tonight's move · 2026-11-10

Your piano stabs hit percussively and breathe with the kick — like a compressor is ducking, but it’s just velocity.

Velocity Sidechain on an M1 House Piano Stab

a specific plugin

◢ the move

5 steps

Open Korg M1, load the “House Piano” preset.
Set the amp envelope’s Release to 0 to make the notes tight, percussive stabs.
Find the MIDI note that lands with the kick. Set its velocity to 127.
Lower the velocities of the other piano notes until they sit back behind the accented one.
Add Redux for bit reduction, a touch of Erosion for noise, then place a Gate after them to silence the noise tail.

stock path

Korg M1 is paid; the release and velocity trick works in any sampler (Ableton Simpler). Redux, Erosion, and Gate are Live stock.

why it works

A release of 0 chops sustain into a sharp stab, and the 127-velocity accent on the downbeat punches forward while lower velocities recede, mimicking the loud-quiet push/pull of sidechain compression without touching a compressor.

ran in the 2026-11-10 issueall techniques →

◢ next in the pile

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the next move lands tomorrow morning.

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