Use Gate to react to a send and "chop up" a pad sound. Works with Sonitus Gate but not others?

[Salvatore Sorice]

Those more knowledgeable may find this to be an old trick, but it's new to me and sounds cool.

Only problem is that I can't replicate the effect with other Gates - only the built-in Sonitus Gate does it. Anyone know why?

Setup:
> Insert a drum loop, groove, etc. (but could be anything - bass, etc.)
> Insert a pad sound (ie, longer, sustained chords work well).
> Insert Sonitus Gate on the Pad track
> Insert a Send from the Drums to the Sonitus Gate
> Play around with the Gate settings so that the sidechain input from the drum track "chops up" the pad. Creates some interesting rhythmic effects.
    Also works well if you duplicate the drum Track, use it for the Send source, but set its output to None, so it only acts as a trigger on the Pad Track.

Have a listen to this example (Note: The Pad is just 4 sustained chords - I am NOT playing anything rhythmically on the keyboard).

Comments welcomed!

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 08:43 PM by Salvatore Sorice
Added graphic

[OutrageProductions]

Not all EFX have side chain inputs.

You may want to try a "trance gate"... Kilohearts has a freebie that is minimal but functional. 

Edited yesterday at 12:32 AM by OutrageProductions

[Salvatore Sorice]

Thanks @OutrageProductions! Kilohearts Trance Gate produces a similar result!

Just wish I understood what's going on under the hood and why I can't get other Gates (like Neutron 4 Gate) to produce similar results. 

[Amberwolf]

The other gates have to have a sidechain input.  If htey don't, you can't send another input to them (just wha'ts on the track or bus they're already on).  

not all gates have sidechain inputs.

 

If the ones you are using have a sidechain input, but it doesn't show up in the send list, maybe it has to be enabled in the plugin first?  Google's "AI" summary thingy (which we know is never wrong :lol: ) says:

How to use the sidechain
Select the Advanced panel by clicking the arrow on the right side of the band HUD 
Use the Sidechain controls to choose an internal or external input signal 
Select the type of sidechain input signal from the dropdown menu 
Set the sidechain source in Neutron 

Does that help? (or is it bogus?)

 

Of all the stuff I've got installed, I know the sonitus compressor and gate have sc inputs that show up as sends.    VC-64 does, as well. 

[Amberwolf]

Or is the issue not that it doesn't show up as a send, but that it just doesn't do the chopping? 

 

If the latter, I'd guess that whatever settings the sc input has for those not working as desired are not set (or don't allow) to a complete modulation of the gate, full on / off, or the attack is too fast or slow, or the release is too long or short (depending on what exactly isn't happening)

[Salvatore Sorice]

Thanks @Amberwolf  I’ll be at my PC later and will test again. It seems to be a setting issue, as the other gates I experimented with showed as side chain inputs.