Dynasone Mastering/Finalizing Plugin

Introduction
First of all, welcome to this unique PROSONIQ plugin for your VST or RTAS compatible sequencer or audio processing software. As you very well know, PROSONIQ is a company dedicated to developing state of the art high quality audio DSP products for various platforms. Not only are we developing music and post production software tools like sonicWORX Artist and Studio (also available as sonicWORX PowerBundle) for sound designers and engineers that meet the highest standards in music processing, we are also licensing realtime

PROSONIQ Dynasone Users Manual

and non-realtime effect algorithms to major companies in the music business. If you like to know more about us feel free to visit our web page at http:// www.prosoniq.com/ or ask your local dealer for details on our audio programs and how to expand your audio sequencer platform with further PROSONIQ products and enhancements.

What Dynasone does

The Prosoniq Dynasone plugin is a unique software dedicated to processing a complete final mix to make it transparent, add punch and adapt it to a specific medium. Its powerful multiband dynamics compression and AutoMix functions will automatically balance the frequency contents in your mix to make it sound transparent and give it that special pro touch of far more expensive mastering gear. Dynasone offers a wealth of functions, including multiband compressor with 4 frequency bands, adjustable threshold, release, volume and crossover frequency Neural AutoMix function to automatically adapt your mix to a specific musical style. Stereo high frequency exciter with anti-aliasing to restore and refresh recordings. Subharmonic synthesizer to add subharmonics at the low end. Media selector switch to adapt your mix to the requirements of a specific medium like CD, vinyl and tape. Peak limiting and dynamics levelling functions for utmost loudness. Internal Bypass switch for instant comparison without switching to other windows. 128bit double2 internal processing for maximum sound precision.

Effect routing setup

It is absolutely necessary to set up the routing in the following manner to enable the plugin to work correctly, or at all. Dynasone is intended to be used as a Master Effect, although it can of course be used also in an effect insert slot of a stereo channel to process signel channels. It needs to process and replace all incoming audio data with the processed 2
PROSONIQ Dynasone Users Manual

version, so you should not use it in any send/return or similar setup where the original unprocessed signal will be added to the effect signal. To select Dynasone as a master effect, simply proceed as described in your sequencer applications users manual.

User interface overview

The following section describes the user interface of the program and explains the various display and control elements. In the explanations throughout this chapter, names of controls, parameters or values that appear somewhere in the Dynasone window are marked like THIS, to make it easier to quickly find references to those objects within the manual text.

The Dynasone window

Module On/Off switches

In the topmost section of each of the Dynasone modules you will find the name of the module along with an On/Off switch to enable and disable it. Modules switched to Off do not require any processing power. Simply click the yellow rectangle beneath the module name to switch that module On or Off.

PROSONIQ Dynasone Users Manual

Bypass switch
In the INPUT section of Dynasone you will find an additional yellow switch directly above the input peak meter display. When switching it to Off, you will hear the unprocessed signal. The INPUT GAIN fader setting is still effective, though, to be able to compare the signal processing with the original at the same levels (this permits you to judge better on the effect of the change in loudness caused by the MULTIBAND COMPRESSOR.) Switching it to On will activate all the modules whose On/Off switch is set to On at once. This provides you with an easy method to compare the original and processed signals. Using the bypass switch often is very important while tweaking the parameters to find the setting most suited to the audio material you want to process. Usually, with multiband compressors and exciters it is easy to overdo the effect, so you should always use the bypass switch to compare the processed to the original signal.

Parameter adjustment
There are several alternative methods to change parameter values: With dials, you can click & drag in circular movements, much like turning a real knob. The larger the radius (i.e. the farther away the mouse pointer is from the dial during dragging), the finer the values of the parameter can be set. With faders, you can click & drag inside the faders thumb or within its moving path. In text fields, click & drag inside the text field. Move the mouse up to increase the value and down to decrease. Dials and faders can also be changed via the computers keyboard: move the mouse over the parameter you like to change until the text field is hilighted. Then press the left arrow or the down arrow cursor key to decrease the value and the right arrow or the up arrow cursor keys to increase the value. Please note that this method does only work with the VST version of the plugin. To reset the value of a parameter to its default setting, hold the Command key (MacOS) or the CTRL key (Windows) and click once on the fader or dial (this does not work with On/Off switches or popup menus.)

PROSONIQ Dynasone Users Manual

INPUT

& OUTPUT Signal Level Indicators

These indicators help you to control the level and the signal flow within the various modules.

