Pulsating Pad

[sven hauck]

Was wondering if anyone had any cool techniques to create that pulsating pad sound? I use a compressor with a sidechain input, but sometimes that clamps down on the source material too much. I do like the capability of changing the bounce or rotation of the pad with the attack & release controls, but sometimes it is hard to hit the sweet spot that doesn't cause the track to lose energy.

[admin]

How about posting a little example of what you're trying to achieve?

[sven hauck]

Ok, uploaded.

[admin]

Ah ok good clip. I have a similar effect on a remix I just did for Groovecollection.

Are you making sure the release time on your compressor is a multiple of the tempo of your song?

For this type of pad I would be doing a lot of extra processing after the sidechain too. You could edit the wave to fine tune the action of the volume ramp, re compress it and effect it etc...

This gives me another idea for a tutorial taken from my remix referenced above

[sven hauck]

Ah, brilliant. Didn't know about the release time being a multiple of the tempo. About the editing, specific to the volume ramp, would you do that in a wave editor or can I use automation in the sequencer or host application to make that happen?

[admin]

I'd deffinatly use automation. In SX I'll often use the built in volume ramps for audio parts. Or then you can use the pencil to draw in more complex shapes.

In fact using automation can negate the need to even use sidechain. The only problem is its not quite as intuitive as with the sidechain method where you can tweak the paramters of a compressor which is a bit more fluid than trying to draw in automation nodes.