User Guide

Copyright 2022, Eventide Inc.

P/N: 141215, Rev 9
Eventide is a registered trademark of Eventide Inc.
AAX and Pro Tools are trademarks of Avid Technology. Names and logos are used with permission.
Audio Units and macOS are trademarks of Apple, Inc.
VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.
All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Eventide Inc.
One Alsan Way
Little Ferry, NJ 07643
201-641-1200
www.eventide.com
Contents
1 Welcome 1
1.1 About This Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2 Omnipressor 2
2.1 Main Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Input Threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Line In/Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Attack Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Bass Cut/Norm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Release Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Meter Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Output/Cal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Atten Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Gain Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Expansion Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Input Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Sidechain Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Output Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 Preset Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Load and Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Mix Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

3 Conclusion 9

I
Welcome part 1

1.1 About This Product

Thank you for your purchase of the Eventide Omnipressor® plug-in. The product recre-
ated in this plug-in was among the first introduced by Eventide - and among the world’s
first commercially available professional recording products. For over 40 years, innova-
tive products like these have made Eventide an industry leader, and we are extremely
proud that they continue to be in demand today. We’ll get into more depth on the prod-
uct soon but, before you forget, please take a few minutes to register online. This helps
us keep you informed of any important software updates, and any special offers that
may only be available to registered users.

1
Omnipressor part 2

Production Dates: 1971 – 1984

Originally described as a ”professional-quality dynamic modifier”, the Omnipressor®

rapidly became a very popular studio dynamics piece. Its unique Function knob al-
lowed the engineer to move from Noise Gate effects through dynamic reversal - an
effect that reverses a sound’s envelope making loud sounds quiet, and quiet sounds
louder. This control, combined with unique gain and attenuation controls, lets you pro-
duce extremely aggressive dynamics with very little tweaking. A cymbal, for example,
can be made to sound ”reversed” by setting a fast Attack and setting Function near its
clockwise limit. The diagram below illustrates the wide ranging Function control.

The controls are divided into three main sections: Main Panel, Expansion Panel and the
Preset Bar.

2
2.1 Main Panel

Input Threshold Sets the gain crossover point. For example, when the system is
in Compression mode, an input signal below the threshold will
have its amplitude increased and signals above the threshold
will have their amplitude reduced.

Line In/Out Bypasses the processing on the Omnipressor®. The meters will
continue to operate as normal but the signal will not be altered.

Attack Time Determines the time in which the system responds to a change
in input level. Assuming a 10 dB step increment in input level,
the attack time is numerically equal to the time required for the
level detector to reach its final state with respect to the new in-
put level.

Bass Cut/Norm Determines the frequency response of the level detector cir-
cuit. Set to NORMAL to match the frequency response to the
gain control section. Set to BASS CUT to attenuate bass signals
and reduce their effect on the overall compression/expansion
operations.

Release Time Determines the time in which the system responds to a de-
crease in input level. Assuming a 10 dB step increment in input
level, the release time is numerically equal to the time required
for the level detector to reach its final state with respect to the
new input level.

Meter Function Allows you to select meter monitoring of Input, relative Gain or
Output. These functions control only the meter display – they
have no effect on the signal processing. All level readings are
in dBfs.

3
Function This is the main Omnipressor® control. When set fully counter-
clockwise, gain varies sharply from full attenuation to maximum
gain as the input threshold is exceeded. As the control is ro-
tated clockwise, this action becomes less sharp until the gain
varies only a few dB from no input to full input.

At the knob’s centerpoint, the gain is constant, regardless of

input level. As the knob is turned clockwise, gain begins de-
creasing with increasing input level. More rotation produces
substantial compression until the point of infinite compression
is reached and the gain decreases 1 dB for each dB of signal
increase, thus keeping the output level constant regardless of
input. Rotation past this point produces dynamic reversal, in
which a high level input produces a lower output than does a
low level input. Full clockwise rotation results in full output at-
tenuation above the Input Threshold.

