Welcome to SUBMERGE, the plug-in for effective and creative auto-ducking and pumping. Inspired by side-chain compression techniques popularized in various forms of electronic dance music, SUBMERGE brings the same style of ducking and pumping to your DAW without the traditional setup and configuration complexity—just drop SUBMERGE onto a track and it will automatically apply the characteristic side-chain pumping sound to it.

But SUBMERGE isn’t just a run-of-the-mill auto-ducker, for it goes beyond the typical gain-reduction techniques of traditional audio compressors. SUBMERGE provides further creative options through the use of EQ shelves, resonant filters, and sample-rate reduction to create new ducking and pumping textures. Even traditional gain-reduction techniques are enhanced with SUBMERGE with the ability to configure the ducking for the mid or side channels.

SUBMERGE can be configured to sync itself to the project so that no further setup is required. But it can also be triggered by MIDI notes or even traditional audio side-chain input when more custom rhythmic ducking and pumping is required—feed the MIDI notes of the bass drum into SUBMERGE to reliably duck with every hit.

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Operating Modes

SUBMERGE creates rhythmic ducking and pumping effects so, in order to create these in a manner that compliments your music, it needs to be set to an appropriate tempo (speed).

Project Sync vs. Free Tempo

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The left-most option in the top bar of SUBMERGE is used to switch between SYNC and FREE Tempo modes—the Time Value to the right will change depending on the mode selected:

  • SYNC Mode: SUBMERGE will derive its speed from the tempo of your project. The exact rate at which SUBMERGE will run is then determined by setting the Time Signature—drag the numerator and denominator values to set the desired time signature.

  • FREE Mode: SUBMERGE will run at the speed you specify, regardless of your project’s tempo. Drag the value up and down to set the rate in cycles per second (Hz).

Trigger Modes

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Another component to creating rhythmic effects is to select when SUBMERGE should duck or pump the audio—this is done by selecting one of the three Trigger Modes in the top bar:

  • AUTO TRIGGER: This mode causes SUBMERGE to run automatically with the DAW—no external MIDI or Audio input is required.

  • MIDI TRIGGER: Each MIDI Note received by SUBMERGE causes it to cycle once.

  • AUDIO TRIGGER: Feed an audio signal into the side-chain input of SUBMERGE—the audio will appear in the THRESH meter in the upper-right corner. Raise or lower the THRESH slider so that the incoming audio level triggers SUBMERGE consistently (this works best with short, transient audio signals like individual drum hits).

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Trigger Delay

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The DELAY slider is used to delay SUBMERGE’s reaction to incoming triggers—increase this value if you want SUBMERGE to wait a moment before ducking or pumping. Higher delay values will allow more of the initial transient to be heard before ducking occurs.

SHAPE Controls

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The style, speed, and intensity of the ducking and pumping effects are set with the controls in the SHAPE section of SUBMERGE

Shape Selectors

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There are three categories of shapes in SUBMERGE, each with their own specific uses:

  • NATURAL: This shape category mimics the behavior (attack and release) of standard audio compressors for when you want the traditional side-chain sound.
  • EXTREME: This category causes a fast swing between maximum and minimum values for an “over-compressed” side-chain sound.
  • SPECIAL: Experiment with this category for shapes that “anticipate” the downbeat or create sinewave-like oscillations.

HINT: Clicking any of the Shape Selectors a second time will invert the shape, changing it from ducking to pushing or vice versa.

MORPH Knob

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The MORPH knob is used to refine the selected Shape. It changes the release time of the NATURAL shape, the transition point of the EXTREME shape, and reshapes the SPECIAL shape variants. The result of changing the MORPH is visualized in the Shape Display.

DEPTH Knob

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The DEPTH knob sets the intensity of the ducking or pumping—higher values make the effect more audible/extreme.

EFFECT Controls

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The manner in which SUBMERGE affects the sound is adjusted with the controls in the EFFECT section.

TYPE & TWEAK

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Select the audio effect to use for ducking or pumping by clicking one of the Effect Type buttons. You can adjust how the effect works with the neighboring TWEAK knob—the function of this knob is dependent on the active TYPE button as follows:

  • GAIN M/S: Duck or push using standard gain adjustment (like a standard audio compressor). Use the TWEAK knob to affect just the Mid or Side channels.
  • HIGH DUCK and LOW DUCK: Duck or push only a portion of the audio spectrum by modulating a High or Low shelf EQ. The TWEAK knob sets the frequency of the shelf EQ.
  • SAMPLE RATE: Degrade the audio using sample-rate reduction which reduces the quality of high-frequency content. The TWEAK knob can be used to reduce the graininess of the sound.
  • HP FILTER and LP FILTER: Duck or push by modulating the cutoff frequency of a high-pass or low-pass filter. The TWEAK knob adjusts the resonance of the filter.
  • HP+LP FILTER: Modulate the cutoff frequencies of high- and low-pass filters in series, effectively creating a band-pass filter. The TWEAK knob adjusts the resonance of the two filters.
  • HP-LP FILTER: Like the HP+LP FILTER, but the two filters are in series and their cutoff frequencies modulate away from each other, effectively creating a notch filter with variable width. The TWEAK knob adjusts the resonance of the two filters.

Secondary Controls

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On the left and right sides of SUBMERGE are IN and OUT level meters, both with their own Gain Trim knobs. The OUT trim knob contains the effect BYPASS button in the middle.

Topbar Functions

Icon Function
Slate Digital Logo Open the About Panel with additional links to User Guide and Online Support.
Preset Menu Shows the currently loaded Preset. Click to open the Preset menu.
Save Preset Save/override the currently loaded Preset.
Undo / Redo Cancel or restore any recent actions inside the plugin. Limited to last 20 actions.
A/B Snapshots Toggle Two slots to easily compare different settings. The plugin is always operating on one of the two Snapshots, A or B, the current Snapshot being highlighted. Clicking on the arrow between A/B will copy the current Snapshot to the other.
Show/Hide Tooltips Toggle Tooltips display.

Keyboard Shortcuts List

Feature macOS Windows
Modify value Mouse wheel Mouse wheel
Fine adjustments ⌘ + Drag Or Right Click + Drag Ctrl + Drag Or Right Click + Drag
Reset value to default ⌥ + Click Or Double Click Alt + Click Or Double Click
Edit values Double Click then Enter Double Click then Enter
Undo N/A Ctrl + Z
Redo N/A Ctrl + Y