Sidechain gate to create stutter vocal effect

subal · Post by **subal** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:08 pm

Hi all,
I am fairly new to Live and am trying to create the stuttering vocal effect. I would like to send/sidechain a drum track (hi hat) to the input of the gate and have the gate effect (open and close on) a vocal track making it stutter. I looked at the manual pages 160-161 but can't figure out the difference between my situation and the vocoder example.

Thanks

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 7:05 pm

Not really an answer to your question, but if you just want rhythmic volume modulation, clip envelopes are amuch easier way to do it, IMO. Whenever i want to use drums to trigger the gating, i sometimes use a 20Hz sine wave to trigger the gate or compressor, then filter it out later. Not sure which Gate plugin you're using, but Live's Gate doesn't accept a sidechain input.
The stutter effect isn't from gating, though, but from fast repetition. A simple version would be to, in arranger view, take the first 32nd-note piece of the vocal and hit Duplicate a few times.

subal · Post by **subal** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:07 pm

Can you explain how to use clip envelopes for rhythmic volume modulation. Also Ive been reading that I could use MIDI to trigger gate on/off on a vocal. Do you have any idea how?

I don't want to Duplicate a slice to create a "stutter" I am trying to stutter the vocal as it plays. That make sense?

Thanks alot

ejectorset · Post by **ejectorset** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:00 pm

I know the effect you are after.
You would either need a gate plugin that accept sidechain audio (or midi date) to open/close the gate.

You can use volume clip envelopes in live 4 to do exactly this, even on a vocal that is coming into live in realtime from a microphone.

Check out clip envelopes and use the draw mode and the grid settings to get going and if you need more info about using it as an effect in realtime on an audio input let me know.

subal · Post by **subal** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 1:15 am

So to use MIDI as a Gate trigger I will need a Gate pluggin that will accept a sidechain input?

Any suggestions on the best Gate pluggin that will accept a sidechain input?

Thanks again

ejectorset · Post by **ejectorset** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 2:24 am

not sure if you are pc or mac, but I looked on kvr and there are some windows vst plugins that don't sidechain, but have their own pattern editor and tempo settings.

This one is free:
http://www.kvr-vst.com/get/1185.html

But seriously, unless you want some overly complex gating the clip envelopes in live should do the trick, you should check those out too.

ejectorset · Post by **ejectorset** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 2:27 am

on sedond thought:
http://www.kvr-vst.com/get/1058.html

that one looks to be exactly what you are after.

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 3:41 am

ahh...for realtime stuttering...
if you're on windows you might try ioplong's Sloper plugin... http://andreas.smartelectronix.com/index.php?nav=1
i haven't used it on realtime vocals, but with a little tweaking you could get something like you're looking for. Maybe map the Wet/Dry to a knob or key to turn it on/off.
If you want FX automation on a live input (including the rhythmic volume thing) there's a post in Tips&Tricks... search for "Using clip properties on live input".
If you want to use clip envelopes to stutter a pre-recorded sample...use Clip Volume if you want the stutter before any FX...use Mixer Volume if you want the stutter after the FX. If you just want simple 16th-note stutter, Unlink the length of the volume envelope and make it as short as you can and change the grid size to 32nd note. Leave the first 32nd note at 100% and the second at 0%, or 50%, whatever. This way you can turn the stutter on/off just by changing that second 32nd from 0 to 100 and back.
Hope this helps:)

ps. good call on the MIDI Gate plugin, ejectorset! i think i'll pick that one up too!

glueslabs · Post by **glueslabs** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 4:43 pm

a very simple MIDI gate is available from destroyFX:

http://destroyfx.smartelectronix.com/extras/index.html

ejectorset · Post by **ejectorset** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 5:12 pm

glueslabs, wow, thanks so much for posting that! I was really hoping to find one for OS X and I looked everywhere on smex except for the dfx extras page, never have found anything useful there before. sweet!

subal · Post by **subal** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 9:07 pm

Thanks alot you guys.

ethios4:
Unlink the length of the volume envelope and make it as short as you can and change the grid size to 32nd note. Leave the first 32nd note at 100% and the second at 0%, or 50%, whatever. This way you can turn the stutter on/off just by changing that second 32nd from 0 to 100 and back.

I tried this last night but was unable to change the clip envelope grid size smaller than 1/16. Do I need to "Unlink the length of the volume envelope and make it as short as I can" before I can make the grid 1/32 or 1/64?

ejectorset · Post by **ejectorset** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 9:18 pm

nope, just zoom in then you can use cmd+1 or ctrl+1 to make the grid smaller. if it only goes down to 1/16th zoom in further then you can get the grid as small as you like, 512th notes, or further just keep zooming in then cmd+1'ing.

Sidechain gate to create stutter vocal effect

Sidechain gate to create stutter vocal effect

clip envelopes?