TBProAudio Impress User manual

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Impress
Manual
TBProAudio 2018

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1 Introduction
Welcome o Impress, a wideband s ereo compressor including side-chain and various pre-
fil er op ions. The goal of he design was o cover a broad range of compression applica ions
in oday's mixing and mas ering si ua ions wi h s rong focus on low aliasing.
So, Impress could be used o shape sub le a snare sound, glue differen racks on ins rumen
bus and even do complex asks like deessing or voice over's.
All Impress parame ers are easy o read and con rol. Addi ionally Impress gives visual
feedback o make musical decisions righ .
2 Features
Impress offers following fea ures:
- zero la ency click-free 64-bi in ernal processing
- low aliasing compressor design
- "real" oversampling, up o 8x
- s ereo/lef /righ /mid/side processing
- ex ernal side-chain
- main signal mul iband fil er, up o 192 dB/Oc (Linkwitz-Riley design)
- de ec or signal pre fil er, up o 192 dB/Oc
- 2 compressor modes: classic and clean (low aliasing)
- 3 gain s age modes: modern, vin age and vin age clean
- 2 level de ec ion modes: peak, RMS and RMS wi h BS.1770 pre-fil er
- shor /long a ack/ release imes
- Look Ahead
- low aliasing sof knee
- Gain reduc ion limi
- dry/we
- peak/RMS measuremen
- flexible signal moni oring
- prese managemen
- easy o use GUI
- large and accura e live me ers
- gain ransfer graph
- ime response graph

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3 Design
Diagram below shows he basic s ruc ure of Impress:
Compressor: The compressor par has wo inpu s (Main and De ec or) and one ou pu (Ou ):
he main signal is he audio s ream o be processed by he compressor, he de ec or signal is
he signal for he level de ec ion. In mos applica ions bo h signals are he same, for side-chain
effec s separa e signals are used.
Beside he classic " o go" design Impress offers a clean, low aliasing design wi h wo
envelope follower. The gain s age could run in "vin age" mode wi h a hermal noise
emula ion. The "knee" func ion is op imized for low aliasing opera ion.
Multiband Filter: The main signal could run hrough a mul iband fil er s age. The signal is
spli in o hree frequency bands, he mid band feeds he compressor, he ou pu of he
compressor is mixed wi h he low and high band again. The mul iband fil er is based on he
Linkwitz-Riley design (up o 192 dB/Oc s eepness), which preven s any phase shif s.
Filter: The de ec or signal could also run hrough a fil er s age .
Detector Input: The de ec or signal pa h could use ei her channel 1+2 or channel 3+4/side-
chain.
Monitoring: Signals hrough Impress can be individually moni ored in order o con rol he
effec of each signal s age (M).

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4 Minimum System Requirements
 Windows XP SP3 or newer
 Mac OS X 10.5 or newer
 Win: 32/64 Bi VST, 32/64 Bi VST3, 32 Bi RTAS, 32/64 Bi AAX
 OS X: 32/64 Bi VST, 32/64 Bi VST3, 32/64 Bi AU, 32 Bi RTAS, 32/64 Bi AAX
Tes ed wi h: Cockos Reaper, S einberg Cubase/Nuendo/Wavelab 6, FL S udio 12.x,
PT10/12
 All sample ra es
5 How to use
Impress is designed o rese all in ernal measuremen s if significan parame er changes are
made. This keeps all displays upda ed.
Impress uses various graphical elemen s o con rol he parame ers of he plugin:
Value button:
Mouse click and drag up/down changes value of he parame er.
Mouse double click opens value inpu box.
Mouse shif click rese s value.
Mouse-wheel incremen s/decremen s value
Button:
Mouse click enables/disables func ion, small red LED means "on/enabled"
Popup menu utton:
Mouse click opens popup menu.

