackS CS some of your preferred reference albums with no processors open of course and check where both Loudness and RMS meters are peaking and how they relate one each other on various songs passages This will give you a very useful reference to correctly set the overall level of your masters 5 4 Phase The Phase scope included in T RackS CS figure 5 9 behaves very closely to those you usually find on high end metering devices or on consoles The fact that it reacts 40 50 times faster than conventional plug in phase
129. that can be saved and recalled on the fly while working on the audio figure 3 15 To save and A B C D settings simply click on the COPY TO button The A B C D buttons will start flashing and clicking on any of them will save the current settings in the choosen one You will be able to quickly compare between up to four different configurations without pausing your audio a function that is particularly useful during fine tuning sonic details Please note that these settings are not stored in the T RackS CS preset files or DAW session 3 5 Preferences By clicking on the PREF button figure 3 16 the T RackS preferences window will be displayed figure 3 17 figure 3 16 Preferences Lowest Latency Oversampling Oversampling Linear Phase Clip Output to OdB Advanced Meter Animation Solo Mid or Side in Solo mode Cancel figure 3 17 e Lowest Latency use this setting when you need T RackS CS to have the shortest possible latency This setting is to be used for example when you re using T RackS CS to process a real time recording monitor mix In this mode the total T RackS CS latency is 132 samples Oversampling use this setting when you want to use oversampling This delivers higher quality to all T RackS CS processors but increases latency to 1284 samples Oversampling Linear Phase use this setting when the maximum audio quality is needed and high latency is not a problem for example when mastering The
130. the high cut filter in the reverberation path This control ranges from 10Hz to 20 kHz e HI CUT G High Cut Gain changes the gain of the high cut filter This is adjustable from 24dB to OdB 4 20 6 Reflections e TIME LEFT changes the delay between the input signal and the early reflections in the left channel e LEVEL LEFT changes the level of the reflections in the left channel e TIME RIGHT changes the delay between the input signal and the early reflections in the right channel e LEVEL RIGHT changes the level of the reflections in the right channel 4 20 7 Modulation Matrix MARCOS and MACRO NAME This section of controls is common to all the the CSR modules Refer to paragraphs from 4 17 8 to 4 17 10 for detailed description 4 T RackS CS module processors T RackSe CS Chapter 5 Metering SPECTRUM NAA AES Fae ee oe pee Fae Jae fees em oe f c q1 DIE Ia R ee a I PERCEIVED LOUDNESS I L I I I E es 0 F 5 5 e ae iF I i ll a g 40 a a I I Phot oi Doo 0 ot i 20 son ik gt k Sk 10k 20k 11 7 CORRELATIOH RMS gt a SETTINGS figure 5 1 T RackS CS includes a high quality high precision complete metering section figure 5 1 The metering section includes e A precision three scale Peak meter with accurate sample indicators and real digital Over indication e Real Perceived Loudness meter e Phase scope with options to match the style and indication you re used to e Phase
131. tified by IK Multimedia as an upgrade replaces and or supplements the product that formed the basis for your eligibility for such upgrade You may use the resulting upgraded product only in accordance with the terms of this EULA If the IK Multimedia Product is an upgrade of a component of a package of software programs that you licensed as a single product the IK Multimedia Product may be used and transferred only as part of that single product package and may not be separated for use on more than one computer 6 DUAL MEDIA SOFTWARE You may receive the IK Multimedia Product in more than one medium You may not loan rent lease or otherwise transfer the other medium to another user except as part of the permanent transfer as provided above of the IK Multimedia Product 7 LIMITED WARRANTY IK Multimedia warrants to the original purchaser of the computer software product for a period of ninety 90 days following the date of original purchase that under normal use the software program and the user documentation are free from defects that will materially interfere with the operation of the program as described in the enclosed user documentation 8 WARRANTY CLAIMS To make a warranty claim under the above limited warranty please return the product to the point of purchase accompanied by proof of purchase your name your return address and a statement of the defect or send the CD s to us at the below address within n
