Sidechain compression in Live 4

[quincy]

Hey hey,

After reading something on the ableton forum i realised that i may be able to sidechain compress my tracks in Live.

So i have a sidechain compressor plugin (freeware, red thing, no idea where i found it!!) and i can use this as an insert on a track (like a bassline). i then have another track with kick drum line.

I can choose to route output from kick track to bass track, and select the sidechain input as the specific input to feed the audio to.

However, when i do this i then can't hear the kick sound, although it does seem to be side-chaining the bass.

If i switch on "monitor" on the bass track then i hear the kick but not the bass.

So how do i use the kick as a sidechain input, and yet still hear the kick track as normal? I'm a bit confused. No change there then

Cheers in advance

[TeeLangSun]

I wonder why side-chain compressors and other FX are not common in popular sequencers. As far as I know, only Orion and Logic have it. Reason 3 will have it when it's released. Are there any others? It seems to be a common enough practice that it would be supported in everything.

[quincy]

Come on people, someone must be able to help old quincy

I'll post loads of tracks afterwards i promise

[citizenchunk]

i believe that red plug that you're talking about requires 4 audio inputs in order to enable the sidechain input. (Vanilla Compressor works the same way.) i'm not sure if Live allows multichannel tracks, like Cubase and others do. it also might require support for VST v2.3.

there aren't that many sidechain compressors because, frankly, they are tricky to create. the VST spec is wonderful and all because it is open and it is standardized. but there isn't any specific protocol for sidechaining, so developers have to "fudge it." the most common way is by using multi-channel tracks. others have figured out ways of linking a separate, autonomous sidechain plugin to a compressor plugin; i believe that dB audioware did that. but it is very tricky and, as some have said, unreliable. (there's a lot of timing to be taken into account.)

on the other hand, it is very easy for a company like Propellerhead to create a sidechain compressor for Reason because it is a closed system. they designed it from the ground-up, so they could basically do whatever they wanted. if Logic has something similar to that, then it must be a similar situation. this is one of the compromises of open-standard: you sacrifice certain flexibility in favor of standardization.

anyway, i can't help you with the Live/red thingy combo. sorry.

== chunk