Quote:
"For the Multiband Clipper, would it be possible to add a gain reduction meter to see where the clip levels actually, are and for clipping activity? It's difficult to tell by ears alone."
HVZ: "The current meter shows clipping and limiting combined.... I know, not optimal - but I need to change the design of the meters to add yet another color. If you're not limiting also, then the meters just show the amount of clipping action."
Hi Hans,
I looked over the MB Limiter/Clipping section, then following what you said about the clipper activity in the meters, I experimented by shutting off any subsequent processing so I could look for any results from the Clipper's output. I raised the Limiter threshold all the way up to disable any Limiter attenuation. Then I played around with the MB clipper drive by raising and lowering it to see if there were any visual changes in the metering. I could 'hear' the change in sound which had the similar effect of the MB output mix control, but the GR meters behaved the same throughout the general program material I had used. The only change I could see was in the final Output level, where it started leveling off as I lowered the clipping sliders. The peak limiter section is easy to follow, because the results of which are seen in the MB meters with the additional red bars flickering below the MB meters themselves all bundled together. By lowering the Limiter threshold you get more limiting, and by raising it, you get less. Pretty straightforward.
So this is where my confusion comes in... Is the MB Clipper structure similar to the Limiter structure; lower dB values means more clipping, and higher dB values means less clipping, or vice versa?
That is, am I adjusting the threshold level of the clipper, or the drive level going into the clipper? And, where does the point of clipping occur? Would that be relative to the MB output level?
I apologize for my ignorance where the answers might be staring me right in the face. I'm quite happy with the sound I have now, so I have no complaints whatsoever. But maybe the MB clipper could be designed with the same input stage as the Advanced Clipper - 0dB being the point of clipping whereby increasing the drive level will apply more attenuation.
I should note that, I'm only using MB1 in this scenario, where some others are using both MB1 and 2 together. I don't know if that makes a difference or not. I prefer to have as few gain stages chained together as possible.
Hm. Maybe I have missed adding the display for MB1. The limiter and cliper levels behave exactly the same, if you use both at the same level, you only use limiting because that happens first. Limiting at -10 dB and clipping at -10 dB is basically the same thing, except that it doesn't sound the same. But the levels have the same meaning.