Free sidechain plugins, and how to get the pumping sound
Sidechain pumping is the way a pad or bass dips each time the kick hits and swells back up before the next one. There are two ways to get it: a compressor that listens to the kick, or a volume shaper that draws the same dip in time with the tempo. Most lists of free sidechain plugins are old and point to 32-bit plugins or paid ones. These are the free ones that load in a current DAW, and how I'd set them up. I make simpleStutter, one of the plugins here. The clips are a pad I ran through its engine, and I checked every other plugin's page on 14 November 2026.
By Aiden Shihadeh, developer of simpleStutter · Published
Quick answer
| Plugin | Formats | Systems | How it ducks |
|---|---|---|---|
| simpleStutter | VST3, AU | Windows, Mac, Linux | Pump shapes locked to the tempo, next to gates, repeats and half time |
| RIPPLES Pulse | VST3, AU | Windows, Mac | Shapes you draw, synced to the tempo or started by a sidechain input |
| Okay Shaper | VST3, AU (Mac) | Windows, Mac | Three bands, each with its own curve and trigger |
| Vox Samples Bouncer | VST3, AU, AAX | Windows, Mac | One rate control and one shape control |
| Your DAW's compressor | Built in | Any | Real sidechain compression from the kick |
simpleStutter is free, for any DAW on Windows, macOS and Linux. Download free
What the pump sounds like
A four-bar chord loop with a kick on every beat: dry, with a dip on every beat, with a dip on every eighth note, and with the pump running into a tape stop at the end of each two bars.
Compressor or volume shaper?
A sidechain compressor turns the pad down whenever the kick on its sidechain input goes over the threshold. It listens to the kick, so it follows any rhythm: a broken beat, a kick that drops out for a bar, a fill. The cost is routing, which every DAW does differently, and a dip shaped by attack, release and ratio that changes a little with every hit.
A volume shaper ignores the kick and turns the level down in time with the host's tempo. You get the same curve on every beat and no routing, which is why most house and EDM producers use one for the obvious pumping sound. It won't follow a kick that's off the grid unless the plugin has a trigger mode; Pulse and Okay Shaper both do.
I use a shaper when the pump is part of the sound, and a compressor when I only want the bass to get out of the kick's way.
How I'd set one up
- Put it on what should move: pads, chords, the bass, a reverb return, or a bus with everything except the drums. Keep the kick off it.
- Pick the rate: a dip on every beat (1/4) for four-on-the-floor, 1/8 for a faster, busier pump, 1/2 for slow tracks.
- Set the depth with the kick playing: a bass that only needs to clear the kick wants a short, shallow dip. For the pumping sound, go deep and let the level come back over most of the beat.
- Line it up: if the kick sample starts with a few milliseconds of silence, move the dip later to match, or the pad drops before the hit.
Free sidechain and volume shaper plugins
simpleStutter
My own plugin. It's mostly a stutter and half time effect, with a volume lane under the time blocks. The volume lane's Pumps group has Pump 1/4 and Pump 1/8, and dragging a point on one dip changes every beat at once. The lanes play together, so a pump can run over a half time block or into a tape stop, like the last clip above.
- Free: every block in all three lanes, pumps included, pattern slots 1 and 2, and 54 of the 192 factory patterns.
- One-time unlock (£29.99): 12 slots switched by MIDI notes, all the patterns, layers, and saving your own.
- Catch: there's no sidechain input, so it follows the tempo and not the kick. No AAX for Pro Tools and no CLAP.
RIPPLES Pulse
A free volume shaper from RIPPLES Music, released in September 2026. It starts from five shapes (Pump, Soft, Tri, Saw and Gate) that you can flip and redraw, with Depth, Curve, Smooth and Mix controls. Sync mode locks the shape to the tempo, from 1/16 up to patterns four bars long. Trig mode starts the shape from transients instead, and those can come from a sidechain input, so it can follow a real kick.
- Good for: a drawn pump that can also follow the kick.
- Catch: you need a free RIPPLES account and their Tap installer, and Windows warns about the installer because it isn't code-signed. No AAX.
Bedroom Producers Blog's write-up explains how to get it.
Okay Shaper
A free three-band volume shaper from Okay Synthesizer, out since August 2026. The mid band is always on, and you can add a low and a high band, each with its own curve, depth and rate. Each band can run with the clock, restart on every hit, or play its curve once per hit, listening to its own input or a sidechain.
- Good for: ducking the low end under the kick while the top of the sound stays put.
- Catch: it's name-your-price, so you enter 0 and an email address and activate it from the link they send. On Windows it's VST3 only.
Bedroom Producers Blog's write-up links to it.
Vox Samples Bouncer
The simplest one here: choose a rate and a shape, and it pumps in time with your DAW. It comes as VST3 and AAX on Windows, and AU, VST3 and AAX on Mac, so it's the one to try in Pro Tools.
Get it from Vox Samples.
Sidechain compression in your DAW
Each of these DAWs does real sidechain compression with its own compressor. In all of them, start with a fast attack, a release of 100 to 200 ms, and a high ratio, then lower the threshold until you hear the duck.
Ableton Live
Put Compressor on the pad's track and click the triangle in its title bar to show the sidechain section. Switch Sidechain on and pick the kick's track under Audio From.
Logic Pro
Open Compressor on the pad's track and choose the kick's track from the Side Chain menu at the top of the plugin window.
FL Studio
Select the kick's mixer track, then right-click the send arrow under the pad's mixer track and choose "Sidechain to this track". In Fruity Limiter on the pad's track, switch to COMP and turn SIDECHAIN to the kick's track number. Gross Beat's volume envelope can also draw a pump, if your edition has it.
REAPER
Give the pad's track 4 channels, send the kick to channels 3 and 4, and set ReaComp's Detector input to Auxiliary Input L+R.
Old and paid sidechain plugins
Older lists still recommend Noisebud's Lazy Kenneth, a free auto-ducker that only comes as a 32-bit Windows VST, so current DAWs won't load it without a bridge.
The paid ones people compare against are Nicky Romero Kickstart 2, Xfer LFO Tool, Cableguys VolumeShaper (also part of ShaperBox) and Devious Machines Duck. Wavesfactory Trackspacer is paid too, and works differently: it ducks only the frequencies the kick uses, rather than the whole sound.
Common questions
What does a sidechain plugin do?
It turns one sound down while another plays, usually a pad or bass dipping under the kick. Volume shaper plugins get the same pumping sound by turning the level down in time with the tempo instead of listening to the kick.
Do I need a plugin for sidechain?
No. The compressors in Ableton, Logic, FL Studio and REAPER all take a sidechain input. A volume shaper saves you the routing and gives you a curve you can draw.
What is the best free sidechain plugin?
For a tempo-locked pump you can draw, RIPPLES Pulse or simpleStutter. For ducking that follows the kick itself, Pulse in Trig mode, Okay Shaper with a sidechain input, or your DAW's own compressor.
Is there a free Kickstart alternative?
Vox Samples Bouncer works the same way: pick a rate and a shape and it pumps. simpleStutter's Pump 1/4 does the same with a curve you can edit.
Is there a free ShaperBox alternative?
No single free plugin does everything ShaperBox does. Okay Shaper covers its multiband volume shaping, and simpleStutter covers volume, filter and time shapes on one grid.