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User`s Manual - Performance Audio

1. JE f 6 6 E 44 4 4 10 0 0 0 ACE AUTO AC ag Y Input Output transfer function display Analog Channel 1 AC1 mono configuration Input and Output Signal input and output levels are set Polarity is set at the input control Auto Output mode Input 24 dB es e pues disables the Output control and maintains Phase Polarity Switch constant signal level for the given Input and Output 24 dB Drive control settings Auto Output Gain Stage Controls The amount of signal used to limit saturate Drive 12 dB the input signal is determined by the Drive control The Compression control allows various Compression 1 to 10 soft limit saturate curves to be selected These curves are displayed in the Input Output real time display graph mcdsp com Page 25 TC Circuit Attack 0 005 msec to 10 msec Release 10 msec to 1 0 sec Metering Metering Input and Output Input Output Display Input to Output response is shown for the given Compression contro setting Saturation State LEDs Three state LED e green linear region e yellow soft limiting e orange hard limiting and or saturation The rate that the soft limit saturate curve characteristic begins to alter the input signal and rate the effect is disabled are set by the Attack and Release controls respectively The input and output signals are continuously metered Peak LEDs for both cha
2. by McDowell Signal Processing LLC
3. philosophy is maximum user control and here is the proof of our concept e Standard analog tape machine controls input and output bias playback speed and IEC equalization allow only the most basic manipulation of the analog tape response e Non standard analog tape machine controls playback head type low frequency roll off and head bump give the user complete control over the articulation of the playback response The roll off is even independently adjustable from playback speed a feature not found on the reel world devices There are modern and vintage tape formulations Even the rate at which the virtual machine recovers to a linear state from a tape saturation state is adjustable e Configurable Analog Amplifier the AC1 analog channel emulator configuration allows the user to articulate an analog gain stage Such processing is what makes large analog consoles sonically superior to their digital counterparts AC1 even shows the analog gain stage input output transfer function for complete visual feedback e Analog Channel is a high end analog emulator with e Double Precision Arithmetic which keeps the noise floor at 138 dB dynamic range of a 24 bit system In contrast it is possible for single precision arithmetic processors to raise the noise floor significantly above 138 dB e Analog Saturation Modeling in the AC2 plug in playback head and tape saturation stages and mcdsp com Page 51 e A maximum of
4. Company BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY SPECIAL CONSEQUENTIAL INDIRECT OR SIMILAR DAMAGES INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS OR LOST DATA ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE EVEN IF McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU IN NO CASE SHALL McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company s LIABILITY EXCEED THE PURCHASE PRICE FOR THE SOFTWARE The disclaimers and limitations set forth above will apply regardless of whether you accept the Software U S Government Restricted Rights RESTRICTED RIGHTS LEGEND Use duplication or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph c 1 ii of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252 227 7013 or subparagraphs c 1 and 2 of the Commercial Software Restricted Rights clause at 48 CFR 52 227 19 as applicable McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company Mountain View CA 94043 info mcdsp com General This Agreement will be governed by the laws of the State of California This Agreement may only be modified by a license addendum which accompanies this license or by a written document which has been signed both by you and McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company Should yo
5. although some users have had limited success with newer AMD processors i e Dual Opteron 1 79 GHZ Athlon 64 2 20 GHz and Athlon 64 XP 3700 None of our XP product line will work with Pro ToolsTM 5 x Also note that our XP product line does not support MIX although RTAS versions will work if they exist and the rest of your system i e Pro ToolsTM version and processor is compatible Digidesign and Pro Tools are registered trademarks of Digidesign Inc Installing the plug ins Installation on Mac OS X Each individual plug in Package installer either online or boxed includes this manual ReadMe Release Notes and a folder of presets specific to the plug in being installed Two copies of the plug in s Licensing Agreement are included one as a pdf manual and a second as a separate text file The plug in manual requires that Adobe Acrobat reader or similar pdf reader is installed Installing the plug in and presets with the Installer The online version of the package has been prepared for Internet delivery and is transmitted as a compressed file in zip format zip In Mac OS X 10 4 x simply double click the zip file to unpack the installer The boxed plug in package purchased at your local dealer will be on CDROM As with the online version these physical versions of the Analog Channel plug in package should be copied into a local folder on your system e Insert the McDSP HD Disk Native Disk or
6. matched using the AC1 plug in Input Output and Auto Output The Analog Channel Emulator AC1 Input and Output levels are completely adjustable 24 dB Signal polarity phase is selectable at the input stage The AC1 amplifier model compression saturation region is between 9 and 0 dB so being able to set input levels within this range is needed to let the compression saturation effects be audible Similarly because the input gain may be high an output control is also provided to trim the signal back to its original level Note that while clipping input is not really a problem because the amplifier model will operate the same regardless the output level needs to be carefully set to NOT light the peaking output LED An Auto Output mode will set the output level automatically such that a constant signal level is maintained as input and drive levels are adjusted Note the input signal level must be at or very near 0 dB for the Auto Output control to operate correctly Drive and Drive State LEDs Once the desired input level has been set the Drive control attenuates the amount of input signal used to calculate DRIVE the amplifier response Drive values less than O dB reduce the amount of compression saturation in the output and j drive values greater than 0 dB increase the compression W saturation effect 44 McDSP Analog Channel The Drive State LEDs show how much of the signal is being compressed or saturate
7. run up to 28 mono or 18 stereo analog channels AC1 and up to 8 mono or 4 stereo analog tape machines AC2 at 48 kHz sampling rate On ProTools HD systems 96 kHz and 192 kHz sample rates are also supported On HD Accel systems Analog Channel can get up to 2 times 2x the number of channels as on HD systems Other dsp performance specifications are detailed in the Reference Section at the end of this chapter e Analog Channel is compatible with ProTools and other DAW applications that support TDM RTAS and Audiosuite plug in formats The McDSP Analog Channel plug in operates on Mac OS X and Windows XP systems Attention Analog Channel LE owners This manual contains a description of the full Analog Channel plug in Analog Channel LE contains the Tape Head control from the AC2 configuration of the full Analog Channel plug in For more information on Analog Channel LE see the printed quick start guide included with the plug in For information on upgrading to the full version of Analog Channel see www mcdsp com Digidesign and Pro Tools are registered trademarks of Digidesign Inc All other trademarks are property of their respective owners McDSP Analog Channel Installing Analog Channel This Chapter explains the system requirements installation and authorization of your McDSP plug ins Please be sure to take special care of the iLok Smart Key that contains your authorizations The iLok Authorizations are the most imp
8. signal level for the given Input and Bias control settings The Roll Off control selects low frequency cutoff and Bump determines the amount of head ripple The roll off and head ripple bump differ for each playback head type The Bias control operates just like on a real analog machine Underbias increases signal level and high frequency boost overbias decreased dynamic range causes high frequency saturation loss Release controls the rate playback recovers from the tape saturation state Playback speed most common to professional audio recording are 7 5 15 and 30 ips inch per second IEC EQ standard for US IEC2 and Europe IEC1 are available Tape formulation Modern is a high dynamic range contemporary tape while Vintage is a less dynamic range more character when over biased tape The input and output signals are continuously metered Peak LEDs for both channels light when the signal level is about to clip McDSP Analog Channel Controls Basics To adjust any of the controls with knobs you can e Click and drag the knob vertically or horizontally note the up down or left right motion becomes the only mouse movement to alter the knob control once the mouse is dragged beyond the knob graphic or e Hold the lt Command gt key while dragging the knob for fine control or e Click on the text box to highlight and edit the numeric value to get precise control if a value o
9. the Software you will have certain rights to use the Software after your acceptance of this license Except as may be modified by a license addendum which accompanies this license your rights and obligations with respect to the use of this Software are as follows You May e authorize 1 one copy of the Software on 1 one PACE Anti Piracy iLok USB Smart Key for use with no more than 1 one computer at any given time e make copies of the Software for archival purposes or copy the software onto the hard disk of your computer and retrain the original for archival purposes e after written notice to McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company transfer the Software on a permanent basis to another person or entity provided that you retain no copies of the Software and the transferee agrees to the terms of this agreement You may not e copy duplicate or reproduce the documentation which accompanies the Software for the purpose of resale e sublicense rent or lease any portion of the Software to a third party without expressed written permission from McDowell Signal Processing LLC e reverse engineer de compile disassemble modify translate make any attempt to discover the source code of the Software or create derivative works from the Software e make any attempt to circumvent any copy protection software e use a previous version or copy of the Software after you have received a replacement set or an upgraded ve
