Valley People Dyna-Mite Manualde Dina
Valley People Dyna-Mite Manualde Dina
Valley People Dyna-Mite Manualde Dina
Disclaimer
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this manual is accurate. However, there are a
chance that we have made mistakes, and we hope that you understand that we are only humans. Please let
us know about the mistake, and we’ll fix it in the mix (or in the next version of this manual).
Support
On the Softube website (www.softube.com) you will find answers to common questions (FAQ) and other
topics that might interest you.
Support questions can be posted at http://www.softube.com, where we will help you as fast as we can!
Web: www.softube.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: +46 13 21 1623 (9 am – 5 pm CET)
SOFTUBE USER’S GUIDE | iii
Contents
1 User Interface 5
Menu Row. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Key Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1 User Interface
Menu Row
In the bottom of the plug-in interface, you will see
a thin black row with some buttons. We’ll use the
Dyna-mite plug-in as example, but the same goes
for all plug-ins.
Enable
About Box Opens the “About” Box with When the Enable switch is set to on (I), the plug-
version info. in is active and will process audio. When set to off
(0), it will be bypassed and not process any audio. It
Value Display Displays the knob value when will take considerably less CPU when it is bypassed.
the mouse is hovering over a
control.
If you haven’t used the Dyna-mite before, you will how to use it, it’s just that the first 15 minutes can
feel extremely confused. be a bit confusing.
DON’T PANIC! Final word from the developers: Expanding is the
new black!
As soon as you have acquainted yourself with the
slightly weird layout and panel labels, you will learn
how to master this powerful tool, and soon you will About the Valley People Dyna-mite
feel comfortable in knowing that you belong to the
The Dyna-mite was designed for two main pur-
music industry’s version of the “Trekkies”, ie., the
poses: limiting and expanding. You choose limiting
Valley People fanatics.
or expanding by setting the Mode switch in either
Take your time to look through this chapter (start the limit or Exp mode.
with “About the Valley People Dyna-mite” and
Threshold, Release and Output works as in any
“User Interface Overview”) to get acquainted with
limiter or expander. Range is a nice addition that
the normal modes of operation). During the learn-
enables you to limit the maximum amount of gain
ing period you will go through these steps:
reduction.
1. Utter confusion. Desparation. Did I really pay
You can set the type of detector with the Detector
for this?
Type switch (the switch closest to the Range knob).
Solution: Read “Basic Limiting”, “Basic Expand-
AVG is smoother and slower than PEAK. GATE is a
ing” and “User Interface”. It’s just three pages. Lis-
mode that works best in the exp mode.
ten to the sound examples on the Softube web site.
With the Det Source switch you select if you
2. Pride. You have learned what the controls do.
want to use the un-altered normal, internal, source
You think you master every aspect of it.
(int) or an pre-emphasized de-essing filter on the
Solution: Read the entire manual, as well as the
internal source (ds-fm). External side-chain (ext)
manual for the original hardware (it’s available on
is not available.
www.softube.com).
You will always get a brief explanation about the
3. Awe. You realize all the potential that is in this
current mode in the “Modes Display” beneath the
little thing, and start to think about all the cool
unit.
things you can do with it.
Solution: Do it!
But don’t despair. It doesn’t take much time to learn
8 | VALLEY PEOPLE DYNA-MITE
Detector Detector
Threshold Release Source Mode Type Range Output
Clip LED
Modes Display
Gain Reduction
Meter
User Interface Overview Range Sets maximum amount of gain
reduction. Advanced. Leave at
Threshold Adjusts the level at which the 60 dB as a start.
Dyna-mite starts to expand or
limit.
Output Sets output volume. Lower the
volume if the output clips to
Release Adjusts the time it takes to much.
restore the gain after expan-
sion/limiting.
Modes Display Shows quick help and param-
Detector Source Set it to INT (normal operat- eter values.
ing mode) as a start.
Gain Reduction Meter Displays the current amount
Mode Selects main mode. of gain reduction.
EXP=Expander/Gate,
OUT=Bypass, LIMIT=Limiter.
Clip LED Lights up when the output
signal is clipping.
Detector Type Three different ways to detect
the signal. Play around and try For more detailed explanations of each knob, please see
them out. the following chapters.
SOFTUBE USER’S GUIDE | 9
Basic Limiting
Limiting is a hard Inf:1 ratio compression that can be used to increase the apparent volume, or to even out dynamic
differences in a track. It works by reducing the gain for passages that are louder than the selected threshold. The
limiting mode on the Dyna-mite is often used to squash drum tracks.
Mode: limit (limiting)
Detector Source: INT (internal source)
Detector Type: AVG (slow attack) or PEAK (fast attack)
Threshold: Adjust to set amount of limiting (as read from the GAIN REDUCTION meter).
