Sidechain Ducking FX (Game Changer Idea)

Engine DJ Hardware Mixers
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1

I don’t have personally the X1850 but I could try it at a friend’s place. I said to myself that Denon could really bring a real novelty in FX which could change the game and make the difference with its competitors.

Let me explain,

I had fun on virtual dj to install a VST plugin that edm and electro music producers know well, which is Nicky Romero Kickstart. This plugin is generally used in the production to create a pumping effect on the instruments by making their volume drop quickly at the moment when the Kick hits, then the volume goes back up immediately afterwards following a curve selected among those available in the plugin. This plugin offers several curves as well as a dry/wet setting to adjust the intensity of the effect.

On Virtual DJ, once the plugin is loaded, you just have to activate it on the deck of your choice and as if by magic the kick disappears without having to touch the low frequencies. It’s a kick ducking !

By putting the plugin on both decks you just have to activate the plugin on one while cutting it on the other at the same time and you can have the kick of the song that is coming that blends perfectly into the song that is ending (the kick of this one disappears)

https://www.kickstart-plugin.com/img/kickstart-plugin-screenshot.png

For those who are interested and who have this plugin (but there are others that can also perform this function)

You can experiment in virtual dj with the following values :

Dry/wet : 66% (but 60 to 70% gives great effect too)

loop lenght 0.40

Preferred curves for the best effect: Quick chain, Free Punch, Classic chain, Nice & tight.

I think it’s a simple but formidable effect, it’s just a “volume shaper”. But if an effect like this could be implemented in hardware in a mixer like the x1850 most DJs would use it, including the big names in DJing. The creative possibilities are so wide in combination with the pads (loop, roll, slicers) and the mixes are clean and incredible because you don’t have any more kick conflicts between your tracks.

Do it Denon and make a difference before the competition does and you will kill the game

2

Do you mean that dreadful pumping effect like on Erik Prydz: Call on Me… Where everyone looks at you as though your speakers can’t handle the track.

If it’s free; why not

If you put your request on one of the proper feature request forms then I’ll vote for it

3

There is already an effect - pumper in the effects list on X1800/1850. It is almost at the end of the list.

4

I’m with you on that one!

That kind of pumping was always frowned upon in production circles as something to avoid - if it’s happening then you’re using too much compression.

When I first heard Daft Punk’s One More Time I thought someone had recorded it badly through something with AGC enabled. It sounded awful to me.

It was only later than I realised it’s actually supposed to sound like that!

5

The pumping effect depends on the curve used and the intensity of the dry/wet dosage.

In the case of the mix a 66% dosage just gets rid of the kick as it hits. The settings allow you to adjust the effect subtly as you want

On some titles like call on me the effect was too strong. But I can assure you that this kind of effect is still used in any production nowadays just to make room for the kick attack and is completely transparent