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Orban 8500 upgrade

Good morning

I to read every day this interesting forum
you excuse for my English... I am Italian...

Me to want to ask your opinions on the new orban 8500
upgrades version 2.0.4.251
Have you used?
Thanks

Edoardo Maruca (poweruzzo)
Ciao ;)
 
Version 2.0.4:

* Corrects a bug that caused the attack and release times of the multiplex power controller to change slowly over the course of several weeks.

* Corrects a bug in the real-time clock that caused incorrect Daylight Saving (Summer Time) behavior with settings appropriate for the Southern Hemisphere.

Version 2.0.3:

* Reduces residual DC offset applied to the signal processing by revising the DSP code that realizes the low frequency and mid frequency parametric equalizer filters.

Version 2.0.1:

* Adds a DC servo to the output to the signal processing to reduce residual DC offset present at the 8500’s digital outputs.
* Corrects a bug in the multiplex power controller that would cause it to produce large amounts of gain reduction when it was set to OFF and no audio was applied to the processor for several days.

8500 Version 2.0 is a major software upgrade that adds several features. The 8500 V2.0 Operating Manual (the pdf form of which is automatically installed on your computer when you install 8500 PC Remote Software) contains complete explanations of new features added since the initial V1.0 software release.

Version 2.0.0:

* Adds DSP code to make the equalizer, HF enhancer, and multiband compressor/limiter (2-band and 5-band) in the digital radio processing path independent of the equalizer, HF enhancer, and multiband compressor/limiter in the analog FM processing path. This provides far more flexibility in adjusting the HD processing path to achieve various goals, such as minimizing audible artifacts in low bitrate codecs or making the digital channel sound bigger or more dramatic when an HD Radio receiver crossfades between analog and digital.

A new FM>HD CONTROL COUPLING control in the HD LIMITING screen of ADVANCED MODIFY determines if audio controls affecting the digital radio equalizer and digital radio multiband limiter will track their counterparts in the FM analog processing chain or if the digital radio and FM controls can be adjusted separately. Each preset contains its own setting for this control, so some presets can be coupled while others are independent.

The FM>HD mode emulates 8500 version 1.x software, except that it hides the HD Band Mix controls. The INDEPENDENT mode is new in version 2. It allows you to set the new HD equalizer and HD multiband limiter audio controls to be independent of their FM counterparts. INDEPENDENT mode exposes HD controls that are hidden in FM>HD mode. If you set any HD control differently than its FM counterpart, the 8500 will remember this setting.

If a given preset has certain HD and FM controls set differently, setting the FM>HD CONTROL COUPLING to COUPLED will immediately cause the HD controls to take the same settings as their FM analog counterparts. If you again set FM>HD CONTROL COUPLING to INDEPENDENT, this will restore the edits you made to the HD controls before you set the FM>HD CONTROL COUPLING to COUPLED.

Unlike the FM-channel’s five-band compressor/limiter, Band 5 of the HD five-band compressor/limiter has a compression sidechain that is identical in structure to the sidechains of the B1-B4 compressor/limiters. This facilitates tuning the HD processing for low bitrate codecs, whose sound is usually better when the amount of high frequency energy applied to them is well controlled.

When the FM>HD CONTROL COUPLING control is set to FM>HD, the HD Band 5 sidechain is defeated. In this case, the HD DE-ESS processing and the amount of gain reduction in Band 4 (multiplied by the setting of the B4>B5 COUPLING control) determine the amount of gain reduction in Band 5. To activate the B5 sidechain, you must set the FM>HD CONTROL COUPLING control to INDEPENDENT. This exposes the various HD B5 compressor controls to the user.
* Adds Speech Mode controls to the ultra-low latency (UL) five-band presets. Like their counterparts in the other presets, the Speech Mode controls determine the behavior of the processing when the 8500’s speech/music detector automatically detects speech programming.

We have added Speech Mode settings to all UL factory presets. These settings reduce audible clipping distortion on speech compared to the old presets, which used the same processing parameters for both speech and music programming. In general, we reduced distortion by speeding up the multiband attack times and lowering the multiband compression thresholds. These changes decrease the amount of final clipping in the FM analog processing chain and the amount of look-ahead limiting in the HD processing chain by dynamically reducing the drive level into these peak limiting elements. Consequently, speech is typically 2 dB quieter in the new UL presets than it was in the V1.x UL presets.
* Adds a MB GR METER switch to the INPUT/OUTPUT > UTILITIES screen. This affects the 8500’s front panel display, selecting what signals the 2-Band and 5-Band Compressor gain reduction meters indicate. The switch can be set to FM, HD, or SPLIT.

In SPLIT mode, the 8500’s front panel display shows the gain reduction of the FM analog multiband compressors on the left side of the split meters and the gain reduction of the digital radio compressors on the right. If the left and right channel gain reductions are not identical in a given band, its meter displays the larger of the left or right channel gain reductions.

