Omnia Omnia.9 - Page 49

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TheInputAGCisthefirstgaincontrolstageinOmnia.9followingUndo,andisdesignedtobeused
as a sloweracting leveler ahead of the Wideband AGC1 and multiband compressor sections that
followit.
Itisworthnotingthattraditionalprocessorsonlyactuponaudioaboveaparticularthreshold.They
aredrivenintovariousamountsofgainreduction,butoncetheaudiofallsbelowthethreshold,they
“runoutof room” or “bottom out,” andareincapable ofincreasingtheaudio any further. They
require some sort of makeup gain control laterin theaudiochain. Thecompressorsin Omnia.9
operateaboveANDbelowthreshold,controllingthedynamicsoveramuchwiderrange.
 TheGateThresholdandFreezeThresholdcontrolsworktogethertodeterminethepoints
atwhichthereleaserateoftheInputAGCslowsbyafactorof3(gatethreshold)orfreezes
altogether(freezethreshold).Therangeofthesecontrolsis90dBto0dB.Lowersettings
means the audio must drop to a lower level before the release speed slows or freezes.
Highersettingsmeanstheaudiodoesn’thavetodropasmuchinlevelbeforetheinputAGC
gainslowsdownorstops.
UsinghighersettingswhenemployingfasterInputAGCreleasespeedscankeeptheaudio
frombeingincreasedtooquicklyortoomuchduringquieterpassagesorpauses.
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 TheRatiocontroldetermineshowmuchtheoutputaudiowillbeincreasedordecreasedin
relationshiptotheinputaudiooftheInputAGCsection.Forexample,aratioof3:1means
forevery3dBofchangeintheleveloftheinputaudio,theoutputwillbechangedby1dB.
Lower (looser) settings provide less control of the dynamics in this section but provide a
more open sound, while higher (tighter) settings provide more control at the expense of
openness.Therangeofthiscontrolis1.0:1toInfinity:1
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 TheMaximumGaincontrolworksinconjunctionwiththeRatiocontroltodeterminehow
much gain isavailablebelow threshold.  Ifthe Input AGC Ratio is setatInfinty:1 and the
InputAGCMaximumGainissetto36dB,theInputAGChas36dBofrangebelowthreshold.
Ataratioof2.0:1andthesameMaximumgainsetting,therangeisreducedbyhalfto18dB.
ThescaletotheleftoftheInputAGCmeterautomaticallyadjustsasneededwhenchanges
aremadetotheInputAGCMaximumGainortheInputAGCRatiotoaccuratelyreflecthow
muchrangeisavailablebelowthreshold.
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 The Attack control determines the speed with which the Input AGC acts to reduce audio
abovethreshold. Lowersettingsrepresentslower attackspeedsandallowmoreaudioto
pass unprocessed by the Input AGC into subsequent processing stages.  Higher settings
result in faster attack speeds and allow less unprocessed audio to enter subsequent
sections.  Because all of Omnia.9’s processing stages are to some extent program
dependent,puttingactualmeasures oftime onthesecontrolswould bepointless,and so
the numbers on the various Attack and Release controls throughout are simply relative
numbers.
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 TheReleasecontroldeterminesthespeedwithwhichtheInputAGCincreasesaudiobelow
threshold.  Lower settings provide slower release speeds, while higher settings result in
fasterreleasespeeds.
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