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Unity 2000i

S

stace

A Metro station playing an easy listening format is using an old Unity 2000i with a set of prizms.

Other stations in the market are heavily processed using Optimods and Omnias.

The processing was set to CHR (hostile) by whoever set it up and distortion and quality is very poor I feel for a station targeting an older female audience, although it was louder than most. The station that used to broadcast from it's studio and frequency was a rock station, and I suspect it used the Unity, and no body has bothered to taylor the processing.

Have you had the opportunity to work with a setup like this? Being a production engineer, I have never been exposed to prizms before, although I have experience with our other Optimods and Omnias. What do the prizms achieve and have you any secrets with using the Unity that would suit an easy listening programme?

Thanks
Stace
 
Hi Stace-

Using a Unity and a Prism sounds a little odd to me. Both of these units are multiband processors. IMHO, one will fight the other. If you wish to keep the Prisms (which are good at bringing out sonic details) place a more wideband agc in fron of it, like an Aphex compellor.
Or take the prism out and you the compellor into the Unity.
I always like to see a nice steady signal going into any multi band processor and the compellors are good at doing that and the beauty is you can't "hear" it working. But the multibands perform better with something steady to chew on.
 
Have a station using the Unity multiband with a Compellor in front of it.

CHR Hostile is a setting rarely used. It is fatiguing. All of the presets turn off composite clipping when you go to them. They also remain at factory values. You modify the procesing then save it with a new name.

Composite clipping will help you get loudness. It too can cause distortion.

CHR Medium is a good preset but for ac you might also try the country setting and pull the bass back. AC setting stinks IMO.

Ultimately you need to set it so it sounds good to you so you can track it.

prisms into the unity don't make great sense.
 
stace said:
A Metro station playing an easy listening format is using an old Unity 2000i with a set of prizms.

Other stations in the market are heavily processed using Optimods and Omnias.

The processing was set to CHR (hostile) by whoever set it up and distortion and quality is very poor I feel for a station targeting an older female audience, although it was louder than most. The station that used to broadcast from it's studio and frequency was a rock station, and I suspect it used the Unity, and no body has bothered to taylor the processing.

Have you had the opportunity to work with a setup like this? Being a production engineer, I have never been exposed to prizms before, although I have experience with our other Optimods and Omnias. What do the prizms achieve and have you any secrets with using the Unity that would suit an easy listening programme?

Thanks
Stace
Click to expand...

Stace,

First of all I'd change the preset. <CHR Hostile> was created as an 'over-the-top' preset, more as a joke, than anything else. If the format is easier music, I'd try the <Adult Contemp> preset. That's less aggressive.

Also, the Prisms will fight the Unity. See what happens if they're out of the chain. Try those changes first, and see what happens.

-Frank Foti
 
FFoti1 said:
First of all I'd change the preset. <CHR Hostile> was created as an 'over-the-top' preset, more as a joke, than anything else. If the format is easier music, I'd try the <Adult Contemp> preset. That's less aggressive.

Also, the Prisms will fight the Unity. See what happens if they're out of the chain. Try those changes first, and see what happens.

-Frank Foti
Click to expand...

With tweaking the Unity sounds better than some other units. Hands down no comparison to the newer Omnia product.

For those of us cash strapped folks that can't force stations to buy an Omnia are there any software updates for the Unity? When I have called for support or parts I have been told to talk to Digi key.
 
ChiefEngineer said:
With tweaking the Unity sounds better than some other units. Hands down no comparison to the newer Omnia product.

For those of us cash strapped folks that can't force stations to buy an Omnia are there any software updates for the Unity? When I have called for support or parts I have been told to talk to Digi key.
Click to expand...

Well, we haven't made any changes to the Unity in over 10 years. Sorry, no upgrades since about 1995. Regarding Support, we do STILL support the product.

