Hyperbar 3-Band Dynamics: Quick Start & Workflow Guide

Hyperbar (ca.boraas.Hyperbar) brings 3-band upward and downward OTT-style dynamics natively into the Reason Rack. Built in a 4U chassis with a two-tab calibration drawer (Band Dynamics and Engine & Spatial) and an active 1U folded strip, Hyperbar puts your everyday macro controls on the upper faceplate and tucks per-band ballistics, crossovers, stereo imaging, and delta auditioning into the lower bay.

This guide gets you up and running in five minutes with practical dial targets, a cheat sheet for the 11 root starter patches, sight-glass meter reading, quick listening demos, and rear-panel patching recipes.

---

1. First Sound in 60 Seconds

1. Insert: Drag Hyperbar from the Effects tab in the Reason browser onto any audio track, instrument, or mixer bus.
2. Audition the Default Patch: Hyperbar loads with Quick - Modern HyperOTT Slam (100% Squeeze, 3.67 nominal Speed, 88.3 Hz and 2.5 kHz phase-coherent Studio Linkwitz-Riley crossovers, Sub Mono active, and 50% Mid/Side Expanse).
3. Push HEAT: Turn the HEAT knob in Bay 1 (left) clockwise to +3-+6 dB. Watch the cyan upward LIFT and amber downward CRUSH bars in the three band sight-glasses (SUB, BODY, AIR) expand as HEAT drives your audio deeper into the thresholds (with automatic post-compander trim so your output volume stays controlled).
4. Dial SQUEEZE, CONTOUR & BLEND:
   • Turn SQUEEZE in Bay 3 (right) between 0% and 200%. All primary gain, depth, and speed controls use non-linear S-curves that give you roughly twice the resolution in the 10-to-2 o’clock sweet spot for subtle moves around noon, while still reaching full range at the extremes (up to 200% negative-ratio overpressure on Squeeze).
   • Turn CONTOUR (SMOOTH • OTT • PEAKY, -100% to +100%) directly below SQUEEZE to tilt all three band attack/release contours together: left toward Smooth for thick, pinned sustain, or right toward Peaky to let drum and synth attacks crack through.
   • For mix buses or lead vocals, pull BLEND back to 30-50% for parallel upward density.
5. Check the Output Meter & Clipper: Watch the stereo OUTPUT PEAK dBFS meter on the far right. 0.0 dBFS lights up to the top amber LED on the golden 0 dB line, while anything above 0.0 dBFS lights the 4 red overpressure LEDs. With Limiter set to Soft (default) or Hard, the meter clamps cleanly at 0 dB; flip Limiter to Off in the drawer to see how many red LEDs light up and gauge how hard you’re hitting the clipper.
6. Open the Calibration Drawer: Click BAND DYNAMICS on the bottom rail to tweak per-band CRUSH, DEADBAND, LIFT, CONTOUR, and GAIN, or click ENGINE & SPATIAL to adjust crossover splits, character switches, EXPANSE/HORIZON, and KEY/SC or delta monitoring. Click the active tab (or DRAWER CLOSED) to close the drawer.

---

2. The Core Macro Workflow

You can dial in 90% of Hyperbar’s character from the upper faceplate using six macro dials and the three band threshold bias faders (WEIGHT, BITE, SIZZLE):

Control	Location & Range	Musical Role
SPEED	Bay 1 (0.73-18.4, 3.67 noon)	Scales attack and release ballistics across all 3 bands from 0.20x (SLOW, smooth leveling) through OTT (3.67) to 5.0x (FAST, rhythmic pump).
HEAT	Bay 1 (-18 to +18 dB, 0 dB noon)	Drives audio into the upward and downward thresholds (with automatic -0.25 dB/dB post-compander trim). Turn up to push deeper into Crush; turn down to let Lift dominate.
SQUEEZE	Bay 3 (0-200%, 100% noon)	Master upward and downward depth across all 3 bands (0-100% standard OTT scaling; 100-200% negative-ratio overpressure).
CONTOUR	Bay 3 (-100% to +100%, 0% noon)	Master ballistics tilt offsetting all 3 bands together: SMOOTH (-100%, dense sustain), OTT (0%), or PEAKY (+100%, transient snap).
BLEND	Bay 3 (0-100%, 100% default)	Parallel dry/wet mix (DRY to WET).
THRUST	Bay 3 (-18 to +18 dB, 0 dB noon)	Post-dynamics makeup gain feeding the output limiter stage.

