Series, 160s, 160sl – dbx 160SL User Manual

Page 14

160S

lue

series

160S

controls

160S

notes

160S

Operations

160S

Operations

Inspection

Operating

Connection

Installation

Technical

Introduction

to your system

considerations

contents

concept

diagram

applications

support and factory service

160S

Specifications

160S

Manual

Design

Block

Controls

Advanced

Warranty

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series

Pea kStopPlus

™

Switch and LED

: The dynamics of the dbx 160SL are set to handle fast transients

through PeakStop

limiting and the newer PeakStopPlus

™

. PeakStop is the process first introduced on

the dbx 165A compressor/limiter, which is still very popular today. PeakStop is made up of an extremely
fast-reacting detector, called Instantaneous Transient Clamp. The sound of PeakStop became popular
as the 165A permeated the audio industry, and quickly became the standard looked for by many top
artists of the day. The latest implementation of this limiter topology is PeakStopPlus, first introduced
in 1996 on the dbx 1066. PeakStopPlus is made up of two different parts or stages. The first stage is the
Instantaneous Transient Clamp

™

which clamps the signal with a soft logarithmic clamp function. This logarithmic

function assures that the signal will not exceed the level set by the PeakStopPlus

™

Level control by more than 2

dB typically, and that it will not introduce harsh artifacts. The second stage is a unique program limiter featuring
Intelligent Predictive Limiting

™

. Its function is to monitor the input signal and intelligently predict the amount of

gain reduction needed to keep the output signal below the ceiling set by the Instantaneous Transient Clamp

™

Note that since the PeakStopPlus

™

limiter is a fail-safe limiter it must come after the Output Gain control. If the

output gain is set too high as compared to the PeakStopPlus

™

LEVEL control, continuous limiting can occur. While

PeakStopPlus

™

is typically used as a protective function, creative effects can be achieved by intentionally driving

the signal into heavy PeakStopPlus

™

limiting. Great care has gone into the design of the PeakStopPlus

™

limiter

to keep it acoustically transparent. Appropriate use of it can protect your gear while keeping the signal free of
artifacts.

A bi-color LED associated with both the Stop Level control and the PeakStopPlus switch indicates

when PeakStopPlus is activated. By pushing the PeakStopPlus switch to the IN position, the LED
lights in a green color when the signal level at the limiter circuit is BELOW the stop level set by the
Stop Level control. When the signal level attempts to exceed the level set by the Stop Level control,
the LED lights in a red color.

When the limiter is in PeakStop mode, the LED does not light in a green color, and only lights in a red

color when the signal attempts to exceed the set stop level, showing that the signal is being reduced
in level by the limiter.

Sid echain Switch and LED

: This switch/LED provides access/visual feedback to the sidechain control.

When the switch is IN, the LED is lit, and the 160SL is operating in sidechain mode. This means that
the compressor is set react to the audio signal presented at the Sidechain Return connector, rather
than to the audio signal presented at the regular audio input of the 160SL. The circuitry of the 160SL
was designed in such a way as to make the audio path of the sidechain section very short and clean.
The selection of the sidechain function is made via “relay” switching, not allowing the signal to pass
through any unnecessary switches. The sidechain functions are convenient in many applications, such as
broadcast engineering, where engineers are asked to provide “ducking” functions, as well as de-essing.
Frequency-specific and sustain-related compression are also possible with the use of the sidechain
functions of the 160SL. See the section entitled Operating Notes.

160SL

lue

series

160SL

controls

160SL

notes

160SL

Operations

160SL

Operations

Inspection

Operating

Connection

Installation

Technical

Introduction

to your system

considerations

contents

concept

diagram

applications

support and factory service

160SL

Specifications

160SL

Manual

Design

Block

Controls

Advanced

Warranty

lue

series