What does "gated" mean?

[Kabal]

So I've just become acquainted with the term "gated" recently and I have no idea what it means and was hoping someone could enlighten me.

How does it differ from non gated? Is gated necessarily better or have more to it than non gated?

[RickenBoogie]

A gate is a device that opens or closes, depending on the noise floor. Think Noise reduction.

[bongomania]

But a gated fuzz doesn't always use that same type of system. In the case of a fuzz, the word gated describes a sharp, hard start and stop to each fuzzed note, regardless of the method used to get that effect. Like each note "slams shut".

[Deluge Of Sound]

Like a gate is being shut on it.

Get it?

[A440Hz]

Could also be referring to "chop" FX like some Collective Soul stuff (and plenty of others). But the concepts the other guys mentioned, exactly-- a sonic gate that either lets sound through when open, or mutes the audio when shut.

Adjustments for a gate are threshold (at what level the gate transitions from open to closed), attack time (how long it takes to open from closed), release time (vice versa), and possibly gated level (instead of completely muting the audio, you can specify how loud you want it when the gate is closed). Generally, metal riffs and such can benefit from very fast attack, relatively fast release, and low gated level (if applicable).

Other applications are gated reverb (drums on Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" is the classic example) in which there is reverb but the reverb tails are gated to chop them off after a hold time.

Also check out downward expansion, which can be used in some gating applications to give fewer artifacts if set up correctly.

[warwick.hoy]

In the context of fuzz the word pinched comes to mind.

[Deluge Of Sound]

Originally Posted by warwick.hoy

In the context of fuzz the word pinched comes to mind.

Think about it like taking a leak. You either let the stream run its course, or (in dire situations usually involving a late night, a public area, and a police officer or five) you cut it off before it would naturally stop.

[Kabal]

^ LOL that is a very good analogy

I should have clarified, I did mean in terms of fuzz pedals.
So let me see if I get this...is it kind of like controlling the sustain of the fuzz effect on the note you play? Like the effect will die out before your dry tone?

[bongomania]

Kinda. Here's what it looks like:



The top one is the normal shape of a bass guitar note. The bottom one is sustained at its peak level by the extreme compression of the fuzz effect, and when your instrument signal drops below a certain level, the signal voltage changes in relation to the bias voltage of the transistors, and the signal shuts off abruptly.

[bassman1185]

Gated fuzz is usually more synth-like than non-gated fuzz. Look up "wooly mammoth" on youtube for an example of a gated fuzz.

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by Kabal

^ LOL that is a very good analogy

I should have clarified, I did mean in terms of fuzz pedals.
So let me see if I get this...is it kind of like controlling the sustain of the fuzz effect on the note you play? Like the effect will die out before your dry tone?

Pretty much.

I think of "gated" and "sustain" as opposites. When you have a string riging with a pedal that gives a "gated" tone, as you said, it will likely stop sounding even before the string has finished completely vibrating as it falls below the necessary threshold for making noise. A pedal with "sustain" would mean you could wring the most amount of possible tone out of that vibrating string.

[groooooove]

gated means awesome

just kidding, bongo did a great visual representation of it in that last post of his.