Side chain ??? still wondering.....

analyst · Post by **analyst** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 8:39 pm

ok. little question....

how sould i do compression with side chain for Bass line and base drum ???

i heard a lot that i can get better sound by side chain compression or somthing like that for base drum and bass line.

what is side chain ?????????????????

thanx

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: analyst on 2005-07-05 21:41 ]</font>

wayne · Post by **wayne** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 9:33 pm

Here,here,and here are some topics.

analyst · Post by **analyst** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 5:17 am

ok... but still..... can anyone tell how should i do it with cubase sx ???

i have no idea where to start ....

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 5:50 am

Try in SFP, much easier

You could use SC for anything, mostly on dynamic effects: gate, compressor, ducker, ... you can choose it's effect to be based on a second signal, that you can put on the sidechain.

If you search and read a bit here on z you will find the answer to your side chain issue, and you would learn people usually post tips here, not questions

analyst · Post by **analyst** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 6:08 pm

ok.. but i still like to know and to understand how to do it by cubase sx 2.

can anyone tell me how to do it ?

Post by **garyb** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 8:55 pm

first you have to have a plugin that allows a sidechain input. then you use it as that plugin works, dropdown menu, whatever. unless there is a specific plugin in mind, yes, this could be done much nicer in scope.

valis · Post by **valis** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 9:59 pm

Any plugin that allows sidechain in Cubase will have to implement it itself, it isn't a part of the vst spec so the audio is must be piped between the two by code created by the plugin developer... vst3 will supposedly solve this but for the time being sidechaining in Scope is definately easier.

Michu · Post by **Michu** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 3:18 am

To adress your most basic question,
sidechain is an input on a compressor (or other dynamic processor), that drives peak or rms detector responsible for controlling amount of compression.
Ie, every compressor has a sidechain, just in most of them it is not possible to access it, as it is hardwired to be fed with the same input as audio chain.
Now, in Scope, because of it's modular architecture, it is easy to do sidechaining, and most dynamic devices have such inputs,
but vst specs, while allowing plugins with more than 2 inputs, are not very good about interfacing such plugs with a host.
there are some vst plugins, that can be configured to use left input as audio in, and right as sidechain for example, but it is painfull workaround really. New slew of hosts that allow modular routing, like EnergyXT, Bidule,Audiomulch or Tracktion, and, as mentioned by Valis, new VST3 specifications should change it soon.

as for what sidechain is useful, 2 examples along of what you've asked about:
- if you put a compressor on a bass track and feed it's SC input with kick track, then you can compress bassline when kick crosses some treshold, so bass doesn't compete with kick for sonic space
- if you put a gate/expander on a bass track and feed it's SC input with kick track, then bass will be gated unless kick crosses certain treshold, which will make it very tight with kick. This trick can help with poor bass playing, like mine for example

I hope you've got even more confused

analyst · Post by **analyst** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 5:49 am

ok.. thanx guys...

i'll try it and i'll let you know....

pitju · Post by **pitju** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:58 pm

- 1 - Use TC Native Bunble

Exemple:

- One track with Kick, One track With Bass

- Create a Group Channel and assign kick and
bass to it

- Insert "Chain (1)" in the Kick Track

- Insert "Chain (")" in the Bass Track

- Insert Compressor in the Group Channel and
press "Key input"

Now tweak that compressor until you like the combination.

Sorry for Bad English and have a nice tracking....

Dan