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DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide 4

Chapter 3: Working with Real-Time Plug-Ins 5 chapter 3 Working with Real-Time Plug-Ins Real-time plug-ins process audio nondestruc-tively in real tim

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide6DSP Sharing Between TDM Plug-InsWith Digidesign’s MultiShell II technology, dif-ferent types of TDM plug-ins can share the sam

Chapter 3: Working with Real-Time Plug-Ins 7CPU Usage LimitThe CPU Usage Limit controls the percentage of CPU resources allocated to Pro Tools host pr

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide8Automatic Delay Compensation(Pro Tools|HD Systems Only)On supported systems, the Delay Engine can be enabled to have Pro Tools

Chapter 3: Working with Real-Time Plug-Ins 9Pre-Fader OperationReal-time plug-ins function as pre-fader inserts (except on Master Fader tracks, where

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide10Inserting Plug-Ins on TracksTo use a real-time plug-in in a Pro Tools session, insert it on a track. Before doing so, make su

Chapter 3: Working with Real-Time Plug-Ins 11◆ Playback must be stopped when enabling plug-in controls for automation.◆ Side-chain inputs cannot be cr

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide12Clip Indicators(Pro Tools 6.4 Only)In addition to clipping displays that are a part of a plug-in’s individual interface, plug

Chapter 3: Working with Real-Time Plug-Ins 13Settings Menu lets you copy, paste, save, and import plug-in settings.Track Selector Accesses any non-MID

Copyright This guide is copyrighted ©2004 by Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology, Inc. (hereafter “Digidesign”), with all rights reserved. Unde

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide14LFE Enable Enables plug-in processing of the LFE (low frequency effects) channel on a multi-channel track formatted for 5.1,

Chapter 3: Working with Real-Time Plug-Ins 15Bypassing Plug-InsTo bypass a plug-in: Click the Plug-In window’s Bypass button.– or – Control-click (W

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide16Editing Plug-In ControlsYou can adjust plug-in controls by dragging the control’s slider or knob, or by typing a value into t

Chapter 3: Working with Real-Time Plug-Ins 17Key Input FiltersSome plug-ins feature key high-pass and low-pass filters. These controls let you define

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide18To utilize Tempo Sync:1 Insert a plug-in that supports Tempo Sync, such as the DigiRack Mod Delay II. 2 Click the Tempo Syn

Chapter 3: Working with Real-Time Plug-Ins 194 Click OK to close the Plug-In Automation di-alog.To automate a plug-in:1 In the Automation Enable win

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide20Using the LibrarianThe Settings Librarian makes it easy to create your own library of plug-in settings. Using the Librarian a

Chapter 3: Working with Real-Time Plug-Ins 21Settings PreferencesThe Settings Preferences sub-menus are for choosing preferences for saving and import

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide22To load a previously saved setting: Choose the setting from the Librarian pop-up menu.To import a setting: 1 Choose Import

Chapter 4: Working with AudioSuite Plug-Ins 23chapter 4Working with AudioSuite Plug-InsAudioSuite plug-ins differ from TDM and RTAS plug-ins in that t

Contents iii contents Chapter 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide24Normalize Uniformly adjusts all levels in a re-gion or regions to a user-definable level, using the loudest peak in the audio

Chapter 4: Working with AudioSuite Plug-Ins 25Selection ReferenceThis menu aims the selected process at either re-gions selected in an audio track or

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide26File Mode SelectorFrom this menu you can select whether or not the AudioSuite plug-in will process the selected audio destruc

Chapter 4: Working with AudioSuite Plug-Ins 27Peak On Each Chan/Track Analyzes and pro-cesses each selected track individually. If you ap-ply the Norm

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide28Multichannel ProcessingMost DigiRack AudioSuite plug-ins can process up to 48 channels of audio simultaneously.Undoing AudioS

Chapter 4: Working with AudioSuite Plug-Ins 29AudioSuite Processing PreferencesBefore you begin using AudioSuite plug-ins, use the Preferences dialog

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide30TC/E Selects the Time Compression & Expan-sion plug-in and default settings used when ed-iting with the Time Trimmer tool

Chapter 4: Working with AudioSuite Plug-Ins 31To process audio with an AudioSuite plug-in: 1 Select regions to process in one or more target tracks a

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide32

Chapter 5: DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins 33chapter 5DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-InsEQ IIThe EQ II plug-in provides a 1-Band or 4-B

