Ducking and processing of sound (ADVANCED)

[JoGi]

Hello all,

I have been searching, trying and failing for sevral weeks now trying to find a software that can do the following:

In real-time do ducking between music and mic inside my computer without any external hardware.

I have 1 Soundblaster Live and another motherboard soundcard.

I use PCDJ red to play music deck A plays on the rear speakers on my SB Live and deck B plays in my rear speakers on my SB live.
Rear and front channel on my SB LIve is connected to a external DJ mixer.

The external mixer output is connected to my 2:nd soundcard (line-in) that will have Winamp with shoutcast connection.

A microphone is connected to either the Mixer (then the mic will be mixed with the output stram from the external hardware mixer) or connected to the 2:nd soundcard.

So far everything is good....

But I wan't to go a step further and implement "ducking" and/or "gain" and/or "compresson" to my Microphone.

There are software avalible on the market that can do this.. But what I have found not in real time.

A possiblity of a theoretical solution is that the software should monitor the Mic input on the 2:nd soundcard and compared to the signal do ducking on the SB Live! output.

Another possiblity is that a software will monitor the Mic input on the 2:nd soundcard and do ducking on the line-in on the same soundcard.

I have also a 2:nd computer with a souncard that can be connected to only take care of the processing of the sound as above or take care of the shoutcast broadcasting.

This IS possible if I have the right software that can do any of the above described theoretical ideas.

The question is if a software is avalible that can do the above feature?

Please help me figure out a way to solve this.

Regards,
~JoGi

[thejester]

I use PietroPro's RockSteady 2.1 (http://piettropro.cjb.net/). It's a software limitor/compressor plug-in for Winamp. I'm not sure how plug-ins are implemented in PCDJ, or if there's something equivelant.

For true hardware ducking, though, you'll have to go to an external limiter like the dbx 1066. BSW has a decent price here: http://www.bswonline.com/public/prod_item.asp?item=1066

-- Jes'

[JoGi]

Thanks for the reply...

But that did not get me any futher in solving my problem..
Because I don't acctually play any songs with WinAmp the DSP plugins for winamp never will be activated..
They only work on the songs played WITH winamp...
That's to bad for me... =(

And I have been looking for a good hardware ducker...
I'm giving up trying to find a software that can fix this..

Thanks anyway for the reply...

[DJ AmPs]

There is no software for what you need. You will have to use an actual compressor/limiter in sidechain mode to allow ducking the same way real radio does it. You can use an Alesis unit (i forgot the actual model number, its not in front of me now) for $100 or less. Since you have everything in analog already, why not just do it the right way?

-amps

[JoGi]

I tried to save some money for the moment with a software based solution with the hardware setup I got.
I guess I need a mic.preamp to get that to work with a hardware solution...
Or I might solve that with conneting my Mic. to the 2:nd computers soundcard...

Anyway... WHat is the correct title for the ducking function?
Is it called "Gate" ?

[DJ AmPs]

it's called ducking... the sidechain input of the limiter must be utilized to allow this. it is explained very well in the manual of my Alesis.

-amps

[JoGi]

Ahh, I see..

Have been looking around a few weeks for hardware like this and I haven't really found anyone that says it got "Ducking" as a feature.

Yes, and the price should be around $100...
But that is in Swedish money (often a bit more expensive in SEK than in $)...

It would be great if you have a few brands and models that have ducking as a feature. And are in the lower price regions.

May thanks for the help so far...

~JoGi

[DJ AmPs]

Ducking is not usually listed as a feature, because it is kind of a studio slang. If the unit has a sidechain jack you can do it.

The sidechain feature can also be used with an equalizer for other stuff like "de-essing"... and countless other stuff, which is why they don't specify every possibility.

The limiter I sometimes use is an Alesis 3630 which is very cheap with excellent sound quality and features.

http://www.crmav.com/recording/65/3630_compressor.shtml

note: they actually mention ducking capability on this link =)

-amps

[JoGi]

Yeah, that what I thought...

Don't see ducking as a feature on the units that has all the other goodies.

I found another one that has the Ducking feature for a better (!?!?) price than then the link you posted:
http://www.alesis.com/products/nanocompressor/index.html
That is around $100.
Found a used one for $90 (900 SEK) and I'm thinking of getting that one.
Doing some economical analysis now.. =)