---

3. The 11 Root Quick Starters: Cheat Sheet

Hyperbar ships with 11 starter presets in the root patch directory (plus 28 categorized presets across 7 folders, all tagged with Reason 13+ Browser .rsmeta metadata). Use this table to grab an immediate starting point:

Quick Patch Name	Best Source Material	Primary Sonic Character	Recommended BLEND
Quick - Modern HyperOTT Slam	Synths, Buses, Full Mix	Default flagship: 88.3 / 2495 Hz Studio crossovers, M/S domain, 50% Expanse, +1.5 dB Horizon, Sub Mono On	50-100%
Quick - Record Transfer (Classic OTT)	Synths, Dubstep Bass, FX	Tribute to the classic freeware OTT plugin: 88.3 / 2495 Hz, Scoop phase notch, Gritty sub, Wild floor, L/R domain	50-100%
Quick - Competent City (Original OTT)	Synth Leads, Plucks, Breaks	Tribute to the original DAW stock OTT preset: 88.3 / 2495 Hz, Studio flat phase, Clean sub, Smooth floor	50-100%
Quick - Vocal Glassy Air	Lead & Backing Vocals	24% Squeeze, fast 10.11 Speed, 200% High Lift (+1.8 dB Sizzle bias) for breathy air and controlled sibilance	35-100%
Quick - Bass & 808 Sub Lock	808s, Sub-Bass, Synth Bass	24% Squeeze, 161.2 Hz Sub Split, Clean anti-ripple detector, Sub Mono On for steady low-end weight	70-100%
Quick - Ambient Reverb Cloud	Plucks, Guitars, Reverb Sends	Slow 1.46 Speed, 76% Squeeze, Wild floor to sustain decaying reverb tails into pads	40-100%
Quick - Snare & Clap Shaper	Snares, Claps, Drum Hits	Fast 14.61 Speed, 84% Squeeze, Scoop mode, Mid/High Contour tilted toward Peaky (0.75) for hard transient crack	40-80%
Quick - Drum Bus Punch & Room	Drum Bus, Breakbeats	30% Squeeze, 2.54 Speed, Studio mode, Sub Mono On, Mid/High Contour tilted toward Peaky (0.75) for punch + room lift	50-100%
Quick - Dynamic HF Air Exciter	Dull Mixes, Overheads, Vocals	4062 Hz Air Split, Low/Mid depths at 0%, High Lift 200% / Crush 160% for self-de-essing top-end sheen	50-100%
Quick - EDM OTT Master Wall	Resampling, Neuro Bass, Leads	+1.8 dB Heat, 7.32 Speed, 100% Squeeze, Scoop / Gritty / Wild, Sub Mono On for heavy OTT wall	60-100%
Quick - Mix Bus Density Lift	Mix Bus, Stereo Master	10% Squeeze, 1.60 Speed, Studio / Clean / Smooth, Hard limiter for subtle low-level loudness lift	50-100%

---

4. The Calibration Drawer (Band Dynamics & Engine & Spatial)

Click the tabs along the bottom rail (DRAWER CLOSED, BAND DYNAMICS, ENGINE & SPATIAL) to switch the lower 4U bay between two calibration views. Your open tab is saved with your Reason song so browsing presets never collapses your view.

Tab 1: BAND DYNAMICS (Per-Band Precision)

Each band (LOW DYNAMICS for Sub, MID DYNAMICS for Body, HIGH DYNAMICS for Air) sits directly below its upper sight-glass meter, with SOLO and MUTE buttons plus five rotary trims:

• CRUSH (DOWNWARD, 0-200%): Downward compression depth above the upper threshold.
• DEADBAND (WINDOW, 0-48 dB): Width of the 1:1 unity-gain window between the upward and downward thresholds (7.0 dB Sub, 11.6 dB Body, 5.3 dB Air defaults).
• LIFT (UPWARD, 0-200%): Upward compression depth below the lower threshold (up to +36 dB boost).
• CONTOUR (SMOOTH/PEAKY, BALLISTICS): Skews the band’s attack-to-release ratio across a 9x span (0.33x-3.0x) around calibrated OTT time constants. Turn toward Smooth for faster attack and longer release, or toward Peaky for slower attack and faster release so transients punch through cleanly.
• GAIN (OUTPUT, -18 to +18 dB): Post-dynamics band makeup gain before the bands are summed.