10. toolbar mcdsp com Page 11 Installation on Windows XP Each plug in installer includes the plug in a user s manual ReadMe Release Notes and a folder of presets specific to the plug in being installed Two copies of the plug in s Licensing Agreement are included one in the user s manual and another as a plain text file Note that the user s manual requires Adobe Acrobat reader or similar pdf reader Both online and boxed versions will automatically install the plug in and its presets on your system Note that authorization of the plug in is still required after running the installer and those steps are detailed in the following sections Installing the plug in and presets with the Installer The plug in package purchased at your local dealer will be on CDROM and contain a Windows self extracting executable exe similar to the online package prepared for Internet delivery Both the boxed and online versions of the plug in executable file will automatically install the plug in and its presets on your system Double click the file to launch the installer which will install the plug in presets and documentation At any time after installation you may access the documentation from the Windows Start Menu under the McDSP group Authorization of the plug in is still required after running the installer and those steps are detailed in the following sections Note that after installing new versions of the PACE iLok drivers
11. with the plug in installer you will be prompted to reboot your system If you are not prompted by the installer there is no need to reboot e Insert the McDSP HD Disk Native Disk or LE Disk CDROM onto an available CDROM drive e Navigate to the appropriate installer on the CDROM e Run the plug in Installer application to install the plug in presets and documentation to a local folder on your system The plug in will be placed in the plug ins folder and the presets will be placed in the plug ins Settings folder e If a previous version of the plug in or other HD Native or LE version was already in the plug ins folder it will automatically be updated or replaced by the installer Page 12 McDSP Analog Channel Re installing the plug in presets manually If you wish to restore the factory default presets it may be useful to know how to manually re install only the presets e Goto the plug in Settings folder e C Program Files Common Files Digidesign DAE plug in Settings e Open another window and go to the appropriate McDSP plug in folder e C Program Files McDSP plug in e Locate the parent folder containing folder named Presets e Copy the parent folder into the plug in Settings folder The presets are now viewable after restarting Pro Tools from the settings popup menu bar at the top of the plug in user interface Note It may be necessary to re start Pro Tools in or
12. yellow LED is lit signal is 180 from original DRIVE 12to 12dB The amount of signal used to limit saturate the input signal SATURATION ORANGE The continuous state of the Analog Channel AC1 plug in is STATE LEDS hard limiting tracked by three basic states showing how hard the analog and or amplifier model is being driven saturation YELLOW soft limiting GREEN linear region 1 to 10 Allows various soft limit saturate curves to be selected These linear digital curves are displayed in the Input Output real time display graph to non linear analog Virtual The VA button toggles the meter display between the original Analog tube meters and a VU styled meter the ballistics are more appropriate for modern productions and display a 3 dBfs peak ATTACK 0 005 msec to The rate that the soft limit saturate curve characteristic begins 10 msec to alter the input signal RELEASE Sets the rate the effect is disabled 1 0 sec OUTPUT 24to 24 dB Amount of make up gain applied to master signal METERING Input Output The input and output signals are continuously metered Peak LEDs for both channels light when the signal level is about to clip McDSP Analog Channel Specification for Analog Tape Machine Emulator AC2 INPUT 24 to 24 dB Amount of gain applied to input signal before processing PHASE ON OFF Polarity phase of the final output When yellow LED is lit signal is 180 from original ROL
13. 56 mono or 34 stereo channels of analog channel emulation AC1 or 18 mono or 8 stereo channels of analog tape emulation AC2 per HD Accel chip dsp Would you expect any less from the company founded by Colin McDowell the mind responsible for FilterBank What is Double Precision Arithmetic and why it is important The TDM bus is a 24 bit audio signal path with a dynamic range of 138 dB McDSP plug in s internal double precision 48 bits keeps the noise floor of its outputted signal at 138 dB In contrast with single precision 24 bit arithmetic the noise floor of a digital effect process can be dramatically higher than the 138 dB noise floor you would expect from a 24 bit data path Such adverse affects would be seen as DC offset in output meters even when there was no audio being processed Small amounts of such noise reduce the quality of 24 bit audio data What is Analog Saturation Modeling and why you want it Pure digital clipping that can ruin a mix Instead analog saturation modeling will approximate the sound of an analog box driven to a clipping state What Analog Channel presets are available Presets emulating a number of popular analog tape machine and analog channel mixing console sounds are included with Analog Channel and are found in the Presets folder in the Analog Channel plug in package These presets were created from measurements taken at McDSP headquarters while emulating different analog classic a
14. Analog Channel The Analog Experience McDowell Signal Processing LLC McDSP Analog Channel McDSP Analog Channel Manual McDSP McDowell Signal Processing LLC 1300 Crittenden Lane 401 Mountain View CA 94043 Support Email info mcdsp com Technical Support helpOmcdsp com World Wide Web www mcdsp com mcdsp com Page 1 Special Thanks to e Daniel Caccavo Will Catterson Mikail Graham Andy Gray Jonathan Goldstein Rhett Lawrence and Dave Pensado and the rest of our great beta team for their invaluable input and feedback e Dr Robert E Filman and Tom McTavish for the tech talk and encouragement e Florian Richter Ken Walden and the many other tape sat solicitors e Frank Filipanits Jr for the GeneratorX plug in his additional assistance with the abundance of details in bringing a software product to market e David Denny and Stephen Jarvis for the rental on the great gear e Jay McKnight at Magnetic Reference Laboratory for his expert commentary and vast catalog of papers on audio engineering e Jack Endino www endino com for providing some measurements of various analog tape reproducers he has worked with over the course of his career e Rob Barrett Jr our 1 customer from the entire McDSP development team Copyright Notice Copyright 1998 2008 McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company All Rights Reserved The McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company s Analog
15. Bump Head Type The AC2 plug in Playback Head control section allows the replication of nearly any reproducer ever made Head models from Studer Otari MCI Ampex Sony and Tascam are a menu selection away Even large facilities do not stock all these machines under one roof much less can keep USA A them maintained consistently The corresponding head model nicknames used in AC2 are Swiss Japan O USA M USA A Japan S Japan T ROLLOFF BUMP 52 7 34 7 Real world factors such as track width playback head wear playback head spacing from the actual tape and proper calibration ultimately affect low frequency loss and the amount of heap ripple or bump The AC2 plug in instead just gives user control over low frequency roll off and head bump even independent of tape speed No longer is there debate over 15 ips for great low end response vs 30 ips for better high frequency response The playback head response is also displayed in real time in the Playback Head and Tape Response Display no more calibration tapes required All Trademarks are property of their respective owners Studer Otari MCI Ampex Sony and Tascam are all trademarks of their respective companies These companies are not affiliated in any way with McDSP nor do they endorse the Analog Channel plug in The trademarks of these companies are used solely for the purpose of describing the sounds produced by the McDSP Analog Channel plug
16. Channel FilterBank CompressorBank and MC2000 plug ins and corresponding User s Manuals are copyrighted and all rights are reserved Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company This document may not in whole or part be copied photocopied reproduced translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine readable form for the purpose of resale without prior consent in writing from McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company Trademarks McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company is a trademark of McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company Other brands and their products are trademarks of their respective holders and should be noted as such Digidesign and Pro Tools are registered trademarks of Digidesign Inc McDSP Analog Channel Table of Contents McDSP Analog Channel Manual 1 McDSPMcDowell Signal Processing LLC 1 Support 1 Special Thanks to 2 Copyright Notice 2 McDSP Analog Channel License Agreement 5 Introducing Analog Channel 7 Installing Analog Channel 9 System Requirements 9 Installing the plug ins 10 Installation on Mac OS X 10 Installation on Windows XP 12 Installing the plug in on VENUE D SHOW systems 14 Authorizing your McDSP plug ins 16 Authorizing with a pre programmed Lok Smart Key 16 Authorizing with an iLok License Card 16 Autho
