The Best Sidechain Plugins in 2026 (Free, Stock, and Paid, Plus Settings for the Pump, Kick and Bass, and Vocal Ducking)

The short answer: there are three ways to sidechain, and the best plugin depends on which one the job needs. For the four-on-the-floor pump, use a volume shaper: Nicky Romero Kickstart 2 is the fastest, Cableguys VolumeShaper and Devious Machines Duck 2 are the deepest, Xfer LFOTool is the drawn-curve classic, and ZEEK STFU and Okay Shaper are free. For kick against bass or 808, use a compressor with a sidechain input, which your DAW already has (Ableton's Compressor, Logic's Compressor, FL Studio's Fruity Limiter, Pro Tools' Dyn3 Compressor/Limiter), or a shaper that follows the kick and ducks only the lows. For a vocal over a busy beat, use dynamic EQ keyed from the vocal: TDR Nova free, Wavesfactory Trackspacer and FabFilter Pro-Q 4 paid. The settings matter more than the plugin: a fast attack, a release or curve timed to the tempo, and only as much ducking as the job needs.

Sidechain is on the low end of nearly every dance record I've released (Sony, Universal, Ultra, Dim Mak), and I duck almost every vocal delay in my own mixes. No affiliate links on this page, and I don't sell a sidechain plugin; the service I do sell is disclosed at the end.

The three ways to sidechain

What sidechain compression is covers the idea: one sound controls the volume of another. There are three ways to make that happen, and they don't sound the same.

Rule of thumb: shapers for the pump you can hear, compressors for the duck you can't, dynamic EQ when only one part of the spectrum is fighting.

The best sidechain plugins, compared

Prices, versions and formats change, so check each developer's site before you buy or download. Get free plugins from the developer's own site only.

The free picks

ZEEK STFU. A free volume shaper from ZEEK, listed on the developer's site at version 1.0.4, in VST3 and AU for macOS and 64-bit Windows. It came out in 2021 for KVR's Developer Challenge, and coverage at the time described sidechain-style volume envelopes that sync to your DAW's tempo or trigger from MIDI notes, with two envelopes you can crossfade between. It's the simplest free way to the drawn pump. There's no AAX, so it won't load in Pro Tools.

Okay Shaper. A free three-band volume shaper from Okay Synthesizer, sold as pay what you want, with zero a real option per the developer. Linkwitz-Riley crossovers split the signal (the low and high bands are optional), each band gets its own drawn curve with up to 32 breakpoints and adjustable tension, curves sync to 16 note divisions or run free from 0.01 to 50 Hz, every band has its own transient detector, and there's an optional sidechain input split by the same crossovers. Zero latency. VST3 and AU on macOS, VST3 on Windows and Linux; no AAX. It's the free way to duck only the low end of a bass and leave its top alone. It's also newer and less proven than the paid picks below.

TDR Nova. Tokyo Dawn Labs' free dynamic EQ has an external sidechain input, which makes it a free spectral ducker. Key a band from the lead vocal on the synth bus and it dips 1 to 4 kHz only while the words play; key a low band from the kick on the bass and only the fundamental ducks. Every control is in the TDR Nova guide.

Try before you pay. Kickstart 2's demo is fully functional with no time limit, but it allows one instance per song and doesn't save settings, per Cableguys. LFOTool's demo is limited to 15 minutes, per Xfer.

The stock route

You don't need a plugin to sidechain. Every major DAW ships a compressor with a sidechain input, and most ship a way to draw the shape.

• Ableton Live. Compressor (every edition) has a sidechain section: open it from the device's title bar, turn on Sidechain, pick the kick's track in Audio From, and use the sidechain EQ if only part of the trigger should count. Glue Compressor (Standard and Suite) has the same section. For the drawn pump with no routing, Live 12.3 rebuilt Auto Pan as Auto Pan-Tremolo: in Tremolo mode, pick a ramp waveform, sync the rate, and switch on Invert, which Ableton's manual says produces a ducking effect (with Invert off, the same ramp gates). Multiband Dynamics (Standard and Suite) also takes an external sidechain, so you can compress only the low band of a bass from the kick. The Ableton 808 chain walks through the routing.
• Logic Pro. Insert Compressor on the bass, click Side Chain in the Compressor window, and choose the kick's channel strip from the Side Chain pop-up menu in the plug-in header, as Apple's guide describes. For drawn rhythmic shapes, Step FX (Multi Effects > Step FX) has three step modulators that can drive the Gate, each with an Attack, Hold and Release envelope for the shape of every step. The Logic Pro 808 chain has the compressor settings.
• FL Studio. Fruity Limiter is in every edition: select the kick's mixer track, right-click the send switch on the bass's mixer track and choose Sidechain to this track, then pick the kick in the SIDECHAIN selector on the COMP tab. Image-Line notes that the CURVE setting helps time the pump when the release is long. Fruity Peak Controller (every edition) turns the kick's peaks into a control signal you can link, with an inverted mapping, to the bass's volume. Gross Beat, in the Signature Bundle and up, draws volume envelopes for sidechain-style shapes. The FL Studio 808 chain has the Fruity Limiter settings.
• Pro Tools. Send the kick to a bus (pre-fader, so the trigger doesn't follow the kick's fader), insert Dyn3 Compressor/Limiter on the bass, pick that bus in the plug-in's Key Input menu, and turn on External Key. Pro Compressor, where your tier includes it, does the same with its own side-chain filter. Pro Tools only loads AAX, so the two free shapers above won't load; Kickstart 2, LFOTool, VolumeShaper, Duck 2, Trackspacer and Pro-Q 4 all list AAX.

