What Is “Duck” & What Does It Do?

“Duck” is an extremely useful mix utility, specifically designed for (you guessed it) ducking.

Sometimes referred to as “side chaining” (owing to the fact that a side-chained compressor is often used), ducking is a popular mixing technique for making one sound quieter to make room for another (e.g ducking a bass line to make space for a kick drum).

What does it do?

“Duck” applies a volume envelope to the track it is inserted on. This can be played at different speeds and either loops in time to your track or is retriggered from an external source, a MIDI note or another audio track.

What is it for?

The most common use for Duck is to get that modern ‘sidechain compression’ sound where the volume of other instruments is reduced to allow the key rhythmic elements through: typically, the kick.

There are also many other creative uses including:

Give clarity by ducking audio tracks based on your peaks

Give chords and pads dynamic rhythm or tremolo

Add variety to drum tracks with envelope shaping

Enhance the rhythm of your track with the use of polyrhythms

Generate new rhythms from any sound

Trigger dynamic changes from MIDI instruments

Using Duck

Duck’s editor is split into three main areas:

Preset and Menu Bar – Here, you can load and save presets, and access the plug-in menu.

Here, you can load and save presets, and access the plug-in menu. Envelope Editor – The area where you can edit the shape of which the dynamic changes will occur. There are preset envelope types. These can be edited. The audio waveform will appear here when playing.

The area where you can edit the shape of which the dynamic changes will occur. There are preset envelope types. These can be edited. The audio waveform will appear here when playing. Lower Panel – In this area, you are able to set the parameters for how Duck will affect you input signal as well as change the envelope itself.

Duck implements a simple-yet-popular concept, giving you a graphical envelope to shape the volume of your sound and enables you to draw your own custom volume shape that repeats at a speed and depth of your choice.

Duck can also be triggered with audio from a sidechain input or by MIDI notes, making it easier than ever for Hip-Hop and Bass Music producers!

For more detailed information read the User Duckumentation.