DP6 AU sidechain working?

XYZ · Post by **XYZ** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 12:34 pm

In pre-release documentation, DP6 was said to be able to more fully support the AU specification, to include side chaining.

Does anyone know of any AU compressors that are working with AU sidechain?

Tonio · Post by **Tonio** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 2:29 pm

I was just checking out Sonalksis http://www.sonalksis.com/index.php?section_id=315T

It has external sidechaining?? woah , gotta download this thing.

T

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 6:21 am

There are not many plugins that I know of which actually utilize side-chaining. One of them is DP's original old compressor. Waves plugins allow for it, but require you to split the channels of the audio file and all sorts of complications, but they work without real side-chaining enabled. I guess the Sonalksis is a good bet. I haven't seen it.

Shooshie

philbrown · Post by **philbrown** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 6:48 am

Shooshie wrote:There are not many plugins that I know of which actually utilize side-chaining. One of them is DP's original old compressor. Waves plugins allow for it, but require you to split the channels of the audio file and all sorts of complications, but they work without real side-chaining enabled. I guess the Sonalksis is a good bet. I haven't seen it.

Shooshie

Does it strike anyone else as odd (or maybe there's a technical reason) that sidechaining was implemented in the now-ancient Dynamics plug but not in the newer Masterworks plugs? Whenever I need a sidechain function I have to go for the Dynamics plug, and let's face it, it ain't the best sounding plug by today's standards. I've tried, but never figured out a workaround.

cheers
Phil

XYZ · Post by **XYZ** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:08 am

Looks like the dB audioware has the most flexibility and functionality. I was hoping that audio units would eventually allow any [most] compressors to expose their control signal such that I could buss a sidechain signal to any compressor. I was hoping to [for example] add in an emphasized sibiliant signal to an LA2A so that it would also de-ess, use a kick to duck a waves L2 on bass, etc. Oh well, maybe next revision of the AU spec.

XYZ · Post by **XYZ** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:17 am

philbrown,

Exactly! This is why I was excited when I heard the latest AU standard would allow side-chaining, and that DP6 was being brought up to the latest AU standard. What I did not think through is that the plugs have to also expose the side chain in order to be able to connect up to it. In hind sight, I probably wanted more processing on the side chain anyway [like wanting to compress and possibly expand, and EQ the sidechain heavily]. Still, it would be great to get the great sound of some of [for example] the UA compressors when needing a side chain vs the plain Jane MOTU dynamics plug.

X

burn em · Post by **burn em** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:28 am

Tonio wrote:I was just checking out Sonalksis http://www.sonalksis.com/index.php?section_id=315T

It has external sidechaining?? woah , gotta download this thing.

T

Indeed! Very good comp I use all the time.

Would be very stoked if I could finally use the sidechain!

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 8:54 am

burn em wrote:Indeed! Very good comp I use all the time.

Would be very stoked if I could finally use the sidechain!

Is that the SV-315 Mk2. I was looking at that the other day. Sounds like you like it. Please tell us more. What would you compare it to, soundwise? Have you had good experiences with Sonalksis as a company?...etc.

Phil

Tonio · Post by **Tonio** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:09 pm

It definately works in DP 6/leo on a MAC PRO quad 2.66 so far, no knob issues of any kind !!
30 day demo, no limitations.
I gave it a try. Very subtle but is capable of some character. I have't gotten to really get in with it to actually use the soft knee algo for a subtle compression, etc.
Seems really stable in DP6 and everything is layed out nice.

Would like to hear more from burn em

T

PrimeMover · Post by **PrimeMover** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:19 pm

I still use the old dynamics plug more than the masterworks compressor just because I'm not as comfortable doing single-band compression with the MW compressor. I know you can turn off the multi-bands (right?), but I'm not exactly sure how to do it. Call it habit... maybe even a bad habbit, but I still use the dynamics proceessor. Also, I'm guessing that the old plugin probably uses less CPU time.

Kubi · Post by **Kubi** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:48 pm

Phil O wrote:
burn em wrote:Indeed! Very good comp I use all the time.

Would be very stoked if I could finally use the sidechain!
Is that the SV-315 Mk2. I was looking at that the other day. Sounds like you like it. Please tell us more. What would you compare it to, soundwise? Have you had good experiences with Sonalksis as a company?...etc.

Phil

The Sonalksis Essentials Bundle is for my money the very, very best "work-horse" plug-in bundle there is. It's my first choice for track EQ and compressor, one of the very few software plugs where you can i.e. crank the high end some 6 or 9dB and not get punished by crappy graininess, and of all the ones I tried (and I've tried a whole lot!) it is in my experience the smoothest and most transparent compressor plug. The gate is also great, though the mono version forgets settings in DP5.13. Hoping that is fixed with the mo' better AU implementation in DP6.

You can use the whole bundle pretty much like analog hardware, and it sounds like clean, transparent (as opposed to thick and vibey) analog gear as well.

In comparison, the Waves Renaissance EQ and comp sound smallish and old-timey (though I use it often for that very purpose) and MW EQ sounds downright shrill (again, that's in comparison - MW EQ is not bad by any measure!) The Sony Oxford EQ and compressor sound colder and grainier in comparison as well, though there's a place for that. (I ended up only keeping the Sonnox Transient Designer.)

Sonalksis Essentials is not overtly 'vibey' (for that I use i.e. Abbey Road compressor or Abbey Road Brilliance pack) but rather clean, smooth and transparent. IMO it's the one set of EQ/Compressor/Gate that's positively indispensible - if I had to reduce my selection to a single set, Sonalksis would be it.

And they've been easy and straightforward to deal with, though I haven't had too much reason to.

Tonio · Post by **Tonio** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 3:47 pm

Thanks for that Kubi !
Have you tried the sidechain module on the 315?
I have'nt had a chance to tackle that yet.

T

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 4:47 pm

Thanks Kub.

philbrown · Post by **philbrown** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 6:54 pm

Ah the 315 - I really really like that one.
How to describe it...
Transparent yet not characterless.

EMRR · Post by **EMRR** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 7:24 pm

yes, but does the side chain work in DP6 now?