Many editing modes display small gain reduction meters in a window on the left side of the 8500’s front-panel screen. In SPLIT mode, these meters are context-sensitive. They show the FM channel gain reduction when you are in an FM processing screen and show the HD gain reduction if you are in an HD processing screen. If the screen is not clearly FM or HD, the meters show the HD gain reduction. A “GR” label below the meters indicates whether the meters are displaying FM or HD gain reduction.

Meanwhile, 8500 PC Remote displays the gain reduction of the analog FM and digital radio multiband compressors on two metering groups, each containing either two and five meters. As in v1.x software, all meters are split and show the left and right channel gain reductions.
* Adds the ability to apply the diversity delay (up to 8.2 or 16.3 seconds, depending on the DSP board installed in your 8500) independently to a given output emitting the analog FM processed signal. (Note that the amount of time delay cannot be set separately for different outputs; the delay can only be turned on or off.)

To implement this feature, the OUTPUT SOURCE switch for each of the analog and AES3 outputs now offers four choices: HD, MONITOR, FM, and FM+DELAY.

The COMPOSITE screen now has a DIVERSITY DELAY control whose settings are ON and OFF. Note that this affects both composite outputs; a given composite output’s delay status cannot be set independently.

The global DIVERSITY DELAY control in v1.x software has been removed.

The feature sets allowing the diversity delay to be controlled via Automation, GPI Remote Control, and ASCII Terminal Control (via RS232 or Ethernet) have been expanded to allow the diversity delay of the various outputs to be turned on or off independently. Refer to appropriate sections of the 8500 V2.0 Operating Manual for more information.
* Increases the performance of the AGC by reducing susceptibility to unnatural-sounding gain reduction with certain waveforms and by improving the window gating algorithm.

The new window gating algorithm (which only works in the Master band, as in v1.x software) operates by slowing down changes in the AGC gain reduction that are smaller than the WINDOW SIZE. The window now has 2:1 asymmetry around the current AGC gain reduction. For example, if the WINDOW SIZE is set to 4 dB, the window extends 4 dB in the release direction and 2 dB in the attack direction.

If the AGC needs to respond to a large change in its input level by making a gain change that is larger than the window, then the AGC’s attack and release controls determine the AGC’s response time. However, if the change in input level is smaller than the window size, the WINDOW RELEASE control determines the attack and release times. This is usually much slower than the normal AGC time constants. This prevents the AGC from building up density in material whose level is already well controlled.

The previous explanation was somewhat simplified. In fact, the new window has “soft edges.” Instead of switching abruptly between time constants, the attack and release times morph smoothly between the setting of the Window Release control and the setting of the AGC master release and attack controls.
* Removes the gain reduction limit when the AGC is set to ratios lower than infinity:1. 25 dB of gain reduction is now available regardless of the setting of the AGC RATIO control.
* Changes the behavior and units of measure for the AGC BASS COUPLING control. This control now clamps the amount of dynamic bass boost (in units of dB) that the AGC can provide.

In V1.x software, the bass coupling added a fraction of the master band’s gain reduction signal to the gain reduction signal produced by the bass band’s compressor sidechain. This sum determined the gain of the bass band’s VCA. The fraction was determined by the AGC BASS COUPLING control, settable from 0% to 100%. The coupling worked indirectly by reducing the drive into the bass sidechain, which decreased the bass band sidechain’s gain reduction. This allowed the master band to increasingly dominate the sum as the BASS COUPLING control was advanced from 0% to 100%. However, if the audio was bass-heavy, the bass sidechain would still be driven above threshold, so the bass band could then produce more gain reduction than the master band even with high settings of the BASS COUPLING control.

In V2.0 software, the AGC Master and Bass compressor sidechains operate independently. The gain reduction in the Bass audio path is either the output of the Bass compressor sidechain or the output of the Master band sidechain. The AGC BASS COUPLING control sets the switching threshold, thus determining the maximum amount of dynamic bass boost that the AGC can produce. For example, if the AGC Bass Coupling control is set to 4 dB and the master gain reduction is 10 dB, the bass gain reduction in the audio path cannot decrease below 6 dB (10 – 4) even if the gain reduction signal from the Bass compressor sidechain is lower. However, the bass gain reduction can be larger than the master gain reduction without limit. In the previous example, the bass gain reduction could be 25 dB.

The nominal setting of the Bass Coupling control is 0 dB, which allows the AGC bass band to correct excessive bass as necessary but does not permit it to provide a bass boost.

We have adjusted the AGC BASS COUPLING control in all factory presets to accommodate the new operation of the AGC bass coupling algorithm as far as possible, although an exact match to the old sound cannot be achieved for all program material because the coupling algorithm has changed. Therefore, you may wish to tweak this control to taste.

Because of this change, you must update your on-air preset after you upgrade to V2.0. This procedure is explained in the step-by-step instructions at the end of this readme.
* Changes the operation of the MB GATE algorithm. Previously, the MB gating threshold was set with respect to the signal before the AGC. V2.0 software sets the MB gating threshold with respect to the signal driving the multiband compressor/limiter, which follows the AGC. This allows the AGC to do its work of slowly correcting the drive level to later processing, including the drive level into the MB gate level detector.

When the AGC DRIVE control is set to its nominal 10 dB value and the AGC produces 10 dB of gain reduction, the calibration of the MB GATE control is the same as it was in V1.x software. Hence, it should be unnecessary to change the MB GATE setting in User Presets unless the AGC’s nominal gain reduction is significantly different from 10 dB and/or the AGC DRIVE control is not set to 10 dB.
* Improves the operation of the Downward Expander. The minimum threshold has been extended downward (from –6 dB to –18 dB).

While the DOWN EXPAND control continues to set the expansion thresholds in all bands, there is now a B5 DOWN EXPANDER DELTA THRESH control for Band 5 (6 kHz and above), calibrated in units of dB. This control allows you to fine-tune the Band 5 downward expander’s threshold by adding or subtracting an offset from the setting of the DOWN EXPAND control.

Band 5 is particularly critical for noise reduction because much of the Downward Expander’s utility lies in hiss reduction. Hiss has most of its energy in band 5, while program material typically has less energy in this band, so this control’s setting is critical to removing hiss while minimizing removal of desired program energy. In addition, the Downward Expander’s dynamic frequency response is no longer constrained to being strictly lowpass—Band 5 is now uncoupled from the lower bands, so the band 5 downward expander can produce less gain reduction than other bands. This can help prevent loss of desired high frequency material in the program.
* Removes the limitation that prevented the multiplex power controller from working while the diversity delay was active. When diversity delay is applied to the composite outputs, the multiplex power controller does not use the output of the 8500’s stereo encoder as its reference, instead computing the multiplex power directly from the left and right audio signals, the setting of the PILOT LEVEL control, and the setting of the COMPOSITE LIMITING DRIVE control. Hence, when diversity delay is applied to the composite output, the multiplex power controller does not take into account the effect of any active composite limiting on the multiplex power. This is not a problem because a BS412-compliant broadcast does not cause enough composite limiting to measurably affect the multiplex power.

If diversity delay is not applied to the composite outputs, the multiplex power controller uses the output of the 8500’s stereo encoder as its reference, as it did in v1.x software.
 
I thank for the answer, these information are also written on the file (read me) orban upgrade...

My impression to be instead a meaningful change of the sound

I warn more presence

thanks

.. you excuse my English

edoardo maruca
 
II think that the new upgrade actually have loudness
but have lost their typical rounded sound orban

my impression is that the new upgrade there are other novelties
added more than those written in the file "read me"
I do not know whether it is good.
I want to know the views of those have used it.

many thanks

Edoardo Maruca
 
Try a different AGC ratio. That setting is found on the AGC screen in the Advanced Options menu. That helped with our presence when we used the 8400. We used an AGC ratio of 4:1, and I have seen another station in a large market using 3:1.
 
poweruzzo said:
II think that the new upgrade actually have loudness
but have lost their typical rounded sound orban

my impression is that the new upgrade there are other novelties
added more than those written in the file "read me"
I do not know whether it is good.
I want to know the views of those have used it.

many thanks

Edoardo Maruca

Unless there are undetected bugs that were added in V2, the readme describes all of the changes. The main sonic difference is the new AGC and how it interacts with the downstream processing.

Bob Orban
 
I think the new AGC is the best "in box" AGC. It keeps everything very consistant no matter whether its hyper compressed 00s or largly varing input levels. I'm very impressed with the latest software in the 8500. Typically the factory presets are very clean, and can sound a little dull. I like others would like to see a few presets which reflect the tradional orban sound of the old 8100aXT2 with pleanty of presence and nice punchy bass.

Absolutly the V2 upgrade is a step forward!
 
Only station i know using the 8500 has an Ariane in front .So, the AGC would not matter in the box.As far as that goes, Ariane is a great fit in front of any processor.Lots of them in the field..Don't have to worry about AGC issues.i agree with Stace on the presets,most sound dull to me.getting one close to the 8100/xt would be a nice preset.
 
menotti1 said:
Only station i know using the 8500 has an Ariane in front .So, the AGC would not matter in the box.As far as that goes, Ariane is a great fit in front of any processor.Lots of them in the field..Don't have to worry about AGC issues.i agree with Stace on the presets,most sound dull to me.getting one close to the 8100/xt would be a nice preset.

I agree. The Ariane is a miracle cure in front of MANY an audio processor.
 
The Adriane is pretty sweet sounding. I got to hear it at the NAB... VERY NICE. My question at this point (and it's sorta like mixing apples and oranges) is, if a guy had the option someday of buying a decent audio processor, would the concensus be still using the Adriane with a Orban or Omnia product, or just go for the new Wheatstone 10k monster with all of it's capabilities? One thing about it.. Processing these days is getting a lot better and cheaper!
 
There is some nice stuff coming out of New Bern... and every processor would be located AT the transmitter. For level control into the STL, the Ariane is it!
 
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