Hardware gates, anyone using them in the studio?

[if6was9]

Got a Drawmer ds201 which is 2 channels of gates in a 1u unit. Got it for live use and was just wondering if anyone is using hardware gates in the studio or if it's a thing of the past and everyone uses software for the pre-open and look ahead features.

I'm loving the unit live, bought it recently after renting some for a gig about 6 months ago and it just got me thinking if anyone uses these in the studio anymore?

 

[BLUElightCory]

There's nothing wrong with using them in the studio, but if you're using them with a DAW there's no sonic advantage to using hardware (like there can be with EQs and comps) and you have to go through an extra generation of conversion (and the degradation that accompanies it).

 

[fitzrangerhoodngarb]

I use hardware gates quite often but I'm living very happily in the past using consoles and tape machines and the like most of the time. The 201's are good but the chattering used to give me the shits (cause I'm lazy and work fast) so I have some Intelligates that I tweaked out (VCA, op amps, caps, PSU etc) that do the job nicely and are more forgiving to lazy operators like me.

I often still use look ahead gating with these. In fact I've done look ahead gating a few times when mixing off a tape machine...take a tap of the sync head (which is early comparative to the repro head), send it to a delay and slide it back in time to use as the key input for the same track coming off the repro head. Done both look ahead compression and gating that way at various points now I think about it.

One for the pointless trivia dept.

 

[amarshism]

Little point if recording to a daw. I've received tracks from other studios that felt the need to use all their hardware including their gates when tracking and it can't be undone. No shit I swear I've gotten di's that have been run through a fucking gate. This one particular studio in town has a fucking hard on for em.

 

[if6was9]

I use hardware gates quite often but I'm living very happily in the past using consoles and tape machines and the like most of the time. The 201's are good but the chattering used to give me the shits (cause I'm lazy and work fast) so I have some Intelligates that I tweaked out (VCA, op amps, caps, PSU etc) that do the job nicely and are more forgiving to lazy operators like me.

I often still use look ahead gating with these. In fact I've done look ahead gating a few times when mixing off a tape machine...take a tap of the sync head (which is early comparative to the repro head), send it to a delay and slide it back in time to use as the key input for the same track coming off the repro head. Done both look ahead compression and gating that way at various points now I think about it.

One for the pointless trivia dept.

Nice, this is the kind of thing I was hoping to hear. Work arounds for getting the look ahead. Was thinking there it would be very easy to set up a key input a few milli seconds ahead of the drum track when mixing just by copying the audio you want to gate onto another track, shifting it a few milliseconds ahead and using it as the key input for the hardware.

I very much doubt I'll use it for the studio when software is so handy and effective for this, but I'd like to do some recording some time old school just using the desk and outboard, just using the DAW as a glorifed tape machine. Got some mates that are into old school prog rock and it'd be cool to cut some tracks like that.


The chattering thing just takes a bit of tweaking to kill, first gig with them I was getting it a bit and just took a bit of playing around with the frequency filters and getting the threshold a bit more dialed in to get rid of it.

 

[MetalSound]

i hardly use gates at all. everything which needs to be cut out is done manually (toms, guitars/bass).

 

[if6was9]

i hardly use gates at all. everything which needs to be cut out is done manually (toms, guitars/bass).

Not much of an option live or tracking to tape! I do this too but I'm just interested in seeing if guys still use them since they obviosly worked well enough till the mid 90's, early 00's before DAWs became common practise. I bought my unit for live sound use and it will see plenty of action but it just got me thinking. I'm probably gonna list it as a piece of studio gear on my sites anyways

 

[MetalSound]

Not much of an option live or tracking to tape! I do this too but I'm just interested in seeing if guys still use them since they obviosly worked well enough till the mid 90's, early 00's before DAWs became common practise. I bought my unit for live sound use and it will see plenty of action but it just got me thinking. I'm probably gonna list it as a piece of studio gear on my sites anyways

sure but you asked for studio situation. before digital production became standard gates were much more used than nowadays.

 

[koalamo]

i hardly use gates at all. everything which needs to be cut out is done manually (toms, guitars/bass).

+1

 

[xmortumx]

For live I understand, but for recording no. I usually slap in gvst gate for toms and snare, but once i get to mixing i manually cut, which is a PITA at times lol

 

[C_F_H_13]

best thing to use hardware gates for now is making tempo perfect tremelo guitars.

Just feed the click (or whatever note value you want) into the key input. Perfect tremelo guitars every time.

 

[if6was9]

best thing to use hardware gates for now is making tempo perfect tremelo guitars.

Just feed the click (or whatever note value you want) into the key input. Perfect tremelo guitars every time.

Excellent idea!

 

[Vinny]

best thing to use hardware gates for now is making tempo perfect tremelo guitars.

Just feed the click (or whatever note value you want) into the key input. Perfect tremelo guitars every time.

Hahahahah

 

[fade_2_black]

Awesome man, the 201s are great units, I have 4 of them in the live rack. I have never used them in the studio though. I also have a DPR504 which I have thought about using in the studio but havent, simply due to mixing ITB and not having the option of patching in a simple insert as I would for live use. If I could be bothered running all my tracks through gates and back into PT then yeah, I would likely use them.

Don't dig any of the software gates I've tried using, much prefer the hardware. Especially something nice like the DS201 or DPR504 with good filters and great side chaining, etc.

 

[colonel kurtz]

i hardly use gates at all. everything which needs to be cut out is done manually (toms, guitars/bass).

i used to be the same way, but then started gating toms and snare anyways to control the sustain...made for a lot less clutter in my mixes!