The paid picks

Nicky Romero Kickstart 2. Made by Cableguys with Nicky Romero, and the fastest route to the pump on this page: drop it on a track and it ducks on the beat with no setup, with 16 curves Romero designed and one big Mix knob for how hard it pumps. Version 2 lets you drag the curve to fit a long or short kick, follows kick patterns that aren't four-on-the-floor with audio triggering, can duck only the low frequencies of a bassline (Cableguys calls it multiband sidechain), and shows the kick and bass waveforms together. VST2, VST3, AU and AAX on Windows and macOS. The least expensive paid pick here.

Xfer LFOTool. From Xfer Records, the developer of Serum and OTT. A drawn LFO for volume, with extra graphs for filter cutoff, resonance and pan, a point-and-tension curve editor, 12 graphs per preset that you can switch with MIDI notes or automation, rates in BPM (with optional swing) or Hz, sample-accurate sync, and optional MIDI CC output to drive other plugins. VST, AU and AAX for macOS and Windows. Xfer's page doesn't list audio triggering, so it's at its best on a steady grid.

Cableguys VolumeShaper (ShaperBox 3). VolumeShaper 7 is a drawable volume LFO on three frequency bands, with separate LFOs for the lows, mids and highs, triggered by the beat, MIDI notes or audio transients. It has one-click sidechain ducking, an External Sidechain Input with audio triggering for kicks that don't sit on a steady grid, a view that overlays the kick on the bassline so you can draw the duck to fit, and lookahead smoothing on the trigger to avoid clicks. You can buy it on its own (it runs inside ShaperBox 3) or in the ShaperBox 3 bundle, with ten more Shapers from Filter and Pan to Time and Reverb. VST2, VST3, AU and AAX.

Devious Machines Duck 2. Released in March 2026, the follow-up to Duck. Multi-segment envelopes with a choice of curves, locked to the beat, running free like a tremolo, or triggered by MIDI, a sidechain or an audio input. It splits the signal into up to three bands, each with its own envelope, with linear-phase filtering, and ships more than 200 factory presets covering sidechaining, gating and rhythmic patterns. VST2, VST3, AU and AAX, native on Apple Silicon, with a demo from the developer.

Wavesfactory Trackspacer. A different idea: instead of turning the whole track down, it runs a 32-band EQ that reads the sidechain's spectrum and applies the reversed curve to the track it's on. Put it on the synths, key it from the vocal, and the synths dip only where the vocal is busy. It has an Amount control, attack and release in milliseconds, low-cut and high-cut filters to limit where it works, and stereo, mid or side processing. It needs a DAW with sidechain routing; the developer lists the current version as 2.5.10, with AAX support.

FabFilter Pro-Q 4. The precise version of the spectral duck. Any Bell, Shelving or Flat Tilt band can go dynamic, and each dynamic band has its own switch to trigger from the external side chain instead of the track itself, band-limited to the band's range or to a range you set; spectral bands can use the side chain too. Key one band around 2 to 4 kHz on the synth bus from the vocal and you've built a surgical Trackspacer. More setup than Trackspacer, more control. Free stand-ins for the FabFilter range are in the FabFilter alternatives.

Any compressor with a sidechain input does the compressor route; the best compressor plugins compares them, and the best multiband compressor plugins covers ducking a single band.

Sidechain settings chart: starting points by job

These are starting points. Set the final amount in context, with the whole drop playing.