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Slider:
Mouse click on slider handle and drag up/down changes value. Hold c rl key for
small adjus men s.
Mouse click on slider ou side handle se s handle and value direc ly.
Mouse shif click rese s slider.
Mouse double click on value below he slider opens value inpu box
Mouse-wheel incremen s/decremen s value
6 Plugin Controls
6.1 Presets
Prese menu loads and saves user prese s. Prese s s ored o %localappda a%/Impress for
Windows or /Users/xxx/Library/Applica ion Suppor /Impress for Mac OSX are impor ed as
user prese s. Prev and nex bu on s ep rough all prese s.
6.2 Main
6.2.1 Monitor
This con rol selec s plugin audio ou pu (please refer o 3, moni oring). Following signals
could be rou ed o ou pu :
- original main signal
- main signal, fil ered by mul iband fil er
- ou pu of compressor, no mixed wi h low/high band of mul iband fil er
- original de ec or signal
- de ec or signal, fil ered
- final ou pu signal of Impress plugin
6.2.2 Oversampling
Main and de ec or signal could be oversampled up o 8 imes. As Impress uses highes quali y
up/down-sampling algori hms for low aliasing opera ion significan ly more CPU resources
are used.
6.3 Main Signal Stage
Before he main signal goes in o he compressor, he full s ereo signal or par s of i (e.g. lef or
mid signal) could be selec ed. af er he compressor s age he unprocessed par (e.g. righ or
side signal) is added.
Then he signal could be sen hrough 3 mul i band fil er, only he mid band is hen rea ed by
he compressor. Af er he compressor s age he low and high band are mixed o he
compressed signal. As he design of he mul iband fil er is based on Linkwitz-Riley he

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absence of phase shif s is guaran eed. Placing several ins ances of Impress in series gives a
flexible mul iband compressor.
ChanSel (Channel Selec or): s ereo (defaul ), lef , righ , mid+side, mid, side
MB (Mul iband): off, on (red ligh )
LC (LowCu ): se s he lower limi of mid band, 1 - 22049Hz
HC (HighCu ): se s he higher limi of mid band, 1 - 22049Hz
Slope: se s fil er s eepness, 24dB/Oc - 192dB/Oc , in 24dB/Oc s eps
6.4 Detector Selector
This con rol selec s which plugin inpu is rou ed o he de ec or signal s age.
Channel 1+2 of he plugin are always rou ed o he main signal s age.
Channel 1+2 could also be rou ed o de ec or signal s age (normal opera ion). Or channel
3+4/Side-chain could be used as de ec or signal. In his mode he level de ec ion of he
compressor is con rolled by a differen signal hen he main signal (side-chain effec s)
De Inpu (De ec or inpu ): Main (channel 1+2), SC (channel 3+4/side-chain)
6.5 Detector Signal Stage
Before he signal form channel 1+2 or 3+4/side-chain is rou ed o he de ec or inpu of he
compressor par s of he signal can be selec ed. Addi ionally he signal can be fil ered in order
o le he level de ec or focus on a specific par for he spec rum.
ChanSel (Channel Selec or): s ereo (defaul ), lef , righ , mid+side, mid, side
Fl (Fil er): off, on (red ligh )
LC (LowCu ): se s he lower limi of he fil er, 1 - 22049Hz
HC (HighCu ): se s he higher limi of he fil er, 1 - 22049Hz
Slope: se s fil er s eepness, 24dB/Oc - 192dB/Oc , in 24dB/Oc s eps

