Noise Gate Decay setting?

[Palico]

Last night I was doing some practice on some speed stuff. I noted how I was picking up some minor string noise. Figured, well likely the compressing setting high causing this. Checked the patch, no compressor on it. ummm. Started playing around with it a bit and turn the nosie gate off, problem solved. Well sort of, I had the noise gate on for a reason. Awful hum when not playing. So I checked it. I had the Threshhold about 47% which was just enough to kill the hum when not playing. The Decay set to 0%. So I spund the decay all the way to 100% and it seemed like the problem mostly when away.  When I used to be all analog I never used a gate, just clicked off the high gain channel when not playing and up until recently I didn't use a many high gain tones so I didn't need one.  The only thing I want the gate to be able to do get rid of the hum when I"m not playing, when playing it's not a problem. 

 

So for those that use high gain amps or pedals, what do you do about the hum or how do you use the noise gate setting?

[duncann]

For the noise gate, I usually use a decay around 45%. Gives a more gradual "shutting off". The threshold I'll adjust it to a point so that when not playing, any noise from the amp/effects can't be heard. Usually ends up around 35%, or a little lower.

 

For backing rhythm tones, I started using a hard gate with -52dB open, -55dB close, hold time 0ms, and decay 500ms.

[radatats]

I have played around with the gates in all kinds of ways and they can be a great help but also a big tone suck.  Traditional seems to put it at the front of the chain but to my ears that can really deaden the tone depending on your gain stages after it.  Another option is to place it after the amp.  I like this option better when possible as it does not clobber the incoming signal and compensates for distortions, compressors, the amp and all the gain stages.  Seems to give you a better dynamic range that way.  The thing I don't like about that is it is a mono effect so if you are using dual amps or other stereo stuff before it you lose the effect.

 

Not trying to promote it but I found the Zoom MS70CDR in the FX loop right after the mixer does a really good job.  The noise gate preserves the stereo path and is very effective.  I rarely have to use anything else with it.  When using a gate after the amp, make sure it is before your delays, reverbs, chorus, etc as you don't want the gate to mess with your trails.  For setting it I turn all gain stages on and then adjust threshold until it just cleans up.  It just needs to keep silent when nothing is playing, not cut tone so as low as possible. When combined with palm muting I get dead silence.

 

The hard gate is good for chug tones that need a fast stop start and I read somewhere it uses less DSP than the noise gate.  That one I use at the beginning for max effect when needed.

[duncann]

I often looked at the ms70cdr in the past, came really close to getting one, but I hate the idea of any of my tones relying on multiple devices.

 

For placement, I usually put the gate in a place that sounds best. I end up trying all different positions from first, middle, and after amp. Can be different for different situations. That's one thing I love about the pod, the versatility.

[jandrio]

http://foobazaar.com/podhd/toneGuide/ampTone#noiseGates

[Palico]

:) Thanks guys. Some great ideas. I had not looked at MeAmBobbo guide in quite a while. I really should know to start there! LOL. 

[Palico]

MeAmBobbo is a genius! I implemented the hard gate instead of noise gate and ditched the volume pedal in favor of amp channel volume assigment. I could not do it rehersal level so I had to adjust a bedroom volume. So I get to rehersal tonight expecting a cluster since I had set using bedroom levels but I didn't really change the EQ. Other the some wild volume swings I had to readjust the pedal setting for, my high gain patches came to life! Solved all the lack of sustain but was still quite. I still gotta dial the hard gate settings on some stuff, had a bit of studdering when shut the gate down but nothing I kills me.