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pump · kick crunching the pad chord

16 bars · 116 bpm · sixteenth-note kicks · A major low pad

pump · kick crunching the pad chord 16 bars · 116 bpm · sixteenth-note kicks · A major low pad
0:00 / 0:33
↓ wav ↓ midi

Sidechain-compressed low pad: sixteenth-note kicks (accented on every beat) pump a sustained A major chord across 16 bars at 116 BPM

↓ Download MP3 ↓ WAV (lossless)

The pump is in the routing, not the notes

A sustained low pad holds an A major chord for sixteen bars while a kick plays sixteenth-notes over it. The breathing, ducking swell you hear isn’t drawn into the pad’s notes — it comes from one effect:

type: compressor
sidechain: kick-track   # ← duck this signal whenever the kick hits
threshold_db: -28
ratio: 8
attack_ms: 1
release_ms: 140

The compressor sits on the pad but listens to the kick. Every kick hit clamps the pad down, and it swells back in the gaps — classic sidechain pumping. The pad’s chord never changes; the rhythm you hear is the kick reaching across and shaping it.