El Gato Loco Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 Hi there. I'm currently trying to configure Cakewalk in order to Sidechain my external compressor. I've a Focusrite 18i20 and a DBX 266xs compressor. Has anyone tried this before? Any help will be greatly appreciated. TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Baay Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 Meaning you want to have a track/bus in CW drive the siechain input of your compressor while it processes some other track/bus? I have not tried it but it should be pretty straightforward if you have the spare I/O channels availalable on your interface. Use an External Insert in the FX bin to apply the compressor to the relevant track/bus and route the sidechain signal to it via a Send on the other track/bus to another output. Are you encountering some specific issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Gato Loco Posted August 18, 2022 Author Share Posted August 18, 2022 Hi David Quote Meaning you want to have a track/bus in CW drive the siechain input of your compressor while it processes some other track/bus? Yes that's the goal. In order to hear if this works, I'm setting up a "ducking" environment as it easier to hear if the sidechain works. HW SETUP COMPRESSOR I have the External dbx266x compressor INPUT ports connected to OUT port 5 and 6 of my interface The Outport ports ot the DBX compressor connected to input 5+6 of the interface. OUTPUT Port 8 of the interface is connected to the INSERT port of the Compressor. In CW Track 1 is an audio track with a song and I created an FX External Insert to the Compressor using ports 5+6 on this track Track 2 contains a recorded voice with some pauses in order to hear if it triggers the compressor on TRACK1 and release it when not talking. On track 2 I created a SEND to port 8 of the compressor Unfortunately, it doesn't work. NOTE: I'm able to have this working using my FocusRite just as a Mixer without using Cakewalk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Gato Loco Posted August 18, 2022 Author Share Posted August 18, 2022 I've reached out the dbx Support . Thx to their help we've found the unit is not working properly (it seems the VCA is not set properly) So I'm returing the unit and waiting for the new one to arrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Baay Posted August 18, 2022 Share Posted August 18, 2022 18 hours ago, El Gato Loco said: OUTPUT Port 8 of the interface is connected to the INSERT port of the Compressor. If the sidechain input jack is configured as an INSERT (i.e. input/send signal between TS and output/return between RS of a TRS plug), then you might need to be using one side of a 'Y' Insert cable to take the mono output from your interface to the input side (TS) of the Insert jack. If you're using a mono cable with TS plugs at both ends or a stereo/balanced cable with TRS at both ends that might be the problem. Did that come up in your discussion with dbx? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Gato Loco Posted August 18, 2022 Author Share Posted August 18, 2022 (edited) Hi there. Yes I tried with the Y cable too. At the end we went back trying basic setup. We realized that only channels 2 was actually working and I was trying the setup using stereo comping. In the scenario using only the interface, with no Daw in the equation, a mistaken wrong routing I made was actuality making it working, because at the end I was not able to repro the working environment. Dbx support is great and effective. I think it's a plus Edited August 18, 2022 by El Gato Loco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now