Side chain controls

Press the Side Chain button (positioned below the main compressor controls) to reveal or hide the extended side chain parameters.

Whenever one of these extended features holds a non-default value that shapes the compressor's sound, the button flags it clearly with a yellow glow and a label. On top of that, if you've picked a non-default trigger input, a matching icon appears beside the button to signal this. As a result, while browsing through presets, you can tell at a glance that advanced side chain features are active.

• The Side Chain Level slider on the left sets the level of the incoming trigger signal. This comes in handy, for instance, when the input level is rather quiet. Dialing in a suitable input level is simple with the circular side chain level readout.
• The Audition button above the Audition Level slider lets you monitor the filtered, stereo-linked signal that drives the compression. A single click toggles Audition mode on or off, while a click-and-hold lets you preview the trigger signal only for as long as you hold it. Note: audition is available only when triggering on the internal audio or external side chain.

• The Side Chain Input selector determines what the compressor reacts to. By default (Internal), it responds to the plug-in's main input audio, though you can equally choose External to trigger on the external side chain input. For further details on wiring up the external side chain across different hosts, see Side-chaining externally.

  New in Grip 3 is the Host Sync option, which makes compression trigger on a generated pulse locked to the host tempo. Selecting it opens a panel with extra settings: the Sync button sets the rate (relative to the song tempo) at which the pulse is produced. The Offset slider lets you scale the sync rate by a factor ranging from 50% to 200%, allowing dotted or triplet effects. The Length slider defines how long each pulse lasts, expressed as a percentage of the current sync setting.

  Lastly, you can trigger on incoming MIDI note on messages, letting you build custom trigger patterns inside your DAW. When at least one note is on, the compressor acts as though a 0 dBFS signal is arriving at the side chain right then, so it is triggered hard. See MIDI Learn for how to send MIDI to an effect plug-in in your DAW.

Stereo linking and M/S handling

The first half of the Stereo Link knob sets the amount of stereo linking, from 0% (fully unlinked, with channels working independently) up to 100% (fully linked, giving identical gain reduction on both channels).

Push the knob past 100% and Grip 3 will gradually process only the mid-signal (the mono content of the audio) or only the side-signal (the stereo content of the audio). (If you'd like to dig deeper into mid/side processing and the many ways to use it, watch our Mid and Side Explained video guide from our own team.)

With the compact Stereo Link Mode button at the lower right of the Stereo Link knob, you can pick from four options. When the knob is set to its highest position, here is what each one does:

• Mid - Trigger only on, and apply compression only to, the mid signal.
• Side - Detect only from, and apply gain reduction to, the side signal.
• M>S - Detect from the mid signal while gain reduction is applied solely to the side
• S>M - Detect from the side signal while gain reduction is applied solely to the mid

M/S processing proves invaluable, particularly in a mastering context. Kick drums and lead vocals, for instance, usually sit dead center within the stereo field, so treating only the mid-signal keeps every bit of stereo material intact and delivers the cleanest, most faithful outcome achievable.

For a clearer sense of how these options behave, switch on the Audition button. From there you can immediately listen to what stereo linking and mid-only or side-only processing are doing to the signal.

Whenever you run Grip 3 surround/immersive audio work, the Stereo Linking section presents a somewhat different set of controls, built specifically for handling surround channels. Refer to Surround and Immersive. Naturally, within mono edition of the plug-in, every control in the Stereo Linking area is left inactive.

Side chain EQ controller

Occupying the bulk of the side chain section, the large interactive EQ controller lets you shape the side chain filtering with ease. Add as many as six EQ bands at will, using every curve type you are already familiar with from Contour, All Pass filters included. Both the low- and high pass filters reach slopes as steep as 96 dB/oct, plus the Brickwall slope.

Creating bands

• To create a fresh EQ band, just grab the yellow overall curve and pull it upward or downward. As soon as you begin dragging, a small preview reveals which type of curve is about to appear.
• You can also double-click anywhere across the display background to drop in a new band. Where you place that click determines the shape the new band takes.

