Gate
Category: Character | Scope: Section-level
A rhythmic volume gate that chops audio at an LFO-driven rate — creating stuttering, pulsing effects popular in electronic music.
Macros
| Macro | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | Knob (0–100 %) | Speed of the volume chop — from slow pulse to fast stutter |
| Depth | Knob (0–100 %) | How deep the volume dips — 0 % is no effect, 100 % chops to silence |
| Mix | Slider (0–100 %) | Balance between dry and gated signal |
Presets
House Chop, Half-Time Pulse, Trance Gate, Glitch.
How the settings work together
Rate + Depth define the chop. Rate controls how fast the volume cuts in and out — slow rates create a pulsing, breathing effect, fast rates create a rapid stutter. Depth controls how deep the volume drops — at low depth the sound just gently pumps, at full depth it cuts to complete silence between pulses. Slow rate with full depth creates dramatic on-off pumping. Fast rate with partial depth adds rhythmic texture without completely chopping the sound.
Mix lets you blend the gated signal with the original. At 100% mix, you hear only the chopped version — pure rhythmic gating. Pulling the mix back lets the original signal fill in the gaps, softening the effect into a volume tremolo rather than a hard chop. This is useful when you want rhythmic movement but don't want the sound to fully disappear between pulses.
When to use it
Trance gate on pads and strings creates classic EDM rhythmic pumping. Use on synths for stuttering textures, or on the whole mix for dramatic breakdowns. Different sections can have different gate settings — smooth verse, chopped chorus.