EHX Attack Decay = Sidechain Ducking!

[@caldruery]

incredibly creative stuff here, props for playing the bass notes with the melody simultaneously as a technique adaptive to the setup

[@GreenhamGuitar]

Thank you! That means a lot! The truth is that it's easier to crab pick like a fingerstyle guitarist than it is to strum normally when you are trying to hit drum triggers, etc. So that's how my ADHD gets its dopamine these days 😅

[@caldruery]

@@GreenhamGuitar I know that’s harder than it looks, I’ve just been using and envelope into a fuzz for a synth type sound to send samples to a friend for 90s jungle style tracks and never conceived a one man guitar based DnB setup until I saw this, so sick.

[@TheMakingofChannel]

I Like that! Only downside for synth users is that it’s only mono. That’s a bummer, but you still could get 2 of them and pay less than what you pay for the pill in stereo. But I bought it. It goes infront of my reverb/stereo delay effect which spreads the signal again.

[@craigwood8862]

That’s cool

[@lgrcallum]

I do wish more people in the guitar effects world showed side-chaining more often. The Pill Pedal does a similar thing although it’s purely dedicated to this side-chained ducking effect - and is stereo so can go at the end of chain if you’re running stereo reverb/delay for your synth guitar sounds. I’ve seen a lot of demonstrations using it purely to duck guitars with the vocal signal for live performances though. Very cool that it’s possible with the Attack Decay though

[@GreenhamGuitar]

I feel the same way! Glad to get more sidechain out there! I also simply wish there were more pedals designed with this in mind... and even when you do get a decent sidechain pedal like The Pill, Malekko's Sneak Attack, Rainger FX Deep Space Pulsar or even my Empress Compressor, they don't realise it would be used in context with other sounds, so a dry through or a send and return for the effects you want to duck around your main signal would be necessary. You ending up needing three parallel audio paths mixed together later, like I have in this video. I really wanted the Pill Pedal, but at its price point (plus shipping), I would rather get a pedal that doubles as something else, like the Empress or the Attack Decay, but I'm not doing anything in stereo, so I have that luxury. This Attack Decay has just continued to amaze me... Thanks for the comment!

[@lgrcallum]

@@GreenhamGuitar I have been curious if something similar can be achieved with the KMA Guardian of the Wurm. Even though obviously it’s supposed to be a HM-2, it’s got an independent noise gate that can be triggered by a separate input as opposed to just closing the noise gate when there isn’t sound input by the guitar (I assume this was designed so you can hook it up to a kick drum for that kind of staccato chugging from that genre), I just don’t know how fast it can do that or if it would ever be as good as the attack decay - and again decently pricey. But it has a send/return loop that is separate to the dedicated trigger input. The input from the trigger has no audio out though, so your drums would need to be split before the pedal and summed back after, but I think that at least cuts one of the parallel audio paths and problems with doubling drum volume. After writing this I actually discovered KMA just make a dedicated noise gate now that I’ve never seen before, with all those features and a bit more control over the actual gate itself.

[@GreenhamGuitar]

@@lgrcallum Wow! That Guardian's a cool pedal! You know your stuff. I think it would only do the gated effects though, hey? No swells. But still, incredible. In fact, I have a real problem with making anything sound like Metal since I can't palm mute while I do percussion. It's not clear from this video, but my guitar has drum triggers in the scratchplate and neck, and I took what I learnt from my brief sojourn into percussive fingerstyle. It creates and takes away possibilities. Thanks for the suggestion! You actually can use the Attack Decay's "send" to send the drums out to the mixer as well, but there is a slight volume discrepancy because of how they worked the "blend" knob and I can't handle it. It just means that if you want no sidechain or gating, then leave the pedal on, but have the "attack" fully CCW and the "decay" fully CW. But either way, my little 9v mixer never gets a day off.

[@lgrcallum]

@@GreenhamGuitar oh interesting I didn’t realise that it’s more so a problem of the blend knob on the attack decay. That does make a lot more sense though. The attack decay is still probably the most versatile for this sound though given yeah it swells, and can cut the decay pretty smartly compared to other pedals. I saw pigtronix did something similar recently with their Gloamer but I haven’t checked it out enough to see if it can still get the more staccato stabs the attack decay can achieve. The drum triggers are really cool, especially given you can basically cover bass/synth, lead synth/guitar and drums just from your guitar.

[@craigwood8862]

I use a Drawmer DS201- rack mount - I drag it to electronic music gigs - it’s amazing.

[@shoseinen]

Wowm didnt think the Attack decay as a sidechain/ducking effect, very nice!

[@FFGG22E]

I think of mine as an extreme compressor

[@GreenhamGuitar]

Hey, you're right! I also got that vibe. I wish the Pico version had an external trigger like we achieved here by using the Send/Return, but I think only the Malekko Sneak Attack has that.

[@markv2360]

Is the drum machine passing audio through the output of the Attack Decay or is it only being used in the sidechain for pluck detection? In other words, are both audio signals being combined at the AD's output?

[@GreenhamGuitar]

Hi there! You can have both, but in my case, only the bass is coming out the AD's Output and this is because the Blend knob is fully CW. You can use the Blend to mix the drums from the Input and the bass from the Return together so they both come out the Output. I wanted to tame the swelling bass with the CS3, so I dimed the Blend for the bass only. You can have the drums come out the Send, but the Send volume level is boosted a little and that drives me insane, so I just use one of the other outputs on the TM-2 and mix everything back together further down the line with a little 4ch 9v mixer. Lots of options, either way!

[@markv2360]

Perfect! I was hoping to not have to combine the signals. Thanks for your help!

[@GreenhamGuitar]

@@markv2360 So glad to help! I actually prefer this method more than achieving the same thing with my Empress Compressor. Way more consistent and easy to refine. Good luck!

[@junkheadyamiken]

The day i own power is the day i exchange all this useless pRoDuCeRs with you!