Release: Adjust to set release time
Range: 60 dB
Output: 0—15 dB
Procedure
1. Set Threshold until you get the desired amount of limiting, as red on the LED array.
2. Set the Output volume until you get the desired output volume.
3. Set the Release control by ear. If you get too much pumping, increase the release time.
4. Toggle the Detector Type between avg and peak to get different attack times.
10 | VALLEY PEOPLE DYNA-MITE
Basic Expanding
Expanding is when you let the Dyna-mite reduce the gain for passages that are below the select threshold. You can
use it as a soft noise gate, use it more aggressively as a hard guitar/drum gate, or you can use to expand the total
dynamics of a track.
Mode: EXP (expanding)
Detector Source: INT (internal source)
Detector Type: AVG (slow attack), PEAK (fast attack), or gate (hard noise gate, fast attack)
Threshold: Adjust to set the threshold of expansion
Release: Adjust to set release time
Range: 60—20 dB
Output: –15—0 dB
Procedure
1. Set the Release and Range to their min positions (CCW).
2. Adjust the Threshold so that the desired signals don’t light up any LEDs (no gain reduction), while the
undesired signals (noise) cause gain reduction (LED array lights up).
3. Set the Release control by ear: too fast release time can cause unwanted, abrupt, effects when the signal
goes down below the Threshold.
4. Set the Range to get the desired amount of maximum attenuation.
5. Toggle the Detector Type (avg, peak, gate) to get different kinds of gating effects.
SOFTUBE USER’S GUIDE | 11
Switches
All three switches work independently of each other, so don’t be alarmed. Once you know what each switch
does, the Dyna-mite will be easy to operate.
INT Internal source, normal operating mode for noise gating, expanding or limiting. The
gain reduction circuit acts upon the same signal that is fed to the detector.
DS-FM Internal source, but with a detector filter that boosts the high frequencies, thus mak-
ing it easier for high frequencies to trig the detector.
This mode can be used for de-essing, or it can be used rather creatively when in-
creased sensitivity to high frequencies is desirable.
OUT Bypass. Output volume knob and output stage clipping still active.
LIMIT Limiting mode. Reduce gain for signals increasing above Threshold.
12 | VALLEY PEOPLE DYNA-MITE
GATE Fast and aggressive attack. This is the most extreme mode. Fast attack time (about
50 µs). In LIMIT mode, the ratio is negative (1:–20), which means that for every dB
above threshold, the output signal will be reduced by 20 dB! In EXP mode, you’ll have
a hard noise gate with a 1:20 ratio. So for every dB below the threshold, the signal will
be reduced by another 19 dBs.
PEAK Fast attack time (about 50 µs), useful for hard limiting of transient material. Inf:1
ratio in LIMIT mode, and 1:2 ratio in EXP modes (for soft noise gating).
AVG Slow attack. A slower and more complex attack time (about 1–15 ms). Inf:1 ratio in
LIMIT mode, and 1:2 ratio in EXP modes (for soft noise gating).
Detector Type=GATE can be confusing in the beginning, but you can see it this way: In EXP mode, the signal gets gated
when the level drops below the threshold (that’s normal). In LIMIT mode, the signal gets gated when the level goes above the
threshold (that’s weird).
SOFTUBE USER’S GUIDE | 13
Knobs Range
This innovative control limits the maximum gain
Threshold reduction. It varies from 0 dB (no gain reduction)
to 60 dB possible gain reduction.
Classic threshold control. Determines the signal
level above which Limiting, or below which Ex- This control is very useful when expanding or gat-
panding action begins. ing. If you for example use the Gate mode (int,
exp, gate) on toms, you can set the Range to
Variable from –40 dBv to +20 dBv, which in a 30 dB to prevent the gate from reducing the gain by
plug-in translates to about –60 dBFS to 0 dBFS. A more than 30 dB, and thus avoid the most audible
full scale (0 dBFS) sine wave, with Threshold set artifacts from when the gate open and closes.
at max (+20 dBv), will cause the Dyna-mite to just
start to limit or expand. The exact values depends on In the original hardware, the Range control was only
the mode selected. available in the EXP mode and left out in the LIMIT
mode. This was probably due to implementation difficul-
VCA Gain Coupling (a.k.a. Auto Make-Up Gain) ties, so we decided to introduce the Range knob to the
In internal limit and DS-FM modes, the Dyna-mite en- other modes as well. (To get the plug-in to behave exactly
gages the VCA Gain Coupling which acts like an automatic like the hardware, just set the Range knob back to
make-up gain. 60 dB in the limit modes.)
Since the peaks in the third zone would cause a gain Threshold control) without disturbing the balance
reduction above the limit of 25 dB, and the Range of the mix.
is set at 25 dB, no further gain reduction will occur.