132. together at any time for quick A B of the monitored audio without need for navigating or scrolling e Single module or global chain view options e Compare function allows comparison between the sound of the processed version and the original with precise level matching so that you can really judge the changes in sound and not be misled by a volume increase 1 5 Accurate complete and truly useful metering T RackS CS includes a high quality high precision complete metering section This includes e A precision three scale Peak Meter with accurate sample indicators and real digital Over indication e Real Perceived Loudness Meter This is an amazingly useful meter that is not included on most software processors It shows the REAL loudness that will be perceived on your masters Compare your preferred records with your works on this meter and you ll immediately see where to go with loudness management Phase Scope with options to match the style and indication you re used to Phase Correlation Spectrum Analyzer with Peak RMS and Averaging indicators RMS meter Loudness and RMS metering with optimal zones indication selectable by genre and style 1 6 Plug in and standalone version for all platforms in the same package Plug ins fully integrate with all of today s popular DAWS Standalone application lets you load multiple audio files and preview them with independent settings as well as process them all with a
133. urate representation of the room s acoustical problems The equalization solution then corrects for both time and frequency response problems more effectively and efficiently than any other room correction EQ on the market The result is a clear and reliable representation of your mix Regardless of the acoustical issues in your studio what you are recording mixing or mastering becomes immediately clear and reliable and your studio sound will improve forever T RackS CS and ARC System 2 together form an ideal combination allowing the T RackS CS user to trust what he or she is hearing which is truly the most important factor For more information on ARC System 2 www ikmultimedia com arc ARC System is a trademark property of IK Multimedia Production Srl Audyssey Audyssey MultEQ XT 32 are registered trademarks property of Audyssey Laboratories Inc used under license 7 Mastering tips 100 T RackS CS Chapter 8 Troubleshooting Where can I find my IK product Serial Number The Serial Number is written on the Registration Card included with your IK product inside the license envelope or in the email you received from DigitalDelivery ikmultimedia com if you purchased the product as Downloadable only version In the snapshot please check its exact location on the Registration Card figure 8 1 1 Here you can find your SERIAL NUMBER 2 At the bottom of the registration card a legend helps you identify the charact
134. used to save and load T RackS presets Presets can be saved loaded as GLOBAL the entire mastering chain or by MODULE selected module processor Double Chain this area is used to build the 12 processor mastering chain The first 8 slots are presented as two sets of 4 available in an A B parallel configuration In this area processors can be loaded in the slots bypassed singularly or as an entire chain to allow quick comparison between the original material and the processed one Processor Interface this area shows the selected processor with all its controls Metering section all T RackS CS meters are conveniently placed in this area and are always visible to keep the most important sonic signal variables under control A B C D settings these buttons allow you to quickly create 4 different settings for an immediate on the fly comparison between various T RackS CS sound configurations Other controls these buttons allow you to manage software authorization information preferences and automation settings in the plug in Custom Shop this button launches the Custom Shop browser Standalone file player editor this area is present only in the standalone version of T RackS CS and allows you to load multiple audio files to be processed with T RackS CS and exported for CD burning or to other media Each file s waveform is displayed on the right and various basic editing features are available such as FADE IN FADE OUT SNAPSHOTS and LOOP POINTS
135. usion setting creates a more open and dense sounding reverb RVB TIME Reverb Time adjusts the length of the reverb This is a commonly used control that shortens and lengthens the time that the reverb tail lasts LOW TIME controls the length of the reverb for low frequencies determined by the Crossover control of the RVB Time HIGH DAMP High Dampening shortens the high frequency decay time of the reverb This allows you to emulate the way different materials in a real room such as carpet and furnishings absorb sound HIGH FREQ High Frequency changes the frequency of high frequency dampening 4 17 2 1 0 Levels e IN LEVEL adjusts the input level of the reverb e OUT LEVEL adjusts the output level from the reverb e MIX controls the ratio of reverb and original sound 0 is all unprocessed sound 100 is all reverb Use this control to increase or decrease the amount of reverb in the sound If you are using your reverb as a send effect this control will probably be set to 100 e IN IMAGE controls the stereo image of the input signal before it is processed through the effect This control allows you to change the signal from normal stereo to mono and manipulate the phase of the signal For example a value of 45 swaps the left and right channels 0 is mono and 45 is normal stereo With a setting of 90 all mono information will be excluded from the reverb sound e OUT IMAGE controls the stereo image of the affected signal W
