Sidekick

Category: Shape | Scope: Section-level

A tempo-synced volume curve that pumps the track in time with the beat — the classic "kick-and-bass" groove without any routing, key signal, or sidechain wiring. Drop Sidekick on a track, pick a curve and rate, hear the pump.

Why Sidekick instead of a sidechain compressor

A real sidechain compressor reacts to another track's signal — every kick gives a slightly different duck depending on its velocity, ghost notes, and bus bleed. That variability is sometimes what you want, but most of the time producers want a predictable, deterministic pump that hits the same shape every bar.

Sidekick gives you that pump directly. There's no detector, no threshold, no envelope to dial in. You pick a curve shape (a picture of how the volume moves through one cycle), a tempo rate (1/4, 1/8, etc.), and an amount, and that's the entire control surface.

If you need true signal-driven ducking — bass that reacts to the actual kick velocity, or pads that breathe with a busy drum part — use the Compressor instead and route a sidechain key. The two effects coexist; pick the one that matches the musical intent.

Macros

Presets

Quarter Pulse, Eighth Pulse, Off-Beat Push, Long Tail, Sine Wobble, Reverse Hit. Each preset locks Curve + Rate to a musically named combination so you can audition the catalog in a couple of clicks.

How the settings work together

Curve is the personality of the pump — Long Tail is the slow, breathing house-style duck; Off-Beat Push shifts the dip to the off-beat for syncopated grooves; Reverse Hit drops just before the next beat, useful for transitions.

Rate sets how often the cycle repeats. A 1/4 Long Tail on a 120 BPM track is the classic four-on-the-floor pump. Switch the same curve to 1/8 and you get a faster, more aggressive feel. Polyrhythmic rates (3:4, 5:8) are coming soon for composer-leaning grooves.

Amount is your performance knob. Automate it to bring the pump in and out of the arrangement — drop to 30 % in verses, swell to 80 % in the drop.

When to use it

Bass tracks in dance music almost always benefit — Sidekick is the most musical way to add the signature pumping feel. Pads and strings respond beautifully to slow rates with a Sine Wobble curve. Lead synths get a rhythmic motion that helps them sit with the drums.

For tracks where the pump needs to react to actual signal variations (uneven kick velocities, ghost notes), use the Compressor's sidechain key instead.

Section-level

Sidekick is a section effect, so verse, chorus, and bridge can each have their own Curve, Rate, and Amount without any automation work. Big-build sections often want a faster Rate and deeper Amount than the verse.