Audio plugin · Dialogue gate

Dvlce Duet

Two mics. One talks, the other ducks.

A mutual ducking gate for podcasts, interviews and dialogue. When one speaker talks, the other mic drops by a set depth. Bleed reject keeps the quiet mic ducked even though it hears the talker. Works as a stereo pair in any host — in FL Studio, record both mics as one stereo input — and splits the result into one file per speaker.

Windows v0.2.0 (.zip)macOS v0.2.0 (.zip)GitHub →

VST3 · AU · Standalone · Windows 10/11 (signed) · macOS 11+ universal (not notarised)

Dvlce Duet editor: level and duck meters for speakers A and B, mode controls and ten knobs

Two ways in

Stereo pair — any host

One stereo track: speaker A on the left, speaker B on the right. Output Separate keeps them apart; Mixed gives one centred dialogue track.

Sidechain — one per speaker

Duet on each speaker’s track, each keyed from the other, in hosts that can feed it the other track (REAPER, Pro Tools). Not in FL Studio: use Stereo pair there.

In your host

AudacityPut the two mono tracks above each other, choose Make Stereo Track, then Effect › Dvlce Duet. Split Stereo to Mono gives the two gated tracks back, or set Output to Mixed for one finished track.

Premiere ProMerge the two clips into one stereo clip (A left, B right) and add Duet as a clip effect with Output set to Mixed.

FL StudioFL cannot route a track to a track that is routed to it, so the two-instance sidechain trick is impossible there. That is why Duet exists. Record both mics as one stereo input, mic A on the left input and mic B on the right: FL records one stereo track with each speaker hard left and hard right. Put Duet on it in Stereo pair mode. Output Mixed puts both voices back in the centre; Output Separate keeps them apart for Split L / R.

Pro ToolsStereo pair works here too. Sidechain mode takes a mono key input from the other speaker. The AAX build is coming; the VST3 and AU builds are out now.

One file per speaker

Export the stereo track with Output set to Separate, then split it. Duet has Split L / R built in: type a left and a right prefix (for example Host_ and Guest_), then click Split a stereo file or drop the export onto the plugin. You get one mono file per speaker next to it, sample-exact, never overwriting.

On Windows, mono-izer does the same from the right-click menu in Explorer — many files at once, MP3 too.

Get mono-izer →

Controls

Threshold A / BPer mic: above this level the speaker counts as talking

DepthHow far the silent speaker drops, down to full mute

Bleed rejectThe other voice leaking into a mic does not open it

Open / Hold / CloseFast open, hold through pauses between words, smooth duck

LookaheadOpens before the first word (adds that much latency)

OverlapBoth talking: let the crosstalk through, or the louder one wins

Gate when idleNobody talking: duck both mics too

Detector HPRumble and plosives do not trigger the gate

Install

Windows: copy Dvlce Duet.vst3 to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\ and rescan plugins.

macOS: copy the .component to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ and the .vst3 to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/. If macOS blocks it, run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine on the plugin once.

Licence

Free for non-commercial use. If you make money with it, you need a commercial licence first.

Personal podcasts, hobby, study and non-profits are free (PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0). Client work, a monetised show, use inside a company, or selling or bundling it needs a licence from the author.

Ask for a commercial licence →