17. ING Input Output The input and output signals are continuously metered Peak LEDs for both channels light when the signal level is about to clip mcdsp com Page 47 r INPUT 6 E ROLL OFF BUMP 52 7 34 7 INPUT 0 0 0 0 ATTACK RELEASE 6 e 4 4 10 0 DRIVE COMP AI A ha 44 OUTPUT O va AC for OUTPUT BIAS RELEASE M tat 6 exe 49 7 McDSP Analog Channel Analog Channel Linked Control Table Analog Channel provides a variety of linked control functionality in its many configurations The table below lists all the linking capabilities as of the v1 0 version of Analog Channel For more information on control linking see the Control Linking section of the Quick Start Tour LINKED CONTROLS LINK ACTION LINK TYPE Left Right Input and Output Enable the Lock LED Absolute or Relative controls Analog Channel DSP Delay The delay incurred by any of the Analog Channel configurations is ZERO samples The delay is 1 sample on HD systems There is still a two sample delay from the TDM connection to from the Analog Channel plug in This is the absolute minimum number of delay samples a TDM plug in can have The McDSP plug ins are designed in this manner to provide the user with the closest analog mixing console experience possible analog inserts such as EQ and compression do not cause a processing delay when inserted into a track mcdsp
18. L OFF 20 100 Hz Low Frequency Roll off BUMP 0 100 Determines the amount of head ripple up to 6 dB PLAYBACK Selector The roll off and head ripple bump differ for each playback HEAD TYPE various models head type from popular analog tape machines BIAS 12 to 12 dB The Bias control operates just like on a real analog machine Underbias increases signal level and high frequency boost overbias decreased dynamic range causes high frequency saturation loss RELEASE 10 msec to Release controls the rate playback recovers from the tape 1 0 sec saturation state Virtual Analog The VA button toggles the meter display between the original tube meters and a VU styled meter the ballistics are more appropriate for modern productions and display a 3 dBfs peak PLAYBACK 7 5 15 and 30 Playback speed most common to professional audio recording SPEED ips inches per are 7 5 15 and 30 ips inch per second second IEG IEC1 Europe IEC EQ standard for US IEC2 and Europe IEC1 are available EQUALIZATION and IEC2 US TAPE Modern and Tape formulation Modern is a high dynamic range FORMULATIONS Vintage contemporary tape while Vintage is a less dynamic range more character when over biased tape OUTPUT 24 to 24 dB Amount of make up gain applied to master signal Auto Output mode disables the Output control and maintains constant signal level for the given Input and Bias control settings METER
19. LE Disk CDROM onto an available CDROM drive e Navigate to the folder of the plug in you purchased on the CDROM the installer application is contained therein e Run the Installer application to install copy the plug in presets and documentation to a local folder on your system The plug in will be placed in the plug ins folder and the presets will be placed in the plug ins Settings folder Page 10 McDSP Analog Channel e If a previous version of the plug in or other HD Native or LE version was already in the plug ins folder it will automatically be updated or replaced by the installer Re installing a McDSP plug in presets manually If you wish to restore the factory default presets it may be useful to know how to manually re install just the presets e Go to the plug in Settings folder e Root gt Library gt Application Support gt Digidesign gt plug in Settings e Open another window and go to the appropriate McDSP plug in folder e Root gt Applications gt McDSP gt plug in e Locate the parent folder containing folder named Presets e Drag the parent folder into the plug in Settings folder The presets are now viewable after restarting Pro Tools from the settings popup menu bar at the top of the plug in user interface Note It may be necessary to re start Pro ToolsTM in order for the newly added Presets folder to be viewable from the Settings popup inside the plug in window
20. Licenses button gt 7 Note that the download process may take some time Please press the button only once don t is important to select the correct tutor pi allas dano rie Ls go ta Lok you wish the authorizations E Select an iLok ownload Licenses to be tra nsferred to Then cl ick If the not in the list above insert the iLok now and click here Download Licenses to begin the process Again this may take a moment depending on your internet connection 2 0 iL ok m tea gus seo When the transfer finishes you will be asked to confirm the completition of the transaction thereby letting you know that pownioad Licenses Complete th e tra nsfer Was su ccessfu a The selected licenses have been downloaded to iLok1 qu If you wish to go back into your account mcdsp com Page 21 and visually confirm the transaction for yourself select View iLoks Then select the iLok you had the authorizations transferred to That s it Dont forget to logout and move the iLok Smart Key to your ProTools System if you are using another computer for Internet access Also you may need to install a different version of the plug in if you are upgrading or replacing Transferring Authorizations with iLok com You may freely transfer any authorization within your iLok com account between any of your registered iLok Smart Keys If you wish to transfer an authorization out of your iLok com account to a different user it
21. allation mcdsp com Page 15 Authorizing your McDSP plug ins Authorizing with a pre programmed iLok Smart Key McDSP bundles such as the Classic Pack come with a pre programmed iLok Smart Key Simply insert the iLok into any available USB port on your computer The iLok s indicator light will illuminate when the iLok has a proper connection The plug ins included in the bundle require no further authorization steps As with any iLok on your system it is recommended that your iLok be registered and synchronized with iLok com Authorizing with an iLok License Card All McDSP plug ins require that a valid authorization is present on your iLok USB Smart Key McDSP Plug ins that are purchased individually provide this authorization on a plastic License Card about the size of a credit card with a D small punch out iLok License Chip After being separated from the License Card this iLok License Chip is to be inserted into the key slot of the iLok USB Smart Key in order to transfer the authorization from the License Card to the iLok USB Smart Key Note that each License Card holds ONE plug in authorization The following instructions detail this process CompressorBank The Complete Compressor Important Note The Authorization Wizard will prompt the user to register their iLok USB Smart Key at iLok com iLok com is a service offered by PACE Anti Piracy Inc and this step is recommended but NOT REQUIRED by McDSP to comple
22. ase their soft limit saturate levels on a composite signal derived from the current left and right input signal levels while the AC2 configuration operates in each channel independently Automation All Analog Channel Controls are completely automatable See the Digidesign Pro Tools Reference Guide Automating plug ins section Here are a few tips about automating the stereo versions of Analog Channel configurations e If stereo or linked automation is desired for a left right control pair you only need to automate ONE of the left right control pair The stereo or link offset is preserved during automation playback You may automate both left and right controls simultaneously however the automation data is simply duplicated in the left and right control pair Page 30 McDSP Analog Channel e If discrete automation is desired for a left right control pair then the Analog Channel control mode Lock LED should be disabled This will allow each left right control to operate independently and not also send automation events to each other as is the case when the Analog Channel Lock LED is enabled Presets Using the Presets and Making Your Own The Analog Channel presets are inspired by various tape machines made from manufacturers such as Studer Otari MCI Ampex Sony and Tascam A variety of other presets are named for their application vocal drums guitar are also available The presets can be a
23. ayback Head and Tape Response Display A conventional tape machine recorder or reproducer requires a great deal of maintenance to insure the unit performs consistently This requirement is complicated by the subjective criteria of each user the optimal setup may differ from project to project Fortunately in the digital domain the good things about tape machines and the tape medium can be modeled and the models can perform consistently over time Additionally the optimal setup is only a few control changes away instead of a tedious calibration session The rapid setup of the virtual tape machine in the AC2 plug in is facilitated by the visual feedback of its controls and the Tape Playback Head and Tape Response Display The white curve shows the playback head response low frequency roll off and head bump levels update as the playback head type Roll off and Bump controls on the AC2 plug in are updated The purple curve shows the amount mcdsp com Page 37 of tape saturation caused by the under over biasing of the virtual tape machine and how the biasing changes for different playback speeds and IEC equalization Note the purple curve is showing the frequency response of the virtual tape when signal levels are high Tape Playback Head and Tape above 12 dB as per the Bias and Input Response Display controls Altering the Release control and using an extreme over biased or under biased setting is a good way t
24. ccessed from the Pro Tools plug in Librarian and plug in Settings pop up menus To make and save your own presets see the plug in Librarian Functions section of Digidesign s DigiRack plug ins Guide A Word on Preset Compatibility Presets for the AC1 and AC2 configurations are NOT interchangeable For more information see Chapter 4 Modeling Analog Tape Machines All Trademarks are property of their respective owners Studer Otari MCI Ampex Sony and Tascam are all trademarks of their respective companies These companies are not affiliated in any way with McDSP nor do they endorse the Analog Channel plug in The trademarks of these companies are used solely for the purpose of describing the sounds produced by the McDSP Analog Channel plug in Pro Tools is a registered trademark of Digidesign Inc mcdsp com Page 31 Using the AC1 Plug In The Analog Channel Emulator AC1 plug in is an analog amplifier or analog channel Instead of allowing the user to drive signal levels into digital clipping at O dB the AC1 plug in provides gentle continuous soft limiting compression or saturation pending the attack release times at a signal level selected by the user AC1 can be used as a fail safe for preventing unwanted clipping or as a creative tool to smooth warm up digital tracks and provide otherwise unavailable analog character to a digital system Even the sound of large analog mixing consoles can be closely