-Frank Foti
 
i heard one on an urban station in the Miss delta a few years back.It was DAM good,great bass ,clear and loud ..they went to the newer Omnia products in the course of equipment upgrades, hey you can only depreciate so many years.But back in it's day the Unity was a serious player with any format...
 
FFoti1 said:
ChiefEngineer said:
With tweaking the Unity sounds better than some other units. Hands down no comparison to the newer Omnia product.

For those of us cash strapped folks that can't force stations to buy an Omnia are there any software updates for the Unity? When I have called for support or parts I have been told to talk to Digi key.
Click to expand...

Well, we haven't made any changes to the Unity in over 10 years. Sorry, no upgrades since about 1995. Regarding Support, we do STILL support the product.

-Frank Foti
Click to expand...

Good to know if I have other units needing repairs. With lightning it's just a matter of time regardless of the protection in place. This seems to be the biggest problem over the years as opposed to product failure.

What is your opinion of the new Omnia PC card processing as opposed to the Unity? This is a low cost alternative and many are looking at this as an option.

Having access to your opinion might sway some folks who can't buy something in the high 5k price range or more.

The nicest thing about the higher priced Omnia products are the bandwidth adjustments. Seems to help loudness and clarity. 2 non coms (with crappy signals) are using the Omnia 5 and night and day from the 2200 to the 5. It didn't help the signal (rf) but made a big improvement in the audio so the perception was the signal got better.

Not all non coms have a big budget and literally scrape by with whatever junk somebody throws out. 5 k for a processor pays electric bills for a long time.

Thanks in advance.
 
ChiefEngineer said:
What is your opinion of the new Omnia PC card processing as opposed to the Unity? This is a low cost alternative and many are looking at this as an option.

Having access to your opinion might sway some folks who can't buy something in the high 5k price range or more.

The nicest thing about the higher priced Omnia products are the bandwidth adjustments. Seems to help loudness and clarity. 2 non coms (with crappy signals) are using the Omnia 5 and night and day from the 2200 to the 5. It didn't help the signal (rf) but made a big improvement in the audio so the perception was the signal got better.

Not all non coms have a big budget and literally scrape by with whatever junk somebody throws out. 5 k for a processor pays electric bills for a long time.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

The Omnia A/X (our PC processor) does not have any emphasis for FM or AM. Thus, you'd still need some type of 'box' that provides preemphasis, low pass filtering, and precision peak control. Although, we will have a significant upgrade for Omnia A/X, later this year.

You should checkout Omnia.One FM. The price-point is probably closer to what you are looking for, and it offers all the needed tools for FM.

-Frank Foti
 
FFoti1 said:
You should checkout Omnia.One FM. The price-point is probably closer to what you are looking for, and it offers all the needed tools for FM.

-Frank Foti
Click to expand...

Frank this is great news - the Omnia.One FM is now shipping!!? Will it be long before the Omnia.One AM is ready? I'd love to get my hands on one!
 
Did you pull the prisms??

Did you retrun to one of the factory presets? Had a real problem with the audio on the Unity at a station and found someone had changed the crossover eq to some strange setting.

If you want bass and are wondering if the omnia can reproduce bass then try the country setting for a minute. There may a thump in the trunk rap setting too to try. Not for regular use but just to see if it can reproduce bass. IF the prisms were in line too then there may some strange changes to the processing.

For those looking at the Omnia 1.

Checked with BSW and they do have the Omnia 1 Multicast. Another version of the Omnia 1 is still on backorder. Manual says only to use this with a codec or the audio will sound strange. This is one thing I found with the 5. Took awhile to make sure with sales that they were ofering the right version of the 5 for us to buy.
 
I now have the sound I'm after.

Reducing the bass in the final mix and drive to the bass limiter, reducing the attack time on the presence and high limiters, sounds good!

Only gripe. I would like to be able to gate the bass band higher, I find on low level programme material the bassline overpowers the mix. But as far as I'm aware you can't individually gate the seperate band or 'couple' it to the mid band.

Any ideas here?
 
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