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Detailed Parameters
Section 4
QUANTUM
33
QUANTUM User Manual
Gain -20 to +20 dB
This is used to compensate for the gain lost during compression. By using heavy compression
on a signal and than boosting the signal with the output gain we can than create a signal that
sounds much louder than it was.
Attack 0.1 m Sec to 200 m Sec
Attack is how fast the compressor starts to compress the signal after it passes the threshold. Fast
attack is useful when dealing with lots of fast transients. The attack control is not active when
in auto mode.
Hold 0 to 500 m Sec
Hold is the time the QUANTUM remains in compression after the signal has dropped below the
threshold. A longer hold time is useful in smoothing out the sound when compressing several
fast peaks that are fairly close together in time. In general some hold time helps to make the
compression sound more natural but too much can over compress your signal making for an
unwanted drop in level. The hold control is not active while in auto mode.
Release 360 dB / Sec to 5 dB / Sec
Release is how fast the QUANTUM comes out of compression. The release is in dB per second.
For example, if release is set to 5 dB /sec, signal at 10dB of gain reduction, release time is 2
seconds. Too fast a release time can result in an audible volume jump, while too slow a release
time can result in the compression of signal that is not above the threshold. This can cause vol-
ume drops in your signal that may not be desired. The release control is not active while in
auto mode.
A gate is a simple device. It is either open or closed. When a gate is open, signal is allowed to
pass. When the gate is closed, signal is not allowed to pass. This lets you gate out background
noise between tracks, cut the ring out of a drum, etc. Downward expansion works on much
the same concept. Anything over a certain level is let by while any signal under that level is
dropped in volume (expanded downward). The multiband gate on the QUANTUM lets you con-
trol the amount of gating/downward expansion separately in each frequency band range.
Within the Expander/Gate menu on the QUANTUM the following parameters are user
adjustable.
Gate LOC/On/Off
Local (per band control) or global on and off.
Band 1 to 4 On/Off
Turns on or off each independent band
Threshold -75 to 0 dB (per band or global)
The threshold is the signal level at which the gate opens. Anything above the threshold pass-
es, while signal that is lower than the threshold is attenuated. Beware, setting the threshold too
high can cut off the tail end of signals as they fade out (the sustain of a guitar note, a held piano
chord, a reverb tail, etc.).
4.3 Multiband Gate
4.2 Broadband Compression (cont.)