The effect is that you have a very effective limiting Clip Indicator
in zone 2, but with the transients of zone 3 being let The plug-in features an accurate model of the
through. It’s different, but sounds somewhat similar output stage in the hardware. So whenever the
to that of a parallel or “New York style” compression. hardware would clip, the plug-in will as well. This
is indicated by a clip LED, and just as with the
hardware, it is possible for the clip LED to flash,
Release even with very heavy limiting, because the transients
Classic release time control. Determines the rate at will in some cases slip through (for example in the
which a gain is restored after Limiting or Ducking, AVG mode).
as well as the rate at which gain is reduced after The original manual states: “The clipping signal is
Gating, Keying or Expansion attacks. [often] of exceedingly short duration, and is, in all
Variable from 50 ms to 5 sec/20dB. probability, fully inaudible. Any decision to lower the
output level because of sporadic flashing of the clip LED
Anticipatory Release Computation. With should be based upon what you hear. If the signal sounds
fast release time settings and certain material, the gain “clean”, you are probably better off to leave the output
reduction will follow the signal envelope too tightly, and level alone.”
“pumping” will occur. To escape these effects, yet still Times change, and today we often strive for a
allow the user to select rapid release times, Valley Inter- “dirtier” sound with distortion and clipping, so feel
national developed a proprietary circuit scheme known free to crank up the Output volume and experi-
as Anticipatory Release Computation (ARC). It analyzes ence the brutal distortion of the original Dyna-mite
the program input and anticipate conditions which would hardware...
cause either waveform gain modulation or excessively
rapid pumping, and computes a different release enve-
lope in order to prevent, or greatly diminish, these effects.
Technical explanations apart, the ARC circuit is definitely a
big part of the famous Dyna-mite sound.
Output
Output volume control. Ranges from –15 dBv to
+15 dBv. In limiting modes (limit and ds-fm),
the output volume will be automatically corrected
to fit with the chosen Threshold level. In all other
modes, the Output volume will act as a simple gain
control. You will soon find that this auto make-up
feature is very handy, since it is extremely easy to
make changes to the amount of limiting (with the
SOFTUBE USER’S GUIDE | 15
Expanding Modes
The expansion modes is operated in a very similar
way to the limiting modes, with the big exception
that it is, well, expanding rather than limiting.
Another exception is that the gate mode actually
gates the signal in the exp mode, while it in the
limit mode acts like a negative ratio limiter.
OUT (dB)
Mode: limit
Detector Type: gate GATE mode:
Detector Source: DS-FM or INT 1:20 Expanding
RANGE
In the category “Weird Limiting” we can find the
negative ratio stuff. The negative limiting mode is GATE mode used
with Range control
a very special case, and is normally used together
with longer release times and the Range control. In
some settings, specifically with long release times THRESHOLD IN (dB)
and a Range at about 10–15 dB, you can get a very
crackling sound. Increase the Range or the Release
time to avoid this. Classic Expansion/Noise Gating
Negative Limiting for “Organ Effects” (INT, LIMIT, GATE) Mode: Exp
Modified Negative Limiting (DS-FM, LIMIT, GATE) Detector Type: avg/peak/gate
Ratio = 1:-20. As input signal exceeds Threshold, Detector Source: INT/DS-FM
a 1 dB increase causes a 20 dB decrease in output Threshold: Adjust so that the desired sound levels
level. extinguish all lights on the Gain Reduction LED
array.
This is the mode that is the hardest to find some use for. Release: Start with minimum setting, and then
It crackles and pops a lot, and one might suspect when adjust “by ear”.
reading the original manual that this is a mode that Range: Start with 60 dB, adjust to decrease the ef-
wasn’t planned when designing the gear. More like “Wait, fect caused by the gating.
what happens if you use the gate together with the limit- Output: Usually below 0 dB
ing mode? Ahh...”
In the classic noise gating mode you have three
different settings of the Detector Type: avg, peak
and gate. The gate mode is the most brutal mode,
18 | VALLEY PEOPLE DYNA-MITE
and is pretty efficient to use on drums or heavy met- If the attack of the instrument is moderate to fast,
al guitar if you want a more aggressive sound, but such as with drums or certain types of guitar, it is
it should be regarded more as a creative tool rather better to use this peak mode. The faster attack time
than a problem solver. in peak mode assures that the gain is fully restored
when the transient strikes.
In all of these modes you can toggle between
int and ds-fm to get different weighting of the
This mode can be pretty nice to use if you want to shorten
frequencies. Setting the Detector Source in ds-
the decay of a sound, such as a bass line or steel stringed
fm mode will make the expander trig more easily
acoustic guitar. With this mode you can get a standard
on high frequencies, which can be a good thing if
Jazz Bass to sound like a damped Hofner string bass, or a
you for example are gating a drum beat and want
steel stringed $3000 Martin to sound like a $30 banjo...
to avoid gating the high frequency cymbals. Since
Just set the Release time so that you get the right
noise often have a lots of high frequency content,
amount of decay.
you should set it to int if you want to do actual
noise gating. But you probably want to use it more
creatively anyway...