The bang is sent to the hot inlet, not the cold inlet. The bang triggers an output. Or you could say, the bang "calls the function". Certain inlets are cold on purpose so you can set values without triggering the calculation/output. In my example I'm showing an addition object. Imagine the two inlets as variables and the addition object as the function. Changing the hot variable calls the function and triggers and output. Changing the cold variable doesn't call the function. This is helpful because imagine my cold variable is rapidly changing which is common in audio land. I might not want to call the function thousands of times a second. Instead, the rate at which my hot variable changes determines how often the function outputs a new result. The way I'm using the TBI object in the example is like changing the sequence of code. Instead of calling the function and then changing one of the variables, I'm changing that variable first, then calling the function. It might seem inconvenient at first, but this is intentional and makes the addition object and other objects more versatile. A good example for why you can't and shouldn't be able to change inlets from cold to hot is the peak object. It has two inlets, one hot and one cold. The cold inlet sets the threshold. The hot inlet is compared to the cold inlet. If hot inlet is larger than cold inlet, cold inlet is set to the new value and that value is outputted. So we end up with an output of the largest number since the last time the threshold (cold inlet) was manually changed. How would this objects logic break from having 2 hot inlets? Well, as you know, when you change a hot variable it also calls the function. So manually changing the threshold would also trigger a comparison between the 2 inlets. If the other inlet is higher, my threshold will immediately be set to that. Effectively, I am now unable to reset the threshold! As for reading right to left, I'm not sure how to explain the logic behind that one haha! But you get used to it. Hope that makes sense and thanks for the interesting question.

@@Slynk Brilliantly explained! I completely understand and should always assume that whoever built the utility knew better than me haha. From the detail of your reply it's clear you have a passion for engineering and perhaps education too. You could excel in any of it! Thanks for taking the time :) ( PS: I purchased DuckBuddy2 and love it)

The main function of this new version is sidechaining, so I decided to make it as straightforward and concise as possible. Sorry. Just use duck buddy1 for gate

DB2 has ring modulation sidechain, custom shapes, handy scopes and you don't need as much lookahead. My old method still works but there's too much guessing involved.

It's USD$20 on Gumroad if you don't tip. Gumroad takes $2.88 in fees so I get USD$17.12. Then there is a currency conversion fee to CAD (not sure how much) and I get a shitty rate. My website sells in CAD and PayPal takes $1.08 in fees so I get CAD$18.92. Maybe I make a bit less on my website but it's pretty close I think.

The Smooth and Ramp controls are now built into the the lookahead control and automatically select the optimal ramp and smooth settings for the lookahead length you select. Removing the popout view streamlines the device. My goal was to make the GUI so good on the main device that you don't even need a larger view with more controls. I wanted all of the main controls to be visible and editable without having to tab to a different view or look at a popout view. Removing the popout view had the additional benefit of making the device much easier to develop haha! I did make a version with a fully functioning pop out view but I eventually scrapped it. It's just a laggy piece of shit. If you find any bugs in Duck Buddy 2, be sure to report them to me. I've had 2 other bugs reported to me which I've fixed within a few hours of receiving the report.

Ohhh you poor thing! Manually automating a utility? What is this? the stones ages? 🤣

​@@Slynk Hehehe. It's ok, I survive. In a way it's not so bad you know. I record my kick, so that I can look at the sample. Then I draw a curve on the utility gain based my recorded kick. In ableton you can make and edit curves pretty easily these days. Then I copy that curve over to every beat. You can also manually draw in any lookahead you'd wanna do... It is a bit archaic but it certainly works and offer a lot of control! But yea, I will get myself some DuckBuddy fo sure! By the way man I've been a fan of your videos and music for a looong time! You were my first guy really when I started getting into ableton. I remember watching your vocoder tutorial back in the days. That was really good stuff, blew my mind! I followed along with that vocoder video step by step copying what you did. Back then I found that very complex and hard to get my head around. I've come a long way, just released my second album. Thank you for your videos and plugins and music!

🙏

Rest in peace, the Rumpus Room 😭

Yeah. I dunno who's told every producer that multiband sidechain is needed because it's not. Lol

thanks!

if you watch the video at 4:39 you can see how you can use the shape and RM together. Otherwise, I'm not sure what you mean.

​@@Slynk I meant whether it would also be possible to edit the exact curve of RM?

