I am having a hard time figuring this technique out. I have a vocal track with lots of room between vocal lines. I would like to add some cool long reverb tails to fill in these spaces. The trick is the compressor compresses (no reverb) the reverb while singing is playing and then lets the reverb through when sing stops thus resulting in a nice reverb tail.  I have seen this done in Pro Tools and Logic is some videos. I saw it is a Puremix video but it was done in pro tools and the instructor, Tab used some technique called a key. Don't have a clue what that is.  But I can't seem to figure out how to do it in Sonar Platinum. Anyone know the procedure for this trick in Sonar?
 
Thank you in advance.
 
Tracy

What comes to mind is, reverb on a bus. send from vocal to the bus. compressor (fast attack, medium release) on the reverb on the bus sidechained from the voc. tweak. I think that's what you're talking about. I find it works better to automate the reverb with envelopes.

"Key input" or "key signal" simply refers to whatever audio signal the compressor is listening to. It is also referred to as the "sidechain".
 
The key can be the same audio that's being compressed (internal sidechain), or can come from another source (external sidechain). All compressors support internal sidechains, but not all support external sidechains. The Sonitus compressor is one that does support external sidechains.
 
Whether you use an internal or external sidechain to accentuate reverb tails depends on where the reverb is inserted. In either case, it's still the vocal itself that serves as the key signal. Because vocal reverbs are normally placed on a separate bus (so the reverb can be shared by more than one track), that'll require that the compressor that follows the reverb plugin be configured for an external sidechain. In other words, the compressor is monitoring the lead vocal track to determine how much compression to apply, rather than its own main input.
 
To set this up, you'll need to add an Aux Send to the vocal track and route it to the compressor's sidechain input. Depending on the compressor you're using, you may also have to configure it to use the external key input. This isn't necessary for the Sonitus, but for, say, FabFilter Pro-C you have to explicitly tell the compressor to use the external sidechain.
 
 
 
 

Sonar is capable of doing this... of course!   Its called sidechaining.  Heres a link to a few videos I made using sidecahining techniques   
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJoruTWCnyk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glRU9H37Fbo
 
You have to use a compressor that CAN do this - such as the sonitus compressor - or in my video - izotopes alloy 2.  First - insert the compressor where you want to compress.  2nd - insert a send or rout the output of your "Trigger Source" to the compressors sidechain input.