Actually I just released a product that IS a kind of noise gate- Gatelope. Instead of doing a volume ramp, it sweeps a filter or two across the sound, but not a 'wow-chicka-wow' type filter, a really transparent low-order filter. It can be used to sweep a LPF down for things like toms or to retain the rumble of a sustaining kick while cutting bleed, or to sweep a HPF up which really does gate the lows of drums and tighten them way up but without also gating the highs and mids. It's like you get to put a magic ring damper on everything at once, and adjust it in mix.
This is it sweeping a HPF up triggered by the drums-
Original track-
http://www.mediafire.com/?721wxyhrqz2
Gatelope-
http://www.mediafire.com/?99bwz5m5ij5
Yes you can do both at once- then it'll converge on a frequency range somewhere, of your choosing.
So far zero downloads on the latter because it's that new, so you might be the first person ever to hear this effect :D
To answer the question: HELL YES I STILL USE GATES, GATES RULE :D