Sidechaining in Loopy Pro using Butter Synth, DigiStix 2, ChordBud2 and AudioScope
Sidechaining is an effect common in modern EDM music but what is it? Can you do it on the iPad?
What is sidechaining?
Sidechain is an effect that you have on one sound that is triggered by the level of another sound. The classic example is when you have a compressor on a bass track and you set it so it ducks the level of the bass whenever a kick drum hits.
Setting it up in AUM on the iPad
I love this little setup. Here we’ve started off with one audio sample, a gallery of screenshots and a second more elaborate audio clip. Have a listen to both and I’ll explain what is going on in each, the tools used and how it was setup.
The first audio sample we use the drums as the side chain effect but we mute the drums themselves. In the second, the drums are present and I adjust the threshold in the compression, which reveals a little more of the synth and then I drop it away a little bit. I also adjust the EQ on the drums to make them more present and crunchy towards the end of the recording.
Instruments, FX and other tools used
We’ve used a mixture of things here, some old and some new. I’ve listed them all below with the links to where you can get them from. I shall take a deeper look at them all in future issues of Modulations, so watch out for those.
Loopy Pro
Audioscope
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/audioscope/id6447353824
Butter Synth
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/buttersynth/id1497419006
DigiStix 2
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/digistix-2-auv3-plugin/id1573886932
Chordbud 2
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chordbud-2-auv3-midi-sequencer/id1526221230
I am going to start putting out some paid subscriber content soon, some articles are going to take a considerable amount of time to put together and with more samples to demonstrate synth features. I feel that I’ve got a lot more to give and that I really want to invest time in this.
