Right out of the box, Avantis is loaded with powerful processing tools that will easily meet the demands of most users and applications. Want more options? Upgrade your console with Avantis dPack to get additional dLive processing including extra channels and buses, Dyn8 (up to 24 instances), DEEP Compressors, expanders, and preamp model.  You'll get more models as they’re added.

Channel/Bus Expansion

Avantis consoles upgraded to dPack have more channels and buses available than standard models, as refelcted in the chart below:

Compressors

16T

Inspired by an industry classic VCA based RMS compressor this model produces a tight, punchy compression particularly useful with live bass and percussion and also vocals, and with a very easy to use three rotary control interface.

16VU

Based on an original vintage VCA based RMS compressor with VU needle meter, with pleasant characteristic sound due to its non-linearity and distortion artefacts, and also with a simple three rotary control interface.

OptTronik

Based on a legendary tube-driven, electro-optical compressor, OptTronik offers smooth, musical compression with easy to use controls. The Limit/Compress switch is used to set the compression ratio and amount of compression is determined by the Peak Reduction control. The Gain control can be used to restore any volume lost to compression. The Emphasis control is used to set the high frequency response of the compressor.

From v1.20 ‘Unit B’, modelled on different analog hardware can be selected with different attack and release charateristics.

Peak Limiter 76

A faithful emulation of the legendary FET limiting amplifier from the late 60s, complete with its nonlinear distortion characteristics, program-dependent Attack, Release and Ratio settings, and trademark ‘All buttons’ mode.

The Unit switch selects one of two units which have been modelled: the modern silver and the black vintage.

Mighty Compressor

Inspired by a classic transistor array VCA dynamics processor, Mighty is an aggressive sounding compressor with a very fast attack. The Detector switch offers two distinct voices with easy control over Threshold and Release values in addition to an Output control to restore any volume lost.

The characteristics of Mighty make it particularly useful on kick, snare, bass and parallel compression duties.

Opto

Offers the response of a filament optical compressor. The release has non-linear exponential recovery, fast at the start and smooth for final recovery stage. This creates a smooth and musical sounding compressor.

Bus

Inspired by a legendary VCA bus compressor, it delivers unrivalled sonic cohesion on LR and sub-mixes, with minimal pumping.

Expanders (Gate Section)

Dual Threshold Expander

A fast expander with two threshold settings for fine control.

Touch and drag in the graph or touch a parameter box and use the screen rotary to adjust. 

Upper Threshold sets the level at which the expander begins to fully open. 

Lower Threshold sets the level at which the expander begins to reduce the gain to the full 

Depth as specified on the right. The expander can be made more aggressive by putting the two thresholds close together, or less aggressive by having them further apart. 

The Attack and Release parameters allow you to choose how quickly the expander begins to respond after the signal passes the thresholds and how quickly the expander gain reduction changes after it responds.

The EXP button selects either a Linear or Logarithmic response to the signal passing the threshold.

Source Expander

Fast and effective expansion. 

Touch a parameter box and use the screen rotary do adjust. 

Choose the Threshold at which you would like the expander to operate along with the depth (amount) of gain reduction and the speed (Slow, Medium or Fast) of its response rate.

Preamp

Dual-Stage Valve

Inspired by a known studio preamplifier, this model recreates the distortion characteristics of valve circuits, from very subtle coloration to full overdrive. It can be fully bypassed with the On/Off switch.

Stage-1 adds subtle tonal harmonic distortion and offers two modes which mirror the typical valve topologies of analogue preamplifiers: Triode is richer in even order distortion resulting in a musical, warm response; Pentode is stronger in odd order distortion (predominantly 3^rd), resulting in crisper, sharper sound.

Stage-2 provides overdriven valve emulation. It can be switched off circuit or to either Triode or Pentode mode. Bias controls the level of overdrive. With HiDrive Off, it produces pronounced ‘break up’ distortion and compression at high levels. HiDrive changes the gain structure to produce a continuous overdrive effect.

The HF control adjusts the HF content to compensate for mid-range tonal lift and high frequency compression.

The Output level is effectively a make-up gain to compensate for the level loss.

Tube Stage

Derived from our Dual-Stage Valve DEEP processor, this model recreates the distortion characteristics of valve circuits, from very subtle coloration to full overdrive, with a simplified control set. It can be fully bypassed with the On/Off switch.

A number of modes are available via the rotary selector switch offering different distortion characteristics – see the Dual-Stage Valve section for more information.

The Drive control adjusts the amount of distortion applied to the signal.

The Level control is effectively a make-up gain to compensate for the level loss.

NEQ12

1. NEQ12 Graph – Touch and drag the 12 band symbols to adjust their centre frequencies. The overall frequency response curve turns yellow when the PEQ is switched in and grey when switched out. The RTA can be overlayed in the graph.

ⓘ Note that the RTA Source is displayed in the top left corner of the graph and may not be the currently selected channel, depending on the RTA Meter settings.

2. NEQ12 Settings – Use the tabs to navigate through the controls for the 12 available bands. Each tab uses a different symbol for the frequency bands, and colours for easy identification.

Frequency sweeps the shelving, centre or cut-off frequency for each band. Width adjusts the width in octaves of the bell shaped EQ band. Gain allows up to +/-15dB boost or cut for each band. The LF and HF EQ bands can be set as shelving, bell shaped or low/high cut with selectable 12/24/48dB /octave filters.

Select NEQ Library to open the NEQ Libraries or NEQ Type to switch to a GEQ model.

RTA Settings – Touch RTA to enable or disable the RTA overlay.

Set the Min and Max Scale to adjust for sensitivity or signal level. Touch Position and drag the RTA area on the graph to locate and resize the overlay. You can also control the Opacity of the overlay. Select the view Type (Bar, Line or Sonogram) - this is independent from the Type selected in the main RTA1 screen.

For a detailed description of the RTA graph and other settings, please refer to the Meters chapter later in this guide.

Dyn8

Each engine offers 4 bands of multiband compression and 4 bands of dynamic EQ.

1. Select view mode: multiband controls, dynamic EQ controls, or a graphic overview of both.

2. Per-band bypass controls.

The multiband view has also controls of compression Knee (Hard or Soft), an option to Link all parameters across bands for quick setup, and a Rel option to link all parameters whilst keeping the relative offset.

The dynamic EQ view has an option to select the function of the screen rotary (Freq or Gain) when a band is selected in the graph.

3. Select the External Key Source. Each band can be set to operate with the selected key source or Self keyed. The key can be set to Split (same key signal feeds both side of a stereo pair) or Wide (true stereo key).

Set the desired ballistics mode. There are two manual (Peak, RMS) and four automatic modes (Punch, Opto, Slow, Fast) for the multiband compressor, with the manual modes providing per-band Attack and Release time. The dynamic EQ offers two per-band ballistic modes: Std 9 (standard, smooth frequency conscious release) or Fast 9 (fast release).

4. The multiband graph displays the resulting crossover frequency response. Shaded fills show dynamic gain reduction. The yellow curve shows makeup gain for each band, and the blue curve shows maximum potential gain reduction.

The dynamic EQ graph displays the 4-band frequency response, with the shaded fills showing dynamic activity and the solid outline showing maximum cut/boost for each band.

Touch and drag the points to adjust frequency values. To avoid accidental changes, the Gain can only be controlled in Director or by using the screen rotary.

5. Choose the crossover Slope: - 6, 18, or 24 dB/oct. Slope 6 has minimal phase summing distortion and is typically used for programme mastering. Slope 18 and 24 provide more band isolation and work well for vocal and instrument control.

6. Per-band controls of threshold, gain (multiband), ratio (multiband), width (dynamic EQ).

The dynamic EQ Gain set in the graph is the maximum amount of compression (cut) or expansion (boost) for the band when the sidechain signal level is Above or Below the threshold setting, depending on settings.