Signal Level Indicator

The OVER indicator lights up when the internal signal level exceeds a certain limit (i.e. 0 dB DFS - DFS stands for Digital Full Scale, a scale which, in contrast to analog scales, has its maximum peak level at exactly 0dB, while analog scales consider a (saturating) headroom which can expand by up to 15dB into the positive range). Unlike other modules and recording equipment and due to the internal 128bit precision used in Dynasone, exceeding this level usually does not cause clipping. These indicators are instead designed to inform you that a loss in precision has occurred. Although this might not necessarily be audible, you should at least make sure that the output volume does not exceed 0 dB by much (the OVER indicator should not light up permanently) to prevent clipping in the output and subsequent processing stages of your sequencer application. Moreover, it is important to keep in mind that the MULTIBAND COMPRESSOR does its processing based on signal levels, more precisely on the difference of signal levels between the input signal and the levels set by the THRES (threshold) controls, therefore you should make sure that the level of the input signal is within a sensible range. For a more detailed discussion of this topic please read the section describing the MULTIBAND COMPRESSOR.

PROSONIQ Dynasone Users Manual

Plugin Sub-Modules and Parameters

In the following section you will find a discussion of the various sub-modules and parameters found in the Prosoniq Dynasone plugin and their effect on the audio output.
INPUT GAIN

Input Gain adjusts the input level of the signal at the input of the Dynasone plugin. For best results, you should make sure that the mean input level is centered around the middle of the green range (i.e. the level should always be between 10 and 0 dB DFS). If the input level is too low, the AUTOMIX function may not work properly. If the level is too high, then besides increasing the possibility of signal distortion the MULTIBAND COMPRESSOR will not work properly (see the section explaining the multiband compressor.) When using the Bypass function, remember that the input level is still controlled by the INPUT GAIN setting. This makes it easier to compare the original and processed versions of the signal.
AUTOMIX

The AutoMix function is one of the most powerful modules in Dynasone.It uses a simple neural network structure to analyse your mixdown and compares it with a selectable frequency response curve for a specific musical style. Within its limits it can be used to automatically equalize your mix to sound balanced. AutoMix can of course not take the mixdown burden from your shoulders, but it can successfully be applied to correct the overall sound of old recordings, or of those made under unfavourable conditions. The AutoMix function works by dynamically controlling the output levels of the 4 EQ bands available in the MULTIBAND COMPRESSOR in dependence of the levels of the input signal in these 4 bands. If the AutoMix function is activated, the X-OVER controller in the multiband compressor is set to a standard setting, so that the STYLE presets which were built with exactly this frequency band subdivision can be applied to match the input signal to that of the desired style. For your convenience, the previous setting of the X-OVER controller is restored when you deactivate the AutoMix function (unless you touch one of the X-OVER thumbs while AutoMix is switched on.)

PROSONIQ Dynasone Users Manual

Here is a short explanation of the basic difference of the AutoMix function vs. a simple (dumb) equalizer: The frequency response of the output signal of a normal equalizer is always relative to that of its input signal. This means that, for example, boosting the high band by 3 dB does just that, regardless of the input signal being completely dull or already quite sizzling. The dull signal will get a little refreshed but 4 dB is probably not enough here while the already sizzling signal will be even more sibilant and will probably lead to distortions. The frequency response of the output signal of the AutoMix function is instead absolute and independent of that of the input signal (within certain limits). This works by a closed loop control that calculates how much EQ has to be applied to the input signal (in each of the 4 frequency bands) until the output signal frequency response matches most closely the preset curve selected with the STYLE popup menu. What this means is that you can use the AutoMix function like a sort of reference CD which is often used by mixing engineers to compare their current mix with that of a finished, certified mix of a released CD, the only difference being here that you can listen to your very own music. Due to the closed loop nature of the AutoMix function, there will always be a short period where AutoMix needs to take a look at the input signal, evaluating the frequency distribution the learning activity, monitored by the corresponding display before it can decide what to do, i.e. how to set the levels of the 4-band EQ so that the result matches the desired STYLE. This closed loop process is always active as long as the AUTOMIX switch is on. Because of this, it may happen that, if the input materials frequency response changes for a longer period of time (for example, during a bass solo), the AutoMix function tries to adapt to those changes. Since this adaptation process will most probably be very well audible, it is in most cases not advisable to have the AutoMix function switched on all the time during the length of a song, but instead use it just once in a while as an acoustic reference tool, with which you can prevent your mix becoming more and more unbalanced because of ear strain a pitfall which is quite typical for lenghty mixing sessions. The consequences of these explanations are obvious: the correct usage of AutoMix is not intended to be sitting back and letting it automatically EQ your mix to the desired style, but instead giving you a leading reference so that you yourself can change the mix (on your real or virtual mixing board) until it matches the desired style you will know that you have reached this goal as

