External side chaining

FabFilter Saturn 2 offers the possibility of feeding an external signal to its side chain, so that you can make it trigger on a different signal than the audio it is actually processing. Feeding a signal to a plug-in's side-chain inputs works slightly different in various hosts. This topic describes the procedure for some of the most popular hosts around: Pro Tools, Studio One, Ableton Live, Logic Pro and Cubase.

To explain how it works, we use a scenario with two tracks. The first one contains the audio that we want to process with Saturn 2, which we'll call the main track from now. The second track contains the audio that we want to route to Saturn 2's external side-chain input and use as trigger signal. We'll call this track the side chain track.

After setting up everything according to the instructions below for your host, any envelope generators or envelope followers that are set to trigger on the external side chain, will now respond to the side chain signal. You can check whether everything is routed correctly: play the audio, open an EG of EF interface and confirm it's set to trigger to the external side-chain. Then use the Audition button to listen to the side-chain signal.

Pro Tools

• Open Pro Tools and start a new empty session.
• Create two audio tracks that we'll use as main track and side chain track. Add audio files to both track.
• Open the Mix window to display the tracks with their Insert slots and Sends slots.
• In the first 'Sends' slot of the side chain track, choose 'Bus 1'. The track view for Bus 1 will open: set its level slider to 0.0 dB so the bus actually produces audio!
• In the first 'Inserts' slot of the main track, choose Harmonic > FabFilter Saturn 2.
• Open Saturn 2's interface and set up an envelope generator or envelope follower, triggered by the external side chain signal.
• Now, in the 'Key Input' menu of the plug-in interface (just above the FabFilter logo), choose bus > Bus 1 instead of the default 'no key input'. Now, the audio from the side chain track is routed to Saturn 2's external side chain input via Bus 1.

Studio One

• Open Studio One and choose 'Create a new song'.
• Add two audio tracks (via Track > Add Tracks...) that we'll use as main track and side chain track.
• Add audio files on both the main track and the side chain track. You can simply drag audio files from a Finder/Explorer window onto a track.
• Access the mix window via "Mix" in Studio One's bottom right corner.
• Insert FabFilter Saturn 2 on your main track via the '+' button next to the Insert tab.
• Open Saturn 2's interface and set up an envelope generator or envelope follower, triggered by the external side chain signal.
• On the side chain track, select Sends > Sidechains > FabFilter Saturn 2.

Ableton Live

• Open Ableton Live and start with an empty arrangement. We'll use Track 1 as the side chain track and Track 2 as the main track.
• From the folder menu's on at the left top of Ableton Live's interface, drag different audio clips to the first empty slots of Track 1 and Track 2.
• From the VST (or Audio Units) plug-in menu, also at the left top of Ableton Live's interface, drag FabFilter Saturn 2 onto Track 2, the main track.
• In the small device interface for Saturn 2 in the bottom Effects section, choose 'Track 1' from the 'Sidechain' drop down menu.
• Open Saturn 2's interface and set up an envelope generator or envelope follower, triggered by the external side chain signal.
• Note: In earlier versions of Ableton Live (< 10.1), setting up sidechaining worked differently, which is described here .

Logic Pro

• Open Logic Pro and create a new empty project via File > New...
• Add two audio tracks (via Track > New...) that we'll use as main track and side chain track.
• Add audio files on both the main track and the side chain track. You can simply drag audio files from a Finder/Explorer window onto a track.
• Select the main track and add Saturn 2 in the first Insert effect slot.
• Open Saturn 2's interface and set up an envelope generator or envelope follower, triggered by the external side chain signal.
• In the right top corner of the plug-in interface header, in the 'Side Chain' menu, choose the side chain track. Now, the signal from the side chain track is sent to FabFilter Saturn 2's external side-chain input.

Cubase

• Open Cubase and create a new empty project.
• Add two audio tracks that we'll use as main track and side chain track.
• Add audio files on both the main track and the side chain track. You can simply drag audio files from a Finder/Explorer window onto a track.
• Open the Mixer. In the main track, click on an empty insert slot and select the VST 3 version of FabFilter Saturn 2 in the Distortion menu (note the VST 3 icon which looks like ///).
• Open Saturn 2's interface and set up an envelope generator or envelope follower, triggered by the external side chain signal.
• In the plug-in header, click on the Activate Side-Chain button (right of the R/W buttons) to enable the external side chain in Cubase.
• At the top of the Mixer, set the output for the side chain track to the side-chain input of FabFilter Saturn 2.

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See Also
Input/output options