Reply to Kick Drum - Sidechaining

Hey all,
Sorry to start a new thread, but i'm stuck on SideChaining. Is it possible without Ableton Suite? I have built a really good sounding high end kick, but am having trouble with the low end. Is it best to use a sub tone? (note) and try to sidechain it with the kick note ( by using spectrum in ableton ) , or would it just be better to eq,fx,and compress a bassy kick sample and layer it?
Thanks,
J