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Hi I am the super excited new owner of a PA4X and for the most part i love it, it is very powerful.

I can't find a way to sidechain compress my pads to the kick which is a must for any dance style. By sidechain compress I mean the ducking/volume lowering of the pads every time e.g. the kick plays. I have tried to add TEMPO as a modulation source to the compressor, that didnt work or if i could use a tremolo synced to the beat with a half bar offset that would work too.

I noticed in one of the styles they tried to do it by playing the notes on the offbeat with a slow attack but that just sounds cheap.

Has anyone managed to do something like sidechain compression?

You might try pasting in some controller data (expression and filter cutoff might be best) to the pad track drawn in a DAW to the kick pattern.

Off the top of my head, I can’t remember if a multipad could be setup with just this data in it on the same channel as the pad. But if it can be done, that might give you some options depending on kick pattern.

Korghelper wrote:You might try pasting in some controller data (expression and filter cutoff might be best) to the pad track drawn in a DAW to the kick pattern.

Off the top of my head, I can’t remember if a multipad could be setup with just this data in it on the same channel as the pad. But if it can be done, that might give you some options depending on kick pattern.

Hi Korghelper thanks for replying I've only had my keyboard for a week so still learning the lingo (I spent many years using Logic and not everything translates).

So I'm in my style.. My pad is in ACC4 and plays on 1st beat for 4 beats and sits there lifeless. I think what you saying is if e.g. My kick plays four hits on the downbeat I select my pad track, events edit, and insert a midi event for say the expression controller (which one is it?). And then would I make that the modulation source for a compressor or limiter fx?

Sorry if I'm being thick! Thanks

Korghelper wrote:You might try pasting in some controller data (expression and filter cutoff might be best) to the pad track drawn in a DAW to the kick pattern.

Off the top of my head, I can’t remember if a multipad could be setup with just this data in it on the same channel as the pad. But if it can be done, that might give you some options depending on kick pattern.

Hi Korghelper thanks for replying I've only had my keyboard for a week so still learning the lingo (I spent many years using Logic and not everything translates).

So I'm in my style.. My pad is in ACC4 and plays on 1st beat for 4 beats and sits there lifeless. I think what you saying is if e.g. My kick plays four hits on the downbeat I select my pad track, events edit, and insert a midi event for say the expression controller (which one is it?). And then would I make that the modulation source for a compressor or limiter fx?

Sorry if I'm being thick! Thanks

You would actually have to ‘draw’ a ramp in the expression controller lane (I think most DAW’s can generate ramps nowadays) on the beats of your kick pattern using CC11 (expression) and then import the SMF of that data to the style. It’s not really one event, it’s a bunch of them. The idea is that, instead of using an actual compressor, you simply emulate the volume changes that a sidechain compressor would do.

An alternative that you could do inside the arranger is use an expression pedal on the pad track, and overdub you ‘pumping’ the pedal in time with the kick. If you slow the tempo WAY down, you might get enough control that it isn’t that hard to pull off.

in the new style packs recently released there is a style that i think is called everything pop where korg programmed the PIANO track to pump as if it were running through sc compressor or kickstart plug in. they did this by using cc11 (expression). you could either copy that track into your style and delete the note data and put in your own .

however i think that the pump is not on every quarter note so you could also import that style into your daw and copy their expression data to put the pump where you need it, then delete the note data. after that import just the cc data and play your notes on top of it.

OR KORG CAN GIVE US A SC COMPRESSOR OR KICKSTART TYPE EFFECT PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!! ITS 2020 !!!

sorry. i needed to vent.

welcome to the forum

Mordechai

Hey guys thanks all the replies and help, I managed to get it done in the way you guys suggested I think I created midi events for all the downbeats and put them as modulation source on the limiter then sent a bunch of tracks through the limiter and actually it works.

It makes such a huge difference to the sound helping increase perceived loudness and making it sound much more pro.

I agree that not having sidechain compression a big miss for this workstation which can do almost anything (oh a little fm synth would have been great too ).

mordechai wrote: .. KORG CAN GIVE US A SC COMPRESSOR OR KICKSTART TYPE EFFECT PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!! ITS 2020 !!! .. sorry. i needed to vent ..

Using gate effects of Pa-series are unique sidechain effects that has no competition on other arrangers. These effects mutes the input signal when it falls below a specified level and can also invert the on/off status of the gate, or use note-on/off messages to turn the gate on/off directly.

With Pa-Style-tracks it seems not to be necessary to insert additional cc#11 events, because each backgrounds tracks (or realtime tracks) events can be selected for triggering sidechain effects.

*

ymsldn wrote:... not having sidechain compression a big miss ..

Just have to use effects like "Gate" (of Pa1-Series, later Series call it "StereoGate", "DynStereoGate" etc) - that is a good solution since 20 years.
With its parameters it is much better than most plug ins that use timing options that are not linked to any type of trigger and simple use denominations of eighth, quarter, half, or whole notes for the sidechain to be applied on.

With StereoGate first or each Note-on or/and Note-Off of selected modulation tracks can be used for gating/triggering and at will the effect will remain short/long varied additional with sustain pedal.

How to apply: with Pa-Serie select effect (Gate, Stereo Gate, dyn Stereo Gate ..) for your track; select a ModulationTrack for trigger; select trigger (D-mod , L/R-Mix , Gate2) or use input signal for trigger; select gating parameters (threshold, polarity, attack, release, delay time) and use equalizing and/or monitoring trigger signal if necessary. For balance wet/dry do not forget to use a rather wet signal or set "Src" and "Amt" to modulate effect signals balance.

To see how to realize sidechaining - like ducking a pad-track - it is recommended to check out the link above from KorgPaEnthusiast (sidechain with Pa700).

Set a fader to expression and record it at slower tempo with resolution set to high. Expression is CC11. Another way is to use the stereo compressor and set the output control to the - of what you set the output level to like -50 if +50 and then set the mod track to the track that has the kick and put the side chained tracks on wet but the attack time will be too long to change back and forth between beats. You could also use CC74/cutoff and use the first method i posted. Or just shift the attack time enough to create the same effect but that will apply to the channel as a whole and be the same on every variation. You could draw the expression in a DAW also