Tab 2: ENGINE & SPATIAL (Crossovers, Character, Spatial & Monitoring)

1. Bay 1 (CROSSOVER & SUB ANCHOR):

   • SUB SPLIT (60-1200 Hz, default 88.3 Hz): Low/Mid Linkwitz-Riley crossover. Turning fully counter-clockwise (< 61 Hz) engages a true 0 Hz sub-bypass (Off) so BODY extends down to DC for 2-band processing.
   • AIR SPLIT (800-12000 Hz, default 2.5 kHz): Mid/High Linkwitz-Riley crossover.
   • SUB STEREO / SUB MONO: Pushbutton that folds Low-band audio and detector energy to mono before compression.

2. Bay 2 (CHARACTER & ENGINE ARCHITECTURE):

   Switch	Lower / Middle Position	Upper Position / Default
   X-OVER	STUDIO (Default, 0.000 dB flat sum)	SCOOP (Classic phase-comb notch)
   SUB DET	CLEAN (Default, 12 ms anti-ripple)	GRITTY (Instantaneous peak tracking)
   FLOOR	TIGHT (-55..-67 dBFS) / SMOOTH (Default, -62..-80)	WILD (-75..-95 dBFS room tail lift)
   LIMITER	OFF / SOFT (Default, -3.52 dBFS knee)	HARD (0.0 dBFS brickwall ceiling)
   DOMAIN	M/S (Default Mid/Side)	L/R (Left/Right stereo)

3. Bay 3 (SPATIAL SUITE):

   • EXPANSE (0-100%): Blends from a stereo-linked detector (0%) to independent dual-channel detectors (100%), dynamically widening room reverb and stereo chorus between center hits.
   • HORIZON (-12 to +12 dB): High-shelf width tilt (> 2.2 kHz) applied to the stereo Side channel (active in both M/S and L/R modes, with Low-band boost clamped ≤ 0 dB to keep sub-bass phase-solid).

4. Bay 4 (AUDITION & MONITOR):

   • SOURCE (KEY/SC | PROGRAM): Audition the post-Heat detector signal (KEY/SC, internal or external sidechain) vs. the processed PROGRAM output.
   • CHANNEL (SIDE | MID | NORMAL): Solo the stereo MID sum or SIDE difference channel.
   • MONITOR (LIFT+CRUSH | CRUSH | LIFT | NORMAL): Delta monitoring to hear only what upward lift, downward crush, or both are adding to or removing from your signal.

---

5. Reading the Sight-Glass Meters

Each of the three frequency bands (SUB, BODY, AIR) in Bay 2 pairs a three-track Sight-Glass Meter (IN, DYN, OUT from +6 to -60 dB) with a vertical threshold bias fader (WEIGHT, BITE, SIZZLE). Default thresholds are pink-noise-calibrated so all three bands react evenly on typical mixes:

• IN Track (Left): Real-time pre-dynamics band input levels (L/R or M/S).
• DYN Track (Center):
  • Amber CRUSH Bars (Descending from top): Active downward gain reduction clamping loud peaks (0 dB down to -24 dB, or -48 dB at 200%).
  • Cyan LIFT Bars (Ascending from bottom): Active upward boost pulling quiet details up (0 dB up to +36 dB).
• OUT Track (Right): Post-band output level showing where the compressed band sits inside the deadband window.

---

6. Three Quick Listening Demos

Demo 1: The “OTT Room Resuscitator” (Drums + Reverb Tail Extraction)

• Signal Path: [Beat Map] ──► [Kong Drum Designer] ──► [RV7000 MkII Reverb] ──► [Hyperbar]
• Setup:
  1. Load a dry acoustic or house kit in Kong followed by RV7000 MkII (Hall, 2.0 s decay, 20% wet).
  2. In Hyperbar, load Quick - Ambient Reverb Cloud or set SQUEEZE to 75%, HEAT to +3 dB, and SIZZLE to +4 dB.
  3. Sweep SPEED from 0.92 (SLOW) to 14.6 (FAST): at fast settings, room reflections pump rhythmically between snare hits; at slow settings, reverb tails hang as a smooth pad.
  4. Open ENGINE & SPATIAL and flip FLOOR between SMOOTH (pauses drop cleanly to silence) and WILD (room decay is pulled up by up to +36 dB between hits).