Two LEDs alert you to the gain state of the Omnipressor®. A

green Atten Led illuminates to indicate that the Omnipressor
is in gain reduction mode. A red Gain Led illuminates in gain
increase mode. Relative brightness of the LEDs indicates the
amount of gain reduction or increase. Operation of these LEDs
is instantaneous, so that peak limiting is indicated even when
the meter has insufficient time to respond.

Output/Cal These switches allow you to increase the output level of the
Omnipressor® without affecting compression ratios or other
operating parameters. This is useful, for example, when the unit
is being used in extreme modes of compression or dynamic
reversal, and the input signal is large enough to cause large
amounts of consistent gain reduction. In such cases, you can se-
lect to increase the gain of the output stage by selecting +10dB,
+20 dB, or both for 30 dB of gain. This control does not alter the
gain of the dry signal.1

1
Older versions of the plugin featured Input Calibration switches as well. These switches allowed the
user to attenuate the input signal by 0, -10, -20, or -30 dB. The functionality of these switches has been
superseded by the Input Gain control, which allows a continuous range of values from -48 dB to +12 dB,
but the old controls will continue to function as before to ensure backwards compatibility. They remain
accessible via automation or generic plug-in views.

4
Atten Limit Limits the maximum attenuation of the Omnipressor® from 30
dB to approximately 1 dB. This control overrides the action of
Function.

Gain Limit Limits the maximum gain of the Omnipressor® from 30 dB to

approximately 1 dB. This control overrides the action of Func-
tion.

5
2.2 Expansion Panel

Input Gain Adjusts the gain of the incoming signal to the Omnipressor®.
This control does not alter the gain of the dry signal.

Sidechain Input Allows the Omnipressor®’s level detect to be driven by another

audio source.

Mix Adjusts the dry-wet mix. At 100%, the output will only be the
processed signal. Use values of less than 100% for parallel com-
pression.

Output Gain Adjusts the output gain of the processed signal. Like Input
Gain, this control does not alter the gain of the dry signal.

6
2.3 Preset Bar

Located at the top of the Omnipressor® Plug-In, the Preset Bar lets you load and save
presets, along with several other features.

When Omnipressor® is installed, a library of settings is placed into the <user>/Mu-

sic/Eventide/Omnipressor/Presets folder (Mac) or the <user>/Documents/Eventide/Om-
nipressor/Presets folder (Windows). These presets have a .tide extension and can be
saved or loaded from the Omnipressor® preset bar in any supported DAW.

In many DAWs there is an additional generic preset bar that saves DAW-specific presets
to a separate location. We recommend saving your presets using the Eventide preset
bar to ensure that your presets will be accessible from any DAW. You can also create
sub-folders inside the preset folders, if you wish.

Load and Save The Load button allows you to load a .tide preset that is stored
anywhere on your computer. Save allows you to save a new
preset to anywhere on your computer, but it is recommended
that you place it somewhere in the <user>/Documents/Even-
tide/Omnipressor/Presets folder, so that it is accessible from the
Preset Dropdown. Note that you can create subfolders for your
presets, for easier navigation and organization.

Compare The Compare button allows you to toggle between the current
settings and the last saved or loaded preset. This allows you
to save or load settings that you like, tweak as you please, and
return to the original settings for comparison.

Mix Lock Enables a global mix value that will be the same on every preset
that is loaded. This is especially useful on an effect return track
where the mix should always be set to 100.

Info Opens this User Guide, for quick access from the plug-in.

7
Settings Opens a drop-down menu with various user interface settings.

• Scaling – Sets the overall size of the plugin.

• Always Show Values – Sets knob values to be displayed

at all times. This setting will apply to all instances of the
plugin.

8
Conclusion part 3

We hope you enjoy the Omnipressor® plug-in and put it to good use in all of your mixes.
Please be sure to check out Eventide’s other native plug-in offerings for more unique
and interesting effects.