When in the box, you can easily clean out noise via editing, thus gates not truly needed. But if you do out of the box analog work, gates can come in handy.
I've found that "cheaper" analog gates indeed have a sound, sometimes a very bad sound. Though Drawmers are popular and generally work ok, I was never overly impressed with these.
I've been searching for a while for the ultimate gate, one that SOUNDS good as well as works good, and I finally found it... the API 235L gate module for the 200 series rack. These modules do not have as many features as some of the Drawmers and other fancy units, but at least you can feel good about shoving a critically important signal through one as it will not degrade the signal.... unlike some other popular gate units. And though the 235L appears small and simple without a load of bells and whistles, they are more capable than you think and always seem to get the job done with flying colors. I can't live without them.
API 235L Discrete Channel Noise Gate 