Ducker

A Ducker lowers the volume of one signal whenever another signal is loud enough. Music drops when you talk, then comes back when you stop.

Screenshot

A Ducker node with its settings panel open.

ducker-expanded

When to use it#

The Ducker has three ports:

Port	Carries
In	The audio you want to duck - music, game audio
Key	The trigger that causes ducking - your microphone
Output	The ducked result

The Key signal is only listened to. It is never mixed into the output - it just decides when to pull the In signal down.

The mic still needs its own separate connection to the stream. The Ducker only outputs the ducked music.

Open the node's Settings to reveal them.

Parameter	Range	Default	What it does
Threshold	-60 to 0 dB	`-20 dB`	How loud the Key must get before ducking starts
Duck	-60 to 0 dB	`-20 dB`	How far the In signal drops. `-60` is near silence
Attack	1-200 ms	`10 ms`	How fast the duck engages once triggered
Release	50-2000 ms	`250 ms`	How fast level returns after the Key goes quiet
Hold	0-1000 ms	`100 ms`	How long to stay ducked after the Key drops below threshold
Fade	10-2000 ms	`400 ms`	Smoothing on the level change

The node header summarises the two you change most: duck -12 dB · thr -30 dB.

Symptom	Fix
Quiet speech never ducks	Lower Threshold
Keyboard clicks duck the music	Raise Threshold
First syllable gets lost	Lower Attack to `5-20 ms`
Music pumps between words	Raise Hold to `200-400 ms`
Music returns abruptly	Raise Release; `300-800 ms` feels natural

Set Threshold first so normal speech triggers reliably and room noise does not, then Hold.

Pro only.
The Key signal is never passed through - route your mic separately as well.
Ducking is one-directional. For mutual ducking you need two Duckers.
Very low Duck values (-50 dB and beyond) sound like a hard mute; most broadcast ducking sits between -9 and -18 dB.