25. com Page 49 Analog Channel DSP Usage HD and HD Accel DSP hardware The TDM versions of the Analog Channel plug in configurations use a varying amount of dsp resources for each Analog Channel configuration The table below is a listing of these dsp usages The DSP Allocator utility provided by Digidesign can be used to display dsp resource allocation when Pro Tools is running Maximum Instantiation Counts CONFIGURATION INSTANTIATIONS PER DSP ON INSTANTIATIONS PER DSP ON HD HD SYSTEMS ACCEL SYSTEMS For TDM hardware all Analog Channel configurations can run on the same dsp simultaneously Analog Channel supports all higher sample rates on HD systems 96kHz 192kHz At these higher sample rates the number of instances is reduced by 2 and 4 respectively Digidesign and Pro Tools are registered trademarks of Digidesign Inc McDSP Analog Channel Analog Channel Frequently Asked Questions How is Analog Channel different from other tape sat plug ins e Analog Channel gives you the most power and flexibility to emulate any other analog tape machine or create your own custom tape machine e Consider first the number of configurations you get in this one plug in analog channel emulation AC1 AND analog tape machine emulation AC2 all in stereo and mono configurations e Consider next the maximum number and ranges of the independent controls available to the user to define the analog response Our design
26. d The green LED indicates the input signal is operating in the linear range of the amplifier the yellow LED indicates moderate compression saturation and the orange LED indicated heavy compression saturation The more the orange LED is lit the greater the effect and hence the more audible the change in input signal characteristics Compression Comp Control The compression saturation or distortion it may also be called COMP curve is user selectable from the Compression Comp control The greater the control value the more compression saturation is possible The Input Output Transfer Curve Display is updated as this control is changed for visual feedback The compression curve can even go negative creating a greater amount of harmonic distortion and other bad effects A significant difference between AC1 and a standard compressor is that AC1 has no threshold The amplifier operation does not depend on input signals exceeding some level and then act accordingly Instead the amplifier circuit is always on like a Class A amplifier and the transition from a linear region to a non linear region of operation is totally continuous For the user processing audio thru AC1 this equates to a process than can limit compress saturate high signal levels in a consistent and precise manner Attack and Release The rate at which the amplifier transfer function curve is engaged and dis engaged is selected by the Attack and Re
27. d type called USA A An example of the AC2 plug in Ampex style playback head response is shown to the right 20 40 70 100 200 00 es 20 40 70 100 200 400 Hij a 1K 2K 4k 7K 10K 2K 4f 1K 2K ak 7K 10K 2K Nia MA EIE Ampex MM 1200 16 tracks tracks playback head response a E 10 kHz Page 40 McDSP Analog Channel Studer A80 mkiIl The Studer line of analog tape machines is ubiquitous in the recording industry Below a Studer A80 mkll is shown Note the single overshoot of the playback head at very low frequencies These measurements show the common debate between using 15 and 30 ips for recording At the slower 15 ips speed the low frequency response is great yet high frequency loss is minimized if the 30 ips speed is used The AC2 plug in mitigates this problem by making low frequency roll off operate independently of playback speed The AC2 plug in playback head called Swiss is based on this kind of Studer machine A response from the AC2 plug in via the Tape Playback Head and Tape Response Display is shown below 100 Hz Studer A80 mkil 24 tracks AC2 plug in Studer playback head response mcdsp com Page 41 Otari MX 80 The Otari analog tape machines were the work horse of many facilities Below measurements of a MX 80 at 15 ips blue and 30
28. der for the newly added Presets folder to be viewable from the Settings popup inside the plug in window toolbar mcdsp com Page 13 Installing the plug in on VENUE D SHOW systems The Analog Channel HD plug in Package for VENUE D SHOW systems includes presets for the Analog Channel HD plug in and the Analog Channel HD plug in The Analog Channel HD Licensing Agreement is displayed when installing the product on D SHOW The pdf manual can be obtained by running the Mac OS X or Windows XP version of the Analog Channel HD Pro Tools plug in installer on any available computer Both online and boxed versions will come with a VENUE compatible installer that will automatically install the Analog Channel HD plug in and its presets on your system The authorization of the Analog Channel HD plug in is still required after running the installer and those steps are detailed in the following sections Note that Analog Channel HD Channel G HD CompressorBank HD FilterBank HD MC2000 HD and ML4000 HD are the only McDSP products currently compatible with VENUE systems Installing the Analog Channel HD plug in and presets on VENUE with the HD Disk The boxed Analog Channel HD plug in package purchased at your local dealer will contain a CDROM titled HD Disk that is specially formatted to work with your VENUE console The VENUE installers are also available online as a compressed zip file download however you will have to take additi
29. e a demo authorization email your iLok com account information to authorize mcdsp com Insert your iLok Smart Key into an ee Log Out Helo available USB port and ensure that mon E er A the indicator light is lit Once your AO demo upgrade or replacement You have licanses vou are jogged into the new Improved iLok com New features with authorization is available for on AE transfer your iLok com account will Zero Domina Secure anda ot ownership between o com account holders display the notice saying You have eras Me inde pr a licenses on the upper left Begin by maouax porro on ao ri d eri selecting that link er ss meor memean ramer vr To manage your iLoks including viewing your iLok contents receiving licenses from software vendors or moving licenses between iLoks click here Move your licenses Page 20 McDSP Analog Channel The next page will display Pending licenses available for download the pending licenses Product Company Type Deposited Expiration available for download IT This page will also display Compressor Bank MCOSP NER 09 14 2004 09 14 2005 g the name of the plug in FilterBank McOSP License 09 14 2004 03 14 2005 its manufacturer the type smarts on ee of authorization demo Not For Resale or License the date the authorization was deposited and the date when the authorization will no longer be available for download from the server Befo rea ny tra nsfe
30. e box if you wish to authorize you veka ng an ema Wizard may appear to allow uso ans car authorization by challenge response that method is currently NOT SUPPORTED McDSP plug ins CO EE Cand Separate the small punch out iLok License Chip the removable metal and plastic tab from the License Card by pushing the cutout up and out with your thumb Do not force your finger S CompressorBank downward The iLok License Chip may now be inserted into the key slot of the iLok USB Smart Key figure 2 6 If the iLok USB Smart Key does not appear to be present on the system ensure the iLok USB Smart Key is connected to a valid USB port and that the green LED is lit inside the Lok USB Smart Key To insert the License Chip into the iLok USB Smart Key orient the Lok USB Smart Key s USB end to the left and the loop end to the upper right Insert the metal chip end of the iLok License Chip the License Chip tab should have the metal chip side facing up towards you not down You should be able to visually verify that the License Chip makes contact with the iLok USB Smart Key metal card reader The green LED in the Lok USB Smart Key will light when it is ready to receive and transmit data Upon inserting the Lok License indicating the authorization was installed successfully Click Ok in the message dialog Cox Authorization to run Compressor Bank has been successfully installed from your lic
31. ense card to your iLok serial number 0x00000000 Chip a message will be displayed E Authorization Successfully Installed McDSP Analog Channel e Once the authorization is installed Compress Bam on the iLok USB Smart Key a dialog tak ce bote ton andar cu can te wat is on your is displayed prompting the user ect hie tat te yo ok wih kT to register their Lok USB Smart OE Key at the www ilok com website Kok og 110 an mernet ened sate and go to e along UEL The iLok com website was created ay ean to allow users to manage the me aga chaeto A software authorizations on their Don ask me again iLok USB Smart Key THIS STEP Cu E Ca IS NOT REQUIRED TO COMPLETE THE AUTHORIZATION OF MCDSP SOFTWARE The registration of the iLok USB Smart Key to an iLok com account can be bypassed by clearing the checkbox The user may also choose to not be asked to register again While Lok com is a great resource for the iLok USB Smart Key your Lok USB Smart Key may only be linked to one iLok com account That is an individual iLok USB Smart Key can only be registered to one account at a time but a single account can have multiple iLok USB Smart Keys If the iLok com account information is lost the iLok USB Smart Key cannot be registered to another account However an iLok USB Smart Key may be transferred between accounts if all the authorizations have been transferred off the iLok USB Smart K
32. ey Register the iLok USB Smart Key to an iLok com account only when you are ready to retain all the needed iLok com account information User ID and Password A Finished dialog is displayed showing what authorization method was used e Click Finish to exit the Authorization Wizard mcdsp com Page 19 Authorizing with iLok com Required for demo upgrade and replacement authorizations only iLok com can be accessed from any Macintosh or PC with an Internet connection You can do this at home a friend s or at the office as long as there is an internet connection to access iLok com note that you don t have to use your ProTools system computer You simply use this computer to connect to iLok com and transfer authorizations to your iLok Smart Key The iLok Smart Key can then be moved to your ProTools system to complete authorization of your plug in You will need e A computer with an Internet connection Either a Macintosh running OS 9 2 to OS 10 3 or a PC running Windows 98 ME 2000 or XP e An iLok USB Smart Key e A valid iLok com account Visit www iLok com and set up a free account if you have not already done so 1 Download and install the required client software from iLok com 2 Download the desired McDSP plug in Installer from http www mcdsp com support updating html 3 To receive an upgrade or replacement authorization send email your iLok com account information to support mcdsp com To receiv
33. g the plug in closing the plug in window or de instantiating the plug in Pro Tools sessions will save instantiated plug in configurations and their settings Refer to the Digidesign Pro Tools Reference Guide for details on general plug in operation Digidesign and Pro Tools are registered trademarks of Digidesign Inc mcdsp com Page 23 Quick Start Tour Start Pro ToolsTM and Instantiate Analog Channel plug in e Launch Pro Tools and Open a Pro Tools Session e Verify the Display gt Mix Window Shows gt Inserts View option is checked e In one of the inserts select the AC1 Analog Channel plug in e In one of the inserts select the AC2 Analog Channel plug in e f the insert selection does not show Analog Channel plug ins verify that Analog Channel has been installed correctly e For more information on starting Pro ToolsTM and working with plug ins see Digidesign s Pro Tools Reference Guide Analog Channel AC1 Overview The Analog Channel 1 AC1 plug in has the following features e Input and Output controls w phase Auto Output level setting e Drive control to set amount of signal drive or selecting the hotness of the channel e Compression Saturation LED indicators e Compression Release and Attack characteristics of this digital pre amp e Simultaneous metering of Input and Output levels and a real time McDSP Analog Channel r INPUT DRIVE COMP ATTACK RELEASE OUTPUT
34. graded ProTools or installed a different company s plug in most likely an older version of PACE s driver was incorrectly installed To resolve this re run any recent McDSP plug in Installer and select Repair reboot your PC and relaunch ProTools Alternatively you may run the latest Pace InterLok drivers installer which is available from the Driver download page at www paceap com dldrvr html McDSP Analog Channel McDSP Technical Support McDSP technical and customer support is available via the Internet e mail and fax McDSP technical and customer support is a free service offered Monday through Friday 8 00 am 5 00 pm PST If you have purchased your product through a dealer please be sure to submit your product registration form to McDSP By registering your McDSP product you will be eligible to receive upgrades and advance information about new McDSP products Certain services are not provided until the registration card has been received Email info mcdsp com or help mcdsp com World Wide Web www mcdsp com Fax 707 220 0994 USA mcdsp com Page 55 www mcdsp com Copyright 2008 by McDowell Signal Processing LLC All trademarks are property of their respective owners McDSP is a trademark of McDowell Signal Processing LLC Analog Channel Channel G Chrome Tone CompressorBank FilterBank MC2000 ML4000 Revolver Synthesizer One Emerald Pack Classic Pack and Project Studio are Copyrighted 1998 2008
35. he recorded signals do not suffer the frequency response problem of the tape medium However because these standards determine Page 36 McDSP Analog Channel how the audio is recorded to and reproduced from tape they affect the character of the tape saturation of the tape machine Hence the AC2 plug in allows the selection of IEC1 or IEC2 equalization and the subsequent sonic affects are displayed in the Tape Playback Head and Tape Response Display Note how the purple saturation curve changes as the IEC1 or IEC2 standards are selected for the various tape speeds Tape Formulations In the world of tape not only does the tape machine influence how the audio is heard the tape medium itself is also a sonic factor A great number of tape formulations have been created since the tape machine was first developed The AC2 plug in has consolidated them all into two generally accepted formulation categories e Modern current manufacturing technologies create a tape with a much greater dynamic range than earlier formulations These tapes have a large linear region and hence have a smaller non linear saturation character This makes for recordings as true as possible to the original material e Vintage older tape mediums tend to have less dynamic range and suffer from greater distortion saturation These tapes however have character that newer ones do not and have been used with great success in recording audio Tape Pl
36. hine For this reason the AC2 plug in has a Release control that determines how quickly the plug in recovers from the tape saturation state and returns to the linear state of operation The AC2 Release control range is from 10 msec to 1000 msec 1 0 second Playback Speed The common playback speeds of professional audio tape recorders reproducers are 7 5 15 and 30 inches per second ips Changes in playback speed affect tape saturation dynamic range and the low frequency roll off of the playback With the exception of the last item the AC2 plug in emulates all these characteristics of playback speed variations The low frequency roll off is controlled independently via the Roll Off control a significant improvement over the actual devices IEC Standards The frequency response of signal recorded to tape is not a flat response In fact the response is not very ideal for high fidelity audio recording In order to compensate for this effect the recorded signal is equalized to a standardized response This not only improves the fidelity of the signal recorded to tape but allows reproducers to be manufactured with the same standards These standardized responses are controlled by the International Electro technical Commission IEC and have developed into two generally accepted types IEC1 also known as IEC CCIR and DIN mostly used in Europe and IEC2 also known as NAB mostly used in the US In the digital domain t
37. in Bias The AC2 plug in has a bias control like nay other professional tape machine But instead of frequency sweeps and test tones to confirm system frequency response the tape playback response is shown in a purple curve as the Bias control is updated Time consuming calibration and maintenance is no longer required In general under biasing bias lt O dB increases dynamic range and boosts high frequencies pending tape speed and IEC standard used Over biasing bias gt 0 dB decreases dynamic range and reduces high frequencies pending tape speed and IEC standard used Over biasing also increases the effect the tape formulation character has on the audio considered desirable by most tape medium enthusiasts McDSP has modeled a vintage and modern tape formulation type The suggested maximum biasing level for the vintage type less dynamic range mcdsp com Page 35 more character is between 6 and 9 dB The suggested maximum biasing level for the modern type less dynamic range more character is between 9 and 12 dB The user can adjust the Bias control as desired although some extreme over biasing can occur if these maximums are exceeded Release For each tape machine a saturation state can be reached when the tape is over biased as described in the Bias section above The machine returns to a linear state once the input audio drops back to a nominal level at rate specific to each tape mac
38. ips red are shown as well as a MX 5050 Mk III half inch 8 track Note the high frequency boost possibly indicating the machine was slightly underbiased The Otari playback head responses are interesting in that they are somewhat flat just above its low frequency roll off and then have an over and under shoot ripple The AC2 plug in playback head called Japan O is based on the Otari MX 80 and Otari MX 5050 Mk III half inch 8 track 100 Hz Otari MX 80 24 Otari MX 5050 Mk III AC2 plug in Otari playback tracks 8 tracks head response McDSP Analog Channel Sony APR 5000 In addition to the Playstation Sony has made some very good and expensive analog tape machines The Sony APR 5000 half inch 2 track is shown below The APR 5000 playback head response at 30 ips red shows strong head bump effect without excessive ripple The AC2 plug in playback head called Japan S is based on the Sony APR 5000 100 Hz Sony APR 5000 2 tracks half inch AC2 plug in Sony style playback head response mcdsp com Page 43 Tascam ATR60 The measurements below of a Tascam ATR60 16 1 inch 16 track show the problems of using a poorly calibrated machine Although the head bump character is useful for audio the ripples in the response are not desirable can you imagine having to re calibrate the machine to these resp
39. l to 6 dB the right gain will equal 6 dB too or mcdsp com Page 29 e To link controls for relative link operation set the Left and Right Input controls to the desired offset from each other before enabling the Lock LED Adjust one of the left controls and note how the right control automatically adjusts relative to the left control for example if you adjust the left gain to increase by 2 dB the right gain will increase by 2 dB Unlike the stereo link operation this type of linking will allow the left and right controls to have different values e To disable automatic linking disable the Lock LED A table listing all the control linking capabilities is provided in the reference section at the end of this chapter Metering In the Analog Channel plug in and all McDSP plug ins the tube meters are marked with white hash marks along the bottom or left of the vertical meters Each white hash mark represents a change of 3 dB the top hash mark represents 0 dB The input and output meters become bright green as signal is passed through the compressor and become bright yellow as the input or output signal exceeds 6 dB in its respective meter The Peak Meter lights when the signal is about to clip The peak meters can be cleared by clicking on them with the mouse Stereo versions of the Analog Channel configurations have two input and two output meters Note that stereo versions of Analog Channel AC1 configuration b
