Sonnox Oxford Dynamics User Manual
Page 8
3.1 Basic Dynamics Architecture
3 DYNAMICS CONTROL
This method had an advantage in early analogue compressors because the complex and
largely unpredictable laws of early gain reduction elements could be somewhat
decoupled from the total level transfer characteristic of the application (because the
design made use of level feedback). With the introduction of better solid state VCAs and
accurate logarithmic sidechain processes, this method has largely been abandoned in
favour of the feed forward model since it has a much greater degree of control parameter
separation and intrinsic accuracy.
The Oxford Dynamics section is a
feed forward type processor. By this we mean that the
gain controlling sidechain element of the processor works by evaluating the programme
level at the input, and calculating the required output gain by dead reckoning:
X
GAIN CONTROL
LEVEL DETECT
AND SIDECHAIN
This widely conforms to the architecture of most popular modern analogue dynamics
sections employing voltage-controlled amplifiers. In a digital design the feed-forward
model has additional advantages, which include the possibility of extremely well
controlled and variable time constant laws and sonically accurate gain control elements.
Also look-ahead processing (using delay) allows gain control to be initiated in advance of
the signal, without losing signal quality.