I *might* add that feature back if enough people request it, but at the moment, my thought is that the main function of DB2 is sidechaining. And a gate/envelope mode doesn't really contribute to that main function, which is why I decided to remove it, in the interested of making DB2 as concise and simple as possible. So I think for the meantime, just continue using DB1 for gate/envelope mode.

Kinda. A MIDI trigger is required to start the gain reduction shape (obviously) but it's also needed to do the lookahead fade. The scope in snapshot mode is only updated for each MIDI trigger too. So technically you can use Duck Buddy 2 as just an RM sidechainer but you miss out on some stuff. I'm assuming you're asking this because you do your drums in audio and my advice to you is to stop that shit and learn how to use a drum rack LOL! Or check out Duck Call which converts audio into MIDI triggers. Also on my Gumroad for free.

yeah sorry, I'm kind of a mumbler.

@@Slynk ignore me. i'm in an agitative mood. great product. i will probably purchase when funds allow.

High praise from the Father of Funk himself. Thanks buddy :)

just put more than one duck buddy in a frequency split rack if you want to do multiband. If you know anything about phase inversion, you'd know that it doesn't matter if the phase is flipped or not, unless you're running a parallel signal without the same phase flip (which is just a dumb idea in general), it's going to sound perfectly fine.

Awesome thanks so much! I'll update the description when I get back to the studio.

​@Slynk happy to help, I appreciate all the tips and tricks

To learn more about frequency splitting and potential phase problems, you can watch the "Linear Phase Rant" from my Duck Buddy 1 Tips & Tricks video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGW1eGZmi5alfdU But in a nutshell, I recommend using EQ3's for frequency splitting. Changes in phase are not a problem unless you mix phase shifted and unphase shifted copies of the same signal in parallel. Hope that helps. And by the way, I don't really think multiband sidechaining is really all that useful. I've never used it in a song personally. I've tried it but I don't think it sounds good. I talked about this in my live stream today. Towards the end of the video I think.

It is possible to add that, yes. But, the primary function of Duck Buddy 2 is sidechaining. Adding a gate/envelope mode doesn't contribute to the primary function of DB2 and for that reason, I chose to omit that feature, in the interest of making DB2 more straight forward to use. DB1 still has Gate mode, so I'd recommend just using that.

what's underbelly?

@@Slynk underbelly is a producer and has a YT that goes by "you suck at producing". he often uses duck buddy when doing side chain.

Nope. You're wrong. You can't select a MIDI input from Kickstart2. If you have a MIDI channel that is creating audio, you can select the AUDIO portion of the channel only. Kickstart2 uses audio triggering in this way. Otherwise you have to send MIDI notes directly to the VST. Every compressor on the planet including the stock Ableton compressor uses audio triggers.

@@Slynk what's the benefit of using midi rather than audio triggering of the ducking? latency?

Ah my bad, just realized what caused the issue. If you rename the device with ctrl + r within a project, save and reload, it resets the lookahead values for some odd reason. It's a bit of shame since I like to rename my devices within my project to, let's say "Kick SC" for example haha, but it's not a big deal. Still hugely appreciate the update to og DB because the trigger misses were ANNOYING.

@@bleh6151 hmm that's strange. I wouldn't think renaming the device would affect anything. I think the way the lookahead is initialized in db1 could be improved. I'll look into it when I next have a chance.

Not true whatsoever. If I put a Pro Q in mega 300ms latency mode on my bassline before my duck buddy which is being triggered by MIDI, everything works correctly and is perfectly accurate. Why? My bassline channel reports the latency to Ableton and with Delay Compensation on, all other channels are compensated. So when I select the channel in duck buddy, I'm selecting something that has already been latency compensated. There is no PDC issues with Duck Buddy 1 or 2. And you would know this if you actually tested it yourself.

:)

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Just put three duck buddies in a frequency split rack.

@@Slynk bro, That's James Hype. I'm pretty sure if you add that feature and he endorses this device, you will sell a shit ton. Or, you could at least make that rack and add it as a bonus when you purchase.

@@Slynk Like @agmailuser5415 said! If one of the most skilled DJ's in the world replies to your product.... 👌

@@Slynk and adding polarity inversion technique does produce a clean result

might be worth checking out Invisible Band Splitter by EvanBerard

Thanks

Well good news, coz I updated duck buddy 1 as well.