40. lease controls Note the attack control range is limited G e A 0 03 msec 1 sample to 10 msec to insure the amplifier i 4 4 ATTACK RELEASE compression saturation curve has an effect on the input signal and is able to prevent digital clipping Users should hrg monitor the output meter and output peak LED to verify clipping at the output does not occur for input signals with high peak levels 10 0 In a real world device such as a Class A pre amp on an analog mixing console the attack and release times would be preset fixed for optimum performance In the software world we have created presets to get ideal responses while giving the user total control over the amplifier design via the Compression Attack and Release controls mcdsp com Page 33 Input Output Transfer Curve Display The response of the analog amplifier modeled by AC1 is displayed on the Input Output Transfer Curve display on the lower right of the plug in interface Using a fixed input such as a sine wave the curve response can be verified for the curious Seeing the response curve allows the user to visualize what is happening to the audio and provide feedback that otherwise would only be available from critical listening A Closer Look at the AC2 Controls The Analog Channel Emulator AC2 plug in is an emulator of the most popular analog tape machines and tape mediums known to the professional audio recording industry Playback systems from Stude
41. nalog devices tape machines pre amps Other presets are included from industry professionals McDSP Analog Channel Technical Support Trouble Shooting How do I authorize the plug in e McDSP plug ins can be authorized via a license card and an iLok Refer to the installation details provided in Chapter 2 Installing McDSP Plug ins e McDSP Plug in demos can be requested from www mcdsp com when an iLok com account user name is provided Demo authorizations are then placed in your account for transfer to your iLok More detailed information is provided in Chapter 2 Authorizing with iLok com in the Initialization section The plug in does not appear in Insert popup e Check your installation of the individual plug in or plug ins you purchased e The plug in will not appear in an insert popup if its trial period has expired or is not authorized Preset does not affect plug in controls e A Word on Preset Compatibility In most cases presets for different configurations of the same Plug in are NOT interchangeable Make sure that the presets being selected are specifically for the instantiated configuration you are using Should a preset from a different configuration be imported the new preset settings will not affect the current controls and a warning message and system beep alter the user to the error The control settings before the preset was applied are retained mcdsp com Page 53 DAE Error 7450 While Processing Audio
42. nnels light when the signal level is about to clip For the range of 12 to 0 dB the input and output transfer function of the selected soft limit saturate curve is shown in real time A second curve shows the digital 1 1 response The continuous state of the Analog Channel AC1 plug in is tracked by three basic states showing how hard the analog amplifier model is being driven To adjust any of the controls with knobs you can e Click and drag the knob vertically or horizontally note the up down or left right motion becomes the only mouse movement to alter the knob control once the mouse is dragged beyond the knob graphic or e Hold the lt Command gt key while dragging the knob for fine control or e Click on the text box to highlight and edit the numeric value to get precise control if a value outside the valid range is input the control will default to the nearest allowed value when enter is hit and hit lt Enter gt or e Click on the text box to highlight the numeric value and then use the arrow keys to increase or decrease the numeric value or e Use the lt Option gt key to bring all the controls to their default values or Page 26 McDSP Analog Channel e Use hardware controller surfaces supported by Analog Channel including the Mackie HUI and Digidesign s ProControl and Control 24 surfaces The Auto Output LED when enabled automatically updates the output level based on input and drive control se
43. o experiment and audition the tape saturation effect 100 Hz 10 kHz A yellow line shows the 0 dB mark and horizontal gray lines are at 12 6 6 and 12 dB The frequency scale is logarithmic as are most frequency displays with the 100 1000 and 10000 Hz frequencies labeled McDSP Analog Channel Modeling Analog Mixing Consoles with Analog Channel The Analog Channel plug in models a wide variety of vintage and contemporary analog devices Tape reproducers Class A amplifiers and even large analog mixing consoles can be emulated with the Analog Channel plug in This chapter highlights some of the modeling capabilities of Analog Channel The user is additionally directed to various presets included in the Analog Channel plug in package The AC1 configuration is designed to emulate the characteristics of an analog amplifier stage Many presets have been included with the Analog Channel plug in to demonstrate the AC1 configuration abilities Additionally three ProTools sessions no audio have been created with an AC1 mono on every track of a 24 track mixer An AC2 is placed on the stereo master fader Some notes about using these session templates e The AC1 is placed in the first insert of each mixer channel e Signal level should be set by the Input control of the AC1 plug in leave the ProTools mixer fader at unity The signal level can then be set without digital clipping and the analog amplifier charac
44. o make and save your own presets see the plug in Librarian Functions section of Digidesign s DigiRack plug ins Guide All Trademarks are property of their respective owners Studer Otari MCI Ampex Sony and Tascam are all trademarks of their respective companies These companies are not affiliated in any way with McDSP nor do they endorse the Analog Channel plug in The trademarks of these companies are used solely for the purpose of describing the sounds produced by the McDSP Analog Channel plug in While Analog Channel emulates the sounds of these tape machines McDSP makes no representation or warranty that Analog Channel is identical to or duplicates these devices Ampex MM 1200 Made down the street from McDSP in Redwood City California many of the products created by Ampex as early as the 1960 s are still in use in the professional audio industry today Below are measurements of an Ampex MM 1200 setup for 16 and 24 tracks Note how the head bump is greater for the higher track count head bump ripple increases as track width decreases The blue curve is 15 ips the red curve is 30 ips Also note how the responses in Fig 4 3 show a slightly under biased machine This was likely operator choice Focusing on the playback head response there are two primary ripples an overshoot at about the low frequency roll off immediately followed by a smaller undershoot These characteristics have been placed into the playback hea
45. onal steps to create your own VENUE installer CD R see additional instructions below before proceeding with these instructions Both the boxed and online versions of the Analog Channel HD installer are the same and will install both the plug in and its presets on your system Note that after installing new versions of the PACE iLok drivers with the Analog Channel HD plug in installer you will need to reboot your system You will not be prompted to reboot and if you don t you may see an error message saying TPkd driver required and a reboot Please reboot or reinstall the software If you see this message simply reboot the console and try again e Insert the McDSP HD Disk CDROM onto the CD drive Note that neither the McDSP Native Disk nor the LE Disk contains VENUE compatible installers e Ensure your system is in CONFIG mode you cannot install plug ins in SHOW mode e Navigate to the OPTIONS page and then select the Plug inS tab Page 14 McDSP Analog Channel e You should now see the Analog Channel HD plug in available on the left hand side e Select the Analog Channel HD plug in and select INSTALL e If a previous version of the Analog Channel HD plug in was already installed it will be updated by the installer Important note for FilterBank HD and CompressorBank HD on VENUE D SHOW consoles The first time you instantiate either of these plug ins a dialog box will appea
46. onses for a remix of the same project The loss of low frequencies below 100 Hz at 30 ips red is definitely not appropriate for audio The ATR60 does show how a few well placed playback head response ripples can make for good sonics The AC2 plug in playback head called Japan T is based on a more ideal Tascam machine with only a primary and secondary playback head ripple 100 Hz Tascam ATR6O 1 inch 16 AC2 plug in ideal Tascam playback tracks head response McDSP Analog Channel Other Analog Channel Presets Several other presets have been included in your Analog Channel plug in package These settings were created to highlight the flexibility and utility of Analog Channel The AC1 analog channel emulator presets can be used to smooth a track or entire mix and even be pressed into service as a gentle bus compressor limiter The AC2 analog tape machine emulator presets bring the sound of tape to the digital domain great for sweetening drum vocal and bass tracks and of course the entire mix Analog Channel is the most flexible analog emulator on the planet We hope you enjoy using it as much as we did creating it mcdsp com Page 45 Analog Channel Configurations and Specifications Specification for Analog Channel Emulator AC1 INPUT 24 to 24 dB Amount of gain applied to input signal before processing PHASE ON OFF Polarity phase of the final output When