PROSONIQ Dynasone Users Manual

soon as you dont perceive any more significant audible differences between AutoMix being switched on or off.
AMOUNT

Using Amount you determine the degree to which AutoMix has an impact on the sound. Setting it to 0 will leave the signal unchanged. A setting of 10 will result in an excessively processed signal. Try a medium value (often a relatively small value does the job) and adjust this parameter until the mix sounds good to you.
STYLE

Style defines the frequency distribution the AutoMix function pushes the signal towards. The different settings are labeled with names of musical styles, according to a mean frequency curve typical for the corresponding musical style. Of course these styles do not claim to be universally valid and representative for every sort of music which could be classified into the corresponding category. Therefore it is not required or often not even optimal to select the same style as that you would define your music to belong to. Instead, you should try out and play with the various styles, and then apply the one which suites best to your music. As time goes by, you will learn how the different styles sound and be able to use them as a tool to push your mix into the right direction, much like you use different monitor speakers of which you know the characteristic of their sound to correct your mix.
LEARN. ACTIVITY Learning Activity Display

You can use the Learning Activity display to monitor the activity of the neural net, i.e. how it adapts to the input signal to provide the desired mixdown frequency balance. It usually shows a high activity where the sound of the mix is constantly being changed before the behaviour becomes stable and settles to a specific setting.
RESET

This function restarts the AutoMix Learning function. You can use this to discard all internal settings of the function and start afresh. This is recommended if you start to process a new mix.

PROSONIQ Dynasone Users Manual

MULTIBAND MAXIMIZER

The Multiband Maximizer is essentially a dynamics compressor operating on multiple adjacent frequency bands. A compressor is a means to compress and thus limit the dynamic range of an instrument, a voice or a complete mixdown to level out the amplitude (the loudness) over time by a specific amount. When applied correctly (i.e. with settings which are correctly adjusted to the audio material to process), it enhances intelligibility, homogeneity and permits to raise the signals level in order to increase the average loudness of the music. A compressor works by attenuating the parts of the input signal which exceed a certain level (called the THRESHOLD) by a specified AMOUNT (also called the compression rate). It reacts to volume changes with a certain speed (known as attack and RELEASE times). Splitting your mix into different frequency bands (hence the term Multiband) has a big advantage over a traditional (single band) compressor in that it greatly reduces the effects that occur when different instruments (for example, a pad sound and a bass drum) influence each others output level by triggering the (single band) compressors activity on the overall signal (for example, a bass drum pressing down the level of the pad sound.) If set up correctly (i.e. with a setting suited for the processed material), the perceived effect of a (multiband) compressor typically is a subjectively more pleasant sound. Multiband compressors are therefore used by many radio stations to achieve maximum loudness and a balanced sound.

PROSONIQ Dynasone Users Manual

The Multiband Maximizer

AMT

Compression Amount

This fader determines the amount of overall compression applied to your mix. At the minimum setting, the multiband compressor will not apply any changes on the audio material. Slowly raising the fader will continually increase the compression effect. The usual effect you will hear at first glance is that the signals loudness decreases while rising the fader. This is because the compressor reduces the parts of the signal which exceed the THRESHOLD level more and more. In consequence, when adjusting the AMT fader, you also should always increase the GAIN fader (the one pertaining to the multiband compressor, not the master gain at the right edge of the window), so that the signals peaks are back at their original levels again. When rising the gain, what of course also happens is that the lower parts of the signal (which were left unprocessed by the compressor) will be raised in level, compared to the original, giving an overall louder sound, although the peak output level remains the same as in the original, unprocessed signal (provided a correct setting of the compessors GAIN fader.)
BAND X-OVER FREQUENCIES

This determines the crossover frequencies of the four compression bands, i.e. the three split points of the compessor bands. Note that the frequency bands or not completely separated but instead overlap in a crossfade-type manner. Move the thumbs (the three blue rectangles) to change the bandwidth of each of the four frequency bands. We recommend that you turn on the SOLO function for the band that you are currently adjusting.