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6.6 Compressor
The compressor module is a sof knee variable-ra io processor wi h maximum compression
becomes a limi er.
6.6.1 Compressor Type
Classic: Classic digi al compressor design wi h well known gain follower
Clean: Low aliasing design, gain follower and double level envelope follower
6.6.2 Level Detector
Peak: Classic peak level de ec or
RMS: Signal level is calcula ed from RMS value
6.6.3 RMS Window
Selec able RMS window size in ms, 0 - 3000ms, in 0,1ms s eps
6.6.4 Threshold
Calibra ed in dBFS. If de ec or level is below hreshold level, compression s ar s o ac . Click
and drag handle o adjus he hreshold level, addi ionally press c rl key o fine une. Shif
click rese s o defaul value. Double click on he hreshold value below opens inpu window.
-60dB - +12dB in 0.1dB s eps
6.6.5 GainStage Type
Modern: Classic digi al gain s age design
Vin age: Analog gain s age wi h hermal noise emula ion
Vin age C: Analog gain s age, wi hou hermal noise emula ion
6.6.6 Ratio
This con rols he compression ra io in he region above hreshold, 1 - inf (limi er), in 0.1 s eps
6.6.7 Knee
Adjus able low aliasing sof knee, knee s ar s -x dB below hreshold and ends +x dB above, 0
- 24dB, in 1dB s eps
6.6.8 Attack
Calibra ed in ms, adjus s a ack ime of he compressor from 0 - 1000 ms in 0.001ms s eps
Envelope is shown in he response graph on he righ side
6.6.9 Hold
Calibra ed in ms, adjus s hold ime of he compressor from 0 - 2000 ms in 0.001ms s eps
Parame er is only used in compressor ype “classic”.
6.6.10 Release
Calibra ed in ms, adjus s release ime of he compressor from 0 - 5.000 ms in, in 0.001ms
s eps.
If clean compressor mode is selec ed release ime also effec s hold imes of double level
envelope follower
Curren Envelope is shown in he response graph on he righ side

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6.6.10.1 Auto elease
Release ime is calcula ed program dependan , 125dB/s
6.6.11 Makeup Gain
Adjus he ou pu level of he compressor in dB, -24dB - +24dB, in 0.1dB s eps
6.6.11.1 Auto Makeup Gain (AMG)
If swi ched on makeup gain is calcula ed ra io dependan
6.6.11.2 Set Makeup Gain
Se s makeup gain so ha ou pu level reaches 0dBFS. Hold shif key o reach -0.1dBFS
6.6.12 Dry/Wet
This con rol mixes he dry signal wi h he we (compressed) signal, 0 (dry) - 100 (we )
6.6.13 Look Ahead
Main/De ec or signal is "pre-delayed" in order o le compression s ar "earlier", 0 ms - 3000
ms, in 0.001ms s eps
6.6.14 Max Gr
Limi maximum gain reduc ion. This is very useful for vocal compression, jus o avoid over
compression.
-96 - 0dB, in 0.1dB s eps
6.7 Meter
Me ers for main signal (Inp), de ec or signal (De ), ou pu
(Ou ) and gain reduc ion (GR).
LED signal me er range is from -60dBFS o +12dBFS, in 3dB
s eps.
LED gain reduc ion me er is from -60dB o 0dB, in 3dB s eps.
Value below me ers show maximum value.
If signal clips (above 0dBFS) op LED ligh s red.
Click on he me er rese s max. values and hea -maps in he
scope display.
6.8 Scope
6.8.1 Gain Transfer Graph
This display show he curren gain ransfer curve (whi e line),
curren hreshold value (blue line), maximum main signal
level (red area) and curren main signal level (ligh red area).
Addi ionally hea -maps of main signal ( op) and ou pu signal
(righ ) are shown

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6.8.2 Response Graph
This display shows curren response graph of he compressor (in ms).
7 Demo mode versus Registered mode
In demo mode (wi hou regis ering) he plugin s ops working af er 90 secs. By clicking on he
Impress logo i con inues for nex 90 secs.
You can regis er a h p://www. b-sof ware.com\ bproaudio.
8 Activation
Af er purchasing he license key, unpack he key o a convenien place on your PC (e.g.
desk op). Add he plug-in o any rack, click on he “Demo: Click here o ac iva e” ex and
selec he key file. Remove he plug-in and add i again. The GUI shows now “Regis ered o
your name”.
9 Conclusion
So finally if you have any ques ions or sugges ions jus le us know. And have fun wi h our
ools.
Your eam from TBProAudio :-)