47. ortant part of your purchase be sure to guard them carefully System Requirements Operating System Analog Channel is compatible with both Mac OS X 10 4 x and Windows XP Configurations Analog Channel is available in TDM RTAS and AudioSuite configurations Applications Pro ToolsTM 7 x or higher is required for TDM LE and M Powered systems Additionally a Third Party software application that supports the Digidesign TDM RTAS or AudioSuite plug in Standard may be supported See http www digidesign com developers plugin_info for more information McDSP plug ins are compatible with the entire Pro ToolsTM 7 product line Hardware McDSP plug ins support any Digidesign or approved Third Party hardware supported in Pro ToolsTM 7 x This includes HD HD Accel 002 and Mbox host based systems Additionally Analog Channel HD is compatible with VENUE D SHOW systems See http www digidesign com compato for more specific information The McDSP Mac versions are compatible with both Intel and PowerPC based computers The McDSP XP versions require an Intel Pentium 4 or greater processor mcdsp com Page 9 Our XP test machines are chosen to follow the Digidesign recommended systems guide which currently is the Dell PrecisionTM Workstation 670 with 2 79 GHz Xeon processor All products are guaranteed to run on that system Older Intel processors i e Pentium II and predecessors and AMD processors are not officially supported
48. r Otari MCI Ampex Sony and Tascam are available in a single reproducer Playback low frequency roll off and head bump are completely adjustable independent of playback speed Modern and vintage tape formulations IEC standards and tape saturation release not found on any other reproducer round out the control section of the world s most flexible tape playback recorder Input Output and Auto Output The Analog Tape Emulator AC2 Input and Output levels are completely adjustable 24 f INPUT OUTPUT dB Signal polarity phase is selectable at the input stage The AC2 tape formulations dynamic range rounds of at about 4 dB 12 dB for the vintage formulation so being able to set input levels within this range is needed to let the compression saturation effects be audible Similarly because the input gain may be high an output control is also provided to trim the signal back to its original level Note that while clipping input is not really a problem because the amplifier model will operate the same regardless the output level needs to be carefully set to NOT light the peaking output LED An Auto Output mode will set the output level automatically such that a constant signal level is maintained as input and drive levels are adjusted Note the input signal level must be at or very near 0 dB for the Auto Output control to operate correctly Page 34 McDSP Analog Channel Playback Head Section Roll Off
49. r asking you to choose a user interface preference Choose the Knobs interfaces as some of the Slider interfaces are too large for the VENUE display Creating a VENUE D SHOW Installer CD R from the online zip file If you do not have a boxed copy of Analog Channel HD with the included HD Disk CDROM you can still obtain a copy of the VENUE compatible installers from the www mcdsp com website Once you have located and downloaded the latest VENUE compatible installers from the McDSP website you will have to take several additional steps to create a VENUE compatible Installer CD R For your convenience all VENUE compatible products are located in the same downloadable zip file so you will only have to create one CD R to install all compatible McDSP products e Unzip the downloaded file and locate the folder named TDM Plug ins inside the unpacked folder e Using any CD R burning application burn this folder and its contents to an ISO format CD R It is recommended that you use a brand new CD R for this and do not rewrite an older CD R e Once you have burned this folder to a CD R you should see it at the root level of the disk i e D TDM Plug ins Important If the TDM Plug ins folder is not located at the root level of the CD R or has been renamed the VENUE console may not properly recognize the installer disk e At this point you can follow the HD Disk installation instructions above to complete the inst
50. r of Insert your iLoks and synchronize a uth orizations Ca n ta ke pl ace you Before downloading licenses you must insert one or more iLoks as needed and press the Synchronize button Once your Loks are synchronized with your account you will be able to m ust syn chon ize you r i Lok Sma rt select the licenses to download and the target iLok to receive the licenses Note that the synchronization process may take some time Please press the button only once Key with l Lok com Th IS may ta ke a don t remove or insert your iLoks and don t touch your browser until the process completes A a progress page should be displayed within a few seconds of pressing the button moment to process depending on your internet connection e Once you have synch ron ized Step 1 Select the pending licenses to download your iLok you can select the Product unpa Typa Depected expiration a uth O r zat O n s you WI sh to C Analog Channel McDSP Demo 09 14 2004 03 14 2005 E E Chrome Tone McDSP License 09 14 2004 09 28 2004 11 tra nsfer to you Fl Lok C Compressor Bank MeDSP NER 09 14 2004 09 14 2005 C Fiitersank MeDSP License 09 14 2004 03 14 2005 Oi T mc2000 McDSP Demo 09 14 2004 03 14 2005 C synthesizer One McDSP License 09 14 2004 09 28 2004 Y If you have mu Iti ple iLoks Step 2 Select an iLok to receive the licenses con nected to you r com puter it Select which iLok should receive the licenses then press the Download
51. requency roll off and head bump independent of tape speed You can select from several playback head types and even control the rate at which the system recovers from a tape saturation state Feature List e Power and Flexibility Four different compressor configurations are available AC1 provides analog channel modeling in mono and stereo formats AC2 emulates the most popular tape playback systems modern and vintage tape formulations at all the professional playback speeds and IEC standards See the Reference section for a complete listing of all Analog Channel configurations and their specifications e Playback head emulation taken from the specs and measurements of popular manufacturers of tape reproducers there are more playback head types in the AC2 Analog Tape Emulation plug in than there are tape machines found in major studios Control well beyond the limits of the real devices include adjustable low frequency roll off and head bump independent of playback speed e Virtual Analog meters the same meters introduced in CompressorBank CB4 are now available as an option in Analog Channel The original LED meters are a selectable option e Double Precision Arithmetic at analog amplifier tape playback and tape saturation stages mcdsp com Page 7 e Analog Saturation Modeling at tape playback head and tape saturation stages e Performance On Pro Tools HD systems the TDM version of Analog Channel can
52. rizing with iLok com 20 Registering your McDSP plug ins 23 Using your McDSP plug ins 23 Starting a McDSP plug in 23 Exiting a McDSP plug in 23 Quick Start Tour 24 Analog Channel AC1 Overview 24 Analog Channel AC2 Overview 27 Controls 29 Basics 29 Using the AC1 Plug In 32 A Closer Look at the AC2 Controls 34 Modeling Analog Mixing Consoles with Analog Channel 39 Modeling Analog Tape Machines with Analog Channel 39 mcdsp com Page 3 Other Analog Channel Presets Analog Channel Configurations and Specifications Specification for Analog Channel Emulator AC 1 Specification for Analog Tape Machine Emulator AC2 Analog Channel Linked Control Table Analog Channel DSP Delay Analog Channel DSP Usage HD and HD Accel DSP hardware Analog Channel Frequently Asked Questions Technical Support Trouble Shooting McDSP Technical Support 45 46 46 49 49 50 50 51 53 53 55 McDSP Analog Channel McDSP Analog Channel License Agreement The software described in this manual is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in accordance with the terms of the agreement McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company License and Warranty The software which accompanies this license the Software is the property of McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company or its licensers and is protected by copyright law While McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company continues to own
53. rsion as a replacement of the prior version unless you donate a previous version of an upgraded version to a charity of your choice and such charity agrees in writing that it will be the sole end user of the product and that it will abide by the terms of this agreement Unless you so donate a previous version of an upgraded version upon upgrading the Software all copies of the prior version must be destroyed mcdsp com Page 5 Limited Warranty McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company warrants that the media on which the Software is distributed will be free from defects Your sole remedy in the event of a breach of this warranty will be that McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company will at its option replace any defective media McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company does not warrant that the Software will meet your requirements or that the operation of the Software will be uninterrupted or that the Software will be error free THE ABOVE WARRANTY IS EXCLUSIVE AND IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON INFRINGEMENT THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS YOU MAY HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE Disclaimer of Damages REGARDLESS OF WHETHER ANY REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE IN NO EVENT WILL McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability
54. te the authorization of the plug in If you choose to register your iLok USB Smart Key at iLok com care must be taken to record your ilok com account information i e write down your User ID and Password in a safe place If your iLok com account information is lost the iLok cannot be registered to another account and unfortunately there is nothing McDSP can do to help you See iLok com for more details about the benefits of using PACE s iLok com service Note Images in this section are for illustration only the actual product and screens will be the name of the product you are authorizing Page 16 McDSP Analog Channel Authorizing a McDSP plug in from a License Card with the Authorization Wizard The Authorization Wizard is used to install an authorization from a License Card to the Lok USB Smart Key To use the Authorization Wizard for the plug in you purchase perform the following steps e Insert your iLok USB Smart Key into an available USB port e On a Mac Locate and launch the Authorizer application found in the Authorize folder in the plug in package for the McDSP plug in you purchased on the CD ROM e On Windows XP just launch Pro Tools to authorize the individual McDSP plug in you purchased Note When authorizing the plug in on Windows XP with a new iLok USB Smart Key you must insert the iLok USB Smart Key and complete the Windows Found New Hardware Wizard before attempting to authorize the pl