Selecting bands

• Select an EQ band by clicking its dot or the tinted region surrounding it.
• Click and drag across the display background to draw a rectangle around neighboring bands and select them together.
• Hold down Ctrl ( Command on macOS) and click a further dot to select several bands. Hold down Shift and click a dot to select a continuous stretch of bands.
• Clear every selected band by clicking on any empty part of the display

Adjusting and editing bands

With one or more EQ bands selected, the display brings the shapes of those bands to the foreground. To modify the EQ settings:

• Click and drag a selected dot to shift the frequency and gain of every selected band at once. When several bands are selected, their gains scale in proportion to one another.
• Spin the mouse wheel to change the Q setting, tightening or widening the selected bands. This applies both mid-drag and whenever the pointer hovers over a curve. On low/high cut filters, the wheel adjusts the slope instead, snapping it to stepped values.
• You can also set the Q of every selected band by holding Ctrl ( Command on macOS) and dragging up or down.
• Spin the mouse wheel while holding Alt to change the dynamic range setting or Ctrl ( Command on macOS) to change the gain.
• Hold Shift as you drag (or as you spin the mouse wheel) to fine-tune the settings of the selected bands.
• Hold Alt while dragging to lock movement to the horizontal axis (frequency) or the vertical axis (gain or Q, depending on the Ctrl / Command key).
• Hold Alt and click the dot on an EQ band once to flip its bypass state (turning the band on or off).
• Hold Ctrl+Alt ( Command+Alt on macOS) and click the dot on an EQ band once to switch its shape.
• Hold Alt + Shift and click the dot on an EQ band once to switch its slope.
• Double-click a dot to type values into the EQ parameter display (press the Tab key to move through Frequency, Gain and Q) or double-click the numbers in the parameter value display straight away. Keep in mind you can express frequencies in several formats, such as "100", "2k", "A4" or "C#2+13".
• Right-click the dot of an EQ band to bring up a pop-up menu holding a range of band settings. It is a fast route to tweaking the EQ band right as you work inside the display.
• You are able to pick a stereo placement for a band (stereo, mid or side) or state exactly which speakers it acts upon (only in surround mode) from the band menu, which opens either by right-clicking a band's dot within the display, or by clicking the menu button in that band's parameter value display.

Copying and pasting bands

Copy any single band or a group of bands by right-clicking a curve dot and picking Copy from the curve menu. You can then paste those bands into any Grip 3 instance by right-clicking anywhere within the side chain controller and picking Paste from the menu that pops up. To grab every band at once, right-click the background and choose Copy from that menu.

To copy and paste every Grip parameter, rely on the Copy and Paste commands found in the preset library.

EQ parameter readout

Beside every EQ band's node in the side chain controller, the EQ parameter readout presents the precise parameter values for that band, together with quick controls to bypass or remove a band and change its shape. You can double-click any value in the readout directly to edit it. You can also click-and-drag or roll the mouse wheel over any of the displayed parameters to make changes on a single band or a selection. Press the triangular menu button to open the band menu with more options.

Hints

• To dig deeper, read the Side chaining explained article in our online Sonivex Learn tutorials.
• In Full-screen view, reachable through the button in the top right of the interface, Grip 3 expands to occupy the entire screen, which also enlarges the side chain EQ controller considerably, letting you dial in very fine adjustments. See Full-screen mode and resizing.
• Whenever you drive triggering from MIDI, be sure the Disable/Enable MIDI option is available in the MIDI Learn menu is active.
• The spectrum analyzer within the side chain EQ controller applies a 4.5 dB/oct tilt setting. The outcome is a natural-looking spectrum that closely matches the way the human ear perceives loudness.

Next: Meters and displays

Related
Using Sonivex Grip 3
Dynamics settings
Time settings