Sonic Academy has launched SideKick, a volume shaper and spectral ducking plugin designed for sidechain-driven processing. The plugin combines drawable volume envelopes, spectral ducking, dual-band processing and sidechain ring modulation within a single interface.
SideKick is intended to help users shape the relationship between a source signal and an incoming sidechain signal, such as a kick drum and bass line. Its envelope editor supports node-based editing with straight and curved lines, as well as freehand drawing for creating custom response shapes.
Envelope controls include grid snapping, X- and Y-axis inversion, rotation, smoothing to reduce clicks, and swing adjustment. The Quick Shift function can move a selected group of envelope nodes together, allowing the timing of a duck and recovery to be adjusted without redrawing the complete envelope.
In Spectral mode, SideKick analyses the incoming sidechain signal and generates a reversed EQ curve over 24 internal bands. According to Sonic Academy, this process reduces frequencies in the processed signal that overlap with the sidechain source, rather than applying volume reduction across the entire frequency range.
The drawn envelope can control spectral ducking depth over time, while separate attack and release parameters adjust the response of the spectral processing. The envelope may also be assigned to conventional volume ducking after the spectral stage.
- 24-band inverse EQ based on the sidechain spectrum
- Independent spectral attack and release controls
- Envelope control over spectral depth or volume ducking
SideKick also includes MULTI mode, which divides the input into low and high frequency bands. Each band can have its own envelope and intensity setting, with an option to link the envelopes. The crossover is adjustable from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and uses a zero-latency, minimum-phase Linkwitz-Riley design, with 12 or 24 dB-per-octave slope options and individual band soloing.
The dual-band processing can be used alongside Spectral and Sidechain Ring Mod modes. In Ring Mod mode, the source signal is multiplied by the sidechain signal, creating additional spectral content while the sidechain is active. Attack and release controls are provided to adjust the transition and response of this process.
Users can also record an incoming sidechain signal as an editable envelope. Captured shapes can be refined, stored in one of 16 user slots, and imported or exported in XML format.
SideKick is available for $33.35, with an introductory price of $26.68. Sonic Academy also offers a 14-day free trial.
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