Sidechaining reverb and adding FX chain to reverb

[Ears]

I'm side chaining the reverb on a synth, so that the reverb ducks when my synth sounds.

I also want to add FX to the reverb chain without the FX affecting the synth.

Is this the correct way of doing it?

Track 1: Synth
Track 2: SC Reverb Send

1) Send Track 1 to Track 2, Audio: 1/2 > 3/4
2) Open Reverb on Track 2, change mix to 100%, add 3/4 to pin-connector
3) Add compressor after Reverb, change to input selector to SC, add 3/4 to pin-connector (I'm not using stock compressor)

Any additional FX I want to add to the reverb, EQ, saturation, etc, won't affect the synth on Track 1 because my reverb is receiving audio on channels 3/4.

Have I got this right?

Thanks!

[ashcat_lt]

No.

The dry synth goes up the parent send to the mix.
The desired audio on the verb track also goes up the parent send, and will need to be on channels 1/2 by the time it gets there.
The only thing that needs to look at channels 3/4 is the sidechain input for the compressor.

You can either just send to 1/2 on the verb track and use some plugin to split to 1/2 and 3/4, or make two sends - one to each pair.

You’ll maybe want to make sure the verb plugin doesn’t block or mess with ch 3/4. You can uncheck those out pins, but make sure it’s set to pass through unused channels (should be default).

The compressor wants its signal input on 1/2 and sidechain in on 3/4. It doesn’t need to put anything out on channels 3/4 though. Unless you want the clean sidechain signal for something further up the chain, it’s probably best to mute those channels here. Easiest way to do that is to uncheck those out pins and this time choose the option to mute unused channels. This isn’t always super necessary, but it’s “good hygiene” to keep this signal from “leaking” up to the parent track and causing confusion down the road.

Any other FX just go after the compressor, work on channels 1/2 and basically don’t need any messing with.

That’s kind of a lot of words, but it’s not actually that complicated, and I honestly think you were overthinking it to begin with.

[Ears]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I think it's more just a lack of understanding than overthinking. I'm trying to replicate techniques I learn from others but they are using different DAWs, so I have a hard time trying to emulate it when it comes to routing.

When I follow your instructions and send audio on 1/2 to my verb track, the dry signal is still bleeding through on my verb track if the plugin only has a wet control (like ValhallaSupermassive) and no dry control. And similarly, if I wanted to add a granular effect to just my verb, it will process the dry synth signal aswell as the verb. That's why I was using 3/4, to stop the dry signal bleeding through.

I will keep playing around, I likely misunderstood something in your instructions.

[ashcat_lt]

Well if the reverb plug doesn’t go to 100% wet, that’s a different issue, I think. I’m not familiar with that plugin, but I wouldn’t think that sending the same thing to it but on different channels would make a difference.

[juan_r]

Originally Posted by Ears

the dry signal is still bleeding through on my verb track if the plugin only has a wet control (like ValhallaSupermassive) and no dry control.

Valhalla Supermassive does have a regular mix control. At least, the latest v2.5.0 does, as did the previous v2.0.0.

[Ears]

I tried setting it up on a fresh template and sends now work on 1/2 without the dry signal bleeding through.

I guess I had a routing problem or something on the default template I was using.. I don't know. I'm not advanced enough to find the problem, so I've recreated my old template and everything works normally.

Kept the old template so I can go back to it one day and see what I did wrong.

Thanks for the help!