Demo 2: The “808 Sub-Sculptor” (Sub Mono, Clean vs. Gritty & True 0 Hz Bypass)

• Signal Path: [Bassline Generator] ──► [Monotone Bass Synthesizer] ──► [Hyperbar]
• Setup:
  1. Set Monotone to a long-decay C1 808 sub bass with 3% noise mixed in for top-end texture.
  2. Open ENGINE & SPATIAL in Hyperbar and toggle SUB DET: CLEAN keeps deep C1 sub notes smooth and weight-locked without waveform ripple; GRITTY tracks individual wave cycles for aggressive odd-harmonic growl.
  3. Click SUB MONO On to lock everything below SUB SPLIT to dead-center mono.
  4. Sweep SUB SPLIT from 400 Hz all the way counter-clockwise below 61 Hz (Off) to hear the transition into true 0 Hz 2-band mode.

Demo 3: Delta Audition & CONTOUR Shaping on Synths or Drums

• Setup:
  1. Run a drum loop or synth chord progression through Hyperbar with Quick - Modern HyperOTT Slam.
  2. Open ENGINE & SPATIAL and switch MONITOR in Bay 4 from NORMAL to LIFT (hear only the upward-extracted low-level detail) and CRUSH (hear only the clamped transient spikes).
  3. Switch back to NORMAL and sweep the main-panel CONTOUR dial from SMOOTH (-100%, thick, sustained wall of sound) to PEAKY (+100%, slower attack and faster release that lets drum and pluck attacks crack through cleanly).

---

7. Three Modular Patching Recipes

Recipe 1: Sub-Split Distortion (Using REM OUT / Remainder Out)

• Goal: Keep your sub-bass 100% clean and mono while sending Body + Air frequencies through external distortion (Scream 4 or Pulveriser) without needing a Spider Audio Splitter.
• Cabling:
  1. Patch your bass synth into Hyperbar’s MAIN IN (L/R).
  2. Patch Hyperbar’s SUB OUT (L/R) directly to Mixer Channel 1 (clean mono sub).
  3. Patch Hyperbar’s REM OUT (L/R) into Scream 4, and route Scream 4 to Mixer Channel 2. Because SUB OUT is patched, REM OUT automatically carries only Body + Air.

Recipe 2: Frequency-Selective Sidechain Ducking (With KEY/SC Audition)

• Goal: Duck only the Sub band of a bassline or pad when the kick hits, leaving Body and Air frequencies untouched.
• Cabling:
  1. Patch your kick drum into Hyperbar’s rear SC IN (L/R) (and use SC THRU to pass the kick to the rest of your rack).
  2. Open ENGINE & SPATIAL and click KEY/SC in Bay 4 to hear the sidechain detector signal and tune SUB SPLIT (88.3-180 Hz) around the kick fundamental. Switch back to PROGRAM.
  3. Open BAND DYNAMICS, set Sub LIFT to 0%, and turn up Sub CRUSH so each kick cleanly ducks only the sub band.

Recipe 3: 6x4 CV Telemetry Matrix Modulation

• Goal: Drive an external synth filter or effect from Hyperbar’s band-specific upward lift or Mid/Side energy.
• Cabling:
  1. Flip to the rear panel and locate the 6x4 CV DYNAMICS MATRIX (ENV, CRSH, LIFT, TRIG across SUB, BODY, AIR, MID, SIDE, ALL).
  2. Patch BODY LIFT into an external filter cutoff CV input so the filter blooms open as midrange notes decay, or patch SIDE ENV / MID ENV to modulate reverb decay from stereo width or center energy.

---

8. Pro Tips & Shortcuts

1. Snap to Default: Cmd/Ctrl + Click (or Alt/Option + Click) any knob or fader to snap it to its calibrated factory default (0.0 dB on HEAT, WEIGHT, BITE, SIZZLE, THRUST, GAIN, HORIZON; 3.67 on SPEED; 100% on SQUEEZE; 0% / 0.50 OTT on Master CONTOUR and per-band CONTOUR).
2. Stationary 1U / 4U Header: The top header bar (BYP / ON / OFF, HYPERBAR emblem, and Patch Browser) stays at identical coordinates when folding or unfolding the device, while the 1U strip gives you direct access to SPEED and HEAT on the left, 3-band mini sight-glasses in the center, and SQUEEZE, BLEND, CONTOUR, THRUST, and stereo OUT metering on the right.

---

🌐 Related Documentation

• Hyperbar Operation Manual & Studio Reference Guide: Full panel tour, mathematical transfer functions, 39-preset reference, and Remote/MIDI CC tables.
• Hyperbar Product Page & Specifications: Interactive 4U faceplate viewer, audio specs, and beta access.