smart:gate

Intelligent gate plugin

Sonible's smart:gate is not only an AI-powered plugin, but also introduces a cutting-edge gating method. Unlike conventional gates that are controlled purely by input level, smart:gate's artificial intelligence makes processing source-focused.

With smart:gate, gating can be easily solved for the first time thanks to selectable target sources. Whether the target is vocals, an electric guitar, piano or a range of other signals, the gate delivers reliable results - even if the level of the desired source varies or competing instruments are louder than the selected target signal.

Features

• Content-aware gate processing
• Wide range of instrument and sound profiles to determine the target source
• Familiar control over gating response: Threshold, Attack/Release, Hold, Tolerance
• Visual guidance on target source detection for easier parametrization
• ‘Instant replay’ prediction after parameter changes
• With ‘No Target’, conventional, non-AI gating is still possible
• Content-aware ducking mode to reduce selected target signal
• Tailor gating across the frequency spectrum with three-band suppression control
• External sidechain input; detection in mono/mid or side signals

Simple setup, powerful control

smart:gate’s visualizer traces the level of the detected target signal, not the entire input signal, making parametrization straightforward and faster. With sonible’s ‘Instant Replay’, when you change a parameter, the visualized signal changes the whole signal history, predicting the impact on the entire signal.

With Level Bias, the gating behavior can follow the detected signal more or less closely – great for refining the response on transient material like drums, or keeping non-transient material like vocals more natural. You can also use smart:gate without its content-aware AI features, for operation as a conventional gate.

Gating response can be customized further with the ‘Impact control’, which scales back the amount of gain reduction applied when the gate is closed. smart:gate also offers a Ducking mode to reduce the target signal instead of passing it through. A three-band suppression network helps to weight gating across the frequency spectrum.