Thank you for this awesome synth platform, it really is a game changer for my creative endeavours! I’ve been using Zynthian to try to make EDM for a couple of weeks now, but my knowledge of mixing is very limited. I’m also a bit of an idiot when reading and trying to comprehend the wiki and applying what I read to this. So here goes, let’s say I have:
DrumSynth on mixer strip 1, midi channel one. I use this for bass drum only.
Helm on mixer strip 2, midi channel two. I use a synth bass preset.
I want the synth bass on 2 to “duck” (lower volume) when the bass drum on 1 hits.
How do I set this up, and with what? I guess I could use Calf SideChain Compressor, but how?
I would prefer if you could walk me through it in as much detail as possible since I am very new to the platform and have a bit of a hard time finding my way around yet, with all the types of presses and sub-menus. I still inch my way around and discover new things every day!
I saw the old topic “Sidechaining without MOD-UI” but all it said is that it will be available in the future, but not how to do it I also saw some other topics that explained the process, but not the actual button presses you need to accomplish it. I’m sadly on that n00b level that I can’t make sense of that kind of information.
Thank you so very much in advance, this would really help me! Promise to post a as soon as I get that ducking working.
I haven’t done it, but I think it’s just a case of routing the audio out of synth (like geonkick) to the audio in of an effect that supports ducking. Have you looked at the documentation wiki for creating chains and audio routing?
Hi @destitute! A very warm welcome to the zynthiverse and what a great first question! This isn’t, “I can’t get this working” or “how do I do something that is already covered in docs or forum posts”. This is a workflow that few have used but many should…
So, the first thing to say is that the ability to sidechain is a relatively new development and has had little testing and isn’t well documented. (Maybe this topic can spawn some docs…)
Below is the workflow that should work, however there is a bug which is stopping sidechain inputs from appearing in the audio output routing list. I will investigate and let you know when it is fixed.
Add a drum chain to act as the trigger.
Add a synth chain (to be ducked).
Bold SELECT the synth chain and select, “Add Pre-fader Audio-FX”.
Use encoder 3 to select the “Dynamics” category and select a compressor with sidechain, e.g. “Calf Sidechain Compressor”.
Select the preferred preset.
Bold SELECT the drum chain and select, “Audio Out” to show the chain’s audio output routing.
(I disabled routing to Main mixbus to hear the effect without the actual drum, but that was just for test.)
You should see the sidechain inputs in the list. Enable the connection from drum chain to synth chain’s compressor’s sidechain inputs.
Adjust parameters on compressor for desired effect… I will leave that for you to figure out as it is an artistic, rather than technical challenge.
And under Audio out on the drum track (Instrument chain) I still cannot see the sidechain input on the synth track. Have I updated to the right version(s)?
However, if I create an audio chain and add the sidechain compressor there, I can see the input under Audio out on the drum track.
Do I need to create some other sort of chain to get it to work?
No, a sidechain compressor inserted into an instrument chain should present its sidechain inputs. Did you add the sidechain compressor to the synth chain?
I did not do a point release so the fix is only in the development & testing branch (vangelis) and staging branch (oram) but not in oram stable. You can move to staging by:
Navigate webconf to SOFTWARE->Version.
Select “Staging (Oram)”.
Click “Save”.
Navigate to SOFTWARE->Update (there should be a link to this after the previous save).
Click “Update Software”.
Wait for update to complete (Restarting zynthian service... Restarting zynthian-webconf service...)
This screen grab shows what the audio output routing page looks like. Note the funny arrows that prefix sidechain destinations.
Yay! You sir, are the real MVP! Worked like a charm! The Zynthian community is happy and fortunate to have you.
So, sidechaining Noize mak3r BS Sub bass and ZynAddSubFX Strings Pad1 to DrumSynth bass drum sounds like this:
The settings for ctrls#1-5 in Zynthian UI does not match to the GUI settings in Calf Sidechain Compressor, but these were the settings I used for at least one of these synths:
NOTE: The settings for the calf compressor is located below the Synth settings, you reach them by short pressing on the mixer strip and use arrow keys to step down to the heading “Calf Sidechain Compressor”.
Thank you for all the help and the quick bugfix! This will be awesome!
The wrong units / scale of values is tricky. Calf uses arbitrary scales which are not indicated in the LV2 (plugin format) configuration (ttl) file. The GUI has device specific code which knows how to scale the values. Zynthian does its best to display values correctly and we often modify the ttl to improve this but I am not sure what we can do with this one.
While the discrepancy is a bit annoying as it is hard to interpret if you’re used to the calf gui or other compressors, i think that it is not seriously bad in the short term if you just have a starting point for what you want to achieve.
That’s why I included my settings for this specific case, to help others wanting to do the same thing. Once you get a working sidechain you can always tweak it to your liking
I also saw some other topics that explained the process, but not the actual button presses you need to accomplish it. I’m sadly on that n00b level that I can’t make sense of that kind of information.
as soon as I get that ducking working.
I updated Oram to this:
