Gates Bundle — Free Download

Purpose and Overview

The Gates Bundle introduces two new gate modules for use within the Virtual Mix Rack workflow, eliminating the need for external DAW gates. Gate: Classic is a traditional, straightforward gate designed to efficiently remove background noise from recorded guitar, vocal, and other acoustic material. Gate: Drums is a sophisticated drum application that combines transient detection with smart dynamic filtering to achieve cleaner drum tracks than conventional gates allow.

Together, these modules expand gating options significantly, covering standard amplitude-based gating and advanced transient-based processing. The bundle is aimed at engineers seeking both practical noise reduction and creative gating possibilities within a single, unified rack environment.

Key Capabilities

Gate: Classic offers traditional parameters including threshold, ratio, range, attack, release, slope, and two gate modes. Classic mode uses standard amplitude detection with optional highpass and lowpass input filtering. Vocal mode introduces internal filtering optimized for singer breathing, plus a unique timing circuit to smooth gate opening and closing. Highly accurate sidechain filters provide creative control across the mix.

Gate: Drums operates on transient input rather than volume levels, triggering on sharp or soft transients. It separates the transient from the signal tail, allowing independent processing. The module includes detection filters to pre-filter the signal, transient detection controls, a detection threshold to focus on specific amplitude ranges, and a debleed section with dynamic filters and release control.

Workflow Integration

Within Virtual Mix Rack, the gates fit into a modular processing chain. For Gate: Classic, the workflow involves selecting a mode, setting threshold and ratio to remove bleed, then fine-tuning attack and release for natural response. The sidechain filters can be used creatively, for example to key the gate on specific frequencies from other tracks.

Gate: Drums follows a three-stage workflow: first, adjust transient detection to capture only desired hits; second, set the gate floor and timing; third, configure debleed to filter the tail when a transient is caught. Detection filters ensure the gate reacts only to certain frequencies, and the unique transient separation enables distinct processing of attack and sustain.

Practical Applications

Gate: Classic excels in cleaning up live recordings, removing amplifier hum, audience noise, or microphone bleed from guitar and vocal tracks. The Vocal mode is particularly suited for vocal tracks where natural breathing must be preserved, while the classic mode offers straight-forward operation for general noise reduction across various sources.

Gate: Drums is ideal for drum tracks where bleed from other kit pieces is problematic. By focusing on transients, it can isolate snare or tom hits, and the debleed function dynamically filters the tail to reduce cymbal or hi-hat bleed. Creative uses include gating reverb tails or synth parts for rhythmic effects, and using sidechain filters for frequency-specific gating.

Key features

• Gate: Classic with threshold, ratio, range, attack, release, slope controls
• Two gate modes: Classic (amplitude detection) and Vocal (breathing detection)
• Input filters (highpass/lowpass) and accurate sidechain filters
• Gate: Drums with transient-based triggering, separating transients from tails
• Three-stage workflow: transient detection, gate, and debleed
• Detection filters and detection threshold for precise transient catching

Best for

Engineers using Slate Digital’s Virtual Mix Rack who need reliable, traditional gating for noise cleanup on vocals and guitars, as well as advanced transient-driven gating for drums, with creative sidechain and filtering options for mix enhancements.