My responses are inline:
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Instantaneous Dynamic Range, or ‘IDR’ is the main setting to adjust the amount of
control action you wish your Ariane Encore to have. The IDR setting is the ‘size’ of the
RMS energy window in the windowing-release system. As long as the short-term
variations of the RMS energy in the audio remain within this range, the Ariane Encore will
stop making any changes to the gain in that band.
Is that different from what the "RMS window" setting does? Or is the range bigger? In ST, both attack and release respond to this which may be different.
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GATE AND RTZ
The Gate threshold control determines the point below which the Ariane Encore will not
seek to increase audio gain. Audio that falls above this threshold is considered valid, and
fair game to be brought up toward operating level.
The Gate adjustment can be set anywhere from a low of –35 dB below 0 dB nominal
reference operating level, to as high as –15 dB below 0 dB, in one-dB steps.
The higher the Gate threshold, the less any low level material will be boosted.
In addition, there is a parameter called ‘RTZ time’. This stands for ‘return to zero’. When
the audio energy in any band goes below and stays below the gate threshold for more
than 10 seconds, the control circuitry slowly returns the gain of that band to zero. The
time this takes is controlled by the RTZ Time parameter – the lower the number, the faster
the return.
This prevents the ‘rush-up’ of a quiet band, which could otherwise result in an increase
in the level of unwanted background noise or intentionally very quiet programme
material, such as that found in classical music, for example.
Can you explain how this differs from the existing gate? Is it looking at the output level instead of the input level, for example?
RTZ sounds like it shouldn't do much, 10 seconds with no audio on specific bands is a LONG time. Maybe for classical music indeed.
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MIX
The Mix controls for each band control the output levels after processing, in a range of
+5 to –5 dB. These controls allow you to tailor your spectrum the way you like, or to
compensate for another piece of equipment, if necessary.
We normally recommend you keep these controls to ‘flat ‘ (0dB), and make your
spectral manipulations elsewhere.
Easy to add (it's already there in the code, I just need to add parameters).
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BAND TO BAND COUPLING
The flexibility of the Ariane Encore is enhanced by various coupling and restriction
controls.
The Low frequency band (B1) can be restricted from ever adding more gain than is userspecified, with respect to the dynamic gain of the Low Mid band (B2), using the
preset|agc|xxx params|b21 coupling: (setting in dB) menu setting.
Similarly, using the menu setting:
preset|agc|xxx params|b34 coupling: (setting in dB)
...the high frequency band (B4) can be restricted from adding more gain than is userspecifed, with respect to the dynamic gain of the High Mid (B3) band.
(b21 means ‘band 2 to 1’, and b34 means ‘band 3 to 4’. These parameters are
duplicated within the ‘matrix params’, ‘stereo params’ and ‘dual mono params’
submenus – for clarity we’ve just put ‘xxx’ above).
When enabled, the restriction controls make it impossible for the low and high bands to
ever operate with more than a specified amount of gain beyond that of the adjacent
band (note: they are always free to operate with less gain).
Makes sense. For the bass band we have this, but not (yet) for the highest band. Shouldn't be difficult to add. But, since you pasted the whole thing, are you missing something in the bass behavior?
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PROTECTION PEAK LIMITING
The Ariane Encore has a built-in lookahead limiter before its output for protection
purposes.
What exactly does this protect?
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CROSSOVERS
In the menu ‘preset|xover’, the crossover frequencies between bands 1/2, 2/3 and 3/4
can be adjusted. We think the default values are the best, but your mileage may vary!
In addition, this menu includes a high-pass filter. Since in FM broadcasting, audio below
50Hz is largely unwanted and unheard, you may choose to enable the high pass filter to
remove audio below this, or below a choice of other low frequencies.
That's there, just go to Advanced or Expert mode (not sure which one).