Can you side Chain in Ableton?

James Yuill · Post by **James Yuill** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:40 pm

Hello,
Can you side chain in ableton?
ie: send the signal of the bass drum to a compressor/limiter plug in on a separate channel
I've tried every which way and can't seem to find it.
Please help. If ableton can't do it...why? it's the most recognised dance music technique known to man
Word
James

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:43 pm

Not directly.

Do a quick forum search. It's been discussed extensively.

datapopstar · Post by **datapopstar** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:45 pm

yes, you can, but you need special plugins, with sidechain-input, like the wavearts trackplug5 (only au).
i know there are some free plugs if you are on windows, but i dont know the names.
this topic has been discussed many times on this forum, so maybe you can find it yourself using the search funktion?'

'

john gordon · Post by **john gordon** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:05 pm

something ableton should have added to their compressor a long time ago.it really is bullshit!!!!

fatrabbit · Post by **fatrabbit** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:18 pm

Try Teragon's DualComp - it's free.

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:44 pm

Here's a nice picture that explains how to use a sidechain compressor:

http://www.teragon.org/products/DualCom ... p-live.jpg

Also, check out Twisted Lemmon Sidekick. It works in any host that doesn't have the routing capabilities of Live.

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 9:43 pm

It has a "side chain" button on the compressor II - is that not the same thing? I don't really know what side chaining is tbh so I've not used that feature yet.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:23 pm

Okay: FOR THE RECORD:

Compressor II *can* do sidechaining with eq.

HOWEVER, what is commonly referred to as "sidechaining" is more accurately called:

*KEY INPUT*

I wish more devs would use that term, it's much more precise.

[/rant]

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 11:48 pm

Machinate wrote:Okay: FOR THE RECORD:

Compressor II *can* do sidechaining with eq.

HOWEVER, what is commonly referred to as "sidechaining" is more accurately called:

*KEY INPUT*

I wish more devs would use that term, it's much more precise.

[/rant]

No wonder I was confused. I come from using Logic and in Logic everything has sidechaining capabilities but it clearly means something else and not what the OP was asking for.

http://logicfaq.omega-art.com/html/faq22.htm

This seems closer to the implementation in Compresser II. On the other hand this Key Input "sidechaining" seems more like a form of gating using the audio as trigger - is that right?

D DAS · Post by **D DAS** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:55 am

here is a link to a few tutorials on sidechaining in live.

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27120

it is the sticky in the tips and tricks forum

dazzer · Post by **dazzer** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:23 am

OK, so the second linked tutorial explains it beatutifully.

But...is there a free app for OSX that can achieve this "gating" effect
apart from drawing in volume automation?

(I'm still on PPC)

datapopstar · Post by **datapopstar** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:35 am

no, not a free one, for my knowledge.

Casual Beats · Post by **Casual Beats** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 2:11 am

D DAS wrote:here is a link to a few tutorials on sidechaining in live.

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27120
it is the sticky in the tips and tricks forum

nice one. I hadn't checked that out in a while.
Some great info there!

Decepto · Post by **Decepto** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:52 pm

Also check here:

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=56303

Which basically points to here:
http://www.abletonguru.com/tutorial-sid ... mpression/