Kickstart 2 Manual & Tutorials (2024)

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Video Manual

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How to route audio to Kickstart's external sidechain input

To use the Audio Trigger and Kick View features, Kickstart 2 needs to "hear" your kick drum track. This is done by routing the kick via your DAW into Kickstart's external sidechain input. Here's how to do it in the most popular DAWs.

Ableton Live

1. Insert Kickstart 2 on your bassline or other part that you want to sidechain, and activate audio triggering mode by clicking the ‘Audio’ button at the top right.

2. In Live’s Device View for the Kickstart 2 plugin, select your kick drum track in the ‘Sidechain’ menu.

3. Start playback and the bassline will duck every time the kick drum hits, as the signal coming in through the sidechain input triggers the ducking curve.

Bitwig Studio

1. Insert Kickstart 2 on your bassline or other part that you want to sidechain, and activate audio triggering mode by clicking the ‘Audio’ button at the top right.

2. In the Device View panel for Kickstart, click the ‘Show Plug-in Sidechain’ button to reveal the sidechain input selector, and select the kick drum channel from the menu.

3. Start playback and the bassline will duck every time the kick drum hits, as the signal coming in through the sidechain input triggers the ducking curve.

Steinberg Cubase

1. Insert Kickstart 2 on your bassline or other part that you want to sidechain, and activate audio triggering mode by clicking the ‘Audio’ button at the top right.

2. In the top bar of the Kickstart 2 plugin window, click the ‘Set up Side-Chain routing’ button (cogwheel icon), then ’Add Side-Chain Source’ in the panel that appears, and select your kick drum channel as the Side-Chain Input.

3. Click the ‘Activate/Deactivate Side-Chaining’ button to the left of the ‘Set up Side-Chain routing’ button to turn on the sidechain, then start playback to hear the bassline duck every time the kick drum hits, as the signal coming in through the sidechain input triggers the ducking curve.

FL Studio

1. Insert Kickstart 2 on your bassline or other part that you want to sidechain, and activate audio triggering mode by clicking the ‘Audio’ button at the top right.

2. 2. In the FL Studio Mixer, select the kick drum channel, then right-click the little upward arrow at the bottom of the bass channel strip and select ‘Sidechain to this track only’.

3. Click the ’Detailed Settings’ (cogwheel icon) button at the top left of the Kickstart interface, then the ’VST Wrapper Settings’ button (plug and cogwheel icons), then the ‘Processing’ tab. There, set the ’2. Sidechain’ setting to the kick drum channel number (‘1’ in our case) and click the radio button to the right to activate the sidechain.

4. Start playback and the bassline will duck every time the kick drum hits, as the signal coming in through the sidechain input triggers the ducking curve.

Logic Pro

1. Insert Kickstart 2 on your bassline or other part that you want to sidechain, and activate audio triggering mode by clicking the ‘Audio’ button at the top right.

2. In the top bar of the Kickstart 2 interface, select your kick drum track in the ’Sidechain’ menu.

3. Start playback and the bassline will duck every time the kick drum hits, as the signal coming in through the sidechain input triggers the ducking curve.

Maschine

1. Insert Kickstart 2 on your bassline or other part that you want to sidechain, and activate audio triggering mode by clicking the ‘Audio’ button at the top right.

2. In the Control Area of the Sound or Group into which Kickstart 2 is inserted, click the ‘Side-Chain Input’ tab, then select the kick drum channel from the ‘Source’ menu in the ‘Input’ area.

3. Start playback and the bassline will duck every time the kick drum hits, as the signal coming in through the sidechain input triggers the ducking curve. If the kick drum is too loud in the sidechain input (ie, the Kick View waveform in Kickstart 2 appears clipped), simply lower the ‘Gain’ knob in the ‘Input’ section.

Pro Tools

1. Insert Kickstart 2 on your bassline or other part that you want to sidechain, and activate audio triggering mode by clicking the ‘Audio’ button at the top right.

2. In order to feed the kick drum into Kickstart 2’s sidechain input, we need to route it to a Bus in Pro Tools. Click a Send slot on the kick drum channel and set it to any Bus – we’ve gone for ’Bus 1’ here. A send amount fader will pop up – set it to ‘0’, as shown here.

3. Click the ‘Key Input’’ menu in the top bar of the Kickstart 2 interface (currently set to ‘no key input’) and select the Bus you routed the kick drum to in the previous step. Start playback to hear the bassline duck every time the kick drum hits, as the signal coming in through the sidechain input triggers the ducking curve.

Reaper

1. Insert Kickstart 2 on your bassline or other part that you want to sidechain, and activate audio triggering mode by clicking the ‘Audio’ button at the top right.

2. In the Mixer, click the ‘Route’ button on the kick drum channel. In the panel that pops up, click the menu in the Sends section that currently reads ‘Add new Send’, and select your bass track.

Studio One

1. Insert Kickstart 2 on your bassline or other part that you want to sidechain, and activate audio triggering mode by clicking the ‘Audio’ button at the top right.

2. Click the ‘Sidechain Sources’ (the right-pointing arrow icon next to the ‘Sidechain’ button) button at the top centre of the Kickstart 2 interface and check the box for the kick drum channel to route it into the sidechain input. If the ‘Sidechain’ button doesn’t activate automatically, click it to turn it on.

3. Start playback and the bassline will duck every time the kick drum hits, as the signal coming in through the sidechain input triggers the ducking curve.

Frequently Asked Questions

Read the full Cableguys FAQ for more topics.

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