GainRider3

Name: GainRider3
Price: 66.99 USD
Author: TBProAudio

by TBProAudio · Vocal Tool · Vocal gain rider

Not rated yet

GainRider3 is a vocal gain riding tool from TBProAudio with three modes: loudness leveling, ducking, and leveling to a side-chain signal.

It measures loudness with EBU R128 and can write its moves as automation, for €59 (about $67).

Best for: Vocals, Mix Bus. Genres: all genres.

Keywords: vocals, broadcast, ducking, dialogue, sidechain input, podcast, AAX, A/B compare, bus processing, external sidechain, free, full mix, mix bus, mixing, tracking, visual feedback.

What it does

GainRider3 is TBProAudio's automatic gain rider, built mainly for vocals and dialogue. The developer's aim is "full control over the gain riding process", so every ride move can be shaped and seen. It replaces GainRider2 with improved algorithms and lower latency.

Three ride modes: loudness leveling (rides the signal toward a target), ducking (pulls the signal down when a side-chain source is active), and leveling to a side-chain reference, so a vocal follows the level of the backing track.
Ride shaping: speed sets how fast gain changes, minimum and maximum limit how far it can ride, and idle sets what happens when the input drops below the detection range.
Pre-delay: a flexible pre-delay lets the plugin react ahead of the signal, and a zero-delay mode removes the latency for live or tracking use.
Detection: loudness is measured with EBU R128 momentary loudness, with a flexible pre-filter to keep low end or noise from driving the rides.
Side-chain: external side-chain input in VST3, AAX and AU, or on channels 3 and 4 in VST2.
Automation: gain moves can be written to and read from DAW automation, so you can record the rides and then edit them by hand.
Display and workflow: a large display shows the input, the target and each gain change, with A/B comparison and free GUI scaling.

The current version is 3.0.29 (May 2026), and the upgrade is free for owners of earlier GainRider versions. The demo mutes audio briefly every 90 seconds.

Source: TBProAudio product page

When to use it

GainRider3 is the pick when you want to see and control each ride rather than trust a single knob. Compared with Waves Vocal Rider, it adds a ducking mode and side-chain leveling, plus limits, idle behaviour and an R128-based detector that you can filter. It costs about the same, but it takes more setup to get a good result. Unlike Nectar 4, it does only one job, so it sits in front of your own EQ and compression rather than replacing a vocal chain. The automation write mode suits engineers who want a first pass of rides that they then fine-tune by hand.

Best for: riding vocals against the mix, ducking music under voice, and leveling dialogue, podcasts and broadcast audio.
Genres: any; also useful in post-production and podcast work.
Look elsewhere if: you want a quick one-knob rider; Vocal Rider or TBProAudio's simpler DynaRide2 get there faster.

Where to buy

TBProAudio: $66.99 (€59 converted to USD (ECB rate, 29 Sep 2026))

Tutorials and reviews

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