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide iv Dither . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide34Adjusting EQA useful way to audition an EQ is to increase or decrease its gain several dB then sweep the fre-quency up or dow

Chapter 5: DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins 35ClickThe Click plug-in creates an audio click during session playback that you can use as a temp

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide36DitherThe Dither plug-in is designed for reducing quantization noise when mixing or fading low-level audio signals during wor

Chapter 5: DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins 37Dither and Output Bit ResolutionDither has two user-selectable settings for opti-mizing its oper

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide38POW-r DitherThe POW-r Dither plug-in is an advanced type of dither that provides optimized word length reduction. It is desig

Chapter 5: DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins 39D-VerbD-Verb is a studio-quality reverb provided in TDM, RTAS, and AudioSuite formats. D-Verb Co

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide40Church A dense, diffuse space simulating a church or cathedral with a long decay time, high diffusion, and some pre-delay.Pla

Chapter 5: DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins 41tively low, high frequencies decay more quickly than low frequencies, simulating the effect of a

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide42Compressor ControlsPhase Invert Inverts the phase (polarity) of the input signal to change frequency response char-acteristic

Chapter 5: DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins 43Key Listen When enabled, this lets you listen to the reference track controlling the side-chain

Contents v Appendix A. DSP Requirements for TDM Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 DigiRack on Pro Tools|HD .

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide44attack times and heavy limiting, you should generally use a proportionally longer release time, particularly with material th

Chapter 5: DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins 45Gate ControlsPhase Invert Inverts the phase (polarity) of the input signal to change the frequen

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide46Expanders can be thought of as soft noise gates since they provide a gentler way of cutting off noisy low-level signals than

Chapter 5: DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins 47LFE Enable Enables plug-in processing of the LFE (low frequency effects) channel on a multi-chan

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide48Similarly, Threshold should be set high enough that de-essing is triggered only by sibilants. If the Threshold is set too low

Chapter 5: DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins 49There are four different Mod Delays, capable of different maximum delay times:• The Short Delay

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide50AutomationMod Delay cannot have automation data copied and pasted to the adjacent left or right audio channel. This occurs ev

Chapter 5: DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins 51more high frequencies are attenuated. The max-imum value for LPF is Off. This lets the signal pa

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide52Groove Provides fine adjustment of the delay in percentages of a 1:4 subdivision of the beat. It can be used to add “swing” b

Chapter 5: DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins 53Pitch(TDM Systems Only)The Pitch plug-in is designed for a variety of au-dio production applicat

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide vi

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide54of repetitions of the delayed signal. You can use it to produce effects that spiral up or down in pitch, with each successive

Chapter 5: DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins 55Minimum Pitch Sets the minimum fundamental pitch that the Pitch plug-in will recognize when perf

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide56TimeAdjuster ControlsPhase Invert Inverts the phase (polarity) of the input signal. While most Digidesign plug-ins supply a p

Chapter 5: DigiRack Real-Time TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins 57the polarity (phase) of one of them, the signals will be of opposite polarity and cancel each ot

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide58When to Compensate for DelaysIf you want to compensate for delays across your entire system with Time Adjuster, you will want

Chapter 6: DigiRack AudioSuite Plug-Ins 59chapter 6DigiRack AudioSuite Plug-InsEQ IIThe EQ II plug-in provides a 1-Band or 4-Band EQ for adjusting the

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide60Dynamics IIThere are five different AudioSuite dynamics plug-ins. They include: • Compressor II• Limiter II• Gate II• Expander

Chapter 6: DigiRack AudioSuite Plug-Ins 61ChorusChorus adds a shimmering quality to audio ma-terial by combining a time-delayed, pitch-shifted copy of

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide62Mix Adjusts the balance between the effected signal and the original signal and controls the depth of the effect. Mix is adju

Chapter 6: DigiRack AudioSuite Plug-Ins 63Mix Adjusts the balance between the effected signal and the original signal and controls the depth of the ef

Chapter 1: Introduction 1 chapter 1 Introduction Plug-ins are special-purpose software compo-nents that provide additional signal processing function

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide64Selecting the Sum Input button sums the dry in-put signals (mono or stereo) before processing them. The dry signal then appea

Chapter 6: DigiRack AudioSuite Plug-Ins 65Delay Sets the delay time between the original signal and the delayed signal. The higher the setting, the lo

