Plug in for parallel compression in Cubase

[Rednose]

hello, I have a 15 song record i'm mixing this week.
I would like to try parallel compression on the bass guitar using the kick drum as the trigger.
what plugins do this in Cubase SX? I saw a thread on it a while back but could not find it.
Any tips on how to do this ITB would be greatly appreciated.

[pkautzsch]

In my TC Native Bundle, I have a "SideChainer" which can be fed into e.g. the "Compressor DeEsser".

[pingu]

psp mastercomp does this well.

Has a mix knob for instant parallel compression.

[kittonian]

Create an FX channel and send the original track to that FX channel at 0 pre-fader. Insert a compressor on the FX channel. Blend together. That's parallel compression. When you push the original channel's fader you are sending a hotter signal to the compressor (and of course the opposite is also true).

[Kiwiburger]

You may be confusing parallel compression with side chain compression. They are two differnent things - and you could even apply both ideas at once.

Parallel compression is when you mult the track and mix a compressed version of the track with the uncompressed track. The idea is to add some beef to the sound, without losing the transients of the original track. The big thing in a DAW is to avoid phase shifts caused by plugin latency, or within the plugin algorithmn itself.

You could use a compressor in an Effect group, and use Send and Return to apply the compressed sound to the original sound. Or, you can clone the track and apply the compressor as an Insert effect. In either case - listen for phase shifts, and compensate with track shifting or delays.

If your plugin compressor has a Mix control, that's the easiest/best way to apply parallel compression.

Side chain compression is a problem in Cubase because I don't think the VST format really allows for it. There are several plugins that have work-around solutions - so you have to read the manual in each case. Some use multi channel formats to get both audio streams into the plugin.

If you are dealing with two mono sources - like a mono bass and a mono kick - you can work around this with a stereo linked compressor of your choice. Just route the bass and kick to the Left and Right channels of a stereo track. (There are several ways to do this - Export Audio of a panned mix of the two solo'd tracks being one).

Say you want to duck the bass with the kick - set up the kick side to be louder than the bass, so it triggers the compressor. Enable the stereo link, and this means the bass gets ducked with each kick. Simply use the bass side of this stereo track, and don't use the kick. The Surround mixer plugin in Cubase is ideal for extracting out just the bass and panning it back into the centre.

[keiffer]

look for a plugin that supports single channel SC processing. send the Bass to one side (Right) and the Kick to the other (Left and SC input). then only use the Right channel (Bass) out.

Voxengo's Crunchessor supports this.

[Rednose]

Thanks, I'll look into those.
I've heard of them and most of the plugins aren't that much $, cool~!
You could be right, I may be confusing Parallel compression with Side Chaining for what I want to do.
I want to feed the the kick drum into the bass compressor.
Every time the kick drum hits, I would like the bass compressed (lesser volume).
I'll try a few things.
I saw a thread in gearslutz and there was a video of a plugin that did this.
I don't think it was one that was listed yet.
They also called it parallel compression.
Thanks for the tips on parallel compression in the FX send.
What difference does it make on the overall drum set?
I ussually just send the OH to a group and use the UAD LA2.
Thanks for your time,
Matt

[Kiwiburger]

I would call it Ducking the bass with a kick, but as it requires a compressor with a sidechain input, it's also called sidechaining.

I think we've aleady answered your question. You can either get a VST compressor that offers some form of eternal sidechaining (like Crunchessor) or use my stereo-link trick. That allows you a wider choice of compressors - maybe you have one you like the sound of.

(I've found a lot of VST compressors talk about a side chain, but they only mean that you can eq the sidechain. They don't let you choose another audio stream to be the side chain. Can be useful, but not what you are looking for)

With my stereo-linked trick - it's useful to remember that you have practically unlimited headroom in a DAW. Let's say you have the Bass panned Left, and the Kick panned Right. You can crank the kick to be way over 0dBFS if required with no problems. That allows you to adjust the compressor threshold so it only responds to the kick, and not the bass. You aren't going to hear the kick - you are only using it as the virtual sidechain. It's the stereo-link that forces the compressor to duck the bass.


Parallel compression is a way of getting some of benefits of compression, without killing all your transients. Usually you use a really smashed setting on your compressor, and mix this in with the original track. But it can be a problem with DAWs, especially if you don't have full plugin delay compensation.

[Rednose]

Thanks Kiwiburger! Doesnt CUbase SX 3 have full PDC? I also think your correct about the sidechain in most VST plugins just do frequencies, and are not able to take another wav file as a trigger.
I think what I want is "ducking",
I'll keep on researching it, thankS!
Matt

[Led]

Sx3 has auto delay compensation on everything except fx sends.
Sidekick is a VST one by twisted lemon. You can key any track with any other track (up to 4 sources) and you have a choice of ducking or gating. I believe Voxengo make one that has a sidechain also, but sidedkick is workable.
Go here :

http://www.twistedlemon.nl/site/inde...d=19&Itemid=32

Enjoy.
If you like it send them a little something.

Peace.

[andredb]

Originally Posted by Led

Sx3 has auto delay compensation on everything except fx sends.

Not correct

[Naren]

Originally Posted by Rednose

Thanks Kiwiburger! Doesnt CUbase SX 3 have full PDC? I also think your correct about the sidechain in most VST plugins just do frequencies, and are not able to take another wav file as a trigger.
I think what I want is "ducking",
I'll keep on researching it, thankS!
Matt

I was visiting the WaveArts website the other day. One of the developers said that VST was just not set up to link DAW channels (in this case as a sidechain source) whereas TDM and RTAS were.

So there are workarounds where you put two plugs on the two relevant channels and then link those two plugs to achieve the same result. Sidekick (mentioned in this thread) seems like a great solution, too.

-Naren

[Rednose]

Thanks again, here is the link for the video tutorial.
i finally found it!
http://otiumfx.com/compadre.php

I purcahsed the plugin and was able to get it working.
Man, its VERY complicated to get a sidechain in Cubase.
Hopefully they will fix this soon.
It seems to do what I want it to do.
It brings out both the kick and bass, great!