136. ut to specific audio outputs on the chosen audio interface Buffer Size allows you to change the buffer size of the audio interface Click on Panel button to change ASIO settings for your audio interface like buffer size sync option etc 2 Getting started 22 T RackS CS Mac OS X T RackS CS is compatible with Core Audio audio interfaces in Mac OS X Please select your audio interface from the Output Device drop down menu figure 2 4 Audio hardware settings Output device Built in Output h Left channel Channel 1 Right channel Channel 2 H Buffer size 512 H figure 2 4 Left Right Channel pop up menus are used to route the T RackS CS stereo output to specific audio outputs on the chosen audio interface Buffer Size menu allows you to change the buffer size of the audio interface These settings are dependent on the driver of the audio interface itself Project Properties window The Project Properties window File gt Project Properties figure 2 5 2 6 allows you to adjust the T RackS CS Project output format Wave Aiff Caf Sd2 its resolution and sample rate as well as enabling Dithering The Link T RackS processors to Audio File check box is used to link loaded audio files to chain processors so when multiple files are loaded the chain automatically switches with them Traas CS ae a O New Project a6 N Open Project PO F Output Resolution Save Project 5 Sample Rate Save Project As DHS S
137. value in dB you re setting The range is from 15 dB to 15 dB HI MID Q sets the bandwidth of the peaking filter from 0 2 broad to 20 sharp HI band ON OFF use this button to turn the filter On and Off When the filter is active the button is highlighted in yellow HI FREQ this knob adjusts the frequency range of the high shelving filter Range is from 200 to 18 kHz HI GAIN use this control to boost or reduce the effect of this filter Its range is from 15 dB to 15 dB HI CUT band ON OFF use this button to turn On and Off the band filter When the filter is active the button is highlighted in yellow HI CUT this knob adjusts the cut off frequency of the lo pass filter Range is from 200 to 18 kHz OUTPUT sets the equalizer output level from 15 to 15 dB CURVE DISPLAY this display shows the resulting equalization curve for both channels Individual bands EQ points can be dragged to set Gain and Frequency points without using the equalizer knobs BYPASS completely bypasses the equalizer RESET brings the Equalizer back to its default flat state Clicking on this button again will bring your settings back in case you hit reset by mistake L R linked channels mode Set it this way when you want to control both left and right channels at the same time by applying the exact same equalization to them L R click on L or R icons when you want to tweak the equalization independently on the Left or Right channels Left
138. ve single parameter assignment with the REMOVE button or remove them all with the REMOVE ALL button You can also swap DAW automation parameters with the MOVE UP MOVE DOWN buttons Clicking OK will save and close the Automation window The automation assignment map will be stored and restored to and from the session you re working on When working with multiple instances of T RackS plug in each T RackS instance is independent from the others and can have differ ent Automation assignments setup This means that saving your DAW session will save each the automation setup for each T RackS instance 6 Automation 92 T RackS CS Chapter 7 Mastering tips 7 1 Introduction Mastering is the final stage of processing made on a group of stereo mixes before going to press on audio CDs movie soundtracks multimedia soundtracks MP3 files and so on Its purpose is to obtain the maximum possible sound quality from the original mixes by sweetening them with equalization compression and limiting with the aim of letting the music shine as much as possible in all its nuances and enhancing the original musical production goals Furthermore mastering is essential to create a balanced pleasing continuity from one track to the next of a CD for example It is extremely important to work with the best possible speakers in a room that sounds good because this is the final stage where you ll have to make decisions on the overall balance betw
139. which can be still independently modified for each band by using the gain dot on the frequency display 4 T RackS CS module processors i T RackS CS e RESET Switch clicking on this control will reset all of the controls to their initial default state Clicking again after the reset will bring them back to the last setting they were left in in case you accidentally hit the reset button or changed your mind e ON BYPASS Switch this control enables the plug in processing when in the ON status 4 T RackS CS module processors gi T RackS CS 4 16 De Esser FREQUENCY RELEASE 1KHz 2ZKHz 4KHz BRKHz 13K HZ RANGE figure 4 17 The De Esser figure 4 17 is one of the four processors in the Multiband series for T RackS With this processor the de essing action and excessive sibilance or high frequency control can be adjusted in a dual operating mode depending on the number of bands selected A wealth of controls adjusts the de essing action to suit any particular situation Controls FREQUENCY Display this big display shows the whole frequency spectrum and how it s divided with the vertical bars The frequency range of this module is centered in a different area than the other processors in the Multiband Series its range goes form 1 to 13KHz This is because de essing process is only used in this range of the spectrum To modify the width of the bands use the underlying slider control DE ESS this cont
140. ximum value 48 dB Oct the filter is more selective and separation among bands becomes sharper LINK BANDS this button links the controls for all bands so that the values set for a selcted band will be mirrored on all of the other bands This can be handy when all control must be set identical for all bands The only exception is the gain control which can be still independently modified for each band by using the Gain Dot on the frequency display STEREO this control links the two channels for stereo operation all parameters affect the two channels in the same way to main tain a consistent stereo image MID SIDE this option uses a Mid Side matrix to independently compress the Center or the Sides of your stereo program Click MID to set the compression for the Center Mid of your stereo image or SIDE to set compression for the Sides RESET Switch clicking on this control will reset all of the control to their initial default state Clicking again after the reset will bring them back to the last setting they were left in case you accidentally hit the reset button or changed your mind 4 T RackS CS module processors j T RackS CS 4 14 Quad Lim FREQUENCY GAIN REDUCTION OUT BYPASS T amera aee a GAIN 1 608 GAIN 2 1d GAIN 2 108 GAIN 1 20B a we teed GR 0 00B GR 0 00 GR 7 20B GR 0 006 150 lk H ah rom i Wiis 123408 LR BANDS j ERICK SS Ceca Pas _THRESHOLD AMAGCK RELEASE GAIN figure 4 15
141. y of them under critical listening sessions achieve no significantly better or even slightly worse results than the regular sampling rate option This is because 1 What is T RackS CS 18 T RackS CS the upsampling and downsampling processes are not done at a sufficient level of quality In other words typically what is improved by running a processor at double sampling frequency is partially compromised by the loss of quality in the upsampling and downsampling process There are only a few pieces of gear mainly hardware and until now all of them very expensive that have really realized oversampling the way it should be done T RackS CS is one of them We wanted to offer the same quality of the highest caliber master ing tools and the result is a process that has no side effects at all on the sound total transparency So what you hear is exactly the same sound of the processor running at double sampling rate and with NO side effects 1 8 SCC technology With over 15 years of experience in analog modeled software IK has pioneered this technology and accumulated more experience than any other plug in manufacturer in the field This has resulted in several improvements like our unique DSM Dynamic Saturation Modeling and now the new SCC Sonic Character Cloning SCC has been developed to clone the true behavior of an analog vintage processor down to its finest level of sonic detail for a faithful reproduction
142. y range Set it to 0 for no boost 10 for max boost LOW FREQUENCY ATTEN applies a low frequencies attenuation with a shelving shape on the selected frequency range Set it to 0 for no attenuation 10 for max attenuation BANDWIDTH widens clockwise position or narrows counterclockwise position the range of frequencies covered by the high fre quency bell curve This control does not affect the sound of the low frequency filter nor the one of the high frequency attenuation HIGH FREQUENCY sets the center frequency of the high frequency bell boost filter 3 4 5 8 10 12 16 kHz The high frequency boost and attenuation filter have independent frequency settings HIGH FREQUENCY BOOST applies high frequency boost with a bell shape centered on the selected frequency Set it to 0 for no boost 10 for max boost HIGH FREQUENCY ATTEN attenuate high frequencies with a shelving shape starting from the selected value on ATTEN SEL Set it to 0 for no attenuation 10 for max attenuation e ATTEN SEL sets the frequency intervention point for the high frequency attenuation filter 5 10 or 20 kHz OUTPUT sets the global equalizer gain from 15 to 15 dB ON OFF completely bypasses the unit when on the OFF position RESET resets the equalizer to its initial flat state 4 T RackS CS module processors T RackS CS e L R linked channels mode Set it this way when you want to control both left and right channels at the same ti

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