55. teristics imparted to the mixer as well e The AC2 at the master fader is optional just trying to give the total analog studio sound Users may also want to experiment with an AC1 on the master fader e Stereo tracks not a part of these sessions present an interesting and subtle application of the AC1 plug in The stereo channels can be processed together using a AC1 stereo config or SEPERATELY a multi mono AC1 PT 5 1 and later have this ability Using a multi mono AC1 on a stereo track can affect the stereo character of the channel and of the overall mix Try it Modeling Analog Tape Machines with Analog Channel The AC2 configuration is designed to emulate the various aspects of recording to tape including different tape machines and tape formulations bias setups tape speeds and IEC EQ standards Each of the following sections contains graphs representing the frequency response of analog tape machines as measured by the a third party engineer Jack Endino Mr Endino having taken care over the course of his career to measure the responses of tape machines he has used has been kind enough to share some of his data with McDSP engineering mcdsp com Page 39 The Analog Channel presets are inspired by tape machines manufactured from companies such as Studer Ampex MCI Sony Otari and Tascam The presets can be accessed from the Pro Tools plug in Librarian and plug in Settings pop up menus T
56. ttings Note the Output control does not operate in this mode Analog Channel AC2 Overview The Analog Channel 2 AC2 plug in has the following features e Input and Output controls w phase Auto Output level setting e Playback head control section Head Type Roll Off and Head Bump e Compression Saturation LED indicators e Bias control as found in the professional analog reproducers INPUT ROLL OFF BUMP BIAS RELEASE F AD OUTPUT OH O 6 52 7 4 9 ee aiy A 34 7 Q AUTO O es e Release control determines tape saturation rate e All professional playback speeds IEC1 and IEC2 standards e Vintage and Modern tape formulations e Simultaneous metering of Input and Output levels and a real time Input Output transfer function display Analog Channel 2 AC2 stereo configuration mcdsp com Page 27 Input and Output Input 24 dB Phase Polarity Switch Output 24 dB Auto Output Playback Head Controls Roll Off 20 100 Hz Bump 0 to 100 Playback Head Type various models from popular analog tape machines Tape Machine Controls Bias 12 dB Release 10 msec to 1 0 sec Playback speeds 7 5 15 and 30 ips IEC Standards IEC1 and IEC 2 supported Tape Formulations Modern and Vintage Metering Metering Input and Output Signal input and output levels are set Polarity is set at the input control Auto Output mode disables the Output control and maintains constant
57. u have any questions concerning this Agreement or if you desire to contact McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company for any reason please email legal mcdsp com By downloading using or copying this Binary Software Licensee agrees to abide by the intellectual property laws and all other applicable laws of the U S and the terms of this License Ownership of the software shall remain solely in McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company McDSP Analog Channel Introducing Analog Channel The Analog Channel plug in has two configurations to emulate all things analog AC1 Analog Channel emulation the AC1 configuration is a fully adjustable analog amplifier Instead of letting maximum signal peaks hit and distort at O dB the maximum signal in a digital system AC1 gently rolls of the dynamic range at a user set level preventing digital clipping and smoothing out signal transients A drive control setups how hot the channel is processing audio and even the attack and release times of the pre amp s distortion character are adjustable And AC1 is the most efficient McDSP plug in ever up to 24 mono channels or 16 stereo channels on a single MIX dsp chip AC2 Analog Tape and Analog Tape Machine emulation the AC2 configuration has standard tape machine parameters such as bias tape speed and IEC1 2 standards are provided Control well beyond the limits of the actual devices includes adjustable low f
58. ug in e Select the Authorize button to be guided through the Authorization Wizard YN MIEBSP O V Note Selecting the Quit button at any time will not authorize the plug in or allow it to be PU mbo ft m ok non an iL iLi in the Plug In package The iLok USB dongle may be purchased separately if one was not supplied with your system used for a trial period If Quit is selected the AA plug in will not be available in the Pro Tools insert menu 0 McDSP plug ins require that the Compressor Bank user personalize their copy of gt the plug in A dialog is displayed Name Company soliciting this information O A m a A P O Box 50611 Note that the product registration card enclosed with the plug ei S a O in MUST ALSO be filled out II and returned to S50 707 0994 colin medsp com as we _ Notify me with new product information McDSP via mail or fax to Cu GA Caca 707 220 0994 This additional mail in registration will entitle the user to future upgrades and advance information from McDSP mcdsp com Page 17 Once the plug in is personalized click the Next button to continue Check the Use License Card box and u a e press the Next button figure 2 3 Note Although the Authorization au Dx 0000000 if you have a lic ard for this product and wish to thor this iLok T Use license card checi Ee Ne oe Ti ae pe
59. utside the valid range is input the control will default to the nearest allowed value when enter is hit and hit lt Enter gt or e Click on the text box to highlight the numeric value and then use the arrow keys to increase or decrease the numeric value or e Use the lt Option gt key to bring all the controls to their default values or e Use hardware controller surfaces supported by Analog Channel including the Mackie HUI and Digidesign s ProControl and Control 24 surfaces The Auto Output LED when enabled automatically updates the output level based on input and drive control settings Note the Output control does not operate in this mode The Playback Speed LEDs are grouped selecting one disables the others called radio knob operation Click on the LED graphic to select a given playback speed Control Linking To Link the Right and Left Input and Output controls of stereo versions of Analog Channel e Enable the Lock LED lit is enables unlit is disabled The controls will be linked relative to their positions prior to enabling the Lock LED This allows both linked stereo operation and relative link operation e To link controls for stereo operation set the Left and Right Input controls to equal values before enabling the Lock LED Adjust one of the left controls and note how the right control automatically adjusts to be equal with the left control for example if you adjust the left gain to be equa
60. will require additional support from PACE Anti Piracy Inc and may be subject to a service fee or limited by manufacturer restrictions Check the www ilok com website for updates and developments regarding iLok USB Smart Keys and the Pace Interlok Copy Protection system McDSP Analog Channel Registering your McDSP plug ins To register your McDSP plug in fill out and return the product registration card enclosed with the boxed plug in package by mail or fax 707 220 0994 Registering your product entitles you to future upgrades and advance information from McDSP Each individual product must be registered even if you have multiple copies and the product must be registered to an individual not an entity If you represent a company it is your company s responsibility to notify McDSP in writing if the individual who registered the plug in is no longer with the company The Company must also be able to supply matching registration information to successfully transfer ownership of the plug in Using your McDSP plug ins Starting a McDSP plug in Follow the installation authorization and registration instructions above Launch Pro Tools and the McDSP plug in and its presets are ready for use Refer to the Digidesign Pro Tools Reference Guide for details on general plug in operation such as automation Exiting a McDSP plug in A McDSP plug in is exited by clicking on the desktop or other window in the DAE application runnin
61. with AudioSuite version e The stereo AudioSuite versions of the plug ins are capable of mono or stereo processing If stereo processing is selected on a mono file DAE will report an error indicating the right channel is not available for processing Mono files should be processed previewed in mono processing mode or a mono AudioSuite version of the plug in Presets do not appear in plug in settings folder e Pro Tools will automatically create a plug in settings folder when you run a plug in in a Pro Tools Session If no presets are created and saved in this folder Pro Tools will delete it To install the presets shipped with you McDSP plug in simply copy the Presets folder from the plug in package folder into Root gt Library gt Application Support gt Digidesign gt plug in Settings Note running the installer even a second time will add the plug in presets to the appropriate location as well Bypass button does not respond e Verify the Pro Tools master bypass is off Refer to Digidesign sTM ProTool s Reference Guide for detailed description of plug in operations in Pro ToolsTM On Windows XP when starting ProTools I get a Initialization Error message box saying Updated driver required The driver version is incompatible with this product and requires updating How do I fix this e If you just installed McDSP plug in for the first time you need reboot your PC and relaunch ProTools If you just up

User`s Manual - Performance Audio

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