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A typical procedure for adjusting the frequency bands in a way suited to your audio material is this: find out which frequency range accentuates a certain instrument. Then adjust the frequency bands in a way that the most prominent instruments appears in only one of the bands, if possible (i.e. bass drum and bass in the lowest band, the voice in one of the two middle bands and cymbals and hihat in the upper band). If AutoMix is active (the yellow LED is lit), then Dynasone will use frequency bands with a fixed crossover frequency setting. In this case you cannot change the crossover frequencies in the multiband compressor module.

SOLO

Use the Solo button to listen to only one of the four compressor frequency bands. This is important during adjustment of the crossover frequencies and to be able to exactly monitor the frequency range of a band. You can enable the solo function for more than one band to hear them in any possible combination.
VOLUME

Use this dial to define the output volume of the specific frequency band of the compressor. Due to the attenuation of any level above the threshold, the overall volume of the frequency band may be reduced. This volume dial can be used to compensate for this. Using the volume dials of the 4 bands, the multiband compressor can also be used as a 4band parametric equalizer.
THRESH THRESHOLD

This defines the threshold above which the signal will be attenuated. Smaller values will trigger the compessor at lower levels. Keep in mind that you should always think of the compressor function as triggered vs. inactive, that is if the signal exceeds the threshold level, the compressor triggers and the signal level is reduced, while signal parts below the threshold level remain untouched. This means that you can achieve the desired compression only by reducing the difference in level between the signal parts above and those below the set threshold level. What this means is that if you set the threshold level arbitrarily low, then nearly or all of the signal will exceed that level, leaving the compressor in a permanently triggered state. This in turn means that just all of the signal is reduced in level, even the signal parts with low level. Now,
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even if you use the GAIN fader to raise the peak signal level back to its original value, you will actually not hear any compression effect whatsoever, since the difference between the maximum and the minimum levels of the signal has not changed.
REL

Release

By setting this parameter you define how long the volume attenuation will persist after the signal has fallen below the specified threshold. Higher values will result in a longer adaptation of the signals dynamic range. Smaller values are suited better for signals with many transient peaks.
G. RED

Gain Reduction Display

This displays the amount of gain reduction applied to the signal. It is a visual counterpart of the achieved effect and will help you to adjust Thresh and Release more easily.
GAIN

Gain determines the compressor output gain for the subsequent processing stages in Dynasone. Since a compressor always reduces the overall peak amplitude of the signal, this fader should be used to raise the level of the output signal until it reaches the peak level of the original signal again. Only by using this fader (or any other amplification stage at a later point) you can actually exploit the increase of loudness a compressor offers. Since the multiband compressor uses absolute reference levels (the levels set by the threshold dials), you should make sure that the level of the input signal is within a range that can be accessed by the threshold levels range (15 to +15dB). While the positive threshold range will rarely be used (since the signal should not exceed 0dB), the negative range starts at 15dB, which means that if the input signal is completely below 15dB, then the compressor will never trigger, in other words: it will be useless. The green marked range of the input level meter reminds you of this; adjust the input level fader so that the input level meter shows the signal mostly within the green range. If this is the case, the threshold dials of the compressor can be typically

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set to something around -8dB to -5dB, depending on the type of the input material.

ENERGIZER

The Energizer module is used to further optimize the output volume of your mix, in addition to the multiband compressor.

Energizer Section

PEAKSTOP AMT

Peakstop Amt defines the amount of peakstop (hard limiting or saturation) applied to your mix. The peakstop is equipped with an auto-gain function which raises the peak by the same amount as the peakstop level is reduced, thus the loudness of your mix is increased but the peak level is not. Keep in mind that this form of loudness increase is a form of signal distortion. Depending on the type and frequency distribution of the input signal and especially if the overall loudness of the input signal is already very high, audible distortions can appear in the output signal, especially in the low frequency range.
LEVELLER AMT

The leveller levels out the overall volume of the signal. It is basically a singleband compressor using moderate attack and release times to make the mix appear equally loud at any time. High values will yield a high compression ratio, but may also yield unwanted compression artifacts, depending on the source material.
SUBBASS SYNTH

The Subbass Synthesizer generates artificial subsonic frequencies. It can be used to add more low-end frequency components to your mix, which can be an advantage when making dance and hip hop music, or to widen the frequency

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range of any mix. It is also expecially useful to process separate instruments that contain a high degree of low frequencies, like bass drums, basses, etc.