The release (or the curve's recovery) is the musical control. Too short and the track snaps back with a click; too long and it never recovers before the next kick. At 128 BPM, an eighth note is 234.38 ms and a quarter note is 468.75 ms; the delay time calculator gives every value for your tempo. The duck on returns is covered step by step in how to sidechain a delay, and the kick and 808 decisions in how to mix 808 and kick.

Which sidechain plugin for which job

How to set up sidechain ducking (any DAW, any plugin)

1. Name the job first. A pump you want to hear, a clash you want to hide, or a vocal that needs room. The job picks the method in the table at the top.
2. Pick the trigger. The kick for the pump and the low end, the dry lead vocal for vocal ducking. For the pump, a ghost kick (a muted kick pattern or a MIDI trigger used only for the sidechain) keeps it steady through breakdowns where the real kick drops out.
3. Put the plugin on the track that should get quieter, not on the trigger.
4. Route the trigger if your tool needs it: a compressor or dynamic EQ needs the sidechain input set; a shaper synced to the tempo needs nothing.
5. Set a fast attack and the depth. For a compressor, lower the threshold until you see the gain reduction from the chart. For a shaper, draw the drop and set the depth or mix.
6. Time the recovery to the tempo, so the track is back at full level just before the next hit.
7. Duck only the band that clashes where you can. Kick and bass usually only fight below about 100 to 150 Hz; a band split keeps the bass's character audible on every hit.
8. Check it in context and in the breakdown. Solo, everything pumps nicely; in the full drop, you're listening for the kick's punch and the vocal's clarity, not the duck itself.

Mistakes that make sidechain sound amateur

• Sidechaining the whole mix or the master to the kick. Everything pumps, including the vocal, and the drop loses its weight.
• A release that never recovers. If the bass is still ducked when the next kick lands, it sounds quieter, not punchier.
• Clicks on the drop. A vertical drop on a shaper can click on bass; a tiny curve on the corner, or a shaper with trigger smoothing, fixes it.
• Pumping the lead vocal with the kick. In most dance records the bass, pads and synths pump while the lead stays steady; the EDM vocal chain covers what to duck around a dance vocal instead.
• A synced curve on an off-grid kick. If the kick pattern isn't four-on-the-floor, use audio or MIDI triggering, or a compressor.
• Too much spectral ducking. A beat that drops 6 dB in the mids every time the vocal sings sounds broken. Two to four dB is usually enough; how to make vocals cut through the mix has the other fixes.

Where I land (and the disclosure)

Start with what your DAW already has: a compressor keyed from the kick covers kick against bass and 808, and a compressor keyed from the vocal covers every ducked return. Add a free shaper when you want the pump. Pay for one when the pump is the sound: Kickstart 2 for speed, VolumeShaper or Duck 2 for depth and audio triggering, LFOTool for drawn curves on a steady grid. For a vocal over a dense drop, start with TDR Nova, and move to Trackspacer or Pro-Q 4 when you want it faster or more precise.

Full disclosure: FabFilter lists me as a featured artist, and I'd recommend their plugins either way.

Sidechain is one of a dozen small decisions that make a low end hit and a vocal sit, and it only works when the balance, EQ and compression around it are right. If you'd rather hand the whole record over, Full Mix + Master is me mixing your stems from scratch and mastering the result through my own chain. I'm biased; the free and stock tools above are enough to get the pump and the duck right yourself.

Quick answers

What is the best sidechain plugin? For the EDM pump, a volume shaper: Kickstart 2 for speed, Cableguys VolumeShaper or Devious Machines Duck 2 for control, Xfer LFOTool for drawn curves on a steady beat. For kick against bass, your DAW's compressor with a sidechain input. For a vocal over a busy beat, dynamic EQ keyed from the vocal: TDR Nova free, Trackspacer or FabFilter Pro-Q 4 paid.

What is the best free sidechain plugin? Your DAW's stock compressor with a sidechain input, which every major DAW includes. For a free volume shaper, ZEEK STFU or Okay Shaper (VST3 and AU, no AAX); for free spectral ducking, TDR Nova with its external sidechain.

What is the best sidechain plugin for FL Studio? Fruity Limiter on the COMP tab, keyed from the kick with Sidechain to this track, in every edition. Gross Beat (Signature Bundle and up) draws volume shapes, and Kickstart 2, VolumeShaper or Duck 2 give you the pump in one plugin.

Is a volume shaper better than sidechain compression? Neither is better; they sound different. A shaper ducks the same way on every beat, which suits a four-on-the-floor pump. A compressor follows the trigger's level, which suits a kick and bass or 808 that change from hit to hit, and ducked vocal returns.