Industry standard noise gate?

[Unknown soldier]

I'm looking to add a good quality noise gate in my studio, mostly for screaming guitars to be shut off when needed. What's the studio standard gate? DBX? Aphex? Want one that's got all the knobs for complete control......

thanks!

[Rail Jon Rogut]

The standard is the Drawmer DS201. (Useful for using as a filter as well).

Rail

[drundall]

Jerry Finn used to swear by the Aphex gate. Said it was a lot faster than the drawmers. I haven't really tried them.

[denial]

Originally posted by Rail Jon Rogut
The standard is the Drawmer DS201. (Useful for using as a filter as well).

Rail

I agree. The DS201 is a great gate and everybody is familiar with it. I think Drawmer have a newer gate with an extra control feature that could be worth checking out.

I found the Aphex colored the sound. The pro DBX gate (model escapes me) was as good as the Drawmer but I remeber that it popped when the bypass button was dis/engaged.

[ziegenh5]

DBX 904?

[Rail Jon Rogut]

The new Drawmer is the DS-501.. the fastest gates are the Keypex 2's -- but they don't have an EQ section.

Rail

[Shaman]

I like the Gate from the Sony dynamics...
v.fast + sidechain filters + you get an excellent compr./limiter/expander/warmth generator in one package.

[drundall]

Originally posted by denial
I found the Aphex colored the sound.

I thought the 201's colored the sound also. That's why these days they don't get much use, I can do most of what I need in PT, especially cleaning up guitars.

[thethrillfactor]

Originally posted by drundall
I thought the 201's colored the sound also. That's why these days they don't get much use, I can do most of what I need in PT, especially cleaning up guitars.

That's what makes the 201's so great on drums(coloration of sound).

Also there are 2 versions. I always prefered the one's with XLR's.

Without a filter, the old Keypex.

[jbuntz]

SPL Transient Designer or like pluggin (Sony, Digitalfishphones, Waves) are cool alternatives to gates. They're a bit more subtle.

[sonic dogg]

Drawmer 201....Kepex....Valley People(dunt member the #)....Dbx 363....all work....working a gate is a skill....practice it a lot before you commit to it.....

[denial]

Although the Drawmer DS201 is the accepted industry standard, the DBX 172 Supergate is a superb noise gate too.

[Jim Williams]

Aphex 612/622 gates. I removed the color by the use of better opamps and caps. Very fast and more importantly, these are expanders. Great for "un-compressing" over squashed tracks.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[zmix]

If, on the other hand, you want to gate your kick and snare, the Keypex II is simply magic. The valley class A VCA does something no other gate can.

[Brad Lunde]

Originally posted by drundall
I thought the 201's colored the sound also. That's why these days they don't get much use, I can do most of what I need in PT, especially cleaning up guitars.

Actually Drawmers and Aphex's both color the sound, just differently....

As far as application, I wouldn't think a switch gate would be real swell on guitars. Expander gates can be better for that for they are not hard on/off devices like switch gates.

The general rule of thumb is: expanders are for slower attack sources, and switch gates for faster attack sources.

You mention Kepex as the fastest. I don't know myself is this is true but as far as "faster gate" behavior, 10 microsecond attack time (Aphex and Drawmer) is about as fast as you can go without artifacts on higher freq percussion. On snare, 10 works but can sometimes be a bit fast on some snares, especially those tuned lower. On kick many want slower, to as long as 40 microseconds, to avoid the click.

The Drawmer and other better gates have variable speed for this reason. So "fastest" in gates is not the holy grail and can actually be a problem. Many cheaper gates are fixed speed and slower, to avoid the more obvious click. Many first time switch gate users think this click is a sign of a defective unit, not realizing the speed issue.

Brad

[Dave Martin]

I'll go with the 201's as well - in fact, I have three of them (6 channels) which regularly get used on mixes here.

[Mario-C.]

the BSS gates are awesome too

[Steffmo]

I have 4 channels of Drawmer 201, and 4 or the Valley Dynamite.

Certain program material, the Valley works perfectly even with out a key filter of sidechain. It just sees to see the signal better.

Not that it is a better overall gate, but when in more than a few instances it can beat the Drawmer.

I had Aphex 612's for a while....but everyone always asked for the Drawmers so I got them.

[paultools]

Welcome to the forum, Klauth!

Anyone remember Roger Mayer gates?