Context:
So I am able to send MIDI info to various channels of an single instance of SurferEQ2 that is an Audio track. I have one MIDI track sending to Channel 1, but I want a second MIDI track sending to Channel 2 of said SurferEQ2 instance to process (certain EQ nodes) on said audio track with side-chaining of slightly different pitch info.
Question:
Everything implies that this is both doable and an intended capability, but how do I have certain EQ nodes corresponding to specific side-chain input channels (respective to their MIDI tracks)? In other words, how do I have MIDI track A (that is side-chaining to Channel 1 on SurferEQ) control certain EQ nodes and also have MIDI track B (that is side-chaining to Channel 2 on SurferEQ) control other EQ nodes in the same SurferEQ 2 instance?
It seems that either channel controls all of the EQ nodes, and I don’t see any way to specify which EQ nodes should be controlled by which specific channel(s).
Thanks for your message.
SurferEQ doesn’t support multiple sidechain inputs.
However, there is a workaround for this issue, which involves using two SurferEQs in succession.
You can use MIDI track A to sidechain into the first SurferEQ and MIDI track B to sidechain into the second SurferEQ.
If you have any issues, let us know which DAW you are using, and we will be happy to assist you further.
And yes, that’s what I’m doing as a work around; it’s just inconvenient because it takes up an Insert slot and also consumes (what I assume would be) close to nearly twice the CPU.
Being able to do what my initial question was asking about would be a good feature in the next version! If possible, that is. Is there a place to post this suggestion/want?
This is a good place for feature requests.
I’m not sure if this is possible as the majority of DAWs typically handle one sidechain track.
Splitting a stereo sidechain into 2 mono tracks may be possible but it’s not a common use case for SurferEQ.
Just a question: Why wouldn’t it work? The SurferEq insert already takes up to 16 channels of sidechain input (so delay compensation gets a bit deeper), so I don’t see why it’s impossible to just make its use a little bit deeper. Why couldn’t said multiple tracks be sidechained to one SurferEQ insert and correspond to specific nodes?
And an additional but similar question: Is there any chance that SurferEQ will have the traditional sidechaining option in the future? That is, in the future might it be able to be sidechained by a buss signal? Then of course I can have a single signal sending to multiple instances of SurferEQ.
This would be useful when I have multiple audio tracks that all play the same thing (usually polyphonic); they’d only need one (monophonic) MIDI or Instrument track sidechain-signaling them (via buss) instead of each needing their own sidechain-input track. This would save up on session real estate, CPU, and latency.
Thanks for your time and I love the SR plugins I have.
Edit: These ideas are being added to the feature requests, right? If so (or not), would you recommend I put it in the Ideas and Wishes category instead?
Sorry for my late reply. It’s great to hear you’re enjoying our plugins.
The functionality you’re asking for (multiple MIDI sidechain input) is technically possible but SurferEQ doesn’t support this, unfortunately. If more users will ask for this we’d be happy to look into it.
SurferEQ supports MIDI sidechain, through the “Settings” menu → MIDI Mode, and also audio sidechain,
which you enable by clicking the “SIDE CHAIN” button on the upper left corner of the UI.
You can control multiple SurferEQs with a single audio sidechain source.
I’m not adding multiple MIDI sidechain input support as a feature request just yet. If more users will ask
for it, I’d be happy to add it to our list.