The Subbass synth section

GAIN

Gain determines the amount of low frequencies added.

FREQUENCY

Frequency determines the center frequency of the subharmonics that are added to the signal. WARNING: Dont use high GAIN values when using low FREQUENCY settings, as this may introduce high level subharmonics in your mix that are inaudible but can possibly damage your speaker system, especially in conjunction with high playback volumes.

REFRESH SYNTH

Refresh will add more brilliance to your signal. This can be used to compensate for excessive post-processing of the signal or add some presence and brilliance to your recordings. This proprietary new algorithm for synthesizing additional spectral content, developed by Prosoniq, uses a special anti-aliasing system and refreshes the spectrum of a sound by providing richness and clarity even in cases where most of the high frequency content has been lost.

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Refresh synth section

FREQUENCY

This is used to determine the center frequency of the signal that is generated by the Refresh module.
GAIN

Use this dial to define the amount of refresh signal that is added to your material. We recommend that you frequently switch between processed and original signals (using the Bypass function described above) as the human ear rapidly adapts to a refreshed signal and there is a high risk to overdo this effect. Gain should be between 0.5 and 2 dB for average signals.

OUTPUT SECTION

The Output module is used to adapt Dynasones output volume to the subsequent processing stages in your VST host application.

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The Output section

GAIN

Adjusts the output volume of the Dynasone plugin. The output level should be kept mostly right under the 0 dB mark, with the OVER indicator lighting up only occasionally, if at all. If OVER lights up, it does not mean that the signal is going to be clipped and therefore distorted note that this is different from most other digital stand-alone equipment! It just means that the output signal is leaving the optimal signal range of the internal 32-bit floating point format (which is in the range between 1 and +1). If you turn down the master fader of you sequencer application so that there are definitely no overs at the output of your audio I/O ports, then no (significant) distortion will be audible, even if the OVER indicator in Dynasone lights up.

L/R BALANCE

Adjusts the balance (loudness) of the left and right stereo channels.Note that the maximum amplitude will be preserved, i.e. one channel will be attenuated 16
PROSONIQ Dynasone Users Manual

and the other will remain at a constant amplitude to prevent a change of the effective output peak levels.
MEDIA SELECT

Using this pop-up menu you can select the type of target medium for which Dynasone should optimize your material. Dynasone will adjust internal parameters accordingly. The exact effects of this pop-up menu are: Linear: The material is not changed. Use this setting if you do not want to optimize your mix for a specific medium, or if you do not know the target medium yet. CD: A headroom of 0.2 dB DFS is maintained at the output. This means, if the Over LEDs light up, the clipping will occur at 0.2 dB DFS instead of 0 dB. Although this does not prevent the occurrence of audible clipping artifacts, it will help omit problems when mastering on CD, as some older Umatic machines are known for producing jumps when the material is clipping at the maximum allowed value. Please make sure the Master fader in VST is exactly set to 0 dB position, for this setting to have its desired effect. Tape: A high frequency phase spread is used to compensate for possible azimuth misalignment. Although this effect is very subtle, it can sometimes be an advantage to use this setting for tape mastering. Vinyl: Phase misalignment, especially in the lower frequency range, is a problem when mastering to vinyl. As the stereo vinyl cutting procedure uses both the sum of and difference between the stereo channels, a misaligned phase can cause a seemingly increased level and force the vinyl cutting mechanism to use a lower volume level. This setting tries to compensate phase reversal in the low frequency range and thereby provides more punch and safety for the cutting process.
COPY

& PASTE Buttons

These two buttons can be used to temporarily store and retrieve a complete set of all Dynasone parameters to and from an internal clipboard. This is useful if you wish to create a new effect setting which is based on a previous one by just changing a few parameters. Click Copy at any time to copy all current parameter values to the clipboard, or click Paste to overwrite the current settings with those stored in the clipboard. The clipboard in Dynasone is internal to the plugin and is not connected in any way with the normal clipboard which is accessible
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from the Edit menu in the menu bar. This means that you cannot use it to export a setting to another Dynasone plugin or any other software. Also, clicking the COPY button does not overwrite the normal clipboard of your applications.

Please observe that overwriting your current setting by clicking on PASTE is not reversible.

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Copyright 2003 PROSONIQ PRODUCTS SOFTWARE GmbH WWW: http://www.prosoniq.com E-MAIL: support@prosoniq.com

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