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide66DuplicateThe Duplicate plug-in duplicates the selected audio in place. Depending on how its controls are configured, the new r

Chapter 6: DigiRack AudioSuite Plug-Ins 67Selecting Audio Delay ProcessingBecause AudioSuite Delay adds additional mate-rial (a delay tap) to the end

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide68GainThe Gain plug-in boosts or lowers a selected re-gion’s amplitude by a specific amount. Use it to smooth out undesired peak

Chapter 6: DigiRack AudioSuite Plug-Ins 69To create an audio region using the Signal Generator plug-in:1 Make a selection in the Tracks window.2 Cho

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide70Use the Ratio, Crossfade, Min Pitch, and Accu-racy controls to fine-tune the Time Compres-sion/Expansion process.Ratio Sets t

Chapter 6: DigiRack AudioSuite Plug-Ins 71Pitch ShiftThe Pitch Shift plug-in adjusts the pitch of any source audio file with or without a change in its

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide72Accuracy Prioritizes the processing resources al-located to audio quality (Sound) or timing (Rhythm). Set the slider toward S

Chapter 7: Using Digi ReWire 73chapter 7Using Digi ReWire Pro Tools supports ReWire version 2.0 technol-ogy developed by Propellerheads Software. Re-W

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide 2 AudioSuite Plug-Ins Non-real-time AudioSuite plug-ins are not used during playback, but are instead used to process audio

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide74ReWire RequirementsTo use the ReWire plug-in, you will need: •A Digidesign-qualified Windows or Macin-tosh computer running Pr

Chapter 7: Using Digi ReWire 75Using ReWireThe ReWire plug-in is installed when you install Pro Tools. All inter-application communica-tions between P

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide76Tempo and Meter ChangesPro Tools transmits both Tempo and Meter data to ReWire client applications, allowing ReWire-compatibl

Appendix A: DSP Requirements for TDM Plug-Ins 77appendix aDSP Requirements for TDM Plug-InsThe tables on the following pages show the the-oretical tot

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide78Mono and Stereo DigiRack Plug-Ins on HD CardsThe following table compares the maximum number of instances of each DigiRack TD

Appendix A: DSP Requirements for TDM Plug-Ins 79Multi-Mono and Multi-Channel DigiRack Plug-InsPlug-ins used in multi-mono format on greater-than-stere

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide80“Partial” indicates that a single instance of the multi-mono plug-in is sharing more than 1 DSP chip.* Instance counts are pr

Appendix A: DSP Requirements for TDM Plug-Ins 81DigiRack on Pro Tools|24 MIX Though there are a total of 6 DSP chips on a Pro Tools|24 MIX card, certa

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide82POW-r Dither842211116Time Adjuster63 31 21 15 12 10 9 7 3Trim63 31 21 15 12 10 9 7 6Signal Generator32 16 10 8 6 5 4 4 6Table

Appendix A: DSP Requirements for TDM Plug-Ins 83DigiRack on DSP Farm Cards“Partial” indicates that a single instance of the multi-mono plug-in is shar

Chapter 2: Installation 3 chapter 2 Installation Installing Plug-Ins The Digidesign DigiRack Plug-Ins are installed when you install Pro Tools. For m

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide84

Appendix B: DSP Delays Incurred by TDM Plug-Ins 85appendix bDSP Delays Incurred by TDM Plug-InsThis table shows the delays inherent in each type of Di

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide86Mod Delay I/II (medium)444Mod Delay I/II (long)44n/aMod Delay II (extra long)44n/aDither444POW-r Dither444Time Adjuster444Sig

Index 87AAccuracy control 70, 72adjusting EQ 34Algorithm control 39Attack control 42, 43AudioSuitebuffer size 29EQ II 59Invert 65menu 23multichannel p

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide88Convert Plug-In pop-up 13Copy Settings command 20copying a plug-in setting 22CPU meter 6CPU power requirements for RTAS plug-

Index 89Input Level control 64Insert Position Selector 13inserting plug-ins during playback 10inserts 8post-disk 9pre-fader 9pre-fader operation 9Inst

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide90Pitch plug-in 53Pitch Shift 10Pitch Shift plug-in 71Pitch transposition 53Playlist command 25plug-in controlsadjusting 16link

Index 91Size control 40Slap Delay plug-in 49, 50Sound Field 10Source and Destination controls 69subfolders, creating for settings 22System Usage windo