Gates as FX triggers

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General Calisti
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Gates as FX triggers

Post by General Calisti » Fri Dec 30, 2016 1:33 pm

Hello!

New member, long time lurker, first post!

Straight to business - i'm looking to use a gate(?) in my FX-chain, ideally something like a sieve so that only signal above a certain level would go to a delay while the rest passes through without the delay.
Anyone know of a gate-like device that lets "below threshold" through?

Am i making any sense?

EDIT-
I realized after some thinking that it is a gate i'm looking for and that the effect i'm after will happen if i "clone" my return strip and send the second one to the gated chain.
It'll be fidgety.

I'd still be glad for recommendations and advice on gates in pedal form, it's a jungle out there.

Cheers and Happy Dub Year!
Non possomus facere laterem sine DUB

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interruptor
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Post by interruptor » Wed Jan 04, 2017 8:14 pm

Hi!

I got a Harley Benton NG-100 noise gate pedal which does a good job at the beginning of a distortion chain (for example for guitar/bass or a drum machine). I haven't tried it out in the way you described. However it has a level and a sensitivity knob to finetune it's threshold level.
For what you want to do you would have to connect it in between an aux out on your mixer and the delay effect. Then return the delay effect output to the mixer.
I see that Thomann dont sell the NG-100 anymore. But there are other noise gates you could try.

Does that help?

regards
Daniel/Intgerruptor

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General Calisti
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Post by General Calisti » Fri Jan 06, 2017 12:44 pm

Hi!

That is helpful yes, thanks Interruptor!
Do you think it has to be direct at the aux outlet? I was thinking yesterday i could run it from the front A of a half-normal patchbay slot also but my desk is at the repair shop over what can only be a factory fault (fingers crossed) so it's going to be a while before i can test this...

Pity that they dont sell that one anymore.
Looking around i saw Thomann carries a cheapissimo noise reducer from Behringer called NR300, it has the option of switching between reduction and muting and two pots for threshold and decay. The price is very affordable for taking a chance.
But the fine-tuning of thresh would be very nice to have! Poor me, now i have to surf around looking at gear :D
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interruptor
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Post by interruptor » Fri Jan 06, 2017 3:35 pm

I am not familiar with half-normal patch bays, but it seems this is a way to split a signal in two. Thus you could send the signal to the effects chain and still have the original signal available. I think you would still need a possibility to mix together the output of the effects chain and the original signal.
Someone in the Thomann comments mentioned that the Behringer pedal is not really a gate but some other type of noise reduction. I'd suggest you have a close look at the user manual so that you know exactly what it does before buying it.

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General Calisti
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Post by General Calisti » Fri Jan 06, 2017 11:05 pm

Yes, half-normal gives you a way to tap a signal like a split and yes, reuniting them is probably going to be tricky. Might be doable if i flip a patchbay module, i dont have the flow-chart in my head for those options. :)
Only way i'm seeing it now is if i dedicate it a strip of its own, right next to the aux i'm tapping for the gated signal.
I'm still new to evisioning the analog patching and mixing desk ergonomics in my head, so much easier to have an idea and try it out on the actual gear...

Dude! I hadnt thought of that, reading the manuals online before purchasing. Seems obvious when i read your post, thats some good advice Daniel the Interruptor.
I'll study up on gates and post back what i find, if i get it to work i'll even post a mixdown of it in action.

I like the idea of having a signal that reacts on it's own, adds a new layer of space. Might not be useful on any song but a minimalist mix where wet signals are the "gravy for the meat" it could work.
Tried in a daw setup and it worked pretty cool when i forgot about it and sent some drums there by accident, the hats went bouncing about all over the place all of a sudden :)
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interruptor
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Post by interruptor » Sat Jan 07, 2017 6:23 pm

In other words you are using a gate to "automate" an aux send. I never thought of doing this, it's an interesting approach!

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General Calisti
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Post by General Calisti » Sun Jan 08, 2017 3:44 pm

Yeah, i guess it's a sort of automation :)

Tweaking the thresh a little would maintain a sort of randomness to it.
But i think approaching it as a set&forget via the split solution would make it a fun addition, when you open that aux on more than one channel i'm guessing that they start adding up and nudge how much goes through.
Like a little "surprise"-fx, you know it's there but it's hard to say when and what is going to trigger it.
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