How many of you 'sidechain' ?

Just curious ?

I sat down and worked out all the various ways of doing it in Cubase a while back, but haven't actually applied it to anything yet.

I'd probably just stick to automating the parts in the future anyway.

Hell **** no

I like it.

I do it a lot with my RNC.

Not absurdly, but I like a bit of a pumping feel.

sciguy wrote:Not absurdly, but I like a bit of a pumping feel.

Yeah, I hear that.


Coz, Cubase is one of the better DAWs for side-chaining whatever the boys over at Apple want to tell you about Logic's better integration. Ok, Pro Tools is still the DB in this regard, but you just cannot fault Cubase's options here ! I've just acquired version 6 on the cheap ( been using SX3 and Cubase 5 predominantly up until now - I just saw no reason to abandon them ).

I'm still using 6... I can't justify upgrading to version 7, so I'll probably wait for version 8.

Some styles benefit more from side chaining than others. It just seems more hassle that it's worth for the stuff I'm doing.

yes, on almost every beat

I use a trick with my compressor that emulates sidechaining without actually having to sidechain anything. I like how it forces everything into time with the drums a bit.

I do it a lot on hats, background noises and reverbs when producing techno, cos I like that pumpy swooshy feel. occasionally for drum n bass if I am doing some clinical work in the low end. Rarely in other genres, it's enough to manually automate a little dip in the volume in the few places where its required, or eq away any clashing frequencies.

waht do you mean about cubase having the best sidechaing? dont all daws pretty much do the same thing? whats so special about the cubase one?

i use logic to sidechain, and have also used protools, they are pretty identical imo.

when i do sidechain, i usually sidechain a sine wave to my kick drum to give it more low end, only recently have i been experimenting with ducking my bass to my kick so the frequencies dont clash.

Yes, Damien, they all side-chain and they do it well from what I gather form other platform users. I have fudged with older pro-tools rigs ( back when it required a small mortgage to own the bloody hardware to use it ) in a studio of a bud, who has now moved on to the software only version. He oft drops me a line or two via email talking about why he likes this or that aspect of it over Cubase and to a lessor extent Logic ( in truth, he's a bit of a gloater who likes to try and rub your face into the reality of my own tighter fianancial circumstances than his ... yeah, he's a bit of a tosser, but a likeable one either way ). I couldn't possibly comment on Logic today as I stopped using it at version 5 on Pc a looong time ago now ( loved it back then, it must be said ). Again, I have played with 9 Pro and it's still silky smooth and a joy to use ( when those ruckers at Apple get back to releasing a general Windows version ?!!! ) ....

I am Cubase indoctrinated, though and I have always found it, well, more logical than other DAWs I have used down the years. I still have 'Reason' sitting on my system and do rewire from time tio time.

Twisted Lemon's Sidekick had to be used in SX3, but with 5 it was a breeze and just very easy to use ... Guess I'm just a real Cubase lover

i see, yeah i think once you found a daw that you like, its best to just stick with that one, i personally hate protools and only use it when i have to, but thats rarely. i am pretty much exclusively logic nowadays.

@RNC owners, could you break down the process of using the sidechain input on your RNC please? do you do it without a patchbay? dont you have to have your beat mulittracked out to do it? i was playing with an RNC for a bit, but couldnt figure out how to sidechain effectively with only having an audio interface and not a patch bay.

damien907 wrote:i see, yeah i think once you found a daw that you like, its best to just stick with that one, i personally hate protools and only use it when i have to, but thats rarely. i am pretty much exclusively logic nowadays.

@RNC owners, could you break down the process of using the sidechain input on your RNC please? do you do it without a patchbay? dont you have to have your beat mulittracked out to do it? i was playing with an RNC for a bit, but couldnt figure out how to sidechain effectively with only having an audio interface and not a patch bay.

I've got it hooked up to my mixer, with one of the aux sends going to the sidechain.
The MPC's main output goes to the RNC input, and the RNC output back into another mixer channel.
Any external stuff I want to compress, I route into the mixer (mackie 1202vlz3) and mute/alt-34 it to the MPC's input, where I have input thru turned on.
Could be improved somehow, since right now everything goes thru the MPC in the signal path, which I might not always want, but it works fine.

Most of the time, I'll have my 1k's output 1 going into the mixer (not mute/alt-34'd) and I turn up the aux send for that channel to sidechain.