Dave Hill Designs is proud to introduce a totally unique design concept in microphone pre amplifier technology, The Europa One. After years of design to prototype to production we feel the recording industry is ready to experience a feature packed Europa One! Included are the standard functions such as phase, phantom power and an instrument input.  The microphone input has 3 input impedance choices which are 2.2K ohms for normal microphone operation, 300 ohm and a Hi-z choice for different microphone sounds.  The instrument input has an impedance of 1.2 Meg ohms which is ideal for guitars.  The gain over all is adjustable in 1db steps from 0 to 66db on the mic input and 0 to 30 db on the instrument input. Gain is displayed on a 2 digit led display.  The low cut filter which is a 3 pole, 18db per octave has 8 frequencies 148 Hz, 130 Hz, 117 Hz, 100 Hz,  81 Hz, 63 Hz, 48 Hz, 33 Hz, and off.  Unique to the Europa pre-amp are 3 controls for changing the color of the pre-amp.  The first control is a SPEED which changes how fast the pre-amp can respond.  The control goes from 0 to 8 with 8 being the fastest rate, and 0 being very drastic.  The even harmonic control provides 9 levels of color from 0 to 8, and the odd harmonic control which also has 9 levels color with the 0 setting being the cleanest in both cases.  These three controls are a series analog process so that the even harmonic control affects the sound of the speed control and the odd harmonic control affects the sound of both the speed and even harmonic controls All the controls; gain, speed, even harmonic, the odd harmonic controls are stepped which makes it easy to recall settings.  The level meter has a 0 VU reference point of (+4dbu) with one db steps going to +20 db above 0VU and to -25 db below 0 VU with the steps being larger than 1 db below -16 db. The maximum output level is +24 dbu balanced with the maximum balanced input level of +24 dbu at 0 db of gain.  This allows the Europa 1 pre-amp to be used in a mix environment for coloring.

RA can be thought of as an amplifier that is being over driven, (Wave Form Compression), but there is control over what part is being overdriven.  An analogy from photography, it is like the curve function.  The controls in RA are divided into 4 groups. The first and most useful control is the LOW LEVEL control; it is in the middle of the graphic.  This control brings up the low level content of the audio.  It may also be thought of as a detail control.  It functions like an amplifier being over driven, but works more on the low level part of the signal and less on the high level part.  This control generates third harmonic distortion.  The LOW LEVEL control can also have a multiplying effect on other plug-ins by increasing their effect.  The LOW LEVEL control is useful on most any kind of signal and is a little like upward compression with out attack and release times.  Try is on a vocal and listen to the dynamic change. The second control group is the PEAK controls.  They are like an adjustable soft clip, or an amplifier where you have control over how it saturates, but leaves the low level part of the signal alone.  The distortion generated by the PEAK controls is third harmonic.  The PEAK control rounds off the peaks of the wave shape and has a hardness value that can be changed.  The HARDNESS control's soft setting (0) limits the peak to approximately -3dbfs and the hard setting (100) limits peaks to approximately -10dbfs. An example to try; take a track with a snare drum that peaks in the range of -3dbfs.  Set the LOW LEVEL, PEAK and HARDNESS controls to max. Look at the meter, what you should see is a peak reading around -10dbfs but it should be louder with the plug-in engaged as compared to bypass. It is also useful in preventing an occasional over. The next control group generates even harmonic content.  These controls are the most difficult to hear and describe.  Being that the second harmonic is an octave.  In a test some people did not hear 50% distortion if it is only second harmonic.  But it does change the feel of things and can have a thicking effect.  The TOP control rounds off the top of the wave shape and the BOTTOM control rounds off the bottom of the wave shape.  When used together it is possible to have the even harmonic content cancel and have third harmonic distortion left.  Try one of these in conjunction with the LOW LEVEL control on an acoustic guitar, bass or kick drum.  You may have noticed that on some recorded tracks that the waveshape can have a shift or peaks on only it's top or bottom edge, this is a result of even harmonic content The last group has two controls are more like house keeping.  The first control which is in front of the signal processing is a DRIVE control that has a plus and minus 6 db range.  Being the distortion generator is level dependent, this will allow for a more or less aggressive operation of the process and the ability to better match the process to the track.  The DRIVE control is also unity gain from the input to the output.  However if you have a -1dbfs signal and increase the drive gain to +6 db you will clip and the clip light indicator will turn red. The last control of the plug-in is an output level trim which has a range of plus and minus 6 db for matching gain.  Clipping the signal with the trim control will light the clip light indicator, but the coloring controls cannot clip.  The main use of the LEVEL TRIM is for level matching, being the curve bending is very non linear it is not possible to have a fixed unity gain. The graphic display shows how the signal is being distorted and is useful in the prediction of what the plug-in will do.  The controls are interactive which means each one will affect the process in front of it.  Think of the curve display in a graphics program

Titian is an analog compressor-limiter with a very large range of color and control choices with recall.  The main audio path is a discrete class A design.  Resetability is attained by using stepped controls and encoders that have their values displayed on Titian's color LCD display.  Titian is a digitally controlled analog device in design with a very high speed dsp side chain that allows the design to push the limits beyond what is possible in the design of an analog side chain.  The compressor-limiter controls are the normal; Threshold, Attack, Release, Shape, Bypass-In-Link, Meter Select, and make up Gain.  These controls have their settings displayed on a color LCD display.  The Shape control shows the knee of the compressor. With the knee characteristic being graphically drawn on the LCD to allow the user to see the knee's shape. The graphical display updates with the changing of the Threshold and Shape controls.  When stereo linked the unit selected as control master will control all functions on the second channel.  In addition there are controls that can provide color choices; VCA COLOR The VCA COLOR control provides a mix between a very clean PWM gain control device and a vintage gain control element.  The vintage gain control element is a diode type compressor circuit.  There are 16 steps in the cross fade-mix control for a wide range in choices PARALLEL MIX The PARALLEL MIX control blends the unprocessed audio with the compressed audio, a parallel compression function.  There are 16 steps in the cross fade-mix control for a wide range in choices. DYNAMIC COLOR The DYNAMIC COLOR control is a control that provides harmonic content that is opposite in nature of the harmonic content that the vintage gain control element generates.  The effect of the Dynamic Color control can be described as making the sound "bigger".  This function has 16 steps to provide a wide range of sonic control. FAT - AIR The FAT - AIR switch that will add air or fatness to the compressed audio Titan is a single rack space 100 